Last weekend, my daughter and I (my son tagged along as well) traveled to Lehi, Utah, for a CrossFit Competition. We were partners, and we entered Battle of the Box Utah in the intermediate division. It was fun. We got to swim in Salt Lake. We tried to see the largest open-pit mine in the world, Bingham Canyon Mine, but it was closed due to COVID.
We got to do pistols in the competition. Overall, it was an okay competition. Neither of us liked the second WOD, which had you doing burpees every minute on the minute while trying to complete an AMRAP.
Today, my daughter and I traveled to Kearney, NE, to do the Red, White & Blue Showcase, a CrossFit competition at Kearney CrossFit. It was fun. We had six workouts, and by the last one, we both almost died. We entered the scaled division for females because I’m a master’s athlete and she’s a teen. There were three divisions: RX, scaled, and intermediate.
What was frustrating about this CrossFit Competition is having to compete against women who entered the scaled and were really not scaled. They should have been in the intermediate — and their scores showed it when they beat most of the intermediate teams in the workouts. This part was exceedingly frustrating. Inevitably, at all CrossFit Competitions that I attend, there are always those teams who enter a lower division merely because they prioritize winning over competing at their own level. This is sad because you cheat those teams who are truly scaled out of podium contention, and these are the people who need that boost the most in order to stay motivated to keep working towards their goals.
To those teams, I urge you to think about others over yourselves, and not being able to do one movement out of dozens is truly not a reason to enter lower.
CrossFit competitions are about pushing yourself to be better; how are you better when you pounce those who you should not be competing against?
I’ve been absent of late. That’s been on purpose. There was nothing I felt like I had to say, so I didn’t say anything. While life still keeps chugging along, it still sucks, let’s be honest. Vacations cancelled, wearing masks, hiding from others and the world… I truly thought this would be over by now, but it’s not.
THOUGHTS ON GREG GLASSMAN’S COMMENTS
I will not talk about the nature of his comments, but only say this: I’ve learned you can’t say anything anymore. You can’t publish anything. You can’t go anywhere without the assumption that you are being videotaped.
While none of us agree with Greg Glassman’s comments, there was a time where he would have been forgiven, where his apology would have been accepted, where his fallacies for being human would have been recognized by all of us who are all just as guilty of sin as he is. He would not have been forced to resign, there would not have been such an uproar, etc.
Greg Glassman founded CrossFit but is not CrossFit, yet everyone wanting to de-affiliate because of his comments saddens me. Where is forgiveness in all of this? And does what one man thinks affect your love for CrossFit? It doesn’t mine.
IT’S BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE I’VE STARTED CROSSFIT
I can’t believe time has flown by. My CrossFit Level 1 Certification is due for renewal, and I’m not renewing it (I decided this way before the uproar). I just don’t need a piece of paper and $1,000 down the drain to tell me that I know what I’m doing when it comes to CrossFit.
I MISS CROSSFIT COMPETITIONS
I am craving a CrossFit competition right now. I can totally see this fall having non-stop CrossFit competitions as all the boxes try to squeeze them in. Fine by me. Bring them on.
Trueform Runner with my Paddleboard behind it
MY TRUEFORM RUNNER
My dear husband got a screaming deal on a Trueform Runner for half off. It is barely used. I am in love. I’ve never run on air before, but this machine is as close to it as I’ve ever felt. Super excited for when the winter comes, and for my aging bones.
I’VE TAKEN UP PADDLEBOARDING
Every year for my birthday, I buy myself something big. Last year, I bought two paddleboards — one for me and one for someone to go with me. Needless to say, they have been a God-send in the midst of COVID. I can escape on the lake, get away from everyone and the world, and let the soothing waves wash away all of my anxieties, frustrations, and sometimes anger at the world.
I was deadlifting this morning early in my garage.
I hate deadlifting. I don’t know why, but I do.
As the weight got heavier and I began to realize I was dreading this more and more, I asked myself why I was doing this? Why was I doing something I don’t like?
CrossFit is about doing a bunch of things well, and working on the ones you don’t do so well. Yet, at the same time, as I age, I don’t want to waste time doing something I don’t like doing.
You could say I had an epiphany.
I also realized I probably was never going to increase my deadlift weight because I hate doing it. I haven’t maxed my deadlift or my back squat in about two years. I am just never there mentally.
And I realized something: that’s ok. I am extremely fit. I don’t need to do something that is hard, heavy, and I hate doing.
One of my all-time favorite CrossFit workouts is Murph. Murph is a Hero CrossFit WOD, named after Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy who gave his life fighting for our freedoms in Afghanistan in 2005. One of the best things about CrossFit is these Hero Workouts. I’m still working through them, but to honor the fallen, and I can’t think of a better thing.
It’s tradition to perform Murph on Memorial Day at CrossFit boxes around the country, and it’s always fun. This year, I did it at 5 am, and although I did not PR, I did well. My daughter completed her first full Murph this year, so it was great.
The CrossFit Murph Workout consists of:
1 mile run
100 pull ups
200 push ups
300 air squats
1 mile run
It’s a killer workout that requires mental fortitude and desire to finish. For me, it’s much more than that. It’s about celebrating life, our freedoms, and those who have fought and died for them. It’s about remembering how hard life can be, but rejoicing in its blessings as well. It’s about preparing mentally for the worst, and appreciating the best. It’s about community, which is not as it once was this year, but will be happening soon enough.
If you get a chance, do this workout. You won’t regret it.
If you remember about a year ago, I hurt my thumb somehow (turns out, it was just inflamed, but that’s beside the point). I quit doing snatches because of it.
For the last two weeks, snatches have been in my programming — a lot of them. So I’ve been forcing myself to do them, and I’ve been getting my ass kicked because of it.
But I realized something while hating every moment of those workouts — I’m stronger than I think.
Yesterday, I squat snatched 75 pounds for 55 reps. I honestly didn’t struggle at all. The Rx weight was 85, and I thought 75 I’d have to strip weight.
Next time, I’ll go for 80. Because I’m stronger than I think I am…
Let’s be frank, those who do things that others won’t do are the winners in this world. Or, at least the winners with themselves.
When you think back on all the famous inventors and innovators in this world, what did they all have in common? An insane work ethic. A desire to never give up. An insatiable desire to succeed and to not stop until it happens.
During the coronavirus and every day God grants breath in your body, you have to be willing to do the things no one else will. You have to be willing to workout by yourself at home with no one there to push but yourself. You have to be willing to get up out of bed and face the doldrums of your life right now. You have to be willing to work harder than your colleagues so you don’t get laid off.
Not only do you have to have the will, but you have to do it. Every day. Every time. Every way. No matter what.
Only then will you have peace with yourself in what you can truly accomplish and will you accomplish your dreams.
