"I have another year under my belt, a great start to the Open and have concentrated my training with one goal in mind: the Regional.”
Josh Page likes to lift heavy. His stat sheet includes a 590-lb. deadlift, a 475-lb. back squat, a 325-lb. clean and jerk, a 1:28 Grace and a 2:36 King Kong.
When Dave Castro announced 13.1, he knew he could manage the heaviest weight. The question was whether he’d make it through the 100 burpees and 90 relatively lightweight snatches before the clock hit 17 minutes.
As the clock ticked down on the final 30 seconds, he loaded the bar with 210 lb.
“When I got to the bar for the 210, I only had about 17 seconds left,” Page recalls.
Fortunately, he knew he could handle the weight — at least, he could when he was fresh. A couple days before, he had done a workout that involved two-rep touch-and-go snatches at 215 lb.
With just seconds left, Page snatched 210, brought it back to the ground, and without releasing his hands he went again and nailed a second snatch.
At 17 minutes, he had finished 192 reps.
Ever since he took 19th at the 2012 North Central Regional — his second CrossFit competition ever — he has been honing his skills as a CrossFit competitor by taking part in local competitions near his hometown of Plano, Ill.
He has also gone out of his way to train with other competitive CrossFitters, including Sam Dancer and Josh Silvernail.
“Friday through Monday, Sam (Dancer) was here (at Reckless CrossFit),” Page says. “We did a little bit of everything (throughout the weekend) …and we always hit a ‘Destroyer WOD’ Monday nights.”
All of the training has tipped the scales for Page, literally.
“I’ve put on a ton of weight,” Page says. “I’ve gained 25 pounds since last year, and it’s not just in my beard.”
If 13.1 is any indication, his approach to offseason training worked. He currently holds the top position on the North Central Leaderboard, but he knows it won’t be easy to maintain the top spot over the next four weeks, and four workouts.
His goal is to qualify for the 2013 North Central Regional, and improve his placing.
Last year, he felt like the “the new kid on the block” at the Regional — a nervous new kid.
“Nerves got the best of me last year (at the Regional),” he admits. “I’ve learned to have fun at competitions and not take everything so seriously.”
The one thing he does take seriously is training hard and smart. He has tried to eliminate any obvious weaknesses, and he’s confident that he’s a more well-rounded athlete this year.
“There aren’t many things that I get hung up on anymore. I don’t have many blaring weaknesses like I did last year,” he says.
And as he has made friends with the other competitors in the region, his nerves as the “new kid” have settled.
“I’ve made good friends with a lot of the Regional athletes in North Central, so the initial nerves that I had last year are long gone. I have another year under my belt, a great start to the Open and have concentrated my training with one goal in mind: the Regional.”
