Another CrossFit Games Surprise

So here I am, in my hotel, in Long Beach, California on the eve of the CrossFit Games. Well, at least it should have been the eve of the Games.

The previous four CrossFit Games have started on Friday morning and run until Sunday. But if you know anything about he RCF Games, it’s that they always have at least one surprise up their sleeve. This year, it was that the Games were starting on Wednesday and that they were doing a mini triathlon.

On Monday, Games Director Dave Castro announced that the athletes would be competing in a triathlon at Camp Pendleton, the West Coast Marine training facility. They had to complete at a 700m swim in the Pacific Ocean, wearing flippers, which was then followed by a 8km bike ride across rugged terrain on a one speed mountain bike, and finished by a 11.3km hike/run through the Pendleton hills. And if that wasn’t enough, after a bit of a break, they then had to run the Pendleton Obstacle Course, head to head in a bracket style elimination competition.

WOW.

In my opinion, this twist is three-fold.

1. How the athletes are ready for it mentally.
   A lot of the athletes weren’t expecting a swim last year and didn’t fair out so well, so that could play in their head. But besides that, starting the Games two days earlier than you mentally prepared for can also do a number on you. If you have it set in your head that you’re preparing for the biggest event of your life for Friday and then it gets switched on you, that can mess you up.
2. How they trained physically.
   This has now become about endurance. Did they train for an endurance race? The run alone took most over 2 hours. If you told me tomorrow that I had to run 11km, uphill, I’d probably bitch slap you!
3. And how they are able to recover and rest.
   What kind of number did Wednesday do to their bodies? How fast will they recover? Did they injure themselves? Are they supplementing properly?

Thursday was a rest day for the athletes and the games resume Friday. I hope they took their vitamins and got some beauty sleep because it’s going to be a hell of a weekend and I can’t wait to be there cheering all of them on.

Thursday was also a rest day for me. After a long-ass day of travel on Wednesday where we were in 4 airports in 12 hours and flew about 5,000km, we had a well deserved day to relax and see some sights in Long Beach. We’ve never been to California before so this was great.

We had lunch with the amazing CEO of FitFluential, Miss Kelly Olexa, we walked along the Shoreline Village down to the beach and hung out in the sand for a bit.

For the next three days, thanks to GNC and FitFluential, I’m going to be Tweeting, Facebooking and Instagramming pics, tweets and updates from the Games using the hashtags #CrossFitGNC and #2012RCFGames.

I’m beyond competitive and I thrive on sports and fitness and I can’t wait for all of this to start.

Will you be tuning into The Games this weekend?

Have you ever competed in anything that got your heart and adrenaline pumping? What’s the toughest thing you’ve done physically and mentally?

Source: http://www.yourinnerskinny.ca/another-crossfit-games-surprise/