This is the first time I've signed up since 2013 (for various reasons) and this year was finally different. Our lives have finally fallen into a perfect routine and since October 2015 Dennis and I have been on a mission. No more dicking around with our goals. With the year of cardio 2 months in, along with our 4-5 weekly WODs, and with focus on our food, we were finally in a place where we could justify signing up. (As average athletes mind you, with zero expectations of qualifying at all to regionals).
I knew that I had a milestone coming up. I was on the cusp of getting my first pull up(s) and I thought that if one of the Open WODs required them, I maybe would be able to get a few in. So that was always in the back of my mind.
This was Hydraulic's 1st ever open! How cool is that to participate in the box's 1st ever Open? (ok so we were also at SMCF's 1st Open too, so we've now popped 2 boxes cherries) Even with only being open since October, we got 20 members signed up and ready to compete. All ranging in ability, and I knew that almost all of them would surprise themselves on how they did.
As per usual, the suspense for the 1st workout in the Open was killing me. The work outs are announced on Thursday evenings and then you have until Monday at 8pm to submit a score. This goes on for 5 weeks. There was SO much buzz about what the WOD will be, all I know is that I wanted pull ups and nothing more.
And then this happened:
I was totally ok with EVERY part of this, except for the last line. C'mon man!
The next day was less than fun while my CrossFit friends went back and forth planning, doing research, and exchanging ideas about strategy and things of that nature. Why? Because I already knew what my score was going to be. 18. I'd get 18. No planning needed.
Then came the debate about doing it RX'd verses Scaled. If I did it RX'd I would place higher than every body doing scaled, but my physical workout would be lame. If I did it Scaled, my ranking would be lower but my workout would be intense. Since I wasn't a fan of the scaling option in the open to begin with, I treated it like I would have any other time and went for the RX.
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| Thank you Adam for Capturing this Extremely Awkward Moment |
Dennis was hopeful that I'd get a Chest to Bar, but I told him he was dreaming, but I would try my best.
3...2..1...Go!!
The Overhead Lunges were no joke, but completely manageable. The only really strategy here was not to stop until you got to the end of the 25 feet. 8 bar facing burpees, no real problem there and then boom back to the Overhead Lunges.
Then to the Chest to Bar Pull ups. I took my time, gathered all my strength and attempted....and failed. Tried again, failed. Repeat that about 8 times until I finally threw in the towel. The bad news, that ended my 16.1 WOD, but the GOOD news was, in all my attempts trying for a Chest to Bar, I was actually getting REAL PULL UPS! I lifetime PR for me!
I wish it happened a different way at a different time. It was so disheartening knowing that I was cranking out pull ups (a goal I had physically written on our goal board and something I'd been chasing over years) was receiving an audible sigh of disappointment from the crowd. HELLO! I was getting Pull Ups for the FIRST TIME EVER!
So when a brush of disappointment, this concludes my 16.1 WOD with a shimmer of excitement declaring that I got my 1st set of pull ups in the open.
Now that I was done with 16.1 forever (or so I thought), I took the time to really observe how my fellow boxmates were doing, and let me just say I witnessed some pretty amazing stuff. People who were sick for 2 weeks were cranking out impressive scores, a former Regional Qualifying athlete ripping through the lunges like it was nothing, notorious rushers setting their perfect pace (Shawn), and then there was Dennis. Ah Dennis, what an interesting breed you are.
Once all the heats were done a member wanted to do the WOD Scaled for Funsies so I agreed to do it with her. Not sure if this was smart or stupid but the WOD (even the scaled version) was no joke. I was happy when the 20 minutes expired, and hopefully we never see this WOD again.
Back to Dennis: He's basically his own worst enemy, but I will let him blog from his point of view hopefully this week. However, I will leave you with this gem of an after picture of him later that day:
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