Archive for May, 2011

Post Final WOD celebration

Well, the South East Regionals are complete and it is back to reality for World Camp CrossFit! We went into this competition as the 18 ranked team in the region and not knowing what to expect of the 3 day event. As previously stated, WCCF came in 17th in the first workout of the weekend but quickly gained momentum going into day 3 with a 5th and two 1st place finishes. Our team rallied and came up big! With the help of a 2nd place finish to start of day 3, World Camp was tied for 3rd with CrossFit North Atlanta  going into the final workout. In my mind, I knew the numbers and where we had to be to place but I tried to not let on the the team. A first or second would seal the deal but anything else would be too close depending on which team crossed the line first. It looked that the team Hardcore, in first place at that time would be a shoe in along with second place Vida Brickell. The race was for 3rd with 3 Georgia teams, WCCF, CrossFit Atlanta and CrossFit North Atlanta. Both CrossFit Atlanta and North Atlanta have made it to the games in previous years and are much more experienced in competitions like this, it was anyones game. The workout was designed to make each team mate carry his or her own weight by doing all reps, you were truly only as strong as your weakest link. As the final WOD started it looked to the crowd as if WCCF would be out of it, but they didn’t know our strategy… While most teams put their noticeably faster, stronger athletes as the first legs, we staged our athletes the allow for intentional breaks along the way. Walt, a fast powerful Rower, plowed through the first few stations allowing for Brandi to quickly get off of the Rower and on to the Burpees. Brandi, who is also an excellent rower was able to rest for a few seconds after her Burpees while Walt was finishing up his Ground to Overhead. The one thing we had that the other didn’t is, we had no weak link! All WCCF athletes moved steadily and Sam who was bringing up the final leg was easily making up ground on other teams around him. World Camp CrossFit ended up finishing 2nd in the final WOD sealing the deal and getting the bid to join 49 other teams in California at the Home Depot Center in late July! World Camp will be the only team from Georgia that will carry the State flag out during the opening ceremonies of the Reebok CrossFit Games!

Day 3 Recap

“Your team is no hodge-podge group. Ages from 19-40, teachers, accountants, fathers, sons, Georgians. Your TEAM is not a team at all. World Camp is sending a family to Cali and it will do amazing things together. That is your strength!”

-Erick Roberts of CrossFit Inception on World Camp’s bid to the Games

The 3 from the EAST

It is official! After battling back all weekend from a 17th place finish on the very first WOD, World Camp CrossFit has qualified for the CrossFt Games in Los Angeles, California! I will have more on this tomorrow, for now you can check out the links below for recaps on the events.

Day 2 Recap

Day 3 Mid-day Report

WCCF Affiliate Team

After the first day of Regional competition, the WCCF team is sitting in 7th place overall. Jessica Denney stole the show in the second event with a 175lb Thuster! This along with Chris “Bill” Harris’ 255lb lift gave Team WCCF 1st place in the second event. For more information and reading on “South East Day 1 Recap.”

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Rio on the Run!

Rio absolutely showed out in her first event being one of the first and only women in her heat to make it to the rowing portion of the workout. After the first day of competition, Rio is within great striking distance of the lead positions!

Holly, Madison and Tammy showing off their rope skills!

Just a reminder that there will be no classes tomorrow, Saturday or Monday. We will be at regionals competing against the best in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Alabama. Only the top 3 teams and individuals will be permitted to move on to the CrossFit Games in California. I will do my best to update the website and Facebook page with pictures and news as it comes in. Thank you all for the well wishes and support from the home front!

Israel and Rio’s son Mateo

I hope everyone had a great weekend and are ready to get things going today! We will have a short week this week so we will need to hit the ground running hard for the next four days. Just a reminder that the gym will be closed for Regional competition Friday-  Monday.

