The 2023 Rogue Invitational kicked off Thursday night with Texas Heavy, a 2.5 mile run that started with a one mile, 100-pound (80 pounds for the women) ruck run. It was also the first time Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr has been on the competition floor since the 2022 CrossFit Games.
Between the anticipation of Toomey-Orr’s return along with Jeff Adler and Roman Khrennikov facing each other on a long distance run, Texas Heavy was the perfect start to the weekend. And since everyone is already aware that Toomey-Orr and Adler walked away with 100 points and an event victory last night, I wanted to dig into the performances of both.
The Event
Texas Heavy
1 mile Ruck (100/80)
800m Ruck (45/30)
1 Mile Run
Sled Bag Pull to finish (125lbs/100lbs)
Athletes began with a 100-pound (80 pounds for the women) ruck. The men had a 45-pound ruck on and carried a 55-pound sandbag. The women had a 30-pound ruck and carried a 50-pound sandbag for the first mile.
Then, they dropped off the sandbag and continued with their ruck for another 800 meters. They dropped that off and ran for another mile without any ruck or additional weight.
And finally, they pulled a Sled Bag across the finish line. I believe the Sled Bag pull was supposed to be up the hill, but with rain earlier in the day it appears that Rogue changed the pull to be on a flat surface in the outfield.
Was it Really 2.5 Miles?
After CrossFit’s “5k” at the CrossFit Games I wanted to see if I could validate the distance of the Texas Heavy course. Luckily, Jonne Koski once again tracked his run on Strava. The bad news was that he turned off his watch midway through and it caused some issues with the tracking.
You can see below that the start of the race was tracked properly until Jonne stopped near the end of his first mile with an injury. Many believed it was cramped, but I was able to confirm with Koski that it was actually a rolled ankle. He said it’s nothing serious and hopes to be back on the field Friday.
The image below is the Strava map data.
I was able to take Koski’s Strava data and recreate the distance on MilerMeter. As you can see in the image below, the first mile is almost exactly one mile. The variance is likely due to my mapping.
I did not try to measure the 800-meter run, but given the mile was exactly a mile, I have no doubt the 800-meter run was spot on.
Why Double Check the Distance?
You might be asking why does it matter? They all ran the same distance.
That’s true, but when Tia crossed the line in just over 20 minutes (and Adler under 20 minutes) it left me wondering if these times were from their superhuman ability or because the course wasn’t 2.5 miles.
And after mapping the course myself, I can say it’s their superhuman ability. Plus, I can dig into their performances and gather their split times to show just how fit these men and women are.
The Numbers
As mentioned above, Toomey-Orr finished Texas Heavy in 20:24. Adler finished in 19:08. Twelve men finished ahead of Toomey-Orr’s time (of course, the ruck and sandbag drag were different weights).
Toomey-Orr averaged an 8:09/mile pace throughout. Adler averaged an astounding 7:39/mile pace!
Let’s take a look at their split times…
| Toomey-Orr | Adler | Hoste | |
| 100/80# Mile | 9:09 | 8:37 | 8:32 |
| 45/30# 800M | 4:31 | 4:16 | 4:07 |
| 1 Mile | 6:44 | 6:15 | 6:36 |
| Total Time | 20:24 | 19:08 | 19:15 |
| Average Pace | 8:09 | 7:39 | 7:42 |
As you can see, I added Hoste in the table because he held an advantage over Adler until the last three minutes of the race. I was curious to see what their final mile time was for both men.
Both Adler and Hoste, along with quite a few men, completed that first mile carrying 100 pounds on their backs in under 9 minutes! Tia and Laura Horvath both finished the first mile in 9:09. Horvath would fall off the pace on the 800-meter run, but Tia would never slow down.
Tia kept a similar pace on the 800-meter run with just the 30-pound ruck while Hoste tried to make his move by picking up the pace. With one mile remaining, Hoste had built up a 14-second lead over Adler and Roman Khrennikov.
However, Adler would begin to reel him in. Close to four minutes into the final mile, Adler made his move and took the lead over Hoste and never looked back. Adler finished the final mile, including the sand bag drag in 6:15. Hoste’s time was 6:36.
As for Tia, she finished the final mile in 6:44. Gabriela Migala, who finished 2nd, was just two seconds behind Toomey-Orr heading into the final mile. Migala, however, could only hold a 6:55 mile pace.
Summary
The split times for Toomey-Orr, Adler and Hoste are seriously impressive. They made the first mile look way easier than I think many anticipated and were able to run a sub-7 minute mile after rucking 1.5 miles.
And while that is impressive, the fact that they will come back the next three days, lift massive weight and show off their gymnastics skills proves just how fit they are.
