What I Learned From the CrossFit Open

Proof that I made it to the muscle-ups!

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about how I bombed CrossFit Open workout 13.3- a 12:00 AMRAP of 150 wall balls, 90 double-unders, and 30 muscle-ups. I didn’t want to do the workout, and it showed on my first attempt. I didn’t even make it through the double-unders.

I mainly wrote the blog in order to hold myself accountable to repeating the workout. Little did I know that my post would go viral and would be read by over 12,000 people from around the world. I always wanted to end up on the CrossFit Games website but never thought it would be to share my failure with the CrossFitters of the world!

I ended up re-doing Workout 13.3 with a much better attitude. You have to be ready to perform when you know 12,000 people have read your blog post! The second time around, I flew through the wall balls, struggled with the double-unders (but got all of them), and had about one minute to get a muscle-up. Although I didn’t get the muscle-up, I was proud that the second time around, I at least made it to the rings.

I probably grew more as an athlete from that one workout then I have in the past year. Here are some of the things I learned:

• Listen to your Coach: When you have a coach, and your coach says, “I don’t think you should do the workout right now,” you should listen to him. Otherwise, you may have to redo a workout containing 150 reps of your least favorite CrossFit movement.

• Have a Plan and Stick to It: I had a big plan on tackling my wall balls… too bad I didn’t stick with it the first time around. The second time, however, I was all about the plan- 6 rounds of 15 wall balls, 6 rounds of 10 wall balls. I even used poker chips to count my rounds. Thanks to the plan, I PR’d my “Karen” time at 7:14. Not too shabby! I should have been more worried about those double-unders.

• Work Your Goats: I am what one would call a “lazy CrossFitter.” I do what’s on the whiteboard and not much else. I want to get better, really I do. It just isn’t a priority right now. Wall balls have always been a weakness of mine. I knew those babies would show up in the Open so I have been telling myself to add 3 rounds of 10 wall balls into my warm-ups. That lasted one time. Muscle-ups? I can do them, but do I do them? Nope. I may hit one or two while I am all fresh before a workout, but I don’t know the last time I tried to do one in a workout prior to 13.3. I use my 40-year-old shoulders as an excuse. So why should I have expected the muscle-up gods to grant me one or two during the Open? You need to work your goats, people!

• Change your Mindset: 150 14-pound wall balls sound awful! But 150 14-pound thrusters sounds a whole lot better. It is all in the mindset!

• You Decide Whether You are Going to Have a Good Workout or a Bad One: Prior to my re-do, my friend Dawn reminded me of this great quote from awesome CrossFitter, Emily Friedman: “I know before I even start the WoD if I am going to have a bad workout or a good workout because I have already decided.” How true is that? This has literally been written on the whiteboard at my gym since 13.3 and is a reminder to me that I can decide how well a workout is going to go just by my attitude prior to its start. It is my new mantra.

• Live in the Moment: If you have read some of my other blog posts, you know that I am a fan of living in the present. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past because you can’t change it, and you can’t control the future so no need to worry about it. If you live in the moment, you can have peace. On my first attempt at 13.1, my mindset was, “OMG! I have 120 more wall balls… OMG! I have 75 more wall balls… OMG! I am never going to get these last 30 wall balls.” On my re-do, I had my plan as stated above of 12 rounds represented by poker chips that I would move over as I completed a round. Those dang poker chips were my touchstone that kept me in the moment. After four rounds of 15 wall balls, I wanted to drop the reps and start resting more, but when I looked down, I saw I only had two more poker chips to move over. All I had to do was keep going so I could move another poker chip. By staying present in the workout, it flew by instead of dragging out… well, maybe it flew by because I dominated those wall balls the second time around. Woohoo!

• The CrossFit Community is the MOST AWESOME Community in the World: When your blog post goes viral, you get lots of words of encouragement from people you have never met. The comments to my post and the comments on Facebook meant the world to me. I knew I had people from all over the world rooting for me. I have always said you will find no better people than those in a CrossFit gym. We are a supportive group- to the elite athletes, to those just starting out, and everyone in between. I am so proud to be a part of such an incredible community!

Put a fork in her… she’s done!