Time to Reflect and Learn in order to Move Forward

CONGRATULATIONS TO PAT AND MARK!!!  Both Pat and Mark are competing as individuals this year.  I'm proud to workout with such amazing athletes who inspire me every day.

It's been a long time since my last post.  In the past few months (I can't believe it's May already) I've trained for a 1/2 marathon, competed in the Crossfit Sectionals, and somewhat maintained my hectic schedule.  What have I learned?

Enter the Crossfit Sectionals.  Some background... last year the Sectionals was a one weekend arena event.  A group of us went in excited, thrilled and not knowing what to expect.  We worked hard that weekend, poured our hearts out, learned a lot, and celebrated Sunday night.  This year Sectionals was a 6 turned into 7 week event that had athletes competing via affiliates or video submissions.  The 7 weeks took me by surprise and left me feeling like roadkill.

After WOD #3

 WOD #1:  10 minute AMRAP: 30 Double Unders, 15 Snatches (55#)
This WOD was the one that I dreaded the most.  My double unders are not stellar, and I knew that would slow me down.  My focus was to keep the Snatches (or ground to overheads) unbroken so that I could make up reps.   I was not crushed by the results, but I wasn't elated.  The result was that I reattempted the WOD and achieved fewer reps due to a lot of snagging.  I was crushed and lifted my spirits with a 5 mile run.  That afternoon I brewed beer with some friends and decompressed with a few too many.

 WOD #2:  15 minute AMRAP 9 Deadlifts (100#), 12 Hand Release Pushups, 15 Box Jumps (Delayed a week due to some bugs with the Games Site)
I was excited when WOD #2 was posted, partially because it came out a week late and also because I was confident in the movements.  The day I did WOD 11.2 my divorce was finalized and it was easy to throw my gut and emotions at it.  I was happy with my performance, and a group of us celebrated with Margaritas and good food at Ana's.

WOD #3:  5 minute AMRAP 1 Squat Clean (110#), 1 Push Jerk (110#)
Looking at this WOD I felt confident that I could do well.  I love the heavy stuff and although I'm lacking in the Squat, my clean and jerk are solid.  My first mistake was running 11 miles the Sunday prior to the WOD.  Thursday of this week I left on vacation for Hawaii, so my only opportunity was to kill it Wednesday night.  Monday my quads were tight, and I wasn't worried figuring that it would loosen up by Wednesday.  Wednesday afternoon I knew I was screwed.  My performance was a lot worse than I was prepared for.  I put my score in jeopardy and therefore my team's score in jeopardy. I was depressed and felt guilty.  Going home I cried in my wine.

WOD #4:  10 minute AMRAP 60 bar burpees, 30 O/H Squats (90#), 10 Muscle Ups
I LOVE overhead squats.  Heavy overhead squats are even better.  Happily I went after this WOD hoping to attempt 1 muscle up after the completion of my squats.  I never made it through the overhead squats as I was surprised by how heavy the darn things felt by the time I finished the burpees.  The good news is that I didn't let it whack me mentally.  After Week 3 I vowed to not let these WOD's destroy me.  However I didn't celebrate or cry in my beer.  Just went home and hung out with my little guys, thing 1 and 2.

WOD #5:  20 minute AMRAP 5 Power Cleans (100#), 10 T2B, 15 Wall Ball
My love of Wall Ball is non existent, but at this point I wasn't getting too elated or deflated with the announcement of the WOD's.  I will admit that my attitude was more of a there's only two more left.  Thank God.  However I was pleasantly surprised at my performance and once again went to Anna's that night for a Coach's meeting and celebration with Margaritas and Good Food!!

WOD #6:  7 minute Fran Rap 3 Thrusters (65#), 3 CTB Pullups add 3 every round
Hell.  Do I really need to say more?  It sucked.  I was gassed after the first round.  The thrusters felt like lead and during the set of 12 I put the bar down.  Not a grand performance.  I have to admit that I was definitely down after this WOD.  In the end I was down about my performance during the entire 7 weeks.  And yes last night I celebrated the end of seven weeks with a margarita and some wine and dark chocolate.

Sorry guys if this sounds like Eeyore, but there's a few lessons here.

1.  Keep your head in the game for the WHOLE game.  That means if it's a seven week competition, guess what..don't celebrate or cry until the seven weeks are over.  There's no crying, celebrating, drinking margaritas, or eating chocolate until the whole caboodle is complete.  Small successes are worth feeling good about, but don't let it go to your head.

2.  Competing in your own box without the 2 day Arena environment week after week for seven weeks requires a particular mental toughness that I wasn't prepared for.  Looking back there were a few WOD's when I put the bar down and lost reps.  5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 20 minutes.  For any of those AMRAP's the goal is to keep moving.  Pace is going to be slower for a 20 minute AMRAP vs a 5 minute AMRAP, but moderate weight Wallballs and Thrusters should be unbroken.  Setting down a Wallball was mental fatigue for me, not physical.

3.  Mistakes are inevitable.  This isn't life or death.  Get over it and move on.  Enough said.

4.  Without the support of friends and family none of what I do is possible.  My son sat there and cheered me on for 5 of the WOD's.  That means more than I can put into words.  SnoRidge contains the best quality Crossfitters.  I work out with some of the best people on this planet.  The support and the friendship of my fellow Squatchers is priceless.

5.  I'm better this year than last, and next year I'll be better than this year.  At the end of the day I gave everything that I had to give.  I'm happy that I was able to compete and do all of the WOD's.  Next year I'll be stronger, faster, and meaner.  :)

What's next?  
Refocus on my nutrition and workout goals to complete the following:
May 7th, Cinco De Mayo Half Marathon
June 25th, Rock n Roll Marathon
this fall, Rainier's Strongest Man & Woman Competition
next year, Crossfit Games

What are your goals?