It’s been a while since I’ve run with a medicine ball and done burpee pull ups.
I did Gallant today (another Hero CrossFit workout), named after US Navy Petty Officer Taylor Gallant who died in 2012 while conducting diving operations off the North Carolina Coast. The workout is: 1 mile run with ball, 60 burpee pull ups, 800 m run with ball, 30 burpee pull ups, 400 m run with ball, and 15 burpee pull ups.
I completely underestimated this workout.
Run? No problem. I like running. I’m good at running. This’ll be fun.
Not carrying a 14 pound medicine ball awkwardly and constantly readjusting it every 100 m or so.
Burpee pull ups? No problem. I like burpees. I like pull ups. But together? Not so much. These things just take time due to the nature of the movement. You have to do them one at a time and 60 strung together is brutal!
This workout totally kicked my butt mentally. It was everything I had to finish it and my time was 44 minutes. I thought it’d be around 30 minutes.
That is one of the most challenging (and what I love the most) about CrossFit. You throw in one variable or nuance (like a ball or number of rounds, etc), and the whole workout is changed and becomes instantly challenging.
I finished with a renewed sense of gratitude to our servicemen (they face extreme challenges that constantly changes every day) and much humbled by the whiteboard! Definitely easier on paper!
My Journey to the CrossFit Games 