Alison and I sit down every Sunday and write out the workouts for the week.  Every once in a while, healing I’ll have a big space to fill, dosage and Alison will say “what about King of Prussia?”

You may ask, ed what the hell is King of Prussia?  Well, it’s a really nice town in the “Main Line” suburbs of Philadelphia, where my parents live.  It’s significant because in 2010 we went back there and did a workout at CrossFit Kind of Prussia, or KoP.  KoP is a great gym in an old movie theater.  They host the L1 seminar and Aimee Powers, the owner and coach is both a great athlete and coach.  We dropped in there on a very hot, muggy Philly summer day.

I had been doing CrossFit for a while, and was seeking out challenges.  Alison had been CrossFit for over a year and was starting to scratch the surface, really working hard and making strides.

The workout on the board was one you see below – a triplet of 2 basic moves and doubleunders. It came from the CrossFit main site in the days before so we were gonna tackle it in a group.  Alison was probably just stringing her first few doubleunders together when we tackled this workout with Aimee and a couple of her stud athletes at a chill 10am class.

Just like any good, the first round was no indication of what was to come.  Alison chipped away as we finished the first round in around 2 minutes.  Again, like any good workout, around round 3, the war on your legs began to reveal itself.  We began to slow down as the gym neared a muggy 100 degrees.  We all finished around the 20 minute mark.  Except for Alison.  She was grinding through the jumps and the swings, only to get smashed by the rope.  Double, Double, whip mark.  Start up, double, double, whip mark.  Grimace.  Repeat. As the seconds turned into minutes, Al went to the dark place.  She started shimmering with a sweat that made you wonder if she was ok, like she was leaking. But the look in her eyes made you afraid to ask.  It was obvious a battle was going on, and the best thing we could do was look away and let her finish.  We’ve all been there, and if you haven’t it’s magic.  Tired, frustrated, but relentless.  The realization that the only way out is through.  This may not always be fun to watch, but it’s a thing of beauty.

This was before time caps were a real thing, and Al finished in over 42 minutes.  I think Aimee was worried she might be there all day or have to call an ambulance.  But I think she would have done it gladly.  The next time Al did the workout, she cut her time in half.   I think when Al suggests this workout, she’s trying to share this gift.

Workout of the Day

5 RFT

40 Doubleunders

30 Box Jumps 24/20

20 Kettlebell Swings 53/35