It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Oh, I think that’s already been taken by someone else.
Today was the debut of Open 13.4 at CF2a. I arrived as the 5:30 crew was just wrapping up. They looked like they were having an intense time.
We went through our warm-up and stretching in preparation for the workout. I was feeling cautiously optimistic. Once again I was paired up with Chris Monsini as we had been in 13.2. Chris went first and he was awesome. He was consistent in his pacing. He was like a metronome, Bend, clean, jerk, drop, bend, clean, jerk, drop. On Toes-to-Bar he was strong, and he was fast. He finished with an impressive 64 Reps, one of the top performers from the early classes.
I, on the other hand, experienced an epic failure. As noted in an earlier post, my Clean and Jerk max was 100# and the Masters weight was 115#. My Clean PR was 105#. I honestly thought I might pull it off, but I didn’t. It was seven of the most frustrating minutes I have ever experienced at CrossFit. I was able to Clean 115# several times, so I suppose I can take solace in that I achieved a PR in that half of the movement, but I was unable to Jerk 115# even once. I was focused on one lift at at time, but I was collapsing even on getting the bar to the Clean position and crashing the bar.
Chris and Chad were very encouraging, offering tips on being more explosive to dip and thrust the bar overhead. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. A few minutes into the program, Chris asked if I wanted to strip off some weight, but I knew if I scaled the weight none of it would count, so I insisted that I continue under the full load. So I can take comfort that my score of Zero is Rx. When the buzzer sounded I went outside to walk it off, I was so devastated. I was on the verge of tears. Coach Tia tracked me down to give me a pep talk. When I came back in Chris and Chad were encouraging.
Every day I walk into the Box, I am forced beyond my comfort zone. But this place and the people instill confidence to push ahead. But this workout was not an issue of my comfort zone, it was beyond my physical capability and mental toughness, at the present time. When I came back in, I tried T2B, I was able to extend my feet above the plane of the bar, but nowhere near closing the gap to get my toes to the bar. This movement is simply premature for my ability at this time. Knowing that, the max I can score if I am able to master a C&J of 115# will be three points.
Saturday I will be back to claim my three points, because I am not going home with a Zero!
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