Anna Tunnicliffe- Final two days of the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games
by Anna Tunnicliffe on 28 Jul 2014
Anna Tunnicliffe, 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games Anna Tunnicliffe
http://www.annatunnicliffe.com
Twice Rolex Sailor of the Year and Olympic Gold medalist, Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) alternates between sailing aboard Alinghi in the Extreme Sailing Series, and chasing a serious ranking in the world of CrossFit.
She skipped sailing aboard the Extreme 40 Alinghi in the Extreme Sailing Series in St Petersburg, Russia. But she will be back aboard as tactician for the next regatta in Wales
Born in England, Tunnicliffe moved to USA at the age of 12, and pursued a promising track career before giving that away in favour of sailing, where she won a Gold Medal in the Womens Singlehander in 2008 and won the Womens Match Racing event at the 2011 ISAF World Championships in Perth. She represented USA in that event at the 2012 Olympics but did not make the medal podium.
CrossFit is becoming increasingly popular amongst sailors as a way of physically preparing for the sport, as it is less monotonous than other physical training processes and better replicates the physical sailing activities on board a racing boat.
July 26th, 2014, Carson, CA
Yesterday was a long day with 4 events for the individual athletes. I apologize for not writing last night but we didn't get home until late and then after recovery and food, it was a bit late to be posting. For me, yesterday didn't go as well as I would have liked it to. But I gave my best and that's what I promised I would do.
The first event of the day was called the Muscle Up Biathalon. The way it worked was we had to run a 400m loop, then do 18 Muscle Ups, run 400m, do 15 Muscle Ups, run 400m, do 12 Muscle Ups. That doesn't sound too bad as a biathlon, but then you add in the punishment if you broke up the muscle ups. Every time you came off the rings, you had to run a 200m loop as a punishment.
With the WOD starting with the run, I wasn't very fast getting back to the rings, but I felt good hopping on the rings for the Muscle Ups. I started, and got a no rep on my first one. Ok I thought, just really over emphasize the movement. The second one passed. The third one, again a no rep...not a great way to start a movement where you have 45 reps to do and they are not one of your best movements. Needlesstosay, I was back running rather quickly and then I did sets of 4-5 Muscle Ups to make it through as fast as I could. I hit the time cap so didn't get to finish the WOD. I knew it would be a tall order to finish it but I was disappointed with how many reps I had left. But again, I gave it everything so that's all I can do.
From there, we had about an hour break before our next WOD, the Object Carry. We had to sprint 100m, carry back a 60# cylinder, sprint 100m, carry back an 80# sandbag, sprint 100m and carry back a 100# cylinder. I'll just leave this WOD with what it was. It hurt a lot.
After this event, we had to wait in the tunnel, the area that connects the two stadiums while the men completed the object carry. From there we went into the tennis stadium where Dave Castro announced the final two WODs for the night.
After the announcement, we headed right to the athlete briefing area where we were told the standards and details of the WODs, then given 10 minutes to warm up before we headed back onto the field.
The first WOD was a fun WOD but I made a big mistake which cost me. It was a sprint clean ladder. We had to move through five weights as fast as possible for time. The top 24 times moved onto the semi finals. The first five weights were 155, 160, 165, 170, 175. I was moving quite well through them but when I got to the final weight I caught it wrong on my shoulders and ended up dropping it. I had to re-pick it up and that cost me the 5 seconds I needed to get into the semi finals. I was furious about this event because it was just a silly mistake. I need all the points I can get at this point and I gave away a lot of points on this event just being careless!
The final event of the evening was a strict hand stand push up, sled pull combination. With each round, the number of hand stands and the deficit on the handstand pushups got bigger and bigger and the sleds got heavier and heavier. It was a fun event. I told myself to go in and have fun and do the best I can. I had been working on my handstands since Regionals and they have improved significantly.
Round one started with 7 handstand pushups. I managed to get the first 7 done in a row, and then pulled my sled across the floor. The next round required 8. I went back to the push up wall and hit 4 and then 2 and 2. Went back across the floor and pulled my sled down. Round 3 had 9 push ups. I hit the first three, then 2, then finished the last four as singles. Again pulled my sled across the floor and went back for the final 10 push ups. I knew I had to take my time on these to try and finish them. They were going OK in the beginning. I was taking it one at a time and then around number 4-5, I started to struggle. I would hit one then fail one or two times. I eventually got to 9 with one left and a minute left on the clock but just couldn't get it done. But I wasn't too upset about this one as I knew they were one of my weaknesses but I could see my improvement in them.
Today is the final day. We have one announced event so far, the Midline March and then the rest of the day will be announced after that WOD is complete. Today, my goal is to climb back up to the top 20. I don't know where I sit but I'm pretty confident that it's not top 20, so I'm going to give it my all and have fun and shoot for that.
You can follow along live online and see scores and updates at the event website
Thanks everyone for their amazing support! And, I have to thank my sponsors Inov-8, Skins, NormaTec, SpiderTech, Theromega Sports, RxSmartGear and FitAid for your continued support! #committed.
Thanks for the cheers,
Anna
4D's: Dream;Desire;Dedication;Determination SM
3P's: Passion...Progression...Perfection SM
Quick Update: Sunday, 27 July 2014
We finished up the 2014 CrossFit Games with the final 3 events. I gave it my all, made the final cut and finally finished 22nd overall.
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