CrossFit Open 2011 Workout 2
.The second workout wasn’t that different from the first one, in that it also measures work with no or light weights over a given time period. This one was 15 minutes, and the rounds consisted of 9 deadlifts at 155 pounds, 12 pushups (with the requirement of lifting your hands from the ground at the bottom), and 15 box jumps (24").
I don’t particularly like this one, because I think deadlifts for time are inherently dangerous. Admittedly it’s a light weight, but even so it seems dubious to encourage poor form (form inevitably degrades when you’re tired and rushing) in a lift that can put so much strain on the lower back. I also don’t like pushups, but that’s because I’m not very good at them.
I thought I’d be able to get around 10 rounds. I was a little worried about the deadlifts due to injury fears, was sure the pushups would be awful, and thought I would gas out on the box jumps. When CrossFit KMSF did a dry run on Wednesday, however, I found that my box jumps went very well, and so I tried reasonably hard, getting to nine rounds, nine deadlifts, and five pushups.
Saturday morning we ran it again. I had one serious goal and three less-serious ones:
- Get 10 rounds.
- Beat Zac (who was doing it next to me).
- Beat my previous score.
- Not finish on the pushups—in the dry run, finishing while struggling through the pushups in the final round felt like defeat, and I wanted to not let the pushups beat me this time.
Zac’s a good pace target for me because he generally does better than I do at the workouts, but not so much better as to be in a different class entirely (in workout 1 he got 284 reps to my 258); we’re also a similar height and build, so we’re likely to find the same movements relatively easy/difficult.
The first thing I try to do in these workouts is tell myself to relax. The urge to go all out at the start is strong, and it’s better to fight it and to prioritize good form over intensity as long as possible. In addition, being relaxed is less taxing. I was relatively relaxed at the start, but I was the first to finish the first round. It being the first round, everything was easy, even the pushups. I found them harder in the second round, and when Zac overtook me during them, I thought that’d be it, that I wouldn’t be able to catch him. I just tried not to fall more than several reps behind.
In the third round, I realized that I might be able to catch up to him, because as I finished my pushups he was taking a short break in his box jumps, and I was pretty sure I could do mine unbroken. I made up a little ground on him there, but psychologically it was important to feel that catching him was clearly possible. In round five or six I made a concerted effort to blaze through the box jumps and then the next set of deadlifts, and that’s where I got ahead of him again for the first time since the start. I fell behind as soon as we went into the pushups, but from that point on we were in a pattern where I’d pull ahead on the box jumps and deadlifts and fall behind on the pushups. I pulled ahead in round nine, and in the last round was ahead of him going into the pushups.
Odd as it is to say, it felt as if one pushup was the difference between success and failure: my twelfth pushup of the last round. I knew there was little time left, was completely determined not to finish on the pushups, and was trying to get