CrossFit Open 16.5

One of CrossFit's biggest selling points for me is measurable fitness. You can track your improvements over time and compare performance the same way you can for running, except you get to do things other than race the same distance over and over again. Don't get me wrong - I love running, but racing the same distances slowly turned me a little insane and I started resenting running in general. In CrossFit, we retest workouts to measure our growth and some of those workouts are evil. One such evil workout was 14.5 - a descending ladder of thrusters* and burpees over the bar. We got to do it all over again as 16.5.

*A thruster combines a front squat with a push press. Most people hate them.

Workout 16.5

21-18-15-12-9-6-3:

Thrusters

Burpees

M 95 lb.      F 65 lb.

This is me doing 14.5. I had never done thrusters at 65# before. It was really heavy and I got a lot of no reps. I completed the workout in 20:23, which was actually kind of a good time I learned afterwards. Two years later, I finished the same workout in 14:44. That's 5 minutes and 39 seconds less. It was still a vicious workout, and it should never get any easier because the fitter you get, the faster you go.

Instead of struggling to get three thrusters in a row, I managed to complete the entire workout without a no rep. My coach Eric was my judge and we discussed pacing before my heat. We decided that I should break up the reps as follows: 7-7-7 thrusters & burpees, 6-6-6 thrusters & burpees, 5-5-5 thrusters & burpees, 4-4-4 thrusters 6-6 burpees, 5-4 thrusters 9 burpees, 6 thrusters & burpees, 3 thrusters & burpees.

I would say that the hardest set was the 5-5-5 and I got sloppy on the thrusters. I had to get my head out of my ass, refocus, and was able to complete the remaining thrusters with a lot better form. Once I got through the 12s, I knew I was so close to finishing and had to just get through it. I used my motivational phrases (I like to scream HUNT and MURICA) to knock out the remaining reps.

Today marks the end of the 2016 CrossFit Open. The best CrossFitters will go onto Regionals and compete for a chance at the Games, but most of us end our season today. I'm proud of my performance this year because I got chest 2 bar pull ups for the first time and I proved to myself that I am in fact fitter today than I was in 2014. The Open reveals your weaknesses, affirms your hard work, and best of all - brings the community together for 5 weeks.