As you are all sitting in your beds unable to sleep because your tummies are all a flutter, as your hearts are thumping and the visions are racing through your heads, as your palms are sweaty and your sighs get a little deeper, and you can’t relax because you are excited but nervous, I want you to think for a moment…be safe and be smart.
I could go on and on with the dramatic introduction. There is no hiding that the first CrossFit Games Open workout is within hours of beginning. For those of us who are signed up, I congratulate you for joining the team. If you aren’t, there is still time!
Regardless of your stance on the whole event, there are some things we can all get out of this madness. Things we all need reminding of, not only while we are competing, but also during our every day trainings. Be safe and be smart. Listen to yourself and to your body. Have fun.
Here are a few things I want you (myself included) to think about as we endure this long process:
1) Prepare: Get a good night sleep; we all perform better with more rest. Roll out and loosen up. I like to do a long session of mobility at least a day before. Get on a roller and dig into those tight places. Pay attention to the areas you most stiffen up and work them out. We all need some pre-hab before a big event (or before a simple day to day workout). Communicate with one another. Get an idea from your fellow competitors of techniques, tricks, etc. that worked or didn’t work. Tell others if you uncover some good information.
2) Pace: If you are like me, who I know some of you are, you will want to do these workouts over and over again. This is a fine line. Know where you can do better, and realize your limits (don’t obsess). Listen to yourself. If it comes down to one extra box jump, maybe it’s not worth a third or fourth attempt (especially if your body is worked and your calves want to kill you), but if it’s a matter of one muscle up (putting you into a whole new category) then maybe its worth another shot.
3) Recuperate: Stretch after every workout! Ice when something hurts (seriously people…icing is not that hard. I am the first to admit that I am not the best in the icing department, but it is just so simple!). Rest appropriately.
Most importantly…have fun! Although some of us want to push hard to get a team to regionals, we are doing this because it’s fun. It’s a challenge. It puts our daily training to a test.
It’s go time!
About 20 folks joined us today for a 2 hour nutrition workshop. We covered some basics on the chemistry of metabolism, the biological processes involved and ideas behind the eating patterns we recommend. There was a great group of folks present and a lot of really great questions and dialog were brought up. We hope that all who attended learned a lot and can start to implement some of the ideas.
First is our Nutrition Workshop, coming up THIS SATURDAY. The event will be held from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM, which gives you enough time to do the Saturday morning, classes, get some lunch and come back to the gym to learn some good stuff. Roger and I are both excited to be working with the gym’s own certified nutritionist, Susannah Wallenstrom, on this endeavor (Susannah knows her stuff!). The workshop will cover some basic nutrition concepts, but will be focused on how to implement sound nutrition practices into your life. We’re looking at nutrition like a workout– some people can do it as Rx, and some people will need to scale it. The point of this workshop is to help people figure out what scaling is appropriate for their goals.
