Tuesday 2.3.15
Lessons from a weekend of competition
Competing never gets old to me. Every time I even THINK about a competition I get butterflies. In fact, just imagining watching the announcement of the first workout of this year's CrossFit Open makes my heart skip a beat. It's nerve racking, it's adrenaline pumping.....and afterwards is one of the most gratifying and satisfying feelings I've experienced. I can't speak for Ben (he did AMAZING, in a gigantic field of 88 men), but for me, this weekend - as all competition experiences are - was filled with lessons.
1) All the training in the world can't make up for poor mental game. What I love about CrossFit is that so many of the things that we endure in our training and workouts apply to real life outside of the box - this principal included. You can be the strongest, fastest, athlete in the game, but if your mental game is off - if you're not in it, if you're not focused, if you don't TRUELY BELIEVE that you're going to do your best....then it's not enough. I saw both ends of this spectrum from myself this weekend. I placed 2nd in a workout in which most people would have counted me out: a lung burner with a bunch of bodyweight and gymnastics movements. I went into that workout with every intent of plowing straight through it as fast as I could and not quitting on myself for one second....and what do you know? It worked. On the other hand, I entered into the first workout of day 2 ( a workout that I should have excelled at) half-heartedly and lazy. I went through the motions in my warm-up, let myself feel my tired muscles, and allowed the negativity to creep in. Sure enough, 2 minutes into the workout, my body felt like giving up on me, and there were moments when I let it happen. Our minds are more powerful than we often give them credit.
2) Focus on what you can control. I can control my warm-up. I can control my level on mental preparation. I can control my effort level. I can control my focal points: and I choose to learn from my mistakes, but focus on what I did well. I can control my responses to tiredness....to workout announcements....to setbacks. I have NO CONTROL over the performance of others. I have no control over the workouts chosen. I have no control over schedule changes. I choose to focus on my individual performance, and wherever that places me on the leaderboard, just "is."
3) Competitive settings like competitions and like the CrossFit Open are OPPORTUNITIES. This competition was an opportunity for me to put my best effort out there and see what I could do. I PR'd my 5k time. I matched my clean and jerk PR. I surprised myself on some tough conditioning workouts. All of these things would have been much less likely outside of that competitive setting. Some people see competitions as a scary place where people are yelling at you to go faster and harder....I think they're EXCITING events where you can literally feel the support around you, and it pushes you to do what you may not have known you were capable of doing.
Thank you to everyone for your kind words and support this weekend! I'm honored to represent CrossFit Central Houston, and know that every time I step out on that floor, I compete to make you proud!
-T
WOD
100 double unders
30 power snatch (75/45#)
80 double unders
30 power snatch (135/75#)
60 double unders
30 power snatch (165/105#)
40 double unders
AMRAP power snatch (205/120#)
Endurance
10x250m row sprints
rest 2 minutes in between efforts
score = fastest and slowest times