Don’t have any regrets and other thoughts from 13.1

The electric atmosphere at CFABQ this past Saturday was nothing less than inspiring.  61 of our athletes participated in the CrossFit open and completed a grueling wod consisting of burpees and snatches.   We had a variety of members from seasoned competitors to first timers tackling wod 13.1.

There was a lot about Saturday that impressed me.  People came early and stuck around until the end to cheer each other on during the wod.  We have such an awesome community at the gym, and the support everyone gave each other was amazing.  I could barely hear myself counting Booth’s and Whitney’s reps over all of the cheering when I was judging them.

Athletes were snatching PR’s or loads pretty close to their PR numerous times.  Several people told me that 135 or 75 pounds was just a few pounds under their PR, and then they went on to snatch it 3,4, 5, 10 times!  There is something about competition that pushes you past where you think your limitations might be, and that is why participating in something like the open is great for EVERYONE!   As a coach, I wish we could get our members to push and exceed their own expectations more often.   When we tell you to try a heavier load in class it’s because we believe you are capable of more, and clearly this weekend everyone showed that!  We as coaches were all so proud of everyone and their performances in the wod.

Competition also brings a sense of, “I could have done better.”  Whether that is because you had a goal set for the workout and you didn’t attain that or you felt like you could have rested less, gone faster, etc.  There are a lot of “what ifs” after a workout like this.   I think most of us can look back at our workout and figure out areas where we could have improved.   Maybe that would mean resting a little less in between snatches or not doing the first 40 burpees in lightning speed.

What I have learned from competitions is that regret after a workout sucks.  The first year’s open I repeated the wod 4 times and never did better than my original score.  That is really the only time I have ever repeated an open wod.   All repeating that wod did for me was mess up my training that week and mentally defeat me.   As a result of that experience, I try to approach each open wod like I only get one shot at it and lay everything I have out on the table.  You have to learn what works for you, but for me I have taught myself that no amount of rest in a workout makes me feel better.  If I rest 5 seconds or 15 seconds my body pretty much feels the same so when I do rest, I try to make it short.   The pain during the workout is nowhere near as bad as beating myself of mentally afterwards thinking I could have done better!   I try to remind myself of that during a workout to keep me going.

So as we approach the next four workouts, let’s keep up the amazing energy and community in the gym.  As you prepare for 13.2, think about what your goal is and then what it will take to get to that goal, and then put it all out there when you step up to start your workout.   Don’t use any excuses, and more importantly go hard so that you have no regrets!