Quitting would have been easier.  It was just before noon on Saturday and as I approached the hill on the 403 meter run the thought of quitting entered my mind.  Just an hour earlier I was full of energy as I watched fourteen people charge through what I knew would be a tough workout.  One of the things that I was stoked about was seeing such a wide spectrum of athletes perform the exact same workout, side by side.  The group ranged from a young woman’s very first CrossFit workout, to MJ from CrossFit Oakland, who performed the entire workout while wearing an 18lb. weight vest.  A few minutes after everyone had completed the workout, and most began to recover, the energy in the gym grew quite high.  Discussions of whether the squat cleans or the run were more difficult eventually gave way to talks about weekend leisure activities.  After everyone left I decided I too should do the workout.  After a short warm-up I quickly found myself on the first of four runs, my initial thought was “DAMN, I should have programmed just 3 rounds for this workout.”  After another set of squat cleans and some box jumps I found myself barely jogging up the hill for the 2nd run and I was ready to quit.  Not just quit the workout, but quit CrossFit and/or ANY type of high intensity workout.  It wasn’t just my breathing, or my legs that burned, there wasn’t just one thing that hurt, my entire body hurt, I thought I was dying.  I reached the top of the hill and although I knew it was a gradual downhill from that point on, I stopped to walk.  I was convinced that I would not be able to finish the workout.  After a few seconds I started to run again, the pain never left and I began to think about quitting again.  The voice inside my head said “this isn’t life or death, just quit… this isn’t a competition, nothing is on the line, you aren’t even in a class with others… no one would know, just quit!”  Eventually I made it back to the gym where a single barbell sat in the middle of the gym, no longer on a lifting platform and at an angle in relation to the walls.  Normally my OCD would force me to re-position the bar to be parallel to a wall before I begin my lift.  Not this time, I just grabbed it and began my squat cleans.  A minute or two later I found myself on the hill again.  This time the thought of quitting CrossFit altogether brought on more inner discussion.  “If I quit can I really still own and run a CrossFit gym? …”clearly I’m not cut out for this, the members of my gym are, but I’m just not cut out for it.”  Then I started thinking about the first timer in my class that morning as well as the other beginners.  I wondered how bad they were hurting during the workout.  I was impressed at their ability to continue the workout.  I decided I would complete this workout, but as for myself, I was done with CrossFit workouts.  The forth round came and went as my vision got foggy and my ears were ringing like crazy.  I finished the workout and laid on my back for about a minute.  Although I was in the shade, it felt like there was a heat lamp on me, and my skin, especially my face, felt as though it were actually on fire.  Five minutes or so after the workout I started thinking about that voice inside my head.  I couldn’t believe the sh*t that it had said, nor could I believe that I actually had myself convinced that I was going to quit CrossFit!  Although my body was still aching, a buzz came over me that I hadn’t felt in months!  It was the same feeling I got after one of my first CrossFit workouts, and one that I get after a workout where I push, or am pushed, much further than I think possible.  It’s a feeling of clarity that is unlike just about anything else. Quitting would have been easier, but I would not have experienced the inner triumph and resulting clarity had I quit or even had I slowed to a pace that was far below my capacity.  My body had pretty much recovered a few hours later, as I lay in a swimming pool with only my head exposed to a strong, cool breeze.  I wondered what the factors were that made this particular workout so difficult, I thought about various exercises, energy systems, time domains, power outputs, even air temperature.  For a second I wondered what the other people at the pool were thinking about.  Then I began thinking how I could induce those same feelings in my next workout.

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Sports Performance WOD:

 

Weight Watchers Fran

 

6 Thrusters @ 135lbs.

18 Pullups

 

9 Thrusters @ 115lbs.

12 Pullups

 

12 Thrusters @ 95lbs.

9 Pullups

 

18 Thrusters @ 75lbs.

6 Pullups

 

Preload 4 barbells with the above weights.  Stagger athlete start times by 30-60 seconds.

 

Weight Watchers Fran compared to the Original Fran

 

Fran: 95lbs. x 45 reps = 4275lbs. of total work

Weight Watchers Fran: (135 x 6) + (115 x 9) + (95 x 12) + (75 x 18) = 4335lbs. of total work 

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Wednesday’s WOD:

403 meter Run

then 4 Rounds of:

3 Strict Press

3 Push Press

3 Push Jerks

9 SummoDeadlift High Pulls

9 Pushups

9 Hang Power Cleans

 

finish with (1) 403m Run

 

results:

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