Ok, first off, I’m going to apologize for this post in advance. I’m sure you will be seeing 5 million of these in the upcoming weeks, and I know mine will be nothing special. This is more for me to unload my thoughts, and get my feelings down on “paper” before I forget them (which I will).
This is my first Crossfit Open. I signed up with Crossfit in May 2012, 2 months after the 2012 Open. I then got pregnant ,and had my baby during the 2013 Open. So, here I am, 2 years of Crossfit under my belt (well, maybe a year and a half if you count all the “modifying” I had to do my first year, haha!). I didn’t realize until its as over, how great of a benchmark the Open was. I wasn’t sure where to place myself, and really to see what needed working on, or even really what my strengths were anymore. So I’m going to go through each Open Workout, and relate my thoughts and how it applies to my Crossfit journey
14.1
10 min AMRAP
30 DU
15 Power snatches (or ground to over heads) at 55# for women
My Score: 268, top 15% in scores in the region
How I feel about it: Honestly? Mixed feelings. I think this was one of my stronger performances, and probably a decent gauge of where i’m at. I think if I had a redone it I would have gotten into 6 rounds and bumped up a few place. This was one if I was more competitive in the open I would have redone, and learned to stragetize. I did it outside, so my rope caught 3 times (I never trip up on Doubles under 50 reps). I didn’t see the clock so I didn’t push the last reps.
BUT….I will say this is actually stronger than I thought it would be when it was finished. I think all the extra Oly work I did translated well into this, because while I’m not particularly strong, my snatch mechanics are more efficient so even though i broke up the work more than I planned the sets I did were fast and smooth. I think this was a show of how i’ve grown in this field of the sport-my last time doing this 6 months ago, I only got 3 rounds + 15 double unders. This time I was only 2 reps away from 6.
14.2
From 0-3:00 complete 2 rounds of the following
10 Overhead Squats
10 Chest to bar pull ups
From 3:00-6:00 complete 2 rounds of the following
12 Overhead squats
12 chest to bar pull ups
and so on and so on
My Score: 77, top 25% in the region (like 23% or something)
My Feelings: this was my worst performance, hand down. not because of my placement, simply because I didn’t perform this WOD well, and I didn’t even attempt to re do. Those are two weak movements for me, but even at my weakest, I still should have moved past the round of 12. I broke on the OHS way too early, and I didn’t pace well on the C2B. I’m disappointed I didn’t attempt to redo this workout, because there isn’t any reason I shouldn’t have gotten another 30 reps.
BUT-It showed me weaknesses beyond what I imagined. I knew C2B were somewhat weak for me but I didn’t realize how taxed I would be doing them. We never do them in WODS, so from now on when pull ups come up, I’m just going to do half the reps as chest to bar. I need to work on them and get on them. It’s that pull to the bar that gets me!
14.3
10 Deadlifts, 95#
15 Box jumps
15 Deadlifts 135#
15 box jumps
20 Deadlifts 155#
15 Box jumps
25 Deadlifts 185#
15 Box jumps
30 deadlifts 205#
15 box jumps
35 deadlifts 225#
15 box jumps
My score: 108, top 35% in the region
My feelings: This was my second worst performance, even though I fell in a lower percentage. Mostly because it was more just a personal thing; there is no two ways around it-Deadlifts scare me. I had the potential to get to the 205# deadlifts. My speed/form up until 185# was great. This is a weakness mentally-I am actually very strong with deadlifts but I refuse to speed them up in a workout like this and risk hurting myself. 14.2 I was just defeated mentally and didn’t re do even though there was no reason I shouldn’t have. I won’t re do 14.3 if I can avoid it, I just think it’s a terrible idea.
But I realized that i’m ok sticking to my convictions, and I actually probably DO have a higher 1RM then 225#. those 18 reps at 185# didn’t feel bad AT ALL, even fatigued. My back/legs felt great afterwards. So, that’s good. I think if I just practiced more deadlifts I will probably get more comfortable doing them but for now, my performance is what it is.
14.4
14 minute AMRAP
60 calorie row
50 TTB
40 wall balls, 14#, 9′ target
30 Power cleans @ 95#
20 Muscle ups
My score: 180, tiebreak of 13:57, top 20% of scores
My feelings: I did much better than I expected. I’m 5’2″ and barely 120 lbs- rowing is not a strong movement for me, nor are wall balls, and neither are TTB. In fact, the strongest movement for me would be the Power cleans. Anyways, I didn’t plan to get past the power cleans, and I paced too much on the wall balls and broke them up too much.
But-The power cleans, again, showed the work I’ve been doing with Oly lifting. I did very fast, efficient singles and was able to get those 30 reps in. The TTB I knew would be a weakness, and I should have broke them up into sets of 5-7 to begin with. This was probably my second strongest performance, simply based on the fact that I made it so much farther than I expected
14.5
For time
21-18-15-12-9-6-3
Thrusters @ 65#
Bar facing burpees
My time: 14:26, not sure where I will end up but right now I am at the top 10% but i’m sure I will fall down to the top 15-20%
Overall-I will probably end up at the top 20-25% of the region for my scores. This is approximately where I thought I would rank in my region. This gives me something to shoot for too-next year I’d like to be in the top 15%. I think this showed that my strengths lie in low weight/high rep Oly work, longer workouts, and anything that requires a pace. My weaknesses are anything heavy on the shoulders or require a large amount of shoulder stability, and high rep/heavy deadlifts. I think next year I will feel more competitive and be willing to re do WODS multiple times..but this year I was just happy to complete it! I have more in my arsenal to work on, both physically and mentally, and hopefully next year I’ve fine tuned what I need to to feel more competitive with the Open.
However, I will say i think next year will be harder for me. This was definitely a “gymnasty” and endurance/cardio based Open. Higher reps on the gymnastics movements, and with the exception of the dealifts, the barbell movements required low weight. It will be interesting to see how this translates to the Game workouts-will we be seeing the weights stay the same, and the technical gymnastic movements increase? I’m not sure. But next year I expect to see heavier weights, lower reps, and less time moving my body through space ;).
Good job everyone who competed! I’ve loved reading everyone’s experiences, and seeing everyone’s PRs during the Open!
Little Fit Mama 