14.1

Friday Night Lights at MDR starting at 5pm!  Click HERE to assign yourself  to a heat.  Come and experience performing a workout in front of a high energy crowd right beside your fellow PCFers.  It will be a night to remember and a great way to start off the Open season.  If you can’t make it Friday to do the workout, please try to schedule a time during Open gym and find a person who can judge you.  Email us at mail@paradisocrossfit.com if none of these times work for you.  You have until Monday to complete this workout and turn in your score.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Mobility:

Gristles and Groiners
Keg Drill
2 Rounds: (PVC/ Light Bar)
10 Goodmornings
10 Behind the Neck Shoulder Press (Snatch Grip)
10 Overhead Squats
5 Sotts Press

Warmup:

Review movements, judging standards, score keeping, timing of heats, and workout setup

Open Workout 14.1

AMRAP/ 10

30 Double Unders
15 Power Snatches (75/55)

Notes: This is the standard double-under in which the rope passes under the feet twice for each jump. The rope must spin forward for the rep to count. Only successful jumps are counted, not attempts.  This power snatch is a ground-to-overhead any way. The key point is the range of motion between the start and end points. The barbell begins on the ground. Touch-and-go is permitted. No bouncing.  The barbell must come to full lockout overhead with the hips, knees and arms fully extended, and the bar directly over the middle of the body.

Cool Down:

Easy 1K Row
Pigeon Stretch (90 sec on each side)
Calf Stretch (30 sec on each side)

Bonus Workout:

2 Rounds: (work 30 sec / rest 15 sec between movements)
Side Plank with Top Leg Lifts (right side)
Supine Leg Lifts
Side Plank with Top Leg Lifts (left side)
Supermans

Reason to do the Open?  I don’t think I can better explain it than the words from our own members.  Experiences like the one below is the reason that we work so hard, putting in the endless hours of effort, and showing up even when we don’t want to.  Christina Rivera’s Open moments are forever embedded in my mind and I couldn’t be more proud of her 2013 achievements.  I can only imagine what’s in store for this year.  

My 2013 CrossFit Open Journey

 It was the middle of February 2013 and the focus of most conversations at PCF was about the upcoming CrossFit Open.  I had seen the CrossFit Games on television the year before, but in my eyes, this competition was for elite athletes and I was a still a newcomer to the sport, so I did not pay much attention to the conversations and believed that the Open was not for me.  But as 13.1 neared, Jackie kept pushing me to give it a try because she believed I had the ability to do it.  Each time I would tell her I would think about it, but in my mind, I was not prepared to compete.  I had only been doing crossfit for less than a year and rarely completed any workouts using the prescribed weights.  But Jackie was relentless and never allowed me to give into my fears.  So one day I decided to say yes.  I had been a competitive athlete all of my life, so I was somewhat excited for the opportunity to compete again, but I was extremely fearful for the unknown… the inability to know whether or not I could physically complete a movement.

 It was the morning of March 7^th and I was about to tackle 13.1.  When the workout was released, it was exactly what I had feared.  Snatches are my least favorite movement and the most I had ever snatched was 70 pounds and now the workout required what I disliked the most and at a weight level that I had never even attempted.  Clearly in my mind, I had made the wrong choice to participate.  I did my best that morning and completed the 40 burpees, 30 snatches at 45 pounds and 30 additional burpees for a total of 100 reps and then stood there the rest of the time embarrassed and deflated. 

 The following week I did somewhat better and completed a little more than five rounds for 13.2, which helped build my confidence for 13.3.  But then 13.3 was released and I was overcome with fear again.  Outside of snatches, I hate wall balls.  At 5’3”, throwing a 14 pound ball to a 9 foot target is just not my favorite thing to do and this workout called for 150 wall balls.  I remember Lara standing to my right as the clock counted down and all I could feel was my heart beating out of my chest.  All I wanted to do was finish the wall balls, so one by one by one, I squatted and threw that wall ball up as hard as I could. As I got closer and closer to 150, my confidence only continued to build as I was about to complete a task that only days earlier I thought I could never do.

 With three workouts down and the dreaded snatches and wall balls out of the way, 13.4 was going to be my breakout WOD.  But once again, I was kicked in the gut when the workout was released… 95 pound clean and jerk!!! The most I had ever done was 85 pounds and now just to get one rep, I was going to have to clean and jerk 10 more pounds than I had ever done. 

 Although I live only a few minutes from MDR, my walk to the box the morning of 13.4 seemed like a mile.  I thought about everything I had gone through in the last year and a half.  In August 2011 while on vacation in Costa Rica, my wife and I got caught in a horrific thunder and lightning storm and while seeking shelter, we were struck by lightning.  When I came to, Jenny was laying next to me unresponsive.  I gave her CPR for an hour as I waited for help, but was never able to revive her.  I thought about how much I missed her and how badly I needed her on days like today.  I walked into MDR and was very quiet and kept to myself as we went through the warm-up.  In my mind, I was about to embarrass myself once again because I was not going to be able to complete one rep.  Lara walked by me as we were warming up and asked me how comfortable I felt with 95 pounds and all I whispered to her was “I have never done it before”.  She looked a little startled, but then smiled and said, “well today is your day”.  Lara gave us another minute or so to get ready and then the clock started to count down from 10.  I closed my eyes and quietly asked Jenny to help me today.  In order to get the 95 pounds over my head, I needed us to work as a team.  3… 2… 1… I took a deep breath, grabbed the bar, got it up to my chest and with everything I had, I threw that bar over my head and Lara yelled “ONE”!!!  The shock that came over Lara and my face was priceless.  As I went for two and then three, we just started giggling.  After the third rep, I ran to the pull-up bar and completed three toes-to-bar and went straight back to my bar.  Could I actually get 6 more?  One by one, I kept getting the bar over my head.  I ultimately failed three times on the sixth rep of the second round, but it did not matter to me.  Just the fact that I did one was the reason why Jackie pushed me to do the Open.  I barely cooled down after the workout and ran home to text Jackie that I had gotten 11 reps. While I could not see her face when she read my text, I could feel her joy and excitement for me.

 By the time they released 13.5, my fear and anxiety was gone.  The workout called for chest-to-bar pull-ups and although I had never done one without a band, I did not worry.  I had an angel looking over me and together we completed 15 thrusters and 11 chest-to-bar pull-ups.

 I ended up finishing in 24,400^th place and I could not be happier.  Even now, I continue to thank Jackie for believing in me and pushing me to compete in the Open. And a year later, I may not do every workout Rx, may never finish first in a workout and may still suck at snatches and wall balls, but I show up and do my best because CrossFit has breathed life into me again.  And maybe just this year, I might be able to crack the top 22,000!