Toughest Competitor Alive

6/23/09-Florida Police & Fire Games

Wow, what a fun and unique event this was! I first heard of this competition last fall, and missed the cutoff date for registering. I almost did it again this year, but managed to sneak in at the last minute. I figured my CrossFit training regimen would keep me fairly well-prepared for this competition, but I didn't figure to be able to keep up with the guys that train year-round for this specific event...and I was pretty much right (although I did have a few surprises). It's basically an 8-event competition with a similar scoring method as a decathlon.
The monsoon rains had the event directors shuffling the events around quite a bit, and a few guys mentioned how differently it affected their performances. After the first few events, I was able to start talking with the top guys in my age group, and found out my AG was stacked! I had the top two guys from the 18-29 AG worlds last year, that are now 30; also, the top two from 30-34 worlds last year were here as well, included in that group were the top guys from last year's FLA games. So any thoughts of me sneaking out with a medal quickly went up in flames. Here is a quick (sort of) recap of each event, in order:

20 ' Rope Climb: I didn't even expect to score in this, as I was having trouble when I practiced this event last week at the CrossFit gym. I had :23 to complete the ascent, with the main rule being I cannot use my legs to hold onto the rope. I was really happy to get : 13.5 for my first climb, until I saw everyone else in my AG getting up to the top in under seven seconds. So I tried once again, and did it in about the same amount. Like I said, I was happy just to get some points in this event, but I quickly fell out of contention with this first event.

Three Mile Run: I figured I could cut into some of my defecit with this event, but I was wrong. The course was half-road, half-grass, which didn't do me any favors time-wise. I was still pretty pleased with my 22:08 run time, which gave me the 15th highest run for the day. Unfortunately, I was fourth in my AG. The other three guys finished around the 19:00 mark. Most of the top performers in my AG were small, wiry, military-type built guys that are small and quick.

Bench Press: The rules here were that you were only allowed two attempts, and you have to increase your weight on the second try. I haven't done a 1RM BP in years, and I've only done body-weight BP on a smith machine a handful of times in the past year. Just to make sure I had some points, I did 250# on my first attempt no problem. I was thinking of trying 300# for the points, but since I've never done it before I went with 280#, which would still be my max. I nailed the 280# no problem, and probably could have gotten up the 300# as well. Oh well. I was pleasantly surprised to find out I ended up with the 2nd highest BP for my AG.

100 Yard Swim: The last time I swam was the 2008 Baldwin Park Sprint Tri, June of last year. My plan was to use the Total Immersion swimming method, and not max myself out. Also, I did not want to look like an ass out in the pool. I stayed in the rear of the main group, and ended up with a 1:19.47 for the swim. When I do easy laps, they are in the :55 second range, so averaging :40 per lap for this is quite pleasing-considering the layoff from the pool. I think I ended up 4th or 5th in this event.

16# Shot Put: Given I was bigger than most of the guys in my AG, I thought I might be able to gain some ground with this event. The caveat being I haven't done a shot put since I was in 6th or 7th grade, with my Grandpa coaching me in CYO track. One thing I've learned through CrossFit is how important activation of the hips is, with regards to athletic movements. I gave a practice attempt before I started, and just focused on rapid opening of my hips when I released the shot. Most of the guys in my AG were no better than 35 feet, except for one monster tossing it over 43' (this guy was sick-6'3", 240# solid, and a great all-around athlete. I'm pretty sure he won, plus he's a FF). So I started low, and got a really nice hip "pop" and arm extension...39'3"! Turns out that was 2nd in my AG, but it was also the second-farthest toss of the entire day! Looks like Grandpa Bill's fundamentals are no joke!

Obstacle Course: The obstacle course started with a 140# sled drag/pull for 20 feet, followed by an 8' wall climb. After you scale the wall, you go under a series of 20" hurdles, then to a set of tires (think agility drills), around a set of cones, and then you have to jump over a 36" hurdle. You then turn around and jump three 20" hurdles as you sprint to the finish. The nice thing about this event is that you race two at a time, so you have someone to compete against. Of course, I had the guy that set the AG record at this event last year-WTF! Anyways, I had a minute miscue on the wall climb, which put me behind the guy I was racing. I caught up to him on the high jump, as I cleared the 3' hurdle no problem, and he tripped on the way down. He edged me out on the sprint, but my time was probably 3rd highest in my AG at :35.0.

Max Pullups: I wasn't too excited about these, as the original rules call for dead-hang pullups (no kipping). The event director said she would accept kipping for today, which made me happy; however, the free-standing PU bar they used was kind of flimsy. Most of the top guys in my AG were doing 28-40, and I was hoping for somewhere in the 25-30 range. Once I got on the bar and started moving more than I thought on my kips, I knew it wasn't happening. I ended up with 19 pullups, which erased any hopes I had of placing top three. My arms were pretty shot after the rope climbs, swimming, shot put, bench press, and wall climb.

100 Meter Dash: I had no clue what to expect from my tired-a$$ legs with this event. After the obstacle course, I had quite a bit of relaxing time in the AC of the weight room for the pullup portion of the day. When we went to the track one more time, my hips and legs were tight. I spent some time stretching out, working on my start, and just wanted to finish the day without ripping a hammy. My heat was all the top guys in my AG, so I had a good idea as to where I'd finish. My start was a little slow (although it seemed like two guys in my heat enjoyed a head start), but I kept my strides short and fast the first 50m. Once I opened my stride for the second half, I was surprised I was able to reel in a few guys. My finish time was :13.5, good enough for 4th or 5th (I'm pretty sure myreal time was :13.2, because they gave that time to the guy next to me-who I finished slightly ahead of). I was going to say something, but I didn't want to sound like a douche to these kind volunteers who have been outside all day with us. If I find out I missed 3rd place by like ten points, then I'll regret it.

I hung out after the event for about twenty minutes, but they weren't even close to finishing hand-calculating the totals. I figured I didn't medal, and they were finished with a rough draft of mine and told me I had 4th place....and no I wasn't even close to the bronze medal, either. Once I got home, I was able to calculate my score. My estimated total score is 5262, which seems about right. According to the past year's results, 5262 is still a few hundred points away from the podium. Still not bad for the new guy....
I was able to talk with quite a few guys about their training, and discovered many started specifically training for this event in March/April. Suffice to say, they weren't pleased to hear me say that I just started doing a few things as prep with ONE WEEK OUT! Ha! Not to mention that I haven't swam in a year, thrown a shot since the mid 80s, ran a 100m dash, or set up an obstacle course.
One of the other competitors told me that the World Police/Fire Games are usually held in Orlando, at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex every year. Maybe I'll see how my schedule looks in late-September, and perhaps I can dedicate two weeks of prep for the event!