Crossfit Games 2012 WOD 12.1

Today I completed my VERY first Crossfit Games 2012 WOD 12.1, and I am filled with every emotion possible.  Before I get ahead of myself, I want to start from the beginning.....

I've been having workout anxiety since the moment I signed up to be in the games.  What are the WODs going to be? Will I be able to do them?  Where will I rank?  Will I embarrass 610?  So many questions, and until 7pm last night, they were repeating in my head over and over like a fight gone bad. 

When 7pm last night finally rolled around, my husband (also eager to know the WOD) read the posted WOD 12.1:  7 Minute AMRAP of Burpees.  Seriously?!?  Social media was in a frenzy!  Twitter was exploding and all you had to do was put up a status of "Burppes" and no less than 25 comments would follow.  99% of people were pissed, dreading the WOD, and just speculating on how horrible it was going to be.  But not I.  I was secretly jumping for joy.  Why?

I can do Burpees and I actually LIKE Burpees.  

Suddenly my 115 Burpee Challenge just prepared me for my 1st ever Games WOD.  Dennis and I immediatly  started talking goal numbers.  Not getting TOO ahead of myself, I thought, 10 per minute for 7 minutes.  70.  I want 70.  Dennis then said his goal was 100.  Sweet.  Then we watched the standards video and we both suddenly started to double guess.  At the top of a Burpee you have to hit a target 6 inches above your finger tips rather than just a clap, and Dennis insisted this was a "game changer."  We watched two female competitors do sample videos, one getting well over 100, and the other just about there.  I was sticking to 70.  I wanted 70.  And so on facebook and twitter I declared that 70 was my number.  

Due to my FANTASTIC schedule (social not work) the only time I could get the WOD in for judging was this morning at 6am.  Two things that are always concerning. 

1.  6am times are ALWAYS slower than evening classes. 
2.  Am I recovered, will I get enough sleep, and will I be the ONLY person doing it tomorrow.  (I have always felt doing a WOD alone is very different than doing it with a group).  

So instead of counting sheep, I counted burpees to get to sleep and when 5am rolled around and I did my normal morning routine to get to the box at 5:50am.  


I wasn't the only person at the 6am class, but I was the only person doing the 12.1 WOD.  UGH.  To add to my unecissary nervousness, the WOD Clock was broken, so there would be no 3...2...1...GO! or a clock for me to keep an eye on during the WOD.  FOCUS KAREN FOCUS.  


Trainer Evan and I set up the targets (I used rings above my hands) and I marked the floor directly under the rings to keep lined up with the rings and hopefully not waste time "finding them" on the jump.  Holy shit was I nervous.  


Trainer Evan asked me if I was ready, I said yes, and there I went.  

Before the WOD, I told Trainer Evan my expectations for my performance (70) and he challenged me.  He said that I could do more.  He said that 70 is a comfortable pace and we weren't here to be comfortable.  HA!

So what did I do?  I burpeed and I burpeed and I burpeed.  I wasn't going to stop until Trainer Evan told me I could.  If I hesitated on my next burpee Trainer Evan would remind me to keep moving. And I only hesitated a few times.  1 minute in, 2.5 minutes in, 5 minutes in and I was doing great!  KEEP MOVING, DONT STOP.  And as my last second of the 7 minutes expired, I completed my 80th, yes 80TH burpee.

Holy Fucking Shit.  

I wanted to laugh, I wanted to cry, but mostly I wanted to catch my breath because I was really, really winded.  Did I really just exceed my goal by 10?  Did I really just go 7 minutes without stopping?  I couldn't wait to call Dennis to tell him how I had done!  

I got into my car and as soon as Dennis picked up the phone, I was in tears.  I told him that I didn't make my 70 burpee goal (I know I'm such a jerk) and made him guess all the way down to 43 before I told him the good news.  He was beyond happy for me.  But that didn't stop my tears.  I was overwhelmed with the release of anxiety, I was exhausted, and I started to get upset with myself.  Upset because I'm an AVERAGE person, and 80 will be an average score.  I wont be at the top and I won't be at the bottom.  

I tried to reason and convinced myself that I did the very best I could and pushed as hard as I could.  This is the FIRST time I'm doing this and I don't even have a year of Crossfit under my belt.  Elissa a few days ago said it best, "I think competition changes things for you, and adds more pressure to your performance."  


As the day went on, I started to feel better about my score and my performance.  I kept refreshing the leader board to see how others were doing and I was beating right around 60% of the women.  I'm excited to see my final ranking on Sunday when the WOD is closed. 


This is going to be an interesting 5 weeks!




Thursday:

12.1 WOD
7 Minutes AMRAP
Burpees w/a 6 inch target at the top

80