I got a reasonable night’s sleep before visiting CF2a this morning. I remained calm. I think I was reasonable regarding my expectations considering I had just done Karen a few weeks ago.
At 6:30 this morning there were only four of us. We were paired up as follows: Katie and Micah, Tia and me.
Let me take a moment to make an observation. Over the past few weeks I have judged some amazing athletes, several whom I admire as fitness role models. I watched Nicole tire under the strain of Burpees in 13.1. I saw Ron challenged by 24-inch Box Jumps/Steps as 13.2 wore on. And today in 13.3, I watched the Wall Ball try to crush Tia.
When you see someone as fit as Tia straining to get one more toss, only to have to call No Rep, it breaks your heart. 100% effort expended; 95% effectiveness to target; 0 on the scoreboard. Do over. She was remarkable, she pulled off her 150 Wall Balls and moved onto Double-Unders. I don’t remember how many, but a few dozen at least. How she did it, I’ll never know. I am in awe of her tenacity, but when time was up, she was toast. As soon as the buzzer sounded she ran outside, looking sick. I glanced at her standing in the 20 degree temps and the steam was rising off her body as she was struggling to catch her breath. I was concerned for her, but I confess, I was getting very concerned for myself. If the Wall did this to Tia, what’s it gonna do to me?
What do you think goes through my mind when I see Nicole, Ron and Tia struggling to get past one movement to get to the next? It terrifies me. I am not pessimistic, I have accomplished a great deal in the months I have been in the Box, but I am still realistic about what is a reasonable expectation in light of my fitness level and age. I love CrossFit’s motto: Forging Elite Fitness. As I was driving to the gym today, I was reminded, that is my goal: to be fit, to be healthy. I desire to excel, but I do not confuse that with being the best. My desire is to leave the gym a better man than I was when I walked in.
I took on this workout with a very stark realization; I was doing a single movement for 12 minutes with 43% more weight than I have ever done before. I have never done Wall Balls with a 20 pounder before.
3-2-1-Go!
Within the first five tosses I knew this was going to be a torture test.
I was sloppy with my form. I think I was overwhelmed with the weight increase and it distracted me from the basics. As I play it back in my head, this is what I see: My stance was too narrow, therefore I was unable to use adequate leverage to unload coming out of the squat. My core wasn’t tight. My back wasn’t as straight as it should be, as I hollowed out, the weight took me off balance.
I was trying to knock out the reps in batches of five at a time, rest briefly, shake it off, do five more. Fatigue manifested itself in too many No Reps. Being off balance added a few more No Reps. From 75 on, I was getting at least one No Rep or dropped ball per batch of five. This was costing time, but more importantly it was costing me energy. I was running out of gas. I wanted desperately to break 100, but I crashed at 97.
Last week I wrote about focusing on the immediate task, One More Lift, One More Toss, One More movement du jour. But I don’t know where my head was today, I wasn’t looking out 12 minutes into the future. But I didn’t seem to be focused on the present either. I was flailing. I think I defeated myself, and Karen just finished the job.
This week, there will be no do-over of 13.3 for me. I am done with Karen, she’s too high maintenance for me!
97 reps with a 20lb ball is NOTHING to be ashamed about Chuck, I think you did GREAT!!!
Kim, I would say I am disappointed with my performance, perhaps frustrated, but not ashamed. I give all I have, somedays that just isn’t enough. Hey, I came back for more this morning didn’t I?
Chuck,
Great effort on 13.3. I also underestimated the suffering I had to endure. I missed Karen a couple weeks ago and foolishly believed that 150 was just more of the same after 20 or 30. Unlike you, I was definitely focused beyond the wall ballls; I wanted to get some reps in all three movements. Reality set in when 6 minutes passed and I was at 60 reps. There was no way I was going to get more in the second have of the workout, but I gad to try. I finished at 127. The was especially disappointing since I now have double unders and a muscle up that would have to stay holstered. I may try again on Sunday, but I am sore today and wondering if I want to suffer like that twice in one week.
Ron, a funny thing about Karen four weeks ago, versus Karen yesterday: Four weeks ago I was lame for two full days. Today, even with increased weight, I am sore but nowhere even close to the pain and discomfort of weeks back. This stuff does harden you up, even though there are times you think you’ve leveled off. If you “Do Over” Sunday, what do you think you could do differently to hit 150?
I would like to change the first 40 this way: stand a bit closer to the wall to avoid having to reach out to catch the ball and pulling my self forward and off balance; break up every set into 10’s rather than pushing that first set to a max so I am not spent after 20 reps. Other than that, I hope to improve just by knowing better what I am getting into. Jury is still out on whether or not to try this.
Ron I was in the same boat. I missed Karen afew weeks ago therefor I didn’t really understand what I was up against on Thursday morning. I foolishly thought that I would be able to start with 25 wall ball sets and complete most of the double UNDERS, especially since I was able to bang out 30 in a row and have my pants fall off during warm up. (don’t worry I had shorts underneath) needless to say I was disappointed to find that sets of 5-10 we difficult and I was only able to complete 32 DU. The pain that set in immediate after that work out confirmed that I would have to be ok with a score of 182 because there is no freakin way I’m putting my body through that again. Give me BURPEES and box jumps any day… As long as I don’t have to do wall balls!!!!