It’s crazy to think the Open is actually over! That 5 weeks went very very quickly. I have to say, this has been my favorite Open season yet. I think it’s because the gym was bumpin’ every Friday, and I got to see so many athletes absolutely crushing workouts they never thought they could do. It might seem silly or even crazy to do a 5-week long competition like this as an adult, but it was so much fun and worth all the sweat (blood and tears) that went into it. Thank you all for riding along with me and putting your all into every single workout.
This week the workout was the lung-burner we’ve been waiting for. I think most of us entered the pain cave around minute 2, and the fire-breathing didn’t stop until it was all over. Lots of pain, lots of misery, lots of fun.
Matt and Marijke said “this week was nice and simple to score because everyone worked for the same amount of time! We took total reps and applied a modifier based on how challenging the level you completed was — Rx (2:1), Scaled + (1.5:1), Scaled Check Plus (1.05:1) and Scaled (1:1). We ended up adding a bonus Scaled ~ level to compensate for folks who did jumping pull ups but with a heavier weight.” I am taking the blame for the S ~ people because I had stupidly written the wrong thing into WODify. Doh!!!
WOWIE ZOWIE AMELIA. She literally did 100 more reps than most of the Rx crew, and it got her to to the top spot! Great job Amelia, it was crazy to watch you move that fast. Also most of Cirque du Sore Legs and 3 Pats and a Bahe-by ended up in the top 20 this week, so it should be no surprise that they are the overall best teams! I also have to point out that my own life partner Josh Kaplan got into the top 20 for the first time this week, pretty proud of that dude.
OK I know what you’re thinking, but I promise I didn’t rig the spreadsheet. I technically won the Open! Moment of excitement for myself before I announce the actual winners. This was the first year I purposely trained for the Open. Normally I just do my thing and don’t worry about whether my skills match up to the Open. But this year, I trained alongside Becky Kane and Alex Fink since the end of the 2017 Open, explicitly trying to get better at the skills we usually see. It paid off in a big way, because I was actually able to do the workouts at Rx with confidence, for the first time in the 8+ years I have been doing CrossFit. If you’re interested in training with us, give me a shout! It’s a bigger commitment, we usually do 2 hours per day, 5-6 days per week, but if that sounds fun to you, let me know and you are welcome to try it with us.
On to the more important details! Coaches are not eligible to win the team challenge, so here are the top 20 athletes!
YAY! Good job Tamra, you are amazing. Pat Staiger just joined us a few months ago and then crushed the workouts. WAY. TO. GO. Everyone on this top 20 list put their heart and soul into finishing all 5 of the gruesome workouts that were thrown at us, and deserve a major round of applause for their hard work. To win a top-20 spot, you also had to complete all 5 workouts, so there were a couple people who did really well on some workouts but didn’t finish all of them so they don’t show up on this list.
On the team side of things, no surprise that 3 Pats and a Bahe-by came out on top! I really wanted them to fall from grace this last workout so Cirque du Sore Legs could come back like an underdog story to claim the spot, but sometimes a team is just too good to beat. Congrats! You are the District 1 of this team competition, but you dang-well earned it!
Here are the overall prize winners for the 2018 Open:
Top Athlete: Tamra Hoy
Top Team: 3 Pats and a Bahe-by
Spirit of The Open: Jenessa White
The Spirit of the Open award is my favorite to give away each year. It goes to the person who shows up, gives it their best and really carries their teammates. A lot of people did that this year, but no one as well as Jenessa. She came on Fridays ready to pump up every single athlete that competed. She was there rooting people on even when she had already completed the workout earlier in the day. She even woke up and went to an early morning class to cheer on a teammate! Jenessa is a born team-player. She has strong leadership skills, is smart as heck and always knows the right thing to say to get you excited or keep you moving during a workout. She was basically Solcana Team Captain throughout the Open this year, and deserves so much praise. Thank you Jenessa for bringing the heat every week and making people feel valued and seen. You are a boss.
Tamra, Jenessa, Pat, Pat, Pat and Ryan, you can come get your prizes in my office on Friday. Congrats on being so awesome!
Stats from 18.5
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80 out of 102 registered athletes completed the workout.
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We had 15 athletes complete the workout RX, 12 athletes do S+ and 53 athletes do Scaled.
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The average score raw score for Rx was 82, S+ was 97, and S was 114 reps.
Shout-outs from 18.5 and Beyond:
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Coach Hannah: “I was so proud watching my teammates Jade and Amelia working so hard throughout the open. Amelia did super well in every workout, and Jade pushed herself to the absolute limit by trying the most difficult versions of the standards, even when they were still pretty new to her. Our 4th teammate Jeanne came every week to support us even though she was injured, but her presence was so valuable! I also have to mention that I am so impressed by Sharifa, who just joined us and really didn’t know what was going on with the open, but signed up anyway and did a a great job every week!”
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Coach Ryan: “I thought Jade and Kira really pushed themselves outside of their comfort zones. Especially Kira. She kept taking on Rx week after week and that is not usually how she approaches workouts, so it was great to see her go for it! Sophie was great and has really embraced the Open as well as the whole gym. Matt E kept showing up week after week and I kept thinking, you’re here again!? I though you hated this cardio stuff… He even redid 18.2. Got 1 second faster and 0 lbs in the clean. He went through all that extra pain for basically no reason. Lastly, Nicole C and Mike G found a groove together in FNL and it’s been fun really to watch them push each other.”
There are so many more shout-outs to be given because every single person who participated put their best foot forward. This week is filled with fun partner workouts so you can have fun and celebrate each other before we start a new strength cycle. Congratulations on your hard work everyone!