Command Performance= Average Result

My feelings precisely today-taken from http://www.nydailynews.com/

Today's WOD was a great benchmark taken from the CF Open last year. I did it back in December and scored exactly 6 rds.

“Open WOD 13.2”

AMRAP x 10min of:

5 Shoulder to OH 115/75#

10 Deadlift 115/75#

15 Box Jumps 24/20”

 Tough but strong, the low rep count seductively makes you think you'll kill it, then the box jumps slow you way down. By the time the third round hits everything is burning for oxygen and the heart rate is pegged at insane. You abruptly shutdown gasping for air. Last time I shot for 5 and made 6+rounds. Very satisfying at the time. Today, was much much different. I started off blazing (Sub 1 minute 1st round) then backed off and paced myself. Looking for 7 and scored 8+. POW!  A staggering improvement for 9 short weeks! Since it was a big class-we partnered up -Scott, counted reps and I concentrated on the techniques and pacing. BOOM- 8 rounds. I pushed fairly hard and Scott pushed me  over the top in the end! I was on top of the world happy...for a few minutes.

So I get home and logged on to see how I compared against the open results from last year. Weighted for height, age, weight... I barely crossed the 50% threshold on the Bell curve. Huh? WTF? A command physical performance and was barely average? From super high to super low in seconds- WTF? Were competitors smoking crack and steroids? How the hell did more than 50% do it faster?!!!

When I should have been ecstatic that I crawled out of the bottom qtr of the pool to the upper half, I was insanely pissed my showing was so poor. Thank god I have the best friends in the world. To quote Paul "If it's based on last years entrants, they have several years of crazy on you. A year from now some kid will marvel at what you did and wonder what his problem is."

Oh yeah- all of our peer group are kind of touched in that, 1 fry short of a happy meal, kinda way to actively pursue this self flagellation. This was definitely a strong performance and a show of exemplary improvement indicative of strong physical gains. I've been lifting for like 8 months after some bodyweight work and running, my results within this context are fabulous. Applied against the populous at large- fantastic results. My competitive streak is deeply ingrained-and my ego is always asking for a lashing by looking for praise in all the wrong places. I must accept that I am only fighting myself and today was a good fight that I won.

The Open starts next weekend. Exciting, not in that I'll bump Froning, Khalipa, et al., from Regionals way, but prove to my ego that yes I can do this. I will do it stronger and faster. Every damn time.