London Throwdown

Myself and Spencer hit the road around 0800. I have to admit a heavy night before didn't help me getting out I bed but I sucked it up. Got to the gym and set off for Brunel Indoor Athletics Centre via Fleet services and a cheeky bacon roll.

We eventually navigated our way through abandoned cars (well 1 at least) parked up and mosey'd on down to the event. We tipped up at the desk to claim out tickets. Spencer was on the list but I wasn't and I paid but luckily my charm and good looks broke the ice and got me in ;).

I missed last year so seeing the event in the flesh was a nice Surprise. Having been to the DWF 3 years running I was impressed by the standard of organisation and the venue. With a stand that must have been able to sit 1000 people, a lovely warm up area that easily catered for all the athletes needs and a shopping area that was every crossfitters wet dream I had no complaints an DWF could take a leaf from the organisers.

When it came to the competition our own Dave Allen was competing in his first ever CrossFit event. When looking at the events prior to the weekend Dave had his wheelhouse basically rehoused at LTD2013.

Event 1, A 1km row to start saw a 3:05 time for Dave and an overall position of 19th. A great start!

Event 2 was a little triplet with Kettlebell swings double Unders and up/downs. Again something that we were pleased to see. 5 and a half rounds with a hand full of missed reps moved us down to 37th overall but still respectable and on course for day 2.

Event 3 was the make or break event. With strength never being a major part of Dave's pre CrossFit life the Olympic lifts have never been a priority equally dave was a handstand hold virgin up until the Tuesday before the comp. After 32 pull ups in 2 mins, a 4.8 second handstand hold and snatch total of 140 and clean total of 185 we slipped down the field to 80th. We needed something special from day 2 :s

Day 2

Now overhead squats are a pain even with fresh shoulders. Throw 70kg on the bar and a whole day competing and your in for a cheeky WOD that involved lateral bear crawls and overheads. Dave hit a wall. His shoulders not knowing weather they were still attached or not and a bear crawl akin to a toddler roll meant our comp was over for this year with a final standing of 115.

A great couple of days an a massive learning curve for not only Dave but myself as a coach and program writer. We will learn out lessons and start preparing for The CrossFit Open in March.