Patrick Vellner dominated the 2018 East regional by 82 points finishing 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 1st, and 2nd throughout the weekend’s six events.

With no finish outside the top 3, this years regionals events were not able to find any weaknesses in Vellner’s game. As he prepares for his 4th Crossfit Games appearance he looks ready to remain on the podium.

When you watch an athlete compete its easy to get lost in the event until you notice someone pull ahead, but by looking at their split times we can see just how consistent their performance was and clearly see what kind of strategy they had.

Lets take a look at just how dominant Vellner was during regionals.

PATRICK VELLNER 2018 REGIONALS SPLIT TIMES

TRIPLE 3: FOR TIME / 49:00 cap

3,000m Row – 10:34

300 Double Unders – 13:52

3 Mile Run – 36:59

Most average Crossfit athletes can hold a row pace of at least 500m every 2:00 meaning that if they did this event they would finish the 3k row right around 12:00. As an elite athlete Vellner finished 90 seconds earlier right around 10:30, he most likely could have gone even faster but paced himself for the rest of the event to come.

His double unders were impressive and efficient as he completed all 300 of them in just 3:16, meaning he averaged about 100 double unders every 1:05 included rest between sets.

Vellner’s 3 mile run took him only 22:53 as he was able to hold a pace just around 7:30 per mile. This is not a superior 3 mile time by any standard but it was still fast considering all the work that had to be done before it. It was also good enough for a 3rd place finish.

“LINDA”: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps for time of:

Deadlift, 295 / 220 lb.

Bench press, 195 / 135 lb.

Squat clean, 145 / 105 lb.

Time cap: 17 minutes

10’s – 1:42

9’s – 3:28 (+ 1:46)

8’s – 5:17 (+ 1:49)

7’s – 6:54 (- 1:37)

6’s – 8:26 (- 1:32)

5’s – 9:46 (- 1:20)

4’s – 11:06 (- 1:20)

3’s – 12:00 (- 0:54)

2’s – 12:44 (- 0:44)

1’s – 13:18 (- 0:34)

LINDA is one of those workouts that rewards you with less work as you continue but it can also bait you into going out too hot. Patrick Vellner was very consistent with his pace actually getting a few seconds slower for the first couple of rounds until finally cutting off time in the round of 7’s.

His largest decrease in time started in the round of 3’s when he decided it was time to turn up the intensity and finish strong. He cut 26 seconds off of his pace from the round of 3’s to the round of 4’s, after that he cut off 10 seconds for the next two rounds until finishing at 13:18.

The reason why his first couple of rounds were slightly slower was due to him doing singles on the cleans, which he turned to unbroken once he got to the middle rounds. Vellner finished 2nd.

For time: 13:00 cap

9 muscle-ups

Handstand walk

36 single-leg squats

Handstand walk – 2:35

9 muscle-ups

Handstand walk

45 single-leg squats

Handstand walk – 5:46 (+ 3:11)

9 muscle-ups

Handstand walk

54 single-leg squats – 9:00 (+ 3:14)

To record the split times of this event I recorded each set of ring muscle ups as a new round so every time he would finish his handstand walk before returning to the muscle ups I would mark the time.

Of course as this workout goes on the split times will get slower as 9 more pistols are added each round, but what is truly impressive is that even with 9 more pistols than before and with fatigue Vellner’s last round was only 3 seconds slower than the previous.

Vellner was a gymnast before he was a Crossfitter which makes it no surprise that he made easy work of the muscle ups and handstand walks. Vellner finished 2nd.

For time: 9:00 cap

2 rounds of:

10 snatches, 175 / 125 lb.

12 burpees

Then, 2 rounds of:

10 snatches, 115 / 75 lb.

12 burpees

RD 1 – 1:20

RD 2 – 3:00 (+1:40)

RD 3 – 4:13 (-1:13)

RD 4 – 5:21 (-1:07)

From round 1 to round 2 with the 175lb barbell Vellner actually got slower by 20 seconds, which isn’t usually a lot but in a short workout it can mean the difference between a place or two. It didn’t seem to be a factor of fatigue but rather just a pacing strategy as he sped up by 27 seconds on the next round and closed out with a 1:07 round to finish strong and take 3rd.

With the heavier barbell Vellner did 5 touch and go snatches right into 5 quick singles. With the lighter barbell he did touch and go for all 10. This event was a sprint with minimal strategy, just move fast and don’t redline too quickly.

For time:

50 handstand push-ups – 1:33

50 toes-to-bars – 3:15 (+ 1:42)

50-cal. Assault Bike – 6:08 (+ 2:53)

50 dumbbell box step-overs – 11:58 (+ 5:50)

50-ft. right-arm dumbbell overhead lunge – 13:18 (+ 1:20)

50-ft. left-arm dumbbell overhead lunge – 14:35 (- 1:17)

M 70-lb. dumbbells, 24-in. box, 17-min. time cap

F 50-lb. dumbbells, 20-in. box, 22-min. time cap

This workout truly didn’t even start until they got to the assault bike, 50 HSPU and 50 toes to bars are a walk in the park for elite Crossfit athletes. As you can see both of the first two movements took under 2:00 each for Vellner as he completed 100 reps in just 3:15.

This workout was all about how fast you can complete the step-overs and it took him just under 6 minutes, averaging out to around 8 step-ups per minute including transitions.

He was extremely consistent on his dumbbell lunges as he was able to actually cut 3 seconds off of his second set of lunges from his first. One of the few people to beat the time cap, Vellner took first in event 5.

For time: 7:00 cap

4 rope climbs

16 thrusters – 1:19

3 rope climbs

12 thrusters – 2:49 (+ 1:30)

2 rope climbs

8 thrusters – 3:55 (+ 1:05)

M 155 lb. | F 105 lb.

Even though he had one less rope climb and 4 less thrusters he actually slowed down by 11 seconds, which was caused by the transitions of having to run back to the rope and run back to the now further away barbell.

This event was an all out sprint even more so than event 4. The goal here is to go unbroken on the thrusters and rest as little as possible on the rope climbs. Vellner did exactly that and finished in 2nd place with a time of 3:55, securing himself first place in the regional and a spot at the Crossfit Games.

Overall Patrick Vellner had a dominating regionals performance and is sure to be a threat for the podium at the Crossfit Games once again.

To watch all of Patrick Vellner’s regionals workouts follow the links below:

East Regionals Day 1

East Regionals Day 2

East Regionals Day 3

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