Ok, so this all started with an innocent little question from Carlos E. “What is your favorite Crossfit WOD and why?”. Folks commented, but one comment stuck out… Martin H. with “@Carlos, in all seriousness, I’d like to go head to head with you on your favorite WOD. Let’s set it up! Loser pays the winner one beer for every 5 seconds they finish behind.”. The challenge was accepted, and a date was set. Today Sunday July 25th at 3:30pm was the showdown. The workout? 2009 CrossFit Games Nor Cal Qualifier Event A. 500m Row, 30 burpess, 10 reps 165 lbs shoulder to overhead. Looking at the competitors it was pretty clear that Martin would be to the bar first, but would he have enough of a lead to keep ahead of Carlos’ massive shoulder strength. 3..2..1… GO! The row began. Martin was clearly conserving on the row to ensure he wouldn’t hit a wall on the push jerks. Carlos finished the row about 5 seconds ahead of Martin and got to work on the burpees. After about 10 it was clear he was going to have to slow his pace a bit. Martin got to the burpees and set to work. Martin finished the burpees at about the 3:30 mark and set to work on the bar. Failing his 3rd rep it was clear this was going to be a tough 10 reps. Carlos finished the burpees around 4:30 at which point the game was over. Once he picked up the bar he was able to power through the 10 reps unbroken. Carlos finished in 5:37 a full minute faster than his previous PR. Martin came in at 7:02. Fantastic efforts from both, and a fun challenge. Who do you want to challenge doing what? Throw out a challenge even if you know you will be beat. This is a great way to increase motivation and have some fun. We’ll support and host any such behavior.
Tags: challenge, CrossFit Games, gauntlet
I love the rumor started (by Jacquie maybe?) on Facebook that Martin was going into this challenge already having run the SF Marathon in the morning. The wild thing was, any of us who know the pair of them knew Martin was capable of such a crazy maneuver, so several of us asked him about it!
My kids already refer to Carlos as the strongest man in the world (sorry, Dean, it was before you joined CrossFit Marin!) after seeing him do deadlifts last year with all the plates in the gym. They always want to know could he pick up this or that; a car, a huge rock, a tower of cases of wine in the supermarket. Now we know he can not only do it, but do it quickly!
Congratulations to both contenders. You inspire us.
I am still quite irked that I lost by such a wide margin, although I did come in only 10 seconds slower than my estimated time. Carlos, however, was a master sandbagger having done it in 6:40 (so he says) fairly recently. He crushed this time by 1:03. Having said that, for it to take me ~3:30 to do the last 10 reps is pretty pathetic, and now I am annoyed.
Also, Carlos, I still owe you another 6 beers, I only came prepared with enough Fosters to account for a 1:00 deficit.
Lol! Martin, you have no idea how motivated Carlos was about this challenge. Had he lost, he would have crawled in a cave, (with, by his own words, a 95# Oly bar and a pull-up bar), eating nothing but bugs and other live paleo-food until he got his fran time down to under a minute before re-emerging a year later. The embarrasement and humiliation of getting beat on his favorite CF WOD by you would have been unbearable. Of course he beat his PR by over a minute. He had been practicing burpees in the gym constantly for like the past 5 days!
I kind of want to challenge Carlos to this, but I think I will wait to issue a formal challenge until I’ve done the workout on my own to make sure I can do the shoulder presses without failing out.
Matt, that would be a good show between you and Carlos.
@matt, i say go in cold. carlos could not believe that i had not done the workout before showing up on sunday. in fact, i had never done more than 1 rep at the 165lb weight before, which was probably a huge mistake. even having done it only once i think i could eliminate 30 seconds if i was to attempt it again today. and if i can get 10 reps done, then you surely can too.
i would love to see you challenge carlos. someone has to wipe that grin off his face. he is too happy for his own good.
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Guys c’mon?! Where’s your sense of sportmanship? Retain your composure please! Or I’m going to get mad! And lift you both and throw you far off into the creek area. Jesus almighty, I didn’t know there would be tears, just beers! I accepted the challenge b/c I thought it would be a good way to motivate myself and Martin on an otherwise absentee day at CFM. Now Matt wants to jump in the fray. So be it. Bring it on, but I already have my beers, so now I want dinner at the Buckeye. Matt, you can back down now, or I’ll see you this Saturday morning at the CrossFit Marin O.K. Corral.
Eeewwww… Ok, Matt. Now that you’ve called it out, you have to step up, otherwise we’ll get you a pink Tutu for you to wear at the gym for the rest of the summer.
I did not call Carlos out. What I said was that I’m tempted to challenge him. If I issue a challenge, it’ll be crystal clear and unambiguous!