JENNA AT THE GAMES RUNNING BLOG: EVENT FOUR
The Games are over and what an amazing experience, especially watching our very own athlete, Jenna Michelotti, do so well.
To give some insight into the Games from a spectators perspective, we have done a handful of blogs. Here is a review of the events from Day 2, event four.
Parallel Elizabeth
For time:
21 squat cleans
7 parallel bar traverses
15 squat cleans
5 parallel bar traverses
9 squat cleans
3 parallel bar traverses
The pro’s did a scaled up version of this workout earlier and it looks to be brutal and a total trap workout. The parallel bar traverse (+ dips for the pros) proved to be really problematic to a number of athletes. We saw the very best struggle with workout and it’s a scary preview for Jenna’s upcoming workout.
I have mentioned before how much I love the programming in the Games and this is another great workout. It’s a new movement but I am especially in love that this one is added for the female athletes. Parallel bars are an event that doesn’t exist in female gymnastics but only for the men. I love that these girls have the opportunity to show that they are plenty strong enough to do a movement normally reserved only for males.
Jenna starts the workout very much the Jenna way. Small sets of squat cleans. She could bite off big chunks, be she is maintaining a great heart rate knowing how hard the next exercise is. She has really mastered all parts of this movement, especially the footwork. The movement is quick and purposeful.
She thenjobs onto the parallel bars. She is bit behind the other teen athletes but I have seen enough of Jenna’s workouts to know that this is the plan, she is planning on passing people. She is calmly going through the traverses. I am watching other girls struggle and seeing some no reps. She knocks out the round of 7, doing smart traverses followed by a short rest period. She does her 7th and back to the squat clean.
The weights for the squat cleans a light to moderate but we all know how expensive they are. No matter the weight, squat cleans make you breath heavy but Jenna is staying steady and focused. There is another great teen athlete in the lane next to her that is ahead of her by a bit of time but Jenna is chasing her down. She just might catch her.
This is going to turn out to be a great finish! I decide to sprint to the end zone to catch the race for the end. I have no idea how she did with the 7 parallel bar traverses because by the time I am at my seat she is done. I am guessing pretty well.
Jenna is still hitting the squat cleans smoothly going into the round of 9. I was right to change seats. This workout is going to come down to a race on the parallel bars. Jenna gets there before her neighbor and it comes down to the 3 reps on the traverse. No rest, she goes right to it. And this is one of the beautiful things we see in CrossFit, we are given these new movements that we don’t have experience and it comes down to how quickly you can figure them out. WELL JENNA HAS IS DOWN NOW! Her arms and legs are working beautifully together (see the video below). She hits all three with no rest in between and dives to the finish line. WOW, she took 4th place.
What a great event and it’s her BIRTHDAY! I get a chance to check back in with team Michelotti (Steve, Kim, and Justin are all there). I had talked to them earlier but now I realize they are all wearing Jenna’s CrossFit Games clothes from last year. They all look great but especially Steve who is wearing a crop top. It looks amazing on him! We might need some crop tops for the other guys at the gym.
I head back with them to the athlete area. It’s a building just for all the CrossFit athletes. This is one of those things that people miss. When Jenna is done with the workout, she is working on recovery and preparation for the next step. When I am sure she is absolutely exhausted, she is stretching, spending 20 minutes (to 45) on a ski erg, rower, or bike. It’s that discipline piece that has gotten her to this point. It looks like she is having a great birthday (she of course got CrossFit shoes as a present) but celebration time is for later this weekend. On the NEXT EVENT!
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