I guess I’ll sign up for the Open

I can give any person who is hesitant about signing up for the Crossfit Games Open a million and one reasons why you should. I can recount my own personal experiences or share why competitions are so  important. I will tell you that it doesn’t matter what skill level you are, or how long you have been doing Crossfit, or whatever the reservation is, it is worth it.

But it is over two weeks since the registration went live, and I haven’t pushed the button yet, and up until about a week ago, my decision to do so was questionable, at best.

It is no mystery to anyone that has been following my updates on the blog, on Facebook, or instagram, that I LOVE Olympic weightlifting. So much so that I dropped a day of Crossfit to train specifically at an Oly-focused gym, and already planning for my next Olympic Weightlifting meet. My heart is full of snatches and clean and jerks and my mind full of kilos and strategizing opening weights.. but my friends, my “family,” my identity, lies within Crossfit.

I have been continuing to follow The Outlaw Way, cutting some workouts short in favor of lifting because frankly, WODs suck.. and I suck at WODs.

I have a tank that I throw on every once in a while that says, “Do more. Suck Less.” It is my reminder to myself that put in the work – things will get better, and despite believing they never will – they usually do.

I never thought I would be able to run a 5k. And I did.

I never thought I could do a 70 flight stair climb. But I did – twice.

I never thought I would survive a Warrior Dash. But I did.

I never thought I would run multiple 10ks, and eventually a half marathon. I suffered, but I did.

I never dreamed of competing in Crossfit competitions or in a million years wouldn’t fathom doing an Olympic weightlifting meet. But I did.

Perhaps I’m a glutton for punishment. I have a habit of “sign up now, worry about it later”, but so far – it has worked out pretty splendidly.

I love weightlifting and the empowerment that goes along with throwing heavy weight overhead, but I love the feeling after a WOD when you look back at what was seemingly impossible, and think, “I just did that.”

In weightlifting, you make the lift or you don’t. It is constant, predictable, and progression is often linear. But in Crossfit, the variability, the excitement, the unrelenting test of strength, both mental and physical, across different modalities.. I LOVE THAT S*$%!

After my weightlifting meet last weekend, I was extremely conflicted on what to do next. I want to be a weightlifter, shift my focus to a more core foundation and pretty much skip out on the things I don’t like to do. “F*** Crossfit – just lift!” Then a short series of events re-ignited my Crossfit flame that was starting to extinguish..

~

The first, was doing a class WOD on Friday over the programmed Outlaw Way workout. I spent a lot of time post-warmup working on muscle-up progressions and just ran out of time to do the programmed work. I was partnered with another girl who I have watched grow tremendously over the last year in both strength and confidence. We were doing 5 rounds of 4 movements, every minute on the minute. One of them was power cleans.

We started at 75#, to get a taste of what it would be like rotating movements so often, but eventually I ended at 95#. She completed three reps (then went back for two more). I asked what her max clean was and she said it was 95# because of the intimidation and fear of doing anything above that. Seeing how easily her 95#s went up, I suggested she lift 100# – for fun. It wasn’t part of the WOD, wasn’t part of the program.. but I knew I was in that exact place less than two years ago, completely terrified of cleaning anything beyond the “green plates”, but once I did, it was amazing. She did it, no problem.

I asked why she never tried before, and she said she never had someone push her to do it.. I THRIVE off that sort of thing! Thinking back, nearly every one of my PRs in my Crossfit infancy was because someone suggested I TRY something I was terrified of.

~

The second, judging at a local Crossfit competition. So many athletes were there that were competing for the first time, and many seasoned athletes pushing to redline. I saw so many people PR their cleans, and fight for reps at weights that were close to their maxes. I was judging one athlete during an ascending EMOM clean ladder and asked what he hoped to hit. He wanted 175#. I told him don’t worry about what weight was on the bar but just keep lifting until he couldn’t. He cleaned 230#. Another girl I judged formerly had a max of 105# – she easily got 115#. A veteran master’s athlete at my home box, coming off a back injury, hoped for 115# (125# was her max prior to her injury). She surpassed that and got under 135# easily and fought so freaking hard to stand it up. Though she failed, she was in tears knowing that she PRed anyway at 130# without any physical limitations.

I judged a [nonhuman] beast of a girl who crushed the clean ladder and repped out 23 unbroken deadlifts at 200# with the remainder of the clean ladder minute (tiebreaker score was how many deadlifts done in the minute). She was almost a full round ahead of the other girls doing a 21-15-9 shoulder to overhead, back squat, toes to bar WOD. She said to me beforehand, “Don’t let any other girl get ahead of me. You let me know if anyone is coming close,” completely fueled off the competition.

These athletes had to do an outdoor run with a 40#+ medball in 20′ temperatures, plus return to finish the 12:00 AMRAP with box jumps and heavy snatches, freezing but sweating, physically drained, yet every single one of them just kept moving.

I loved watching the sweat and determination and drive.  The atmosphere, the environment, the smiles and emotions filling the room – THAT is what I love about Crossfit, and that is what I love about competition. It flips a switch within that doesn’t get activated much in training alone.

~

The final straw, was seeing a former athlete from my box crush the Fittest Games. I worked out with Alexis plenty of times and know that despite her being quite a bit younger than me, she taught me so much about myself when it came to the gym, and I’ve PRed quite a few things under her guidance. She left our box to go to grad school, and the girl has no limits. Watching this video got me excited all over again, wishing that I would be able to channel even half of her mental strength (well, and physical!) going into my own workouts.

It is about surrounding yourself with people that will push you and get you out of your comfort zone; that is where you grow.

~

Last night, I spent about a good hour and a half or more shoveling snow (three separate trips), and another hour today digging myself out of my house and driveway. I had an opportunity to work for home so was fortunate to not have to go anywhere today, and I am pretty exhausted from the extra unplanned activity. But likely isn’t going to stop me from getting to the box tonight.

Tonight’s conditioning, after some strength/skill sessions is:

Rest exactly 1:00 between #1 and #2.

1) 15:00 AMRAP at a conversational pace (or 155bpm if you have a HR monitor) of:

50 6″ Target Burpees
50 Thrusters 65/45#

2) 5:00 AMRAP (all out effort) of:

20 6″ Target Burpees
20 Thrusters 95/65#

And I am excited to do it. What the what?! Excited for burpees? And thrusters?

Yep. Because they are both terrible. Sucky. Awful. And I may shrivel up into a ball and die.. but I am pumped up to go and push myself today. And next week, when I compete in a couples competition with more thrusters.. I’ll at least be mentally ready to attack it..

Cause really, that’s what it’s all about. Doing more. Sucking less. (And because I refuse to really ‘quit’ Crossfit until I get a muscle-up…)

See you all in the Open!

Side note.. the three pics above are all old ones, which make me even more excited about my progress thus far with Crossfit; comparing where I used to be to where I am today. Love it!! 🙂