My Weaknesses Exposed

Rest Day

Sorry for the very late post, it was a hectic weekend.  The internet at our hotel was terribly slow.  Imagine an entire hotel filled with CrossFitters checking the games site, downloading full length videos of the events, updating their blogs, getting on facebook, and yes unfortunately tweeting.  Although I must say many of you seemed to be really well kept in the loop thanks to the twit thing.

The day started with the run from hell.  It was a terrible 7.1k over rugged steep and in places completely ungroomed trails.  Parts of the run were so steep competitors were bear crawling up the hills.  I places 50th of the 74 athletes who competed.  Then on the deadlift WOD right after the run I busted out a PR deadlift of 415 (previous max was 405).  It was only enough to put me in 59th place of 74 competitors.  Amazingly enough many of the athletes were able to complete the entire workout reaching the mark of 505!  After the first two events the bottom 10 athletes were dropped from competition and unfortunately I was 6th from last.  It was a bit disappointing even after getting a big PR in a situation were nobody expected to reach their 1 rep max.  The run and the deadlift are the two biggest chinks in my armor and I got slapped with them right out of the gate.  The most disappointing part was that the rest of the WODs that day were really awesome and I really wanted a chance to compete in them.  But, I have no regrets and no excuses.  That is just the way it goes in CrossFit.  In CrossFit, eventually everyone's weaknesses will be exposed, and Saturday it was my turn to get the short end of the stick.  There were many competitors along the road to the games that had a similar experience, and every year there will be more.  Its hard to believe that a 415 deadlift is a weakness, but that's how it goes when you are competing against this years top 74 CrossFitters.  I actually ran good too, its just amazing the level of athlete in attendance.  A 44th place finish at the Games 2008, 3rd in the region this year and 68th in the Games 2009 is still more than most athletes in this sport can claim, and is just the start of the resume I plan to build.  I am going to take a few days of to recover physically and mentally.  Then its time to start working on my goats and continue preparing for future competitions.

2009 CrossFit Games, Event 1 - "The Run from Hell" - video [wmv] [mov]

Comments

[Pat H.]

Justin, I don't really care where you placed, you are a kick-ass Crossfitter and we are all proud of you, and proud to be a part of CFES. You represented us well, and are definitely one of the fittest people on earth!

Also, congrats again to the CFES affiliate team, everyone left their heart out on the field, and also represented us well with their stunning 9th place finish.

A special congrats to my wife Anne for her amazing 30 deadlifts at blazing speed (24 of them without putting the bar down) at the end of the Stadium Workout. That certainly was a sight to see!!!

For everyone there, Anne and I had an awesome weekend with all of you! The games were quite a spectacle, and the dinners/hot tub parties at the hotel afterward were a ton of fun!

[Dara]

Couldn't really say it better myself Pat!
Great job Anne, Brooke, Loren, Travis, Tom, and Justin A! You guys rock and have something to be verrrrry proud of!
J.Riley- placing, shmacing, you are a F&*^ing stud. I mean it's only fair to everyone else that you didn't get a medal this year because we all know you're taking #1 in the next competition. Now go eat a western bacon cheeseburger and a milkshake. It's ok to have 0.3% body fat ;)

[Roger]

Justin- Sorry I couldn't be there to see your so called weakness, which measured by the rest of the world standard (and I mean the so-called fit world) would be an amazing accomplishment. Nonetheless, you are a competitor and I'm guessing that you are not satisfied and are ready to redouble your effort in 2009, which is what a competitor does and which is what we would all expect from you.

But just think about this for a minute, in less than a year, you guys opened a business (no small feat in itself) whose sole purpose is to bring out the competitive athlete in each of us and you have done a masterful job in this respect. Not only have you impacted all of our lives in a hugely meaningful way, but you now have the entire CFES community exactly (well not exactly, I mean 415 lbs!) waking up every morning to eagerly face similar challenges and dissapointments to those you faced this weekend.

As you take time to ponder your 2009 goals, take a moment to enjoy that very important accomplishment and give yourself well deserved credit. We are all extremely proud of you and proud to be CFESers!

[Roger]

CFES Team, so proud to know each and every one of you! i have been sending links and pics to all my friends most of whom are not CFers and pretty much bragging about what you guys are doing and have done!

[Robb B.]

Awesome job Justin, when it comes to competing in these games, the words 'last place' and 'near last place' have no place in our vocabulary. Just getting there is incredible and I am glad to train under you!

[Justin A]

I saw many get expsosed by CrossFit this weekend. Even athletes in the the top 16 got exposed and DNF'd on the "Heartbreaker" chipper. You are right, some of those later WOD's would have been your game.
You should be proud of what you have accomplished thus far in the CrossFit competitions, but your qualifier and games performances are only a small part of your CrossFit Resume.
You have partnered with 2 solid individuals to build a well respected (respected and known by all in CrossFit) CrossFit facility.
You are an excellent trainer teaching and motivating athletes from all walks of life, at all ages, and many levels of abilities. Not many can do that. Your skills as a trainer are top notch.
You are a major contributor to the CrossFit community!
Personally, I have made tremendous gains in my performance and understanding under your coaching. You have inspired me in many ways.
I look forward to following your continued success and learning much more from you.
This was a weekend to remember!

[Anne]

Justin- You did an amazing job. Those events were no joke and to be able to finish them AND PR is more than 99.9999999% of the world's population can do. I think I'd still be out there running.
You and Travis are the reasons why we placed 9th this weekend. I could tell that some of the world's top athletes aren't always the best coaches. You are both- it is b/c of yours and Travis' coaching that we did such an awesome job. You both care about us and our accomplishments as much as you do your own. The box exists for ALL of us, not just for 2 individuals who want to excel for themselves.
Thank you so much for giving me such an amazing experience. Thank you for holding us to such high standards every day and making us work on our weaknesses, count only legit reps, and use proper form. None of the standards to any of the movements surprised us. It was an honor to represent CFES. I had such a great time.
Now, I'm off to work on my weaknesses....running, double unders, MUs, handstand pushups, deadlift....the list goes on! See ya at the box!

[Justin Riley]

Thank you all for the kind words. I am so proud of our team I almost forget that I didn't get to finish day 1. It is proof that we are successfully upholding the excellence in coaching that CrossFit is based on. Having a team with as little experience as our finish as strong as we did proves beyond a doubt that we are coaching you all very well and programing WODs that are highly relevant to elite human performance. The way our team performed was nothing less than elite. We weren't the best at anything, but we had no weaknesses. As you can see from my day all it takes it one weakness to put you out of contention and that weakness could still be an amazing strength when compared to non-CrossFitters. CrossFitters are without a doubt the most physically capable athletes in the world, and to have beaten many of the best boxes and athletes in CrossFit is an accomplishment that we will never forget.