Better today than yesterday

I had this post drafted in my head before I even went to workout today. I was going to title it, “What a Difference Seven Months Makes,” or “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” or something along those lines.

The post would start with me bragging about how much progress I have made in the past year and how much I was looking forward to today’s workout. The whiteboard was a repeat of 13.1, a Crossfit Games Open workout that I had completed seven months prior; a workout that I hardly made halfway through the movements since I physically could not do a 75# snatch.

Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 17 minutes of:

40 Burpees
45 pound Snatch, 30 reps
30 Burpees
75 pound Snatch, 30 reps
20 Burpees
100 pound Snatch, 30 reps
10 burpees
120 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible

But since I am stronger and faster than seven months ago, I knew I would make it to (or through) the 75# snatches, where last time I stared at the bar for 8 minutes. In seven months, I have maxed my snatch at 85# and have completed Isabel (30 snatches for time) at 65# in just over 5 minutes; multiple reps of 75# was quite probable.

I breezed through the first set of burpees (okay, not breezed, but paced well), and knocked out the 45# snatches, no less than 7-10 at a time.

The second set of burpees went a bit slower, but the goal was to keep moving, and the excitement of finally getting those 75# snatches in the WOD was building up! I felt great (great as a relative term after having completed 70 burpees) and had plenty of time to continue the workout.

I took a breather, grabbed a sip of water, walked up to the bar..and nope.

Hm.

Went to make my second attempt; with 9 minutes left on the clock to complete my 30 snatches. Plenty of time. I remembered my Isabel experience, and knew I totally had this.

And.. nope.

Stepped away from the bar, the coach yelling at me to get under the bar.

Another attempt… nope.

Each time the bar was getting higher, but I wasn’t getting lower. I wasn’t using my hips properly. I wasn’t doing the movement properly. I completely forgot how to do a snatch.

At that point, it was in my head. Two fellow athletes were cheering me on to get back on the bar and to do the lift since they knew I could do it. Every 30 seconds or so I would attempt it again, each time getting more frustrated and upset than the time before. And then.. came the tears..

I somehow managed to finally get one rep; it was ugly and improper form, but it counted.

After that I still had about 4 minutes remaining, so knew now that the mental game was over and I finally got the first one out of the way; the rest would be easy.

And… nope.

I kept trying but I let the workout get to me. I ended up running out of time and beating my prior score by one whole rep. But any progress is progress. And one more rep means I am still better than I was seven months ago. Despite having set higher expectations of myself, I am still better today than yesterday.

Knowing I was fully capable of doing the lift, I stayed after class and not-so-difficultly strung multiple reps in a row at 75#. Where in the world were those minutes prior?

With that I wanted to change the name of this post to “Leave your ego at the door,” or “Progress not perfection,” but opted for something a bit more positive, to offset my negative mood and bitter attitude.. 🙂

I have now calmed down after my passive aggressive tweeting and realize I do have plenty of weaknesses to work on and the only way I am going to improve is to continue to do work. I am looking forward to taking some time and set goals for upcoming months to refocus my training and start performing on the outside as strong as I feel on the inside!

Your turn..
Have you ever set an expectation for yourself but was humbled when you didn’t reach it?
Do you ever get emotional when you struggle in a workout?