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For all those interested in having their Body Composition measured in “The BOD POD,” it will be here Wednesday from 4pm-7pm. The cost is a discounted $35 a person and goes directly to the BOD POD folks. If you would like to be a part of this, please sign up for a time slot on the board by Wednesday. As a side note, you do not need to eat, drink anything or workout 2 hours prior of testing. You will also need to bring a bathing suit or tight workout clothes to change into for testing. For more  info on this please see Kris at the gym!

6pm Group

Please remember that this week will be a little shorter than usual. We will be closed Friday and the following Monday for the Regional Qualifier held in Jacksonville Florida. Only 30 teams and 60 individuals were given the opportunity to go compete this year through an online competition. World Camp is fortunate enough to have one team and one individual (Rio Landa) who qualified to go. More on this in the next few days!

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Just in time for Triathlon season, Shelby has added some time slots to her schedule and is now taking on clients looking to improve their endurance and running technique. If you would like more information on endurance training, please contact us here at World Camp!

Saturday Group

Great job to everyone who came out today! See you all back here Monday!

Oly is pretty drained after a tough WOD!

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Meet Oly, the heir to the gym dog throne here at World Camp. Oly was born about 7 weeks ago and is already weighing in around the 9lb. mark. He is one of  four sons of Saban and Max and has already made his debut at the gym. He will not be a permanent fixture until he is about 12 weeks old seeings how he is still in training. Saban will still be on afternoon duty as soon as she is back from maternity leave, while Oly will be more of a morning guy.

This video is an “oldie but goodie” I found the other day while cleaning out some memory on my laptop. It is amazing to see how much everyone has changed just in the short months since tis video was shot! Enjoy!

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If you would like to purchase a “World Camp Regional Support Shirt” please sign up and put your shirt size on the back board in gym before tomorrow. Thank you again for all of your support!

4pm Group

I would like to apologize for the lack of attention given to our site. We have been super busy around the camp with workouts and Regionals right around the corner. I will make it a priority to have worldcampcf.com updated daily from here on out! Thank you again for all of your support!

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Swim…Bike…Run…CrossFit! Part Two

And I am back from Orlando officially half of an Ironman (or should I say Iron-woman?). Angela Welch and I competed in the Ironman 70.3 Florida at Disney World on Sunday morning. A half ironman consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run for a total distance of 70.3 miles (hence the name).

Despite traditional schedules calling for at least 20 weeks of training, I only had 14 weeks to train for the half. On top of this, I was coming off of 6 weeks on the couch recovering from a broken finger. I was using the CrossFit Endurance method of training which calls for a shorter amount of training but at a higher intensity on top of regular CrossFit classes.

Over the course of those 14 weeks, I did 23 swims averaging 1,186 yards per swim. The longest time I spent in the pool was 32 minutes. I did 21 bike rides averaging 27 miles per ride. I ran 22 times averaging 5.5 miles per run. Finally, I did 42 CrossFit classes. As for the number of brick workouts that I did where you bike and run immediately afterwards- one…at the St. Anthony’s Triathlon 2 weeks earlier. Would I regret not putting more time into my training? Would I regret not doing bricks which is a staple to any triathlon training schedule?

Much like St. Anthony’s, we awoke to some pretty bad weather. It had stormed all night long and the rain continued to fall up until race time. Our bikes which were left in the transition area overnight were thoroughly soaked. In fact, the race was delayed 20 minutes to let a storm cell pass through.  Needless to say, this didn’t help our pre-race jitters!

The race began with a 1.2 mile swim. The swim was basically an out and back swim, and I kid you not when I say that you practically needed binoculars to see the turn buoy!  My swim went great, and I completed it in 38:10 at a 2:00/ 100m pace. I was not winded and felt like my rate of perceived effort was about 70%.  My interval training in the pool really paid off.

