I’m not a competitive person. Sometimes I am jokingly competitive and I have even told someone I’m going head-to-head with during a WOD to “Bring it!” (Cade!). While it is fun for me to competitively joke around sometimes, competition is something I usually shy away from. I’ve been a competitive athlete before and during that time in my life, it wasn’t fun. Eventually I became burnt out and I gave up my sport because I didn’t enjoy it or the environment that came along with it.
When the 2011 CrossFit Games rolled around, I was nervous. I didn’t want to compete. I could care less about how I ranked against everyone else in the world and I didn’t want my new sport of CF (that I love!) to turn into something that might not be fun for me anymore. As the registration deadline grew closer, I knew I had to make a decision. If I did it, there would be no turning back for me… when I commit to something, I finish it. For me, the deciding factor was trying to get a Kitsap CrossFit team into regionals. I truly believed that we had a shot at regionals and if I could contribute to getting a KCF team there, it would be worth it.
As the weeks went by, some WODs were good, some were bad, and some were just down right ugly. When WOD 11.3 showed up, I was scared. The WOD consisted of a 5 min AMRAP of 110# clean and jerks for the women. Prior to this, my 1RM C&J was 113# - that’s it! I thought I’d be lucky to get one round completed and doubted that I’d get any more. When the time came to do it, I actually surprised myself by completing a few rounds at this weight and I learned a few things about myself along the way... 1) I would have never taken on this weight if I hadn’t been “forced” into doing it (this is true for multiple Games WODs), 2) I’ll push myself a lot harder when I’m doing something for others than I ever would if I were just doing it for just myself, and 3) I think my 1RM clean and jerk is now more than 113#! I never knew these things about myself until I decided step out of my comfort zone and give the Games a try.
As you all know, our team never made it to regionals but I’m still happy and proud of our results. I learned a lot about myself and I saw numerous people from KCF do extraordinary things because they were forced to try it. Lots of people not only PR’d as a result of a Games WOD but they did it multiple times over!
If you PR’d as a result of a Games WOD, please post your PR below. If you learned anything (good or bad) as a result of the Games, please share your experiences below. It doesn’t matter if you were officially registered as a team member or not, we ALL pushed ourselves, and each other, through these WODs every Wednesday for six (well, actually seven) weeks. Let’s recognize all the milestones we accomplished along the way, no matter how big or small.
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