Day 1 of Individual competition at Regionals is fittingly labeled as ‘HERO Friday’. In that same vein, day 2 is being promoted as ‘Moving Day’.
EVENT 3
For time:
1-mile run
50 overhead squats (135 / 95 lb.)
100 GHD sit-ups
150 double-unders
50 sumo deadlift high pulls (135 / 95 lb.)
100 box jump overs (24 / 18 in.)
Time cap: 26 minutes
EVENT 4
For time:
Handstand walk 250 ft.
Time cap: 3 minutes
Event 5 begins 1 minute and 40 seconds after this event ends.
EVENT 5
1-rep-max snatch
Each athlete will have two 20-second windows to attempt the lift with 80 seconds rest between windows.
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Well now—moving day indeed. If you think that events 4 and 5 sound familiar, that’s because they are. During the 2014 Regionals, event 1 was a 1-rep max hang squat snatch, immediately followed by event 2—a max distance handstand walk (3-minute time cap). In 2015, those two movements are reversed, and instead of shooting for distance on the handstand walk, athletes will need to move 250ft on their hands for time. So now it’s not just a question of technique, but also pace. In addition, each lane will be marked at 10-foot increments. If the athlete comes down at any point during their walk, he or she must restart from the last increment they crossed. That small rule could prove devastating for a number of athletes—though it’s not as worrying as last year, where athletes could only fall from their hands twice before their total distance was counted.
Almost immediately following event 4 is the 1-rep-max snatch, which will be sure to fire up the crowds in attendance at every Regional. However, keep in mind that athletes will have already completed 4 events up to this point, and it is the last event of day 2, coming just 100 seconds after the handstand walk. Needless to say, there are going to be a lot of fatigued shoulders out there. In that sense, event 5 is not a ‘true’ 1-rep-max snatch—athletes will need to be smart about what starting weight they choose (seeing as they only have two attempts) to make sure they can register at least one score. Two failed lifts will surely deny an athlete the chance to qualify for the Games. Another important point to make is that only two athletes in one heat may lift at a time. This means that athletes will be able to gauge what weight they need to hit based on their competitors numbers, making event 5 a game of strategy.
Speaking on the CrossFit Games Update Show, Tommy Marquez suggested that experience would prevail for events 4 and 5. As such, his picks for the top performers in the two events are Ben Smith and Camille Leblanc-Bazinet.
Day 2 will begin with event 3, and there’s plenty to discuss here. To begin, athletes will have to perform a 1-mile run. Now running at the Regionals is nothing new, but it’s always been short distances up and down the competition floor. To combat this, the CrossFit Games staff have brought in a new piece of equipment for the 2015 Regionals—the TrueForm treadmill.
“Very few athletes have run on a TrueForm, and very few athletes will have thought that they’d have to run 1 mile at Regionals. The TrueForm is a bit different than other treadmills as it doesn’t have a motor, so to keep the belt moving you have to generate momentum with your legs—you’re pulling it the whole time. So you’re going to get off that thing winded AND fatigued in the legs, and then you immediately have to go to a barbell and perform 50 overhead squats.”
-Pat Sherwood, speaking on the CrossFit Games Update Show
The other interesting movement in event 4 is the sumo deadlift high pull. While not an uncommon movement in many athletes’ programming, we’ve only seen them performed once in the CrossFit Games season for individuals (2011 Games), and never at Regionals. It should be interesting to see how athletes handle the sumo deadlift high pull, as well as the judges—it’s not the easiest movement to evaluate. Make no mistake, a lot of people are going to be gassed by the end of event 3. As Pat Sherwood points out, how people perform in this event is going to be very indicative of who performs well over the course of the whole weekend.
Stay tuned for the final events of individual competition at the 2015 CrossFit Regionals!
Photo courtesy of CrossFit Inc.