Time for the dreaded bike… Anyone who has talked with me about my training (and some who had the unfortunate luck to just be standing nearby) knows that biking is my weakness. I am simply not a fast biker. This is definitely an area I need to improve on, and I was not looking forward to the 56 miles.  As I mounted my bike, I noticed that my computer which tells me my speed and distance wasn’t working (maybe because of the rain?). I knew I needed to pace myself in order to save my legs for the run so knowing my speed was important. After stopping twice to try to fix it, I gave up and decided to pace myself based on how I felt. The bike took me 3:31:03 at an average speed of 15.8 mph. This was disappointing as I had hoped to average around 17-18 mph. However, my legs felt fine, and my rate of perceived effort was about 65%.  On hindsight, I know I could have pushed it some more.

It was finally time for the run. I had been very apprehensive about this portion of the race despite being a “strong” runner. I had been nursing tendonitis in my knee and plantar fascitis in my foot so I did not put much training into going 13.1 miles hoping to arrive healthy on race day. After all of the concerned looks I received from fellow triathletes regarding my lack of bricks, I was doubting whether I would have a successful run.

Just as with St. Anthony’s, I surprisingly had a total lack of “jelly leg syndrome.” I had just ridden my bike for 56 miles, and my legs felt strong beneath me! Don’t get me wrong- those legs were tired, but usually it takes about a mile or 2 to adjust from the bike to the run. I was able hit the ground running finishing the run in 2:00:43 with a 9:10/ mile pace. My knee and foot started hurting around mile 9, but I was able to run the entire distance only walking through the water stations. My rate of perceived effort was around 70%.

All in all, my total time including transitions was 6:19:14.  My goal had been to finish in 6:30 so I was satisfied with my time (despite knowing I could have done better on the bike. Darn you, bike!). Most importantly, I felt great during the race which cannot be said about some of the folks out on the course. My soreness the day after was minimal and limited to tightness in my bad knee. I even considered doing the CrossFit WOD the day after.

I watched with pride as Angela finished in 6:56:08 with tears streaming down her face. She too felt the benefits of CrossFit as she achieved a life’s goal. Here’s what she had to say:

“As I sit here on the ride home, I’m amazed that I don’t feel more muscle soreness. My joints are stiff, but my muscles feel good. I totally attribute that to CrossFit. I honestly swam, biked, and ran once a week, did a total of 3 bricks, and CrossFit 5-6 times a week. I can only compare it to the 1/2 marathon I ran several years back and couldn’t walk for several days because of muscle soreness. I walk away from Helen or Fran more sore than I am today. I never imagined CrossFit could do that for me. My cardio endurance held out like I never would have imagined! That’s CrossFit, too! The only thing that hurt was the blisters on my pinky toes and my knees and ankles. I know I’m in better shape than ever and I look better than I ever have. I feel great about conquering something so huge!”

Throughout our training, life kept getting in the way for both of us, and Angela and I considered not doing the race several times. We took turns giving each other pep talks! In the end, we knew we would be disappointed if we threw in the towel. After almost 6 hours of solitude, I will always remember seeing Angela ahead of me on a particularly nasty portion of the run. It was around mile 9 when you begin to wonder if this thing is ever going to end, and we were running in the grass with no shade. I will never forget seeing my buddy looking so strong with a smile on her face knowing she was going to cross that finish line. Way to finish strong, Ace!

There is a myth circulated by endurance athletes that says you don’t need strength training in order to be successful at endurance events.  I have trained for endurance events the “old way” and have trained for them the CrossFit way. Any non-CrossFitting athlete would have probably laughed at my training schedule. Where were the 75 minute pool workouts? Where were the long slow distance runs gradually building up to 13.1 miles? Where were the hours of training to make sure I did at least 3 swims, 3 bikes, and 3 runs a week?

For those athletes reading this who doubt the power of CrossFit, I guarantee you will see an improvement in your performance if you add strength training and high intensity in the form of CrossFit to your schedule. Not only that, you will come to love the camaraderie of group workouts as opposed to the loneliness of pounding the pavement by yourself. Take this from a girl who didn’t even like to do group runs at one time!

As for World Campers, trust in the overall conditioning Kris has given you with his incredible CrossFit programming. Try something new. Test yourself and see where your body can take you. Sign up for your first 5k or sprint triathlon. You have plenty of support at World Camp to help you reach your goals. I write this report and discuss my training and performance not to get any accolades or pats on the back. I write it so that hopefully you can see that you too can do things you might have thought were impossible.

I had looked at this race as a test of my overall fitness, not a test as to how well I could swim, bike, or run. Thanks to World Camp CrossFit and the methods advocated by CrossFit Endurance, I completed my first half ironman feeling strong and feeling good. Hmmm… What should I do next?

-Shelby Levy, Endurance Coach

JD and Shelby with their “Post Race recovery drinks.”

This Saturday, Shelby will be putting on a POSE running clinic after the Saturday WOD. Everyone is invited to this FREE clinic!

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I just returned from a beautiful weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida, where the very awesome Jennifer Durden and I competed in the St. Anthony’s Triathlon with almost 3,200 others. St. Anthony’s is an Olympic distance triathlon which consists of a 1.5k swim (.9 miles), 40k bike (24.8 miles), and 10k run (6.2 miles). We were both a bit nervous as we arrived on race day because the wind was gusting at over 20 mph, and Tampa Bay was looking rather choppy. Due to the conditions, it was announced that the swim had been shortened to 1000m (1k) and moved to a somewhat calmer area of the Bay. I think we exchanged high-fives over that!

I was also feeling a little nervous over whether I had trained enough for the race. I last did this race in 2007 after 4 months of nonstop training. This time around I wanted to use the Crossfit Endurance method in which you basically throw out the “long slow distance” training in exchange for short high intensity workouts.  My ultimate goal is to complete a half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 swim) which will take place in 2 weeks, however, I thought St. Anthony’s would be a good test of my endurance in preparation for it.

I started training 3 months ago, and my training has been limited to 2 swims a week averaging about 1200m each, 2 bike rides a week averaging about 25 miles each, barely any running due to a knee injury (from a spin class!) and plantar fascitis in my foot, and of course Crossfit about 4 times a week. My swimming mainly consisted of intervals performed at high intensity with rest in between. I am not a very strong biker so my biking consisted of pedaling as hard as I could for as long as I could. Would this be enough for a decent showing at St. Anthony’s?

I ended up finishing the race in 2:37:23- 10:08 faster than 2007! Yes, the swim was shortened, but I stayed at almost the exact same pace as I had in 2007 in much calmer waters and with a wetsuit (1:47 vs. 1:48).  My bike was slightly slower, however, I am certain that was due to the windy conditions (17.8 mph vs. 18.1 mph). Where I noticed the biggest difference was in the run. Despite hardly logging in any miles due to my injuries, I ran the 10k at a 7:39 pace as opposed to an 8:30 pace in 2007! I have never run a 10k at that pace and certainly not after a 25 mile bike ride. Not only was I faster, but my legs felt so strong that I did not experience one bit of the dreaded “jelly legs” one feels when they go from the bike to the run. I attribute my strong run to the conditioning I have gained from Crossfit WODs and to completely changing my running form to the POSE method of running.

As further evidence of the power of Crossfit, one only needs to look at the incredible performance of Jennifer Durden who completed the race at 3:13:30. Her training consisted of Crossfit WODs, 3 swims, 2 bikes, and no runs. Yes, you read that right. If I ever doubted the power of Crossfit, I don’t anymore. Congratulations, Jen, on an amazing race!

We will see if my training will be enough as fellow Crossfitter Angela Welch joins me in Orlando for  our first “70.3″ on May 15th. I will be sure to give a full report! In the meantime, I hope this will inspire some of you to consider joining the World Camp team for the Georgia Veterans Park Triathlon on August 13th. This is a great laid back Sprint triathlon (400m swim, 13.6 mile bike, 5k run) and is perfect for newbies!

-Shelby Levy, Endurance Coach