The Crossfit Games 2016: How I went in way over my head

Confession time: In a fit of sheer madness, I went and joined The Crossfit Open.

When I signed up, I was doing Crossfit at Crossfit Subtero half-seriously for only about three months. While I’ve made some progress in that short amount of time, I was still hindered by lack of strength and mobility problems, both of which made me question my judgment about the decision to join. But alas, the $10 fee and my pride were already on the line, so as a last-minute self-preservation tactic, I kept my involvement under wraps except for a few good friends. “Whoa, seriously? You’re a total badass!” said one, sounding (I assume) impressed. “Don’t you think it’s a bit too soon?” said another, who (I assume) saw through my bravado.

Still unsure and not quite confident, I watched as everyone in the box trained harder and religiously followed the recommended Zone diet. That’s not to say I didn’t try, but a busy schedule and the aforementioned weaknesses prevented me from being completely dedicated to the cause.

And so I went and bombed every single workout for five consecutive weekends. Spectacularly.

Considering I signed up for the scaled division, it initially bruised my ego to fail most of the WODs. No matter how much I sweated and swore, or how my muscles ached and burned, the prescribed weights were just too darn heavy and I didn’t have enough endurance to power through. Heck, I gave up and didn’t finish the killer 16.5, which allowed participants as much time as they wanted to complete the movements. I didn’t realize I had already started crying, my tears mixing with the sweat, until long past the 30-minute mark.

In retrospect, despite not-so-little voices in my head wondering what the hell I put myself into, I kind of feel a little badass after completing the Open. I was never going to make it to the actual Crossfit Games, but the event allowed me to push myself further. I was always skeptical of the coaches and my fellow athletes for congratulating me after each failed workout, but when I stopped to think about it, I’ve actually achieved a lot. My one rep max weight for a deadlift? I blew it and did almost 100 reps. Thrusters? I’ve only encountered them twice in my short Crossfit Journey, and then I went and did more than 50 using a weight I wasn’t accustomed to. Wallballs? Everyone at the box knows my hatred for those things. I can’t even hit the lightest eight-pound medicine ball on the target, and yet I managed to actually execute some 25 of those correctly. Pressure seems to be the key, huh? Looking back, damn girl.

It has always been emphasized to me that even though Crossfit is a sport, your main competition is yourself. While I’ve always consciously thought about that, joining the Open definitely proved that point loud and clear. And with that, bring it on Open ’17!