A Whole New Approach

Two weeks of the CrossFit Open in the books and I'm feeling it.  Week two (also known as 13.2) consisted of a 10 minute balls-to-the-wall sprint of shoulder-to-overhead, deadlifts and (the dreaded) box jump.  The best part of the Open is watching everyone attempt these workouts as prescribed.  I love seeing Whitney lift heavier than she thinks possible and Marcia kick ass in her division.  I love being pushed by Sam.  I love the atmosphere and environment of the Open.  I love reading this guy's tweets every week....

The Central East Regionals will be held in Columbus sometime in April or May and I'm thinking of coordinating an overnight trip to watch.  We have some great athletes in our region (::cough:: Rich ::cough cough::) and it would be incredible to watch some of the best lay it all out on the floor during Regionals.  Sam and I talked a little about it already but I'm curious...would anyone be interested in this?

On another note, tomorrow I'm starting my first Whole30.  Essentially, it's 30 days of clean eating where you eliminate processed foods (duh), grains, dairy, legumes (including peanut butter..sniffle), alcohol, sulfites, white potatoes and all sugars (even natural sugars like honey and agave).  Basically, it's paleo on crack.  Is crack paleo-approved?  You also can't "paleo-fy" traditional naughty foods, like cookies and muffins and pizza.  Some people also add caffeine to the list of eliminated foods but, uh, yeah...that ain't gonna happen.

Seriously, I'm not joking....

You can eat animal protein, veggies, some fruit and good fats.  You can pretty much drink water, black coffee and plain tea.  This may not seem terribly difficult but it's the sugar that's the tricky part. Even if you're a fairly clean eater, it's amazing how many foods have some form of sugar in them.  I'm serious...look at ingredients list - it will amaze you.  Restaurants add sugar to even the most seemingly simplest foods.  It's in marinades, dressings, spice mixes...it's EVERYWHERE.

I was thinking of telling y'all that I'll be posting what I'm eating every few days, maybe with some pictures and/or recipes but...let's be honest, I say I'm going to do that all the time.  And then it doesn't happen.  I'm sorry, ok! I'm kind of a busy girl!  But hey...this way I keep your expectations really low and then if I do post something more often than every two weeks you'll be really impressed by me.  I like for people to think I'm impressive.

I really like Mumford and Sons lately.  Oh, and that new Fall Out Boy song is awesomesauce to blast during a WOD.  There's also a lot of links in this post so I hope you have fun clicking around all those windows.  That is all.

The Open is Upon Us

Yesterday marked the official start of the CrossFit Games.  For those of you who are not familiar, the Games are like the Olympics of CrossFit.  It starts with the Open, a worldwide event in which any athlete of any level can sign up to participate.  Each week for five weeks, a new Open WOD is announced and athletes have 5 days to complete the WOD and submit their scores on the Open website.  After the Open is over, the top 48 men and women from each region move on to compete in the Regionals.  From there, the cream of the crop move on to participate in the Games.  Let's be honest, it's essentially porn for crossfitters. 


I mean, come on....

Here you go, gentlemen

Wait for it....................

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Whew... ::fans my face a little::...and you wonder why I love me some CrossFit!

Anywho, back to the matter at hand.  Last year when the Open started, I was pretty new to CrossFit.  When 12.1 came out (that's how we label Open WODS) I was jumping with joy that I didn't sign up.  Seven minutes of burpees.  Yes, ladies and gents, that's how athletes started off the 2012 CrossFit Games season.  I was so happy I got out of that one...until I walked into class that week and saw that Sam was going to make us do the Open WODs regardless of whether or not we were actually competing.  Seven minutes of burpees were seven minutes of hell in my book and it just continued from there for five weeks.

This year, I figured since I was going to have to suffer through the WODs anyway, I'd actually (wo)man up and compete in the Open. Do I expect to make it to Regionals?  Uhhh...yeah right.  As we move along, there may be some WODs I can't even do (i.e. anything with a muscle up...among others), but I'm still going to try.  That's what CrossFit is...a community of people who spend every single day working their asses off to get better.  And it all starts with this...

Nothing says CrossFit Open like starting with some burpees

 

 

Everyone has a different way of preparing and getting through the Open workouts.  I imagine Sam will just make it a point to say the word "snatch" as much as possible between now and Sunday.  I plan to take the burpees slow and steady and then do at least my first set of snatches unbroken, possibly breaking up the 75# round into 10s (or, likely, 5s).  Who knows if I'll even make it to the 100 by the time the clock runs out and if I do, I have no clue how many times I'll be able to put 100# overhead.  It's all a crap shoot at this point....it's about digging deep and doing the best you can for the 17 minutes that the clock is running.  There is plenty of time to die afterwards.

 

So there you have it.....CrossFit Games season is here and crossfitters worldwide will be talking about nothing else for the next five weeks...if not the next five months.  For those of you who live with or spend a lot of time with a crossfitter, I'm going to apologize on behalf of all of us right now.  I know it can be annoying when CrossFit is all that we talk about and we are going to be at least three times as annoying from now until the Open is over.  Accept it.  Prepare for it. And, above all...bear with us.  Remember that you love us for a reason and, if all else fails, you have total permission to tune us out....at least until the Open is over.  After that, God help you if you ignore us...

 

Happy Open!