I’ve been doing CrossFit now for nearly 10 years. I started back in 2008, and I remember my first workout, clear as day.
20 min AMRAP
10 Pull ups
10 Push ups
10 Box ups – 18″
I was an endurance athlete, a few weeks removed from a 100 mile trail race that DNFed around mile 62 because I missed the cut off time for the aid station. I needed something new, so I thought I would give CrossFit a try. I had read about it online and found out about a new affiliate opening up near where I lived, so I thought I’d check them out one afternoon.
I couldn’t do pull ups. I *maybe* had a couple push ups in me. And I had never done a box jump before.
I did jumping pull ups. I did really sad knee push ups. And I bashed my shin on one of my first jumps. But I finished.
And I was hooked!
I knew right away that this was something for me, this is something I wanted to get more involved with, and get others involved in it as well.
I was aware of the CrossFit Games starting in 2009, which first started back in 2007 when you signed up and showed up. No Open, no Regional competitions. I followed the CrossFit mainsite to see what workouts were posted daily, marveling at the shear difficulty of them, and continued to workout at my affiliate.
I started coaching in 2009 and did the Open workouts here and there from 2011-2013. When joining Old City in October 2013, we did the workouts in class in 2014 and 2015, before having them judged Saturday afternoon starting in 2015. I did my best each year – doing as much Rx as I could and scaling when necessary. I still haven’t mastered a number of the movements, particularly gymnastics or heavy snatches, but anything with box jumps, wall balls, double unders, and rowing is my jam.
However, this year I opted out of participating. I’m not in the Open. Why? Because I’ve got other shit going on.
“But can’t you do both?”
I could. And I tried it last year. And it crushed me.
In the fall of 2016, I started trail running again in the hopes of doing the MMT 100 again in May of 2017. The first workout falls on the weekend of a big trail run – 71 miles long – that I use as a good test for MMT. The run starts at 6am on Saturday, and I last year I finished in just under 22 hours. It was a 90 minute PR from 2009, my first attempt at the Reverse Ring, when I finished in 23:30. I was ecstatic. And then on Monday afternoon, I did 17.1 – DB snatches and burpee box jump overs – and fell a few reps short of finishing under the 20 min cut off. I was smoked. And I was in no way recovered from the run enough to participate in that workout. I’m sure, with fresh legs, mind, body, soul, CNS, *add another excuse here*, I would’ve finished before the time cap.
I did the remaining workouts, another days after finishing a 50k, and I just didn’t give the level of effort that I wanted to.
I’m doing MMT again in May. And I did the Reverse Ring 71 mile circuit run of the Massanutten Mountains this past weekend. My mind is on trail running. My mind is on a powerlifting meet in April. My priorities are shifting. I want to make sure my body is ready for those two events, as well as the specific training necessary leading up to them. I just don’t recover and bounce back like I used to, so I’m listening to my body.
It’s not a forever change, just a temporary one. I love the suspense of the workouts being announced and seeing everyone compete. I know I’ll be back.
