My First CrossFit Open, 2015

The Open is about getting to Regionals and then ultimately to The CrossFit Games but for me, it was about showing up, putting in work and doing the best I could. I went in with no expectations and the belief that I wasn’t competitive but I learned that I was lying to myself the second I could compare my scores with the rest of the world. Each WOD brought it’s own personality and taught me lessons.

I am a proud scaled athlete and I approached each WOD with one thing in mind, you’re doing better than anyone sitting on the couch. The fact that I show up any day to our box is an accomplishment, the fact that I have been going for almost a year is astonishing and the fact that I signed up for The Open is so out of character for me. So here is what The 2015 Open was for me.

15.1 and 15.1a were my best performance for a lot of reasons. One, I had absolutely no expectations, two I PR’d on my “hanging knee raises” (which I did more as K2E because I didn’t understand the movement regulations) and I PR’d my 1 RM on my Clean and Jerk at 110# and thirdly I came off that WOD feeling really good about what I had accomplished. The scaled version of 15.1 was 9 minutes of 15 hanging knee raises, 10 55# deadlifts and 5 55# snatches or grounds to overhead. I choose to G2O to save my shoulders a bit and keep me on the bar longer.

15.2 was Castro’s hissy fit WOD and I felt that he did a real disservice to the scaled athletes. We know we are scaled, meaning we don’t have all of the movements in CrossFit, so why program pull ups? It’s one thing to program pull ups and give us 10 minutes to fight to get one, it’s another to program them in a 3 minute time cap with overhead squats. So I, like many other scaled athletes in my box, got a whopping 6 for their score on 15.2.

15.3 was easily wall ball hell but unfortunately I missed 15.3 entirely due to a wicked cold. I know many of my fellow athletes smashed this WOD and I am so proud of the work they put in to achieve that. My husband did very well with his RX of 15.3 which ironically, he was more concerned about the double unders than the muscles ups. He is living proof that we all have our strengths and weaknesses.

I went into 15.4 overly confident and still recovering from a cold. We had an 8 minute AMRAP of 10 65# Push Presses and 10 75# cleans, both weights are not heavy for me but quickly fatigued me. I didn’t consider how weak I still was or how heavy a barbell can get when all you do is pull it and press it for 8 minutes straight. I ended 15.4 with 66 reps, which I should be proud of but I know I could have done better. I could have re-done it but my ego was bruised as well as my shins.

Then came 15.5 and I went in with the mindset that this work out was going to suck and I just had to hold on to the bar and pace myself. I didn’t go in with a negative attitude, I just know my limitations. Thrusters NUKE me, they drive my heart rate through the roof while giving my asthma a run for it’s money. I am so grateful that I like rowing otherwise this work out would have seriously made me cry. I remained scaled for 15.5 and closed out with 17:06 time that I am super proud of.

So, that was MY open! I went in with no expectations or goals, other than “doing the open” and from this, I learned that I am indeed competitive, just not as much as my husband. I learned a lot about my weakness and where I need to focus extra attention. I learned that a Friday Night Light’s experience is comfortable and that maybe competitions aren’t such a bad idea after all, scaled of course. Most importantly, I learned that I want to do this again, which really took me by surprise. Crossfit really does change you and in my humble opinion, it’s for the better. Here’s to next year’s Open and let’s pray that we don’t see 15.5 again!