It was the fall of 2012, that my journey in CrossFit began. At first I saw it as a fun way to get my butt kicked by a workout, then turned into more of a challenge. Like someone looking me in the face and telling me I couldn’t do something then me proving them wrong. It definitely was never easy, but I enjoyed the challenge of more reps, more weight, higher skill, and more technical movements.
My athletic background has varied quite a bit throughout my life; soccer, swimming, cross country, baseball, and wrestling have each played a role in helping me develop as an athlete and a person. Each sport is different and challenging in its own regard, and helped me see several different perspectives on how to grow as an athlete. Wrestling quickly became my favorite sport as I tried it for the first time my freshman year of high school only to get my butt kicked on a daily basis. I fell in love with the challenge of pushing my physical and mental challenges I faced every day in practice and matches. This was a mentality that easily transferred into CrossFit.
CrossFit is as much a mental battle as it physical. Whether that be battling not having a skill down, hitting muscular fatigue and not being able to do one more rep, or trying to keep moving when you’re gasping for air in the middle of the workout. I love the feeling of having a challenge set in front of me and being able to look it in the face and overcome.
But CrossFit has a unique way of exposing an athlete’s weaknesses and continuing to humble them until that weakness is a strength. For me, my greatest weakness came in the form of a jump rope.
When I first started doing Crossfit I had several people tell me I was a freak, or that I was a natural CrossFitter. In some regards they were right. Every movement that was presented to me I could do… from the basic air squat to snatching and muscle-ups. The only movement I couldn’t do the first time I tried, was the double under. As many of you know, the double under can be one of the most frustrating movements in crossfit and can totally change the outcome of a workout. As a competitive athlete, I could usually get away with having one hole in my game and it not drastically affecting my standing in competition.
But all that changed in the 2015 CrossFit Open.
I did the CrossFit Open for the first time in 2013 and loved getting to be a part of the crossfit community and seeing where I stacked up next to some of the fittest in our region. While my first year was simply a trial and error learning experience, I realized that I had the potential to be good at the sport of CrossFit, and really began working on improving every area of my fitness. Over the next year I saw dozens of personal records and goals achieved and really saw vast improvement in myself as an athlete. With the 2014 CrossFit Open approaching, I set the goal of making it to regionals (top 48 in the region). I devoted a lot of time to training and seeing that I was continuing to make improvements in everything from my olympic lifts to my gymnastics.
The 2014 Open started and right from the get go I realized I had forgotten to practice one thing. My double unders. While at this point I could do them, I could not do them well and consistently in workouts. The very workout in 2014, Double unders and Snatches. After attempting the workout 3 times, I ended with a score that placed me 209 in the region. I thought my goal of making regionals was done, and how could I have completely forgotten about double unders? Over the next four weeks I fought my way back up the leaderboard and ended up finishing 23rd in the region, good enough to make it to regionals.`
I went into regionals with a learning attitude. I wanted to learn as much as I could and grow from that experience. With a few really good workouts and a few really bad ones, I ended up finishing 15th in the region with lots of lessons learned. Walking out of regionals, I remember thinking that I could be one of the best in the region, and possibly make it to the CrossFit Games.
For the rest of 2014 I worked harder than before to train my weaknesses and improve on my strengths. I began training twice a day to get in all I thought was necessary to make a good run at being one of the top atheltes in the region. As the year progressed I got to compete at some great events across the country including Wodapalooza and Fittest Games against some of the best athletes in our region and across the country.
With the 2015 Open coming up soon, I felt stronger and faster than I ever had, and I felt more than ready to take on whatever was thrown at me. The first few weeks went great as finished with two top ten scores and was sitting in second in the region and fourteenth in the world. When the third week’s WOD was announced my eyes got a little bigger. Muscle ups, wall balls, and double unders. I knew I had been working on them quite a bit, but as my first attempt at the workout didn’t go nearly as well as I had liked, I knew I might be at the mercy of the jump rope once again. I had one more shot to improve by thirty or more reps or my shot at regionals, much less the games, would be almost impossible. I ended week three with a 370th place finish that moved me from 2nd to 28th in the region.
With only two weeks remaining in the Open it seemed nearly impossible for me to make a comeback. Week four came and went and with a mediocre finish I made no improvement from my 28th spot. Still with one week left and a workout I knew would be in my wheelhouse, I held on to some hope that I could do well enough to squeeze into a qualifying spot. As the final workout was announced my blood starting pumping as I knew that would be my last shot at qualifying. I did the final workout twice in an attempt to move myself up the leaderboard, but even my 4th place finish didn’t help.
I finished my Crossfit Open in 28th in the region, 8 spots shy of making it regionals. I had thought that qualifying for regionals would be an easy task, which quickly turned into a faded and failed goal. All because I had failed to work on the one weakness I knew I had. I had allowed myself to think I was invincible, that nothing was going to stop me, and that I truly had what it took to be the best. It turned out that a short metal wire proved me wrong. That I did have weaknesses and that anything can happen. My lack of preparation turned into one of the largest shots my pride had ever taken.
We talk about Crossfit being humbling, or finding everyone’s weaknesses. I had thought I was the exception to the rule, and in my arrogance had gotten my plate served right back to me. This experience was one that has walked with me for months to follow, and even as I look forward to the 2016 Open, I can’t help but remember what happened a year ago. However, I don’t let failure from the past change how I view the future, but I do use it as a reminder that anything can happen and no one is invincible. Tripping on a jump rope was something that opened my eyes to several weaknesses, not just in my fitness but in my personal character as well. We all have humbling experiences in life, what we do with these experiences is what defines how we grow. We can either ignore the lesson to be learned, or we can grow and continue to pursue being the best version of ourselves.
As life humbles you and challenges you, remember that life is a journey. A constant pursuit of becoming all we are designed and called to be. Don’t let challenges stop you, only let them change you and mold you into the best version of yourself.