Gosh That Looks Simple….

Beware that which looks “easy.”  And “simple” almost never means easy.  If a WOD looks simple, order or easy on the whiteboard it is usually a gut check. I have been doing CrossFit for 7 1/2 years, and these are lessons I learn over and over again.  Generally, I can look at workout and anticipate a lot things – if it’s heavy, where the breaks will come, the speed at which I expect to move, and most importantly, what it will feel like.  What “it will feel like” is a really nice way of saying where/when the pain sets in.
On Sunday, I pulled a WOD from Ben Bergeron’s Competitor’s WOD site (3 RFT – 7 Thrusters, 21 KBS 53).  It seemed like a simple little burner, the reps were low, the weights were reasonable and the movements were simple.  I tacked the WOD on the end of my work for the day.  One of the benefits of many years of CrossFit, and thousands of challenging workouts, is that I can break the work down in my head.  Looking at thruster/swing, I had one plan – go fast and unbroken.  Basically meet it head on.
Like any plan, mine did not survive first contact with the enemy.  In this case, the enemy was lactic acid, better known as pain.  Pain is a familiar thing to CrossFitters.  We know it’s coming, some of us chose to block it out, others chose to embrace it.  Pain is kind of tough for me to embrace, but I like to recognize that it’s there, and that my challenge has begun.  For me, when the lactic acid flushes the system, and the pain sets in, that’s when I try to recognize I’m being tested.  If I had to put my finger on the one reason I keep coming back to CrossFit, it’s moments like this – things start to suck, you either meet the challenge, or you back down.
I knew after the first set, this would be tough.  I went unbroken on the first, but the swings got tough around 15.  Uh-oh.  I forced a fast transition on the second set, but I was slow getting back to the swings, and I literally closed my eyes and gritted my teeth through swings 13 and onward.  I transitioned slowly to the final set of thrusters, but got through unbroken.  Final set of swings – they got tough around 9 and I dumped the KB at 13.  Damn.  After a quick break, I picked up the KB and finished the WOD in 4:11.
3 minutes into a WOD and you are learning things about yourself.  Like how you accept challenges.  I failed my little challenge on Sunday.  But I still got a great little workout, tested myself, and I think I’ll be better for it next time.
 

Watch out for some sappiness – our 2 year anniversary is coming up…it has gone quickly and been pretty great. This is from Our first official day. Looks a little different…you think?