When I recapped the King and Queen competition last year, I changed up the format that I typically use for these blog posts. Rather than droning on and on about how many reps I did before I took a 45 second break that may or may not have included an internal pep talk or an argument with the other voices in my head, I simply took myself out of the equation. My performance last year was miserable and I preferred to write about all of the outstanding performances that I witnessed instead.
Well, it happened again. So I'm returning to that format.
The only redeeming thing I did at King and Queen was give up my spot in the final heat to someone who was much more deserving of it. (Okay, that may not be 100% true. Other redeeming things I did included making sure the scoring for the competition was updated quickly throughout the day and winning some cash in an online handicapping tournament that took place that afternoon.) Not that I didn't appreciate the faith Jason had in me when he originally placed me there, but I was going to get whooped badly by everyone in that heat. Dave H was mistakenly left off the initial heat list and he wanted to compete against Rich, so I let him have my spot. (Note: 7 of the 8 people in the final heat made the podium. The only one who didn't was Michal and she hasn't done Crossfit in a very long time. Instead she has spent most of her time concentrating on Olympic lifts, which explains why she would end up winning her weight class at the Bridgeport Barbell Classic a week later.)
Where would I go? Well there was a vacancy in heat three that I could fill instead. That allowed me to compete with my bald rival, Chris D. I guess I am using the word "compete" loosely because he went on to clobber me as well. How bad was it? Before the competition began, I learned that I was one of the elder statesmen in the crowd, tying Jackie and Alona for having participated in the most King and Queen's, this one being our fourth. And yet somehow I managed to have my worst finish. All five guys who were on the podium last year decided not to participate this year and I still could not do better than 14th. Pretty terrible.
So let's get into all the good stuff. Hell, let's just jump right in with the best part of the day:
Cline deserves a King and Queen Lifetime Achievement Award for this outfit
He didn't compete in that outfit because he would have died (have I mentioned that it is a touch warm in our gym?). But he certainly raised the bar when it comes to making a fashion statement at King and Queen.
Event #1 was called Rampage and it goes a little something like this... (hit it!)
"Rampage"
50 deadlifts (135/95)
followed by
21-15-9
Box jumps (24"/20")
Barbell-facing burpees
followed by
50 deadlifts
Time cap: 10 minutes
Do you know who crushed this workout in the early heats? Chris, of course. After telling me that he was definitely going to break up the deadlifts, he cruised through all 50 of them to kick off the workout, eventually getting through 26 more at the end before the time cap hit. Only three guys and three gals would finish this workout under the time cap. For the guys, Dave H let it be known right from the start that he was the Dave that belonged in the final heat, winning the event with a time of 8:40, leaving JP in second place, and Dave's rival Rich in third. For the gals, Pam gave notice early on that she intended to keep her crown, winning the event with a time of 8:10. Her bestie Becky came in second, while rookie Ashley came in third.
Chris is already on the freakin box jumps!
Event #2 was called Bring Out Your Dead. Here's the explanation:
"Bring Out Your Dead"
- Move 1,000/700 pounds from one end of the gym to the other, one object at a time
- Your score is how much weight you can return to its original spot
- Time cap: 7 minutes
Well that was the original explanation on how this event would be run. As the event was being explained after Rampage had concluded, a whole new set of rules was put into place. So once again, I give you Bring Out Your Dead:
"Bring Out Your Dead" (v2)
- Move 1,000/700 pounds from one end of the gym to the other, carrying no more than two objects at a time
- Your score is how many objects you can return to their original spot, regardless of weight
- The tiebreaker is how quickly you moved all of the objects to the opposite end of the gym before bringing them back
- Time cap: 7 minutes
The stars of the show in this event were John McHugh and Ashley. Neither of them won, but they definitely showed more passion in this event than anyone else. John was blazing up and down the gym, but he didn't catch the rule changes that had been put in place before the event. So after being one of the fastest to move all of the objects to one end of the gym, he started bringing back all of the heavy stuff first. Had the original rules stayed in place, he would have been very close to a first place finish (he had 6 items left, but they were all of the lightest items). Instead he got third behind Dave H and JP, who only left his 100 pound plate down at the wrong end of the gym.
Ashley was also moving at a torrid pace and while she didn't have any problems with the rule change, she did have some issues when it came to organization. When I did this event, I probably took a little too much time dropping off my items in piles so that I knew where the light stuff was, allowing me to get those things back first (remember, weight no longer mattered). Ashley was the polar opposite. When she brought her objects down the gym the first time, she simply dumped them and ran back for more. She had a very strong tiebreaker time when she dropped off the last of her objects at the opposite end of the gym, but she soon realized she had a problem on her hands. Her area looked like a building after a mortar strike. She began picking through the pile trying to figure out what would be quickest to carry back down the gym. Not knowing what to grab cost her as she ended up getting 11th in this event after having the 4th fastest tiebreaker time.
Ashley before things got messy at the other end
The winner of event #2 for the ladies? Pam. The reigning Queen was not in a giving mood. Someone was going to have to rip that crown off of her head. And so far no one was up to the challenge. Theresa grabbed the runner-up spot in this event, with Jen S taking third.
Since there were only three events before the final this year, it was time to take inventory of where everyone stood before Event #3:
King competition: JP and Dave H were tied for first, with Rich back in third. Kevin had a slim hold on fourth, just two points ahead of Josh, Cline, and Chris, who were all tied for fifth. Mike Sim. was lurking just behind that group.
Queen competition: Pam was in the lead, Theresa was in second, with Becky in third. Jen was in fourth with Alona right behind her. Ashley, Michal, and Danielle were still in striking range to get one of the five spots in the final WOD.
(I know I'm completely biased, but I was insanely proud of how well my Dudes After Dark buddies were doing. Two of them tied for fifth? Impressive stuff!)
Event #3 would decide who got to stand on the podium and who got to drink beer while those suckers on the podium had to do another workout. It was called Ascension to the Throne.
"Ascension to the Throne"
AMRAP in 15 minutes
15 calories on the rower
20 push press (45/33)
25 KB swings (53/35)
(You can only imagine how excited I was to do this event after my recent KB EMOM debacle, but it actually went better than I expected it to.)
Before the finalists for this year's competition were decided, the Masters had an opportunity to get in on the fun. Six of our Masters athletes led the way and showed us how this workout was done by participating in the first heat. It was a great effort by all of them, but Jodilee would finish with the best score as Anne edged out Terry for the runner-up spot.
The Masters crew knocking out a round of push presses
It wasn't much later before my day mercifully came to an end. I actually spent a good portion of the last event yelling at Chris, who was in the lane next to me. I knew he needed a very high score in this event to make it to the finals and I wanted to do everything I could to help him get there. Danielle kept her dreams of making the finals alive by winning our heat, putting up the top ladies score with 4 heats to go. During the next heat, I cheered on Luis (my hydration buddy for the day). I also cheered on Matt E and Kevin who put up very strong scores in this event. But no one topped our summer intern in that heat. Sarina held nothing back in her final event of the day.
That is how you get some KB swings done!
The third-to-last heat featured the two guys I'd choose for my team if we ever had a rowing competition at the gym: Josh and Cline. Josh would establish the new top score for the guys, one that would hold up over the last two heats as well. Cline fell short of Kevin's score, meaning that there would be no Dudes After Dark representatives in the finals. But Jen could still be part of the final five as she only trailed Danielle with two heats remaining.
The second-to-last heat provided some shakeup on the ladies side as Ashley, Alison, and Alona set the new top three scores in the event, a result that was likely enough to eliminate Danielle from a spot in the final WOD. There were no changes on the guys side, although Joe C's score was second best only to Josh with one heat remaining.
The final heat was the Queen Pam show once again. Her spot in the final WOD was already safe unless she decided to go day drinking in lieu of participating in the third event. Unfortunately for the other women competing, she wouldn't be drinking for another hour or so. Pam took her third straight event, while Becky came in fourth, knocking Alona down one spot. On the guys side, JP knocked Joe C down to 3rd in the event, a position he would share with Mike Sim., who came up with a big performance when he needed it. Dave H would tie Kevin for fifth in the event.
What did all of that mean? It meant there were some super close races for the last spot in the final WOD. For the guys, Josh's win in Ascension to the Throne moved him up to 3rd place, just ahead of Rich as JP and Dave H would enter the final WOD as the only two mathematically alive to become this year's King. The fifth spot would go to....Mike Sim., who edged out Kevin by a single point to make it to the finals.
On the ladies side, there was nothing left to figure out except the minor awards. Pam's dominance in winning all three events up to this point meant she could not be overtaken in the final WOD, no matter what her four competitors did in that event. Becky and Theresa were in a battle for second. Ashley's performance in the last event jumped her up to 4th. And in 5th place...we had a tie. We often jokingly refer to Jen and Alona as Jelona because they are constantly together, making them seem like one entity sometimes. That may have never been more true than on this day as they finished the first three events with the same exact score. In Crossfit events, the tiebreaker goes to the athlete who had the highest placing in an event. That meant Jen, with a 3rd place finish in Bring Out Your Dead, would be moving on to the final WOD.
Final WOD: The WOD That Has No Name
21 thrusters (95/65)
21 pull-ups
15 overhead squats (115/75)
15 chest-to-bar pull-ups
9 power cleans (135/95)
9 rope climbs (15')
Time cap: 12 minutes
Chris and I were in love with this final workout. We would have gladly done this over any of the three WODs we had completed. Chris probably liked it because of all of the pull-ups involved, whereas I was fond of it because I firmly believe that all workouts should end with 9 rope climbs.
The ladies went first and I'm not sure there is much point in recapping it. You know who won. It is one thing to defend your title. It is an entirely different thing to go undefeated while doing so. An amazing performance by Pam, winning all four events and showing that she truly is the Queen of our gym. Theresa would finish second in this event, leapfrogging her over Becky for second place overall. Prior to this WOD, Theresa had never done a chest-to-bar pull-up. So she tried it in the middle of this intense workout and knocked out 15 of them. Go figure. Rounding out the podium spots were Ashley (4th in the final, 4th overall) and Jen (5th in the final, 5th overall).
For the guys, a very determined Josh got out to a lead and held on until the end, although the pack began to catch him in the final minute. No athlete (male or female) came closer to finishing this workout than Josh did, as he completed 8 out of 9 rope climbs. He made a couple of attempts at that 9th rope climb, but his gas tank had hit empty. Rich steadily closed the gap on him, but he would finish second in this event, 2 rope climbs short of finishing. JP was third, Mike was fourth, and Dave was 5th. That meant JP would become the new King of the gym, edging out Josh who won the last two events to finish as the runner-up. Dave would be third overall, Rich would be fourth, with Mike rounding out the podium.
The 2016 Court at KOP
That was it for this year's King and Queen. Of the four years I have competed in this event, this was the largest turnout ever, yet it also might have run smoother than any of the other editions that I was a part of. Aimee and Jason did a great job putting this together and the judges did a fantastic job throughout the day.
Congrats once again to this year's King and Queen: JP and Pam!
Monday preview: You can choose to not listen to your body, but make no mistake about it, your body will eventually force you to listen.
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