#open2014

Things I’ve learnt about the open so far

 1.    We will never be happy with our scores

  But are we ever happy with our scores in CrossFit? We are always momentarily happy with a new PR or top score on the board, but once that moment fades we quickly think to ourselves “damn I think I could have gotten one more rep or shaved off 15 seconds when I had some water”.

This sport is a never-ending battle with imperfection. I remember the day when I got my first muscle up, I was on top of the world. But, when I woke up the next day, I was like “Dammit! I cant even link two, or get one in a WOD!”.  So you get your butt back to the gym and you keep grinding. It’s the beauty of our sport. It would be boring if we all decided to quit once we got that muscle up.

 2.    The open is one of the most honest tests of fitness

  I’m going to quote a friend of mine, Anthony Pieroni, who recently posted the statement below.

  “I love the CrossFit Open. Its the most honest assessment of your overall fitness, you can't pick and choose the WODs you want to do, show up on the days your strong, skip the days your are weak. It evens out the playing field of the day-to-day competitive nature of this sport. Nobody gets the score they want, or thought they could achieve, we all come up short. Thats the beauty, we all know where we really stand after the clock strikes zero.”

  Couldn’t agree more.

 3.    Peoples’ true colours come out during the open

  This is both can be both a good and a bad thing. In a good way, you see the inner beasts come out of some people. Like Jeremy, who crushed 14.1 and everyone was like “where did this kid come from”. Or Alex Provost who is competing in this open with a concussion. He is killing these WODs, a testament to his mental toughness.

  And the bad… We are innately competitive; it’s what drives us in this sport. But, with this worldwide leaderboard, sometimes we can all get a little caught up. You can see it in someone’s eyes when they’re watching you WOD, hoping that you fail or at least do worse than them. Also, you can tell when someone asks you your score just so they can let you know that they did better. Lets remember that we are a team at YUL, we should all want the best for each other. If you redo a  WOD, don’t do it out of spite, do it for yourself. You’ll feel much better after it.

   4.    No matter how much Olympic lifting you’ve done in preparation for the open and no matter much your 1 RM has increased, doing high rep and light weight oly for time, really a test of your cardio.

  I Don’t think anyone came out of 14.1 WOD saying "man I should have done more oly with lots of rest this year."

   As Rich Froninng said “Don’t work on your weaknesses so much that you create other weaknesses”

  I think I was so focused on my strength and Olympic lifting this year that I made some losses in the cardio department.

   5.    Watching other people PR can over shadow the disappointment in your score

  Anyone who witnesses my 14.2, can attest to the fact that I was feeling pretty crappy afterwards. However, later I got to watch my friend Candice destroy her chest to bars. She has been working on that weakness for a while, and I was so proud of her. Seeing her success really turned my day around.

     6.    The WOD  is never as it seems

  Plain and simple, Dave Castro is one crafty guy. His WODs always seem pretty simple, and then you start…. Anyone else panic after the first round of 14.2?

 7. Recovery takes damn long

I think we become aware of how long recovery takes when we only have 4 full days to do and redo a WOD. A little take away here, listen to your body! After 14.2, my brain was telling me to redo it but come Monday I still couldn’t feel my forearms and my lats still hurt to touch. I think I did the right think listening to my body instead of that competitive voice in my head.

 8.    The added pressure works against you

  This may not be true for everyone, but there is no way that the anxiety I have gotten during the open is a good thing. I’ve lost sleep, skipped meals, cried. Before starting a WOD, my heart rate is already through the roof and I already feel drained cause I’ve spent so much time being nervous. We should all try Talayna’s strategy of “staying cool” before a wod. It will help avoid extreme lactic acid and out of control heart rates during the WOD.

 9.    Surround yourself with positive people for these 5 weeks.

  I have a friend who loves to tell me that CrossFit is a cult (for the worse). I had to hide what I really wanted to do for my birthday (today), which was go to bed early so I can wake up early and take on 14.3 feeling good. Instead I told her I’d be going out for dinner and maybe for some drinks later. If I hadn’t, I’d never hear the end of it. “You’re not living your life” and all that jazz.

  My take away from this is, if you have a goal, surround yourself with people who understand and support your goals. I refuse to let someone tell me how I chose to live is wrong. Her and I have different values and that’s where it should end. It’s a long 5 weeks of discipline but surrounded by the right people, it’s completely doable.

  10. Take some mental health days

  Coach Paulino mentioned the other day that he won’t be stepping into the gym on his rest day, so that he can really clear his head.  As mentioned in #8 the open is a pretty stressful time. I think this is a great idea, I’m giving it a try this week. On my rest day this week, I’m going to watch movies, go to the mall, really try and get my mind off the open. I challenge you do to the same!

  -RG