This past Saturday I took part in The Athlete Open and went head to head with 24 other CrossFitters in the Pentathlon division.  To win a track meet, Olympic lifting competition and a CrossFit competition you can’t be a specialist at any one thing. Although I wouldn’t consider myself a specialist at any one of these three things my strength was the track portion. I knew going into this competition that I was capable of completing the RX’d movements of both Diane and Amanda, but they were going to be difficult.

Five hours after the first event and three workouts down, fatigue was setting in, and it was time for me to face the final two workouts, Diane and Amanda. My plan for Diane was to go unbroken through the deadlifts and break the HSPU into sets of 5-10 at a time. For Amanda I was planning to get the muscle-ups unbroken and do one snatch at a time. Both were simple plans that seemed reasonable for me to do.

At the end of Diane, one of my fellow competitors was telling me that he had planned to do all kipping HSPU, but when he saw others in his heat doing them strict he followed suit. The second round shot his shoulders and he struggled through the rest of the workout. I stuck to my plan and set a four minute PR.

I was able to stick to my plan for Amanda through the first nine muscle-ups and then everything changed when I got to the bar. I failed my first two snatch attempts and the following 10 minutes were filled with more of the same; rushed attempts, a general lack of focus and some serious frustration.  With 2:30 left on the clock and the final five snatches ahead of me I knew that I was capable of doing the work, I just needed to refocus and get back to my initial plan. Pace myself, 1 rep every 30 seconds, and not miss a rep. The difference between my last five snatches and my first five was all in the way I approached the barbell.  Simply refocusing on the movement at hand and I was able to finish the last 5 snatches of the workout without missing an attempt.

On the way to a #20 PR Clean & Jerk

When the coaches post the workout on the whiteboard at P3 I know some of you smile while others cringe at the challenge of what you are faced with.  Every day, in and out of the gym, we are faced with obstacles that take us out of our comfort zone but it is how we approach them that make the difference in their outcome.

If I would have just attacked the final workout with a definitive purpose and confidence in my abilities I know the outcome would of been different. I am proud of my struggles this past weekend because I know that my next competition will be even better because of them.

SKILL/STRENGTH
Push Press

WOD
Row 1000m
Rest as long as the 1000m took
Row 500m
For Avg. Watts and Time

SCORES and TIMES
Power Ratio = Watts/Body Weight
It’s not always the fastest who is the most powerful, in a boat would want someone who could only pull their own body weight or 1.5X their body weight?

COMPARE 1000m to July 19th 2012
COMPARE 500m to June 21st 2012