Hopper Challenge: WOD III

Saturday, Oct. 17;

So, I waited a day before posting the third workout. I wanted to similate the feeling that I had waiting for my heat. It felt like for-ev-er. We all had lunch and after we ate they pulled the final WOD from the hopper. As I sat there safe and warm in my little snuggie.. I heard the three words I dreaded the most.. wall ball & snatch. Noooooooo... I can do a mean wall ball, but a mean wall ball with an 8 foot target! I knew it'd be a big struggle for me to hit the ball above that 10 foot target. I'd had trouble with it at CFOT, and it was going to be even worse here. My shoulders were beat from the morning WOD, and the other moves in the chipper would make it even more difficult. The other move.. the snatch. It couldn't have been worse. It's not that I can't snatch, because I can. I'd snatched about 75lb after surgery, but I have a long history with this move.

Here's the rest of..

WOD III:
For time.. 15 min. cut off
30 double unders
7 back squats 85lb w, 135lb m
30 GHD
7 snatches
30 wall ball 14lb w, 20lb m
7 jerks
30 toes to bar


It was two years ago (this weekend) that I went to a Olympic lifting seminar. I think I snatched so many times, that it contributed to tearing my shoulder up. It was right after that weekend that my shoulder started hurting. I don't know if this is actually what happened, but this is the story I've made up in my head. That means that every time I attempt heavy snatches it literally scares the pants off of me. It is such a huge mental block for me. I knew it would be a miracle if I could do these in this final WOD at the prescribed 85lbs. I just envision myself going to snatch the bar, and I catch it and my shoulder just pops right out of socket. Ugh, it makes me queazy just thinking about it.

I had decided to go with the scaled weight, which I assumed was 65lbs. I knew I didn't want to hurt myself and thought 85lbs was too heavy. I was fine with that until Jerry called me over. He knew I could do it. We went back and worked on my snatch. I pulled 45lb no problem, 65lb no problem, then put the 85lb on. I pulled, dove under the bar, caught it, stood up. Solid! That was the first time I had snatched 85lb in years. I did it one more time for practice. It was a little wobbly, but I hit it. Decided. I was doing the final WOD RX.


Then.. I had 2 hours to weight. Two hours to psych myself out. Two hours to think about the transition from snatch to wall ball. Over and over again in my head.. snatch.. wall ball.. snatch.. wall ball. I was defeating myself before I even began. My fear and some self doubt just took over. I knew if I could hit the WOD as RX I'd make it in the top 20, because so many women were scaling this thing. Then it was my turn..

4:20pm
I was going with some bruisers. This huge, tall guy was next to me and I knew he'd struggle on the situps and the toes to bar. I knew what I'd struggle with too. Ugh. The CFOT crew was screaming. I was pumped. I had told my judge to get me the RX weight. There I was.. jump rope in hand and 85lbs on my bar. Go..