Snatch 1-1-1
Clean & Jerk 1-1-1
AMRAP 10 Minutes:
6 Squat Clean 55/30Kg or 120/65
12 Pull-ups
24 Double-unders
Add together the best snatch (in kg), the best clean and jerk (in
kg), and the total reps performed in the triplet for your final score.
So what is the secret to getting fit… could it be the penalty burpees for being late? I could make a good argument for that!
When I started CrossFit in March 2009, I was stuck in a rut, working a ton, and missing out on the feel good that come from living life out-loud. This is my story…
As a kid, I was of the generation that road their bikes outside all day and played in the neighborhood, running house to house, having never made it home until 5 minutes later than my mom had set the curfew. (hey, maybe that’s why I do so many burpees every morning!) I started swimming when I was 6 and I played school sports as soon as I was old enough. I loved to work hard and play even harder! In time, I decided to dedicate my efforts to swimming. I loved swimming and found that the hard work, competition, and friendships that were a part of that world were my passion. I became a confident, strong, and determined young woman. Swimming has opened doors that serve me to this day. In college, my willingness to work hard and my love of the sport earned me success in the water and in the classroom and the experiences and memories have I hold tight!
And here is where my story begins… After I graduated college, I continued to train in hopes of making the 2000 Olympic Trials. This journey proved harder than I thought and with tears and a heavy heart I decide to hang up my suit. What I didn’t realize is how being a swimmer was woven so tightly into my identity and when I no longer swam, I had nothing feeding the passion for competition and fitness. I ran for a while, but wasn’t the same feeling as when I was swimming 20 hours a week so I stopped. A swimmers appetite and a sedentary lifestyle didn’t mix well. I gained 50 pounds in less than a year. (No, that is not a typo!)
Over the next 6 years I attended two post grad programs, moved to and from the mid- west, and started my first 9 to 5 job. In that time I lost most of the weight through diet, then found it again plus a little extra. When I joined the coaching staff at Arden Hills Swimming, it didn’t take me long to remember how much I loved the water. I found my way back into the pool and onto a bike to lose most of it yet again. But with a crazy busy life and whatever else you can think of as an excuse it all crept back on.
When I decided to start CrossFitting, I was as heavy as I had ever been and my self esteem was in the toilet. My first fundamentals session was a tear-fest (sorry Travis) and I felt like I was starting at rock bottom! I hated burpees. I used a green band for pull ups. I couldn’t run without back pain. I felt like I the mountain was insurmountable. BUT! I found something I was good at… I could lift heavy! There were two specific days that were my buy in. The first workout when I realized what my strength in CrossFit was (no pun intended) was a max push jerk day (my favorite lift). I was paired with Laura B. at the 4:00 class and she helped me grab my first big lift. (Thanks Laura!) The other workout was a max deadlift where I was paired with Brooke and I saw that I could hang with this badass girl who was super strong and near the top of our box. (You rock Brooke!) The confidence I gained by finding something I was good at was huge!
Over the next 9 months, I still struggled with anything cardio but that improved. I still found it hard to lift my body weight, but that got better too. I was getting stronger. I was feeling better. I found myself enjoying all of those things that I missed about swimming, the camaraderie, the coaching, the competitive spirit in the gym, the hard work, the achievement… all things that I never realized how much a part of me they were. And as hard as it was to find a way out of the valley I had started in, I was climbing out and loving it. I still had my occasional pity party (sorry everyone!) but CrossFit helped bring me back to life.
In the time that I had been CrossFitting, I was getting strong, but had not lost any weight nor had the size in my jeans gone down. In December, I decided that it was time to add in a nutrition component. I started eating better, tried the zone a bit, then found that if I focused on eating healthy and natural foods, while limiting the processed foods, it was pretty easy to eat well and the weight started coming off. I had set a goal of losing 30 pounds by the time regionals came around. It was a lofty goal but I succeeded. The support and encouragement I received from my teammates in our CFES box, as well as the others outside of CrossFit, was pivotal. Every complement, every ‘Come on Cort!”, every pat on the back still feels amazing. My deadlift is not as big as it was in 2009, but in July 2010 I can complete multiple sets of 10 pull-ups in the middle of a WOD without coming off the bar. And burpees… (don’t tell but they aren’t really that big of a deal any more!)… they still suck.
Ultimately, the changes on the outside are a reflection of the changes on the inside. Thank you to my CFES friends, and to the ones outside of the box, who have shown me nothing but love an encouragement in this journey to where I stand! I cannot wait to see where the road takes me, and I know there are so many great things to come. I can’t wait to live the ride.
-Cortney Martelluci
