CFES does 13.1 in blowout style! Over 125 people have signed up on one of our teams or dropped in Saturday to do the workout with us. For some, the workout involving 75, 135, 165, 210/45, 75, 100, 120lb snatches included hitting a PR at 135 or 75lbs; for others it included getting that first 165 or 100lb snatch after last year's attempt at the ladder. Either way, the combination of 12.1, 7 minutes of burpees to a 6" target, and 12.2, 10 minute snatch ladder, pushed us all to maintain integrity of form through fatigue to keep hitting those ever-increasing weights.
In case you haven't already, SUBMIT YOUR SCORE BY 5PM. The coaches can't submit a score for you, and late submissions won't be accepted. You must enter in a score to officially continue in the Open.
Also, the Leaderboard is a great tool to keep an eye on your team's standings and to see how you stack up worldwide.
A quick note to those of you who are finding the Open to be a little overwhelming. That feeling of anxiety where you can't focus 100% on what you're doing because everyone's yelling, people are slamming bars nearby, you're not sure if you're the last one still on burpees, you have 20 seconds left and everyone is screaming at you--working through that is what makes you grow as an athlete.
1. Don't be afraid to set high expectations for yourself. Having the mental fortitude to really go after a goal takes strength, as does switching gears and staying focused when the goal seems a little further away mid-wod.
2. Go in with a strategy for best case scenario, and a plan B in case you misjudge it. Rely on your coaches and peers to help you in these AMRAPs, and tell them your plans before the workout so they can keep you on track. There are always a ton of strategy videos/articles, as well as KStar's mobilization video, that pop up after the wod is released. Watching those (with a grain of salt) and the demo video from CrossFit HQ are strongly suggested.
3. Celebrate your results. Sometimes you hit a PR and you walk away with a wonderful feeling of accomplishment for the work you've put in this past year. Sometimes you regret not doing more to address your weakness, your strategy could have been better, or that you went too fast in the beginning and gassed out.
What if you go after what you truly believe you are capable of? Worst-case, you don't make it and you know what to work on for next year (and next week!). Going in with the warrior mindset to attack the workout (with a good strategy) is probably your best defense against feelings of regret. But it's scary to go to that place, it's scary to stay there in a workout using 100% of your output, because, in training, giving 100% daily is difficult to do. We have multiple opportunities to get it right in training; to save our bodies, we sometimes scale or go easier when our shoulder or knee feels tweaked. This is the Open though, and you need to practice giving it all while competing.
Up to this Open, I've had a lot of people come up to me saying "I need to take your class and get stronger," or "I need to work on my technique, I've got to take Kari's class." I'm sure that when the toes to bar and chest to bar pullups inevitably come up, I'll be hearing "I should have gone to Amber's class." If you know your weaknesses, work on them.
Strength this week and during the rest of the Open will be skill-based and geared towards efficient use of higher rep sets. Ideally we will continue to build you up without destroying you for the wod.
Tues 6pm: Unilateral work, 1 arm deadlifts, suitcase and sumo. Weighted bird pickers. Sets of front squat.
Thurs 6pm: Pullup/dip strength. Seated box jumps. Heavy jerks and sandbag sprints.
Sat 11am: This might be rescheduled during the Open, I'm going to talk to Justin and let you know. It's difficult to find space and time on Saturdays when we run heats from 8:30am to 12:30pm. If you have a preference for temporary date/time, post to comments. Thanks for being flexible!
Squat Club programming for the week of March 11:
Monday: squat
Tuesday: squat
Wednesday: squat again
Thursday: do you even squat bro?
Friday: rest... No, just kidding. Squat
Saturday: you guessed it: squat
Sunday: same as Monday.
Posted by: Matt P | March 10, 2013 at 09:02 AM
Thank you so much Rae for addressing how to attack the Open! I've been a member of CFES for 10 mos. and this is my first open. I was so excited for weeks to participate but once the open came I had major anxiety!! After reading what you said I will now turn that anxiety into a plan. Thanks again!!!
Posted by: Jessica Holcomb | March 10, 2013 at 09:36 AM
Word
Posted by: Alice | March 10, 2013 at 09:37 AM
Alice! Thank you (and Carol) for turning right around after your incredible performance yesterday to judge--and coach--me. Didn't get the result I wanted, but had a great time trying, thanks for the support!
Posted by: KME | March 10, 2013 at 02:43 PM
Glad it helped, Jessica! I was worried when I reread this in the light of day that it was a useless stream of consciousness about things everyone already knows.
Posted by: Rae | March 10, 2013 at 05:37 PM
Just a heads up, if your score was entered after about 1:30 on Saturday it will get validated tomorrow morning. I will continue to validate scores at the conclusion of Saturday workouts and then follow up the rest on Mondays. If you want to see your name pop up on the leaderboard right away, enter your score immediately after you do the WOD. When I leave the gym on Saturdays I do my best not to work again until Monday morning.
Posted by: Justin Riley | March 10, 2013 at 05:40 PM
Great post Rae!
Posted by: Leah B. | March 10, 2013 at 10:52 PM