Training for Wodapolooza
To qualify for Wodapolooza, Rachel and her team needed to complete 10 workouts in 10 days this past October, and submit videos of their performance along with their scores. Additionally, to train, the team practiced CrossFit workouts, strength training, Olympic Lifting, swimming, and track workouts together for 4 months, 5 days per week.
“All 3 of us are former collegiate athletes. I was a triathlete, Caitlin was a sprinter in track, and Heather was a softball player. We balance each other well. I’m the slow-twitch, long-distance junky, Caitlin is fast and explosive with short to mid-distance workouts, and Heather is strong as an ox.”
This was the team’s first time competing in such a large-scale CrossFit competition, which attracts internationally-ranked CrossFit athletes from all over the world. Rachel, Caitlin and Heather know the importance of teamwork and pushing each over to achieve their goals. At SHIFT, we are always emphasizing that to accomplish your goals, you can’t do it alone.
The Results!
Rachel illustrated the scope of the competition, noting that there were 9 workouts the team competed in throughout the course of the weekend. The first of which was a 7K run at 6am, where they took 1st place in their Division! The second workout, “nicely sandwiched in the middle of a 7k run,” was a 1 mile run with a 50lb sandbag on each of their backs. The team took “a proud 3rd” for that workout.
The SHIFT team took a range of places in the other workouts, which included races against the clock for combinations of movements like: rope climbs, lunges with a buddy on their back, sled pushes, synchronized pull-ups, an open water ocean swim, heavy sandbag cleans and carries, tandem deadlifts, snatches, cleans, double-unders, and more.
The team finished the weekend in 17th place! We’re so proud of Rachel and her team. Congratulations on finishing with 17th in their Division, which consisted of 36 Teams! Just under 1500 athletes competed, total.