'Come on, you can do this!' 14.4 is done.

Kaylen killing 14.4 w/ Ramiro keenly judging.

CrossFit Games Open WOD 14.4

Complete as many rounds and repetitions as possible in 14 minutes of:

60-calorie row

50 toes-to-bars

40 wall-ball shots, 20/14 lb. to 10/9-foot target

30 cleans, 135/95 lb.

20 muscle-ups

14.4 is done. Friday was a really tough chipper style workout. I scored a 180- everything but the muscle-ups. I was worried all week about my performance- stress at home, stress at work, travel, no sleep... it all seemed to be weighing heavy on me. After the first pull on rower, all was right with the world and I fell into a great rhythm. Meg, again, was a superb judge giving me constant feedback and perfect timely reminders of progress completed with achievable goals in each increment of the WOD.  The rowing was a good warmup, the T2B were slow after an initial run of 10 fast ones. The wall balls were just killer. Set of 10, 5, 5, then a  few 3's and with some gentle encouragement of 'just one more', 2 last sets of 5. My god the cleans- 1 at a time... and each one felt bathed in slobbery pain. To her credit Meg, would not let me stop- 'just one more' was the mantra and it paid off. With 90 seconds left, she kept repeating-'Come on, you can do this!'. Despite my angry & resigned inner voice screaming No Mas in a sea of lactic acid behind my eyes, I could & did complete 12 final cleans! With 15 seconds left on the clock, I jumped to the rings but alas, not only was the time spent, my body was too. A command performance worthy of celebration.

 In all truthfulness-through my own love and hate seesaw of emotion- the 'Open' has been a great way for competitors and non-competitors alike to push their own personal envelope. Many people in our gym broke PR's by leaps and bounds, completed heinous routines that would have crippled them prior & raised the bar of their capabilities- offering new loftier goals. In some cases, despite the epic effort put forth, the inability to complete a set of reps painfully fanned the flames of self recrimination and disappointment. Interestingly- this did not deter them, but rallied their spirit and their crossfit family to help them set a new path of commitment and training for the next year to conquer the seeming failure. However,  these set backs are not failures-but temporary training plateau's writ large in the public eye, a thing the Ego does not take readily but the Open does proffer with a fervor.

Strangely- yesterday's typical Saturday 'WTF is Wrong w/Us' crazy long partner WOD ended up being just the opposite-a fast burner meant to be completed in 10mins or less. (Must I interject that a 10min workout never feels short?!!)

21-15-9

#115 Thrusters

Burpees over the bar 'Facing'

I scored a 9:44 thanks to Scott counting and cheering me on. I started off on the thrusters strong with a solid 10 count run, then everything started to burn, slow down & feel like swimming in molasses. From there it was just a slog, 2 thrusters at a time and catching the breath on the burpees. The burpees were so slow in the end that each hop was as half-hearted as a cranky toddler eating a morsel they dont like. Cota was great -prodding me to hurry my ass up on the burpees to beat the 10 min mark. Am glad he did it. I think this style will mimic what we may face on Friday for the last of the Open WOD's.