Diaries of a Coach 018 || Lessons from 18.2 and 18.2a

Alright CFA, another recap from CrossFit Open workout number two! Here’s a little glimpse into my experience last week, my shining redemptive moment and the lessons I’m taking away. Enjoy!

I completed the second Open workout, 18.2 and 18.2a, on Friday afternoon. Immediately following this workout, I was severely disappointed with my performance. I knew the conditioning piece, DB squats and bar facing burpees (which I lovingly refer to as barfing burpees), would be difficult with my training focus having been on primarily Olympic lifts for the last 12 weeks. I decided to pace this portion, knowing my endurance would be crucial. That decision resulted in a time above my sub 10 minute goal. I simply knew I could do better. On the lifting portion, a max clean, my time was consequently extremely limited. I hit my starting weight with ease and with only enough time left for one more attempt, I made a big jump, a 20 pound increase, and failed.

Post WOD I knew in my gut I needed a redo. Unfortunately, my only experience with redoing an Open workout was 17.1… and it did NOT go well. The last thing I wanted was to waste time and energy to not improve. Still, the score haunted me and when Monday rolled around, I knew I had to at least try.

I’m proud to report, I redeemed the shit out of that workout! Shaved 90 seconds off my time on 18.2 and made the lift I failed the first time, increasing my weight by 20 pounds from my first score, on 18.2a. But more than overall improved numbers, when all was said and done, there was much to learn and take away from my experience.

1) Rest up.

Ya girl was not well rested before my first attempt. The day before, I had done Olympic lifting programming that included high rep sets of back squats, specifically aimed at added conditioning. Muscle fatigue set in quick with such high volume the day before. All I can say is, rest up y’all. These workouts are intended to test our skill, our capacity, our efficiency… so we have to bring everything we have to the table if we want to truly know where we are. I can promise you this, Thursday I will be “moving” but intentionally resting for whatever 18.3 has in store.

2) It’s go time.

Gosh if you’re like me you’re usually adamant about setting a smart and efficient pace in any given workout. Finding that pace helps me maintain good technique and not “empty the tank”, so to speak, too quickly. However, we train for “competition”. That may not mean the CrossFit Games or even an official CrossFit competition, it may just mean moments where we are testing our performance, attempting to set a new PR, or a friendly competition with another athlete’s score on the board that day. For many of us, the Open can and should be that. In a workout like this, pacing was the enemy. My doubt in my capacity kept me from pushing too hard and I ended up not pushing enough. Know the overall goal, in this case, competition, and perform. Now is the time.

3) Practice well.

Shame on me for always opting out of the jump over the bar. I’m a bar stepper, I admit it. Having not practiced a skill I am completely capable of definitely set me back on this. (I told Coach Aaron that morning I was seriously contemplating scaling just to step over the bar. Don’t worry, he was quick to deny me the luxury.) Don’t let that happen to you. Use regular training days to intentionally practice good movement, both in terms of technique and capacity. If I don’t push myself with these when I train, they will never get easier or more efficient, and are sure to keep me underperforming.

4) Do it for you.

With the stigma attached to Open redos for me, I was extremely hesitant to reattempt this workout. I would have been proud to submit my first score had I known it was the best I could do. But knowing it wasn’t my best, I redid this workout for myself, to prove to myself I had more in me. My biggest encouragement would be to simply make yourself proud. Redeem it if you need to, even if its not judged or scored or submitted. No matter the score, leave these workouts with your head up, knowing you gave it all you had!