5k row, For Time

I don’t know how many times I have opened up WODIFY and been like, “COME ON! Are you kidding me?” after seeing the work out of the day. There are days when I’m ecstatic about the work, discouraged, or really have to plan out how to pace it and then there are days like last week where it takes everything in me to show up.

This week our programing was “shooters choice, 5k run or row, for time”. I stared at my screen for quite awhile thinking, “He can’t be serious”, but obviously he was, it was there in black and white. It was an easy choice for me, rowing was in my near future however it wasn’t exciting me in the slightest.

In my 32 years of life, I have done ONE 5k run and ZERO 5k rows. I had no idea how to game this, pace it or quite frankly survive it. I watched the numbers for our class dwindle from 15, to 12, to eventually 5. That’s it. FIVE people were coming for this mess, never mind our class time usually boasts around 22 people.

When I arrived, the class had two runners (these guys are lighting bolts), my husband (aka Hercules), my asthmatic girlfriend and my asthmatic self. It was obvious the ladies were going to be last. I couldn’t resist, I checked the temperature in the box, it was a cool 91 degrees inside and a refreshing 99 outside. Ahhhh, summer.

Our Coach, Hercules, and two asthmatics strapped in for the long haul while the lightning bolts ran out the door. Our super awesome Coach advised us to watch our 500’s so we could keep an even pace throughout, then told us there was no time cap (WHAT???!) and off we went!

A funny thing happens when you start putting your body through feats you didn’t know you could do. You start talking to yourself. A LOT. The first 1,000m (of 5,000m) was pretty mellow. I kept my 500’s around 2:30 and just kept pulling and telling myself to stay around 2:30 and I would be fine.

Around half way things start to get spicy. There’s that moment of “I’m half way done” quickly followed by… “I have another 2,500m to go…”. Trust me, stick with the positive and keep digging. Around 2,000m I had to have a talk with myself about not quitting. I was more than half way done, I couldn’t just give up, so I spent many, many meters repeating just that.

Then it happened, I hit 1,000m and my body got so excited that I started pulling harder and faster. The light was at the end of the tunnel! I was so close! I was dying of thirst, my water bottle was out of reach, my left hamstring was cramping and my feet were starting to loosen the straps of my rower. Wait…. Those straps really make a difference, I could tell, my pulls were off!

I yelled out to Hercules to tighten my straps (he was done yeah know) and he helped me out. That’s when it hit me. I cared more about finishing this awful mess than stopping the pain or quenching my thirst. So I pressed on and then I hit 750m and my body tried to quit on me! Apparently my mind stopped telling my body to suck it up and I started to snow ball.

Thankfully, I know how to handle this, this was my asthma trying to ruin my victory. So I slowed down, took some deep breaths through my nose and stopped looking at my time. I just needed to chill basically. I was too excited for it to be over and I was rowing too hard for my wheezy lungs to keep up.

Eventually, by the Grace of God, I saw 250m on my screen. This was my chance, I knew I could sprint the last 250m and then fall off the rower. That’s exactly what I did, I pulled with everything left in me and I didn’t allow myself to slow down. On my last pull, I happily watched my time come up of 26:38.

I unstrapped my feet and cautiously removed myself from the rower and on baby giraffe legs, grabbed my water bottle and went for a 200m cool down walk. Victory was mine! I did it! I finished! I didn’t quit! I didn’t die! For all the joy and elation I felt, you wouldn’t be able to tell from looking at me. I was limping, red as a beet, dripping in sweat and squinting in the sunlight. Totally not time for a selfie.

CrossFit is always about pushing through barriers; whether it’s mental or physical we all have days we just hang on for dear life. However, I have learned that if you don’t challenge yourself you will never know what you’re capable of. I would rather fail multiple times and earn the joy of success than play it safe and only do what I know I am good at.