Granite Games Sectionals part 3: Drop it Low--On One Leg

Last winter, the Hubster and I stood in an ice arena parking lot talking to some friends after a women's broomball game the Hubster had coached.  One of the women was dancing around to someone's radio, and her boyfriend made a comment about "dropping it low."  When I responded with a puzzled look and a "huh?" (hey, I'm old and I don't get out much), the Hubster turned to his friend and said "see, Ace" (yes, that's really his nickname), "your wife or girlfriend isn't even supposed to know what that means."

Well, I still can't claim to fully understand the meaning of the phrase (but I do know what twerking is, thanks ever so much Miley)...but I think speedskaters and CrossFitters have their own definitions of the term.

For speedskaters, the goal in "lowness" is skating with a knee bend of 90-100 degrees. This sounds bad enough, but now try the CrossFit version, where "low" in a squat is defined as "below parallel to the ground," with the hip crease below the knee...or what CrossFitters  refer to as "ass to grass."

Now try it on one leg.

This is what is called a "pistol," and this is what was in store for us for Granite Games Sectionals WOD #2 (remember, we're doing them out of order).  An 8 minute AMRAP of 16 snatches, for us old ladies at only 55 pounds, then 16 pistols (alternating legs), then 10 snatches/pistols, then 6, then back to 16 again and so on and so on.

Well, for me this was looking like another "get to a certain point and then spend the rest of the time working on trying to get that one particular movement that you've never done before" WOD.  In previous WODs these movements have been 95 pound jerks, kipping pullups, and chest to bar pullups--and I'm happy to say that I managed to achieve all of them.

This time, the movement was left leg pistols.

I've done right leg ones once or twice, but because my left leg is quite a bit weaker (due, I assume, to an old low back injury that Coach TieGuy--who is a physical therapist--said had been causing my left glute not to work), I've never achieved a left leg pistol.  So I figured I'd be looking at a score of 17--the 16 snatches and one right leg pistol.

Per Coach Jason's advice, I spent a lot of time warming up and mobilizing for the pistols.  This included working on ankle flexibility, doing "perfect squats," and doing one-let "sit up get ups"  which I struggled to do on the left leg.  Then I tried a couple pistols.  I achieved a couple on the right leg, but none on the left.  Then Coach Alye lent me her "Olympic lifting shoes,"  which the coaches all said should make a huge difference.  And they did...but I still didn't get a left leg pistol.

And then it was time to go.  As I dashed to my bag for a last-minute-almost-forgot hand-taping (no sense aggravating those newly healed rips with snatches), Coach Pat yelled his final advice to me: "Don't be a pussy!"

I'm confident that I've never gotten that advice before an athletic competition before.

So the WOD started.  As I'd predicted, the 16 snatches were no problem; I even did them pretty much unbroken.

Then it was Pistol Time.

Right leg...

...and then left.

Well, attempting left, anyway.  There were some setbacks..

...or, more accurately, some fall-overs.

But eventually, miracle of miracles...

...I achieved a left-leg pistol.

After the first one I just jumped back into the right leg pistol, because that first left one had been pretty hard-won, and I figured that it was likely to be the only one.  And for a while I was right; I fell over and touched my other foot to the ground and generally floundered.  But then I hit another left one--and this time I couldn't help celebrating a little.

I believe I've been caught mid-celebration dance.

Eventually I made it through all 16 pistols; that's right, I did 8 left leg pistols.  Who knew?  I still had some time left, so I sprinted towards the bar...and right out of the camera frame.

Going...

...going...

...gone.

I can't tell if that's a fragment of  the 10 pound plate at the 

top of my final snatch in the upper right...

So my last snatch, before the final few seconds ticked away, was out of sight and therefore uncountable.  And then the timer rang and since I somehow was thinking that I had 10 minutes instead of 8, I was so surprised that I dropped the bar on my head.  Well, OK, not exactly dropped; technically I was still holding onto it.  Let's say I lowered it briskly onto my head.  At any rate, it hurt...but I really didn't care.

I had gotten eight left-leg pistols.  I had wildly exceeded my expectations for my own personal version of "dropping it low"--and getting back up.