My CrossFit Open 15.1 Experience

The CrossFit Games are upon us again. I signed up for the Open again. If you aren't familiar, the CrossFit Open has one workout, or WOD, each week for five weeks, and is the qualifier for those who wish to advance to Regional Competitions. If placing there, goes on to the official Fittest On Earth world competition. Sooooo obviously I'm not even remotely close to the competing bracket, nor am I really that interested in achieving that. But, the Open is also for those who want to see where they stack up against the general world of CrossFitting. 

There is a scaled portion this time so I decided to give it a go. Last year was my first go around at the Open and I felt like most of the workouts were beyond my level of fitness due to the weights involve. Lets face it: I'm a small petite person. I only weigh about 115 lbs (sometimes less). However, I excel at the gymnastic-y stuff about Crossfit: Pull-ups, push-ups, rope-climbing, toes-to-bar, etc. Believe it or not, I've become self-conscious and almost embarrassed about my size. I've had strangers point out how small and skinny I am and say how "lucky" or "glamorous" it must be. I don't need to be reminded about my petite stature. I don't take those comments as compliments because, really, should we be pointing out others' sizes all the time? Didn't we learn in kindergarten that people come in "all shapes and sizes?" I would like to be taller and more average in size just as another person who wishes to be smaller and more average. Some things we can't change.

Back to the CrossFit talk: 

The first week began on Thursday evening and athletes have until 5pm on Monday to complete the WOD and submit scores. Here is the WOD for 15.1 (2015.week 1 in case that wasn't clear):

9 Min AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) 

15 Toes to bar 

10 deadlifts 75 lbs

5 snatches 75 lbs

Then immediately afterwards you have 6 mins to find 1 rep max clean and jerk.

I can do the Toes to bar and the 75 lb deadlift.  I cannot perform a 75 lb snatch (straight from ground to an overhead position in one motion). I can't even come close. I think my 1 rep max is 65 lbs and it wasn't pretty. 

The scaled version is hanging knee raises and a weight of 55 lbs. I can do that. However, that snatch weight is still challenging for me. It sucked that it was only knee raises because I can do Toes to bar, but it is what it is. Obviously, I struggled most with the snatches. In the end, I made it through 4 full rounds plus 27 extra reps (3 reps shy of 5 full rounds for a total of 147 reps). The last 6 mins to find my 1 rep max clean and jerk was intense for everyone, including me. My previous max was 90 lbs and I got 85 lbs! I think that's good considering I had to do it right after the other taxing WOD. There were people encouraging me the entire time, some that didn't even personally know me. When I hit my 85 lb clean and jerk, I heard others roaring, clapping, and cheering. I felt empowered. 

I tried twice for 95 lb clean and jerk. I cleaned it both times on the first tries which, in the past, has been a huge struggle. (I'm excited for my progress on just the cleans.) I just couldn't push the weight overhead. I'm happy with what I achieved, though!

If you want to watch some action, you can follow this FaceBook link https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=922789167731624 
(I'm the first person featured in the white tank and black capris.)