J.T. Kalnay's Blog, page 11

Dear CrossFit, 13.3, A Day Later

Dear CrossFit,

So it’s a day after 13.3, and my thighs are still feeling it.  Initially I was pretty disappointed with 144 reps, but now I’m getting some perspective on it.  Doing one wall ball shot at my age and after hip replacement surgery is a big accomplishment.  Doing 144 of them with a judge is actually pretty good.  It’s not as good as I thought I would do, and it’s going to leave me in the bottom third of this WOD, but I’m ready to accept that that’s where I’m at right now.  There’s a lot of room for improvement.  It’s gotta start with nutrition.  Moving nearly 250 fatty pounds in a WBS has to be harder than moving 200 lean pounds.  Ditto for a pullup (which we are certain to see next week).  Then it’s gotta get to technique.  I’m sore in the wrong places today.  I shouldn’t be sore in the front of my legs, b/c I shouldn’t have been using the front of my legs.  Then it’s gotta be longer intervals.  I’m good for about 45-50 seconds all out now, and for about 90-120 seconds at 80%.  But after that it drops off really quickly.  I watched and coached and judged a lot of 13.3s in the last couple days, and the people who are doing really well can go hard for 150-180 seconds, and can go 80% for 7-8 minutes.  Those are the people who are crushing it.  And a lot of them are the same people who cruised through 40 burpees or through multiple sets of 15 box ups.  So, while I’m disappointed with my 144 reps, I’m glad to see what 13.3 (and 13.1 and 13.2 have revealed).  Maybe, just maybe, for some of us, the Open shouldn’t be about competition, but should be about understanding our reality, and what can be done about it.

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

Dear CrossFit, 13.3 = 144 reps, and one long look into the darkness

Friday March 22, 2013

13.3, 144 reps.

This is the closest I have come to quitting in a comp.  My thighs cramped and I desperately wanted to quit.  I dropped the ball and walked away.  A single coach’s voice called me back.  I stopped, looked down into the deep dark abyss where quit lives, saw the lifetime of misery and disapointment that lives in that pit, and stepped back from the brink.  I felt its pull, the gravity that wants to drag you into the darkness.  I felt how good it would be to stop, to just make the pain stop.  But there was that coach’s voice, calling me back.  Thanks coach.  I hurt.  I hurt really bad, and I need help to get better.

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

Dear CrossFit, 13.4, What we haven’t seen yet.

Dear CrossFit,

Since hordes of athletes are already speculating about what will be in 13.4, I will dedicate this post to fueling the obsession.  So far we’ve gone overhead three times (snatch, shoulder to overhead, wall ball shots), once with a progressively heavier weight.  So far we’ve also done burpees, box jumps, double unders, and a large number of light deadlifts.  Also, we’ve done muscle ups.

So what haven’t we seen?  I will limit my predictions to things that can be filmed or easily judged.  For example, long runs will be left off, as will any WOD that includes rowing, biking, or swimming.  The single garage-based CrossFitter simply can’t film these, therefore I predict they will never appear in the Open.

Here’s what we haven’t seen, ranked in the order that I think they are most likely to appear.

Pullups, Thrusters, Toes to bar (or knees to elbow), Kettlebell swings, goblet squats, Clean and Jerk ladder, HSPU, and Pistols.

I have HSPU and pistols at the end because they are a “high degree of difficulty” skill that will produce a DNF or step discontinuity for the overwhelming majority of CrossFitters.  That’s why muscle ups appeared last in 13.3.  Because of this fact, I predict either HSPU or pistols will appear as the final exercise of 13.4 and the other will appear as the final exercise of 13.5

Based on this list, I predict 13.4 will be:

5 minutes to find max C&J, immediately followed by

Fran

Total score is two times the number of seconds it took you to do Fran minus your max clean and jerk, lowest score wins.

CrossFit has really “gone heavy” lately, and I don’t recall their being a 1 rep max in the Open, so although we all know 13.4 or 13.5 will be Fran, those devils at HQ may just throw in a one rep max like this.

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

Dear CrossFit, Murph Hero Wod

For those of you who might want to learn a little more about Murph…

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/03/21/documentary-murph-protector-tells-true-story-hero-soldier-in-afghanistan-689612088/?intcmp=features

 

CrossFit 13.3 WORLD RECORD

This HAS to be a world record!  Way to go JT!!!

http://youtu.be/XtxbvGg-j9E

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

Dear CrossFit, Measurable, measurable, measurable…

So I knew wall balls and dubs were coming, and that muscle ups would be the last element of a WOD, (see 13.3, what we haven’t seen yet…  http://jtkalnaynovels.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/dear-crossfit-13-3-what-we-havent-seen-yet/) but didn’t think we’d be seeing 12.4 again.  However, it does make sense b/c CrossFit is about measuring.  What better way to compare where you are now to where you were last year!

I looked in a couple of demographics that interest me. 

For men aged 50-54, 15 muscle ups won.  Only 37 people got 1 muscle up or more.  Only 381 people got 1 dub or more.

For women aged 45-49, 12 muscle ups won.  Only 24 people got 1 muscle up or more. Only 454 people got 1 dub or more.  << which makes it look like the 45-49 women are more fit than the 50-54 men!>>

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

Josh Golden Interview

http://www.bilderz.com/blog/josh-golden-speaks-about-his-2013-reebok-crossfit-games-o-p-e-n-individual-disqualification.html

From this interview it doesn’t feel like the athlete is owning his actions.  As an athlete that is bad enough, but as a coach who is judging others, admitting that you hadn’t reviewed the movement standards is inexcusable.  From the interview I don’t get the feel that he set out to cheat, but in the end that’s what he ended up doing.  For me, the most telling quote is:

“The community is completely unfair to me and I’m really hurt by it.  I did not try to steal anyone’s spot or cheat the system…  I’m an honest competitor; I was just an ignorant competitor in this case.”

I’m sorry Josh, ignorance is no excuse, particularly for someone who asserts that they are one of the top CrossFitters in the world.  We ALL know there are standards, and we all know where to find them.  I’m sorry you got your feelings hurt, but this one is all on you.  Own it, and try not to do it again.

Dear CrossFit, When Elizabeth Becomes “Liz”

Dear CrossFit,

Elizabeth was on the schedule today.  21-15-9 of 135# squat cleans and ring dips.  I can do maybe one 135# squat clean.  So I scaled to 115#.  I can do maybe one or two ring dips, so I put on the green band.  Even so I was looking at 45 minutes to an hour to complete the 21-15-9.  So 21-15-9 (Elizabeth) became 6-4-2 (Liz), which got completed in ten minutes and change.  It may take a few years, but 21-15-9 Rx will happen, in part because I didn’t kill myself or get injured or discouraged by a 45 minute WOD, but rather got energized by ten minutes of good hard work.  Thanks for being so scalable, and yet still kicking my *ss.

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be.

Dear CrossFit, Excellent Post About “Clock Whores…”

I couldn’t say it better, so I won’t, I will just repost…

http://www.hyperfitusa.com/hyperfit_usa/2008/12/clock-whores.html

And, I will own that on occasion I want to “win” so bad that I think about shaving reps.  So far, whenever this thought has entered my mind, I’ve been able to resist the temptation by thinking about how a cheat-win now will devalue an real-win or even a real-failure later.

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

 

Dear CrossFit, The Ulimate No Rep

Dear CrossFit,

Thanks for bringing down the hammer.  I’d like to think that these people were just bad at judging and weren’t intentionally cheating…

http://games.crossfit.com/article/golden-workout-rejected

I’ve been having spirited conversations with several athletes lately who are upset and worried that their honest, standards-meeting WODs are not going to get them to Regionals or to The Games because of judging that doesn’t meet the standards and because of rep-padding.  The entire CrossFit community will have extreme credibility issues if boxes don’t judge to the same standards and if boxes or individuals engage in rep-padding.  Yes it’s true that an athlete who cheats, and let’s just call it that, cheating, will be exposed at Regionals or at the Games.  But that’s too late for the athlete who is abiding by the letter and the spirit of the Games and whose valid/accurate/hard-earned reps are overshadowed by cheaters.  I’m proud that HQ has brought down the hammer not just on the athlete described above, but on the entire box.  I know too many people who are working way too hard to have their honest efforts diminished by the cheating of (hopefully) a few.  Do it right, or don’t do it all.

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be.