Well. Today I did it. Today I registered to compete in the Crossfit Games 2012 - Open!
I had decided I wouldn't, told people there was no way... I struggle in some key areas of Crossfit - and know the difference between myself and the other female competitors I have seen. Yet - here I am. I guess there was a tiny part of me that wanted to - and every day it grew with every passing workout. The few deciding factors? For starters - the first "WOD" was announced. How many burpees can you do in 7 minutes? Didn't seem crazy hard. I watched the leader board on the Crossfit website last night - marveling at the numbers people were putting up. I tried it this morning for fun. So how many burpees can I do in 7 minutes? Today it was 82. Knowing that the person holding #1 on the leader board had a score of 125, I knew it wasn't great - but I didn't expect great - I just wanted to be proud of how I did. And I was! I made it through those 7 minutes without stopping - and if you've ever done any type of "how many can you do in this many minutes" workout - you know how difficult that is. Not to mention that I had also watched a video of one of the top female competitors try her hand at the WOD - and she got 91. Well I can definitely improve by nine reps!
The second and third deciding factors for me to register? I've begun stringing sets of five double-unders together. It doesn't sound like much - but it's a huge improvement for me, and something I've really been struggling with. Third is I learned how to do a handstand against a wall! Sounds silly right? Incredibly difficult. Handstand push-ups are a huge exercise in Crossfit - and I haven't been able to do ONE correctly. So today I gave it another try - but came about it differently. When doing handstand push-ups - it's crazy hard to jump right into it correctly. So you learn parts of it - and progress your way to doing it the right way. So I'd been trying to do the handstand push-up from a regressed point - starting with your head on the floor and swinging your legs up to the wall - THEN pushing up. And so far - no go for me. Very frustrating because I truly felt I was strong enough to push myself up - something just wasn't working for me. Well today I took a stab at just going into a full handstand on the wall - hands first, then swinging the legs up. The better way to do it - it's faster- and who would have thunk it - but easier for me. I couldn't believe it! It took a few tries to gauge how close to the wall I needed to be, but lo and behold - once I got up there - I could do a dang push-up! Color me a happy girl for the morning.
After I practiced a few more - I called my husband on the way home from the gym - telling him about my stab at the 7 minutes of burpees, and my handstand story. His words? So... you need to go register for the Open now. And I knew he was right. What's holding me back now? I might not be the best, and I might not make it past this first level of competition - but shoot - I've only been doing this for about four months now - and really - why NOT? We only live once - and I never would have thought I'd be in the shape that I'm in... so why the heck not.
So ladies and gents. Wish me luck. Tomorrow night I try the WOD again - this time with someone recording it and submitting it. I'm shooting for that 91. Stay tuned...
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