Well folks, yesterdays efforts marked the end of my CrossFit season. I came into day 2 sitting in second to last place and was excited for the two workouts facing all of us. Heavy deadlifts and high box jumps, then a crazy chipper, both in my wheel house. I knew that some crazy stuff would have to happen for me to make it on to the final day, so i just went into it all ready to give 100% each workout, and if it worked out, cool.
The deadlift/box jump workout started off with a bang and I felt very strong; but damn did those deadlifts get heavy fast! I ended up with a 5:08 time which was a pretty good one in my mind. But, our region is ridiculous, and that ended up giving me a 14th place finish (if I was out in NorCal, I would have gotten 5th!). This only pushed me down ONE spot in the standing, so, I would need some sort of a miracle to get down to the qualifying spots for day 3. Oh well, I would still go all out as only I know how and give the last workout every ounce of energy I had.
This is where poor decision making came into play and where my disappointment still today come from. I brought batting gloves to wear to help protect my hands (they were allowed), but for some reason I decided to not wear them for 100 pull ups, 100 kettlebell swings, 100 double unders and 100 overhead squats. I flew through the pull ups, getting off the bar second in my heat. The only problem was that I had tore both hands already around rep 70 and even paused about 40 seconds to throw some tape around the bloody mess. When I hit the KB swings I basically just fell apart. My hands were so destroyed that I couldn't get more than 4 swings at a time before the KB slipped right out of my hands. I had to modify how I held on to the thing so it wouldn't fly away and hit the competitor in front of me! My frustration was overwhelming; there was literally nothing I could to to make things easier. I got through all 100 reps going 3 at a time, re-taping my hands three times throughout them. Somehow I got through them and quickly flew the double unders. At this point I was so mentally drained I seriously had no idea how I would get any of the overhead squats. But i just kept pushing and pushing, doing as best I could. When time was called I had somehow done 45 reps. I walked away physically and mentally broken down. My hands were so torn up they went completely numb when I went to clean them out (top three most painful experience in my life by the way).
I ended up second to last in my region, a far cray from my goal of top 10, and while I am very disappointing in my performance (shoot man, two DNF's!), I know I'll be over it and back into my regular goofy attitude super soon. I think a break from crazy serious CrossFit is in order and I plan to get to work plugging all the holes in my game while getting outside and focusing on outdoor fitness throughout the summer and fall. I'll get into my new programming sometime in the next couple weeks when i smooth it out a bit, but for now, I plan to let these hands heal up a ton, and get out to the trails to run around every day!
This weekend inspired quite a bit of thought for me and I am excited for what this means in terms of what i write about, how I train, and how I teach. I plan to share all of this stuff as the summer progresses so be on the lookout for it all!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
The deadlift/box jump workout started off with a bang and I felt very strong; but damn did those deadlifts get heavy fast! I ended up with a 5:08 time which was a pretty good one in my mind. But, our region is ridiculous, and that ended up giving me a 14th place finish (if I was out in NorCal, I would have gotten 5th!). This only pushed me down ONE spot in the standing, so, I would need some sort of a miracle to get down to the qualifying spots for day 3. Oh well, I would still go all out as only I know how and give the last workout every ounce of energy I had.
This is where poor decision making came into play and where my disappointment still today come from. I brought batting gloves to wear to help protect my hands (they were allowed), but for some reason I decided to not wear them for 100 pull ups, 100 kettlebell swings, 100 double unders and 100 overhead squats. I flew through the pull ups, getting off the bar second in my heat. The only problem was that I had tore both hands already around rep 70 and even paused about 40 seconds to throw some tape around the bloody mess. When I hit the KB swings I basically just fell apart. My hands were so destroyed that I couldn't get more than 4 swings at a time before the KB slipped right out of my hands. I had to modify how I held on to the thing so it wouldn't fly away and hit the competitor in front of me! My frustration was overwhelming; there was literally nothing I could to to make things easier. I got through all 100 reps going 3 at a time, re-taping my hands three times throughout them. Somehow I got through them and quickly flew the double unders. At this point I was so mentally drained I seriously had no idea how I would get any of the overhead squats. But i just kept pushing and pushing, doing as best I could. When time was called I had somehow done 45 reps. I walked away physically and mentally broken down. My hands were so torn up they went completely numb when I went to clean them out (top three most painful experience in my life by the way).
I ended up second to last in my region, a far cray from my goal of top 10, and while I am very disappointing in my performance (shoot man, two DNF's!), I know I'll be over it and back into my regular goofy attitude super soon. I think a break from crazy serious CrossFit is in order and I plan to get to work plugging all the holes in my game while getting outside and focusing on outdoor fitness throughout the summer and fall. I'll get into my new programming sometime in the next couple weeks when i smooth it out a bit, but for now, I plan to let these hands heal up a ton, and get out to the trails to run around every day!
This weekend inspired quite a bit of thought for me and I am excited for what this means in terms of what i write about, how I train, and how I teach. I plan to share all of this stuff as the summer progresses so be on the lookout for it all!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
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