“Madison. is. awesome. It feels like a really big small town… or a really small big town. Madison was welcoming to the CrossFit community during the Games. Buildings downtown had huge, life-size cutouts of Games athletes in the windows, restaurants had specialized paleo menus, bars had lists of “clean” drinks—it was a really cool new vibe. Looking forward to at least two more years in Madtown.”
“If you grew up riding bikes, you don’t have to think about things like dismounting quickly, when to change gears or pedaling through turns—your body just instinctively does it. Not so for Brooke Wells. Before the Games, Brooke had been on a bike a handful of times, most of which were during Games training this summer. She was uncomfortable physically and mentally on the Cyclocross bike. Not surprisingly, Wednesday’s time trial did not go well for her.
I don’t care how mentally tough you are—three near-bottom finishes in the first four events of the CrossFit Games is rough. After a year of training harder and smarter than she ever had, it was the last place Brooke expected to find herself going into Saturday. The first two days of competition were the most mentally challenging of her career. But she showed up on Saturday like it was the first day of the Games, competed with the kind of mental fortitude we spent the last year developing, and clawed her way back up the leaderboard.”
“When the athletes took the field for the Sprint O-Course event, that was the buzz in the stands. “Now were going see who the real athletes are,” was a common sentiment among the spectators and commentators. I think that’s awesome. Raw athleticism is a cool and necessary part of the test. The O-Course brought balance, accuracy, agility, and coordination—the neurological adaptations of the 10 physical skills—that are prerequisites of a complete athlete. Generally, we test those with the snatch. But Games athletes snatch so often that it’s no longer the best test of raw athleticism.
The O-Course was also visually badass. The size, scope and magnitude of the course was insane. The construction was bulletproof, the obstacles were well thought-out, and it was huge! It was one of the best events to watch because it was a race in the purest sense—get from point A to point B as fast as possible. The king-of-the-mountain style, bracket heats made it exciting for the athletes and the fans.”
: @paddleandportage