by Kate Rose

At the end of Open Workout 13.1, Janine Walinski sits atop the Canada West Leaderboard with 195 reps.

Walinski is the owner of CrossFit VO2Max in Grand Prairie, Alberta. She has been a CrossFit athlete for about three years.

According to one of her trainers, Ron Turner, Walinski is, “a pure volume WODaholic, training two to three times per day,” he says. “She is a true beast of an athlete.”

Walinski finished fourth at the Canada West Regional in 2012.

The result of 13.1 came as a complete surprise to Walinski.

“I’m shocked to be tied with Julie (Foucher), and so excited,” she says. “I kind of don’t believe it. But its so very cool.” 

Olympic lifting is one of Walinski’s strengths, so she was looking forward to the snatch component. The burpees presented a bit of an unknown.

“After last year’s seven minutes of burpees, I know that my strength does not lie there. So I really had no idea what to expect.”

The only thing she knew was that she didn’t want to have to do it a second time.

She started slow and steady.

“I did not want to redline this workout,” she explains. “It was long, so I knew I could chain the first two rounds together. Then, my game plan was to do five reps at a time for the 100-lb. snatch.”

Fatigue set in with the heavier snatches, and Walinski was forced to alter her plan.

“Little did I know the 100-lb. snatch would feel more like 135 to 145 lb. It was very heavy, so I did one rep at a time, slowly picking away at the 30 snatches,” she says. “The 10 burpees were nothing. Then I just closed my eyes and did as many reps as I could at 120 lb.”

With 13.1 under her belt, Walinski is looking forward to the next challenge.

“I’m going to just do CrossFit, and do as good as I can every WOD. I just like competing for the fun of it, and love of it.”