So I know this is silly, but I am very proud of myself today. I jumped outside my comfort zone and signed up for The CrossFit Games: Open. Not because I think I am the fittest in the world…(I am definitely NOT), but because I thought it would be fun to see where I rank with others in my age category all over the world, to see my progress this past year and to get a good idea what I need to work on in the coming year. If you don’t know what the Open is…it is a series of workouts designed to challenge every athlete in the world. The workouts are a series of crossfit standard movements thrown into a blender and then cooked into a devilish concoction. Every Thursday for 5 weeks at 8 EST you can tune into the website at Crossfit Games and watch two of the fittest people on Earth perform this weeks grueling WOD (Workout of the Day). Last week the movements consisted of an AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) for 9 minutes of 15 Toes to Bar, 10 Deadlifts, and 5 snatches. Followed by 6 minutes to establish your best 1 rep Max of a Clean and Jerk. This is an exhausting workout…the toes to bar end up being quite a lot of cardio…and once you start huffing and puffing it is hard to get your breathing back under control…not to mention the forearm burning that all of the movements elicit. This year you can choose to do the workouts RX (as prescribed) or scaled (an easier…but not really) version.
Last year I was pretty new to Crossfit when the open happened. I was still trying to figure out how to read all the acronyms and make my arms move the day after a workout…(truth be told I still have THAT problem). This year, I can do all of the Olympic movements (I am not great, but I can do it), I can do pull-ups, and burpees don’t make me want to cry anymore…so I thought I would step outside my comfort zone and throw my name into the mix. My goal…don’t be LAST IN THE WORLD!!! So I went to my first “Friday Night Lights” at my “box” Crossfit Norfolk. I know I have said this before…but I LOVE this place! They help me to be a better version of myself everyday, from the coaches to the friends I have made there. But back to Friday Night Lights…there was palpable tension in the air. Everyone was excited and nervous to test their skills on 15.1 and 15.1a (as this workout was called.) All night after watching the two best Men in the world complete this, I was in my head thinking…”can I even do this workout?” “Will I have to scale it?” “Can I even snatch 75# 5 times in a row??” So during my warm-up I tested the 75# snatch. If you don’t know what this it, it is a lift where you take the bar from the ground to over your head in one fluid motion. I like this movement, but 75# is a lot of weight…especially after all the other things you have to do. But I got it there pretty easily…so I decided to go all in and RX this workout.
When it was my heat, I stepped up to my bar and went for it. I got in the zone. I heard nothing from the large crowd of people that were cheering on the participants…except for an occasional “Go Mom!!” from my kids. And honestly, that was all I needed. “Go Mom” made me push myself as hard as I could. In the end, I wasn’t too happy with my reps (99), but I did get a 15# personal record (PR) on my clean and jerk…which is pretty awesome!!
So today, I signed on to the Crossfit Open’s website to see if I am in last place. And I was so happy to see that not only am I NOT in last place, but of the 10,228 people in my age group participating in the open…I am 2,697! And in the Mid-Atlantic region there are 920 registered in my age group and I am 245th. So I am considering this to be a great start to the open games for me! I hope to continue to push myself as hard as I can. And I will continue to learn what I need to work on in the coming year.
And I am so proud of Jay and Truman who also did the workout. Truman Rx’d it as much as his mom will let him 🙂 and Jay scaled it but got a sweet PR on his clean and jerk! Proud of you two!! Keep up the good work!
