Written by Jamie Hagiya
Although Regionals was a couple weeks ago, this is the first time I’ve had a chance to sit down and really reflect on the weekend. A year of training in the making and a couple weeks of eating strict as hell thanks to RP Strength’s Nutrition plan, and it all came down to 1 weekend.. 7 workouts over 3 days.
I was excited, anxious, nervous but it came and went in the blink of an eye. In a predominately gymnastics/body weight favored Regionals, I was excited the opening workout was a 1RM hang snatch. I knew this would be one of my stronger events and I had to do well to build momentum going into the weekend. My warmups didn’t go the greatest as I missed 165 and 175 numerous times, but somehow I went out there confident in my training and preparation and one by one hit 165, 175 and then the winning 185! I had hit that a couple times in practice the weeks leading up to it, but was thrilled to do it when it counted most.
After the 2 minutes of rest and high of winning event #1, I knew the max handstand walk would be the most challenging workout of the weekend. In practice I was only able to hit around 40′ (I was a basketball player for crying out loud so we NEVER walk on our hands haha). So even though people said I had a disappointing Event #2 with only 70’… I was pumped because I PR’d and that’s all I can ask of myself. Luckily the 3rd and final event on day 1 was in my wheelhouse and I went on to beat my practice time by over 2 minutes. It was a very surprising and surreal feeling to be ahead of the pack, but I needed that win to end the day.
Saturday was rough as I started the off the day with those strict handstand pushups. I knew they would be tough as I struggled to make the time cap during practice but once again my extremely supportive coach, Mike Lee from OPT, was there to help pace me and was thrilled that I beat my practice time by over 3 minutes. The last event on day 2, I seriously had zero expectations, as initially I thought I was HORRIBLE at legless rope climbs. But that might have been the surprise of the weekend as I chipped away and came out on top for my 3rd event win… yeah I’m just as shocked as all of you 🙂
Sunday was the long chipper, and then the short sprint with 64 pull ups and 8 overhead squats and again I beat all my practice times and respectively finished in 5th and 3rd in those events. It wasn’t enough to podium but I can honestly say I walked away from the weekend proud. Proud I gave it my best, proud I competed against some of the best women in the world, and more than anything proud that I found my confidence and now believe I belong on that podium and at the Games one day.
Now that’s it’s all said and done, it’s time to get back to work! I took a couple weeks off but now have to turn my focus to the NPFL and my Phoenix Rise Team! Just wanted to thank all of my family, friends, coach, supporters, sponsors, and gym at Torrance CrossFit! And a special thank you to all of you here at Juggernaut!!! Hope to see you at an NPFL match over the summer!
