My 2014 CrossFit Open

Have the 5 weeks of the 2014 CrossFit Open passed already? For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Open is the start of the road to the CrossFit Games. Anyone can compete in the Open. Each week for 5 weeks CrossFit HQ releases a WOD on Thursday night and you have until Monday night to submit your score. It costs $20 to enter, which includes your own athlete profile page.

Legit, right? Anyway… When it came time for the first open WOD to be announced I was excited and nervous. I want to prove that I am as fit as I feel, but ultimately it would come down to what skills would be included in the WODs. I am typically strong enough to handle most weights, but my gymnastics/skills are pretty much non-existent. When the WOD was announced I was half-way relieved.

Light snatches are my jam. I was all about that. My double unders aren’t horrible, but they aren’t good. I was also coming off a 2 week long cold/congestion fit. I ended up getting a total of 182 reps. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great. I felt strong the whole time but I still struggle to link my DUs together so I did them Double-Single-Double the whole time which burned up quite a bit of time. I, along with a lot of others in the CrossFit community, was suprised they came out of the gate with a skill like double unders.

See, they advertise the open as something that is for everyone, but there are a good majority of people that haven’t gotten that skill yet. On one hand it was hard to see so many people already feeling deflated before the first WOD even started. On the other hand we had several of our people end up getting their first Double Unders during this WOD. I was torn on this one. I think the fact that I did as well as I expected to for my current skill level made me appreciate this WOD more.

The next week I was still nervous and excited listening for the announcement. I felt like I had a solid performance in week 1 and wanted to build on it. And then Dave Castro announced 14.2…

As much as everyone talks about the Open allowing you the chance to push yourself past your limits I immediately knew there would be NO way I was going to get Chest-To-Bar Pull ups. I dream big, but I am also VERY familiar with what I am capable of. I’m realistic, yo! So I hammered out 10 OHS in the first 30 seconds and had 2:30 to attempt pull ups. Yea… that didn’t happen. I got a few chin over the bar pull ups, which is awesome. But there was no way this chest was touching the bar.

Again, it was hard to watch people want so desperately to do well in the open and be hit with such high skill WODs. We had some people get their first C2B, which is awesome, but the whole mindset on the open after this WOD was different. I understand they have to be able to distinguish the elite from the average, but having 2 high skill WODs to start the open was like a wet blanket on a fire. Yes, people still wanted to do well… they just felt like it was so out of their control to do so.

Week 3 gave us more strength oriented people a bit of a break! Bring on the deadlifts and box jumps!

It isn’t often that you see increasing reps and weight in the deadlift. While I am better at strength stuff, deadlift isn’t my best lift. I was still happy to be away from high skill/gymnastics moves. I ended up getting 20 reps through the 185lb deadlifts. That 8 minutes goes fast! Again, another solid performance right within where I expected to be. While many people were setting new PRs and mastering new skills, the majority of the open just confirmed what I already knew about myself. I guess that is a good thing, to be so in tune with my body that I can predict my abilities.

At this point in the open the excitement of doing well really wore off for me. I hung in the top 50% up to this point, which is good. I just, to be honest, got a little tired of people putting so much emphasis on that number that was their score. People re-doing that heavy deadlift WOD just to get 1 more rep… It seemed crazy! Unless you are on the “bubble” of almost going to regionals… then maybe that 1 rep matters… but for those of us that do it for Fitness and as a hobby putting your body under that stress within that time period just doesn’t seem like it is worth it.

Anyway, 14.4 was announced and there was a game changer – Rowing! The first time ever in the open. I can kill me some rowing, bring it on!

So, I got through the 60 calories pretty quick, about 4 minutes or so. And then it was time for toes to bar… ugggh. I hit the bar a few times. But I missed more than I hit. I was literally within an inch most of the time. I ended up with 65 reps. Yup – I got just 5 toes to bar in those remaining 10 minutes after the row.

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I came up with an idea, borrow the hubs shoe! Those extra inches made all the difference and I hit a few toes to bar easily after the wod. Hilarious.

When week 5 came everyone was guessing thrusters and burpees. I was all, bring it! Those are 2 moves I can handle. I watched a good majority of our box complete the WOD before I did it… and uhm, it looked miserable.

When the top games athletes finished in 8 minutes I figured I’d be closer to 20. I knew this WOD was all about grinding through it. No special skills, just some endurance. I can do endurance! I had just received a sample of X2Performance Pre-workout to try and figured if it was going to help my endurance I would for sure want it for this WOD. I came out of the gate steady and just kept moving. Give me a WOD that you just have to grind through and I’ll nail it. I hit 18:00 on the dot! I felt so strong the whole time. I didn’t bonk out at all. I really do think that the x2 Performance helped! I’ve got a few more samples to try and then I’ll give you my full review. If you want to try it yourself use this link and you can get a free sample of your own!

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Overall, I ended up about where I expected to 27852 in the world, out of like 58000 women I think. It was good to participate and I loved watching other people crush their goals. For me, it was just reassuring myself that I know my capabilities really well. I know where I’m strong and where I’m weak. I know what holes I need to fill and what I need to work on. and I’ll continue to do so. I’m looking forward to seeing how I measure up next year after another year of training!

Did you do the open?
Do you use pre-workout?

Disclaimer: I am participating in a campaign to help promote x2performance. I received samples to try and compensation. As always all thoughts and opinions are my own.