[blockquote style=”boxed”]Every week of the five weeks the open runs quickly turns into a rollercoaster of emotion, pain, joy and a whole lot of good times. This is half the fun and no way would I change a thing about it.[/blockquote]
So… What does a typical week look and feel like #intheopen?
Going to bed on a Thursday is a weird mix of: I need sleep but I wonder what the workout is going to be? If its 100 double unders, how do I break my sets up to keep my heart rate from spiking? What if it’s heavy cleans again and I start failing the hundees? Should I wear my retro stance socks or my iron man originals? What time is my heat scheduled again? Next minute you wake up and it’s Friday morning…
Around 1 or 2pm on Friday (depending on daylight savings in the States) the workout is announced and as you sit there waiting for Castro to announce all your weaknesses in the one workout, things are starting to feel pretty tense. Then out of nowhere Castro goes and announces a workout that is totally do-able and you are like: I got this.
Next minute. BOOM! Social media erupts in all its glory! Moody complaints, joyous celebrations, nonchalant fist pump icons and strategies from keyboard coaches fill your newsfeed. You wonder… Wow. Am I really this CrossFit now?
It’s now 5.30pm on Friday and you have made your peace with Castro’s announcement. It’s time to go down to the gym and huddle up with the rest of the crew from CrossFit Central Wellington. On arrival it turns out you are holding your shit together pretty good. Everyone is nervously chatting about the workout while Head Coach Eric battles for attention. Finally after five long minutes attention moves to Eric. In the way only he can do he breaks the workout down like a computer program and analyses every piece in detail. You then have a little run through and leave to go home. Again you are like: I got this.
You awake Saturday morning after another sleepless night of self-strategising, its game day. Again doubt creeps in and you wonder if you still got this, too late, it’s time to head to the gym. You arrive, the place is a hive of activity, some elves have been in overnight and set the place up to look like the thunderdome and confidence is returning as you watch your peers smash out the first couple of heats.
You are schedule for a 10am start so you head to the warm-up area down the back 20mins out from go-time. Eric has generously written a warm up on the board to prep you for the workout and you think, what a good man. Looking around you in the warm-up area and its like looking in a mirror as you look at the faces of those in your heat, a mix of nervousness and excitement is set in their faces. Again you don’t know if you should be nervous, pumped or a mixture of both so you just stick with the nerves for now.
Its 9.57am now and you are summoned to the floor to prepare for your heat. You now are asking some serious questions of yourself. Where is the chalk? Am I in a good lane? Who should I pace off against? Am I going to rip? Who’s my judge? What’s the strategy again? Can I do this?
Time is now running out with 10 secs counting down on the clock.
3.
2.
1.
Beep.
And you are off, the barbell feels light, gymnastics feel on point, you remember your strategy, breathing is easier than you thought, you know its going to get hard but you instantly thank yourself for putting in all the work over the past year.
And in your final thoughts as all the nerves float away you think, I got this.
