Sunday March 31, 2013

CrossFit Opens WOD 13.4

AMRAP 7:00 of

3 C&J
3 Toes to Bar
6/6, 9/9, 12/12, etc.....

So, on my second attempt the only major thing I hoped to do differently was to be way more efficient on the TTB's. Got some good tips from my coach and my wife who is a former gymnast as well as several Carl Paoli videos online. Tried to break the bad habit of looking up as my feet touch and also trying to be LESS active with my shoulders.

I considered several approaches to the C&J's but kept coming back to the strategy of dropping every rep after the round of 6. In retrospect, this was probably too conservative. I should have pushed myself more and done sets of 3 up until the round of 15. Would it have made a positive difference?? Who knows.

Throughout my second attempt I FELT much better. Got through the 9 TTB's unbroken which is more than what I was able to do the first time. Even the round of 12 I did OK on the TTB. The wheels were starting to come off as I finished my set of 15 C&J's. I still had over a minute left to do at least 15 TTB's but I felt like I had nothing left. I paused a few seconds before I even got on the bar. From that point on I couldn't muster much more than singles. This was incredibly frustrating. I mean, how hard is it to make your toes touch the damn bar 15 times??!! I tied my first score with maybe about 15 seconds left. Got 2 more reps and then missed the bar by about 2" on my last attempt!!

Obviously, very disappointed with this performance but at the time I couldn't have known how badly it would hurt my chances for staying in the top 20. A bunch of guys in my age bracket smashed the shit out of this workout. My big score of 87 reps was good for 80th place!!!

This could effectively end my quest for the 2013 CrossFit Games but I'm trying to stay positive and feel good about my performance up until now. I knew that I would be one of those guys on the bubble, scratching and clawing for 20th place and I knew that I had a very small margin for error.

My goal going into next year??? I want to be one of those guys who finishes top 20 almost every workout. Guys like Jerry Hill and Ronald Thomas. These are guys that are setting the standard for my age group. There are only about 20 something places between me and them. However; there is a huge gap in performance. It's going to take a major commitment for me to close this gap in the next year. CrossFit is already a big part of my life but CrossFit will almost have to BECOME my life if I am to make this kind of improvement. Whether I'm willing to make that commitment, I don't know. After the Opens I will take some time, reflect on things and decide whether I'm in this to BE the best or just have fun and do MY best.