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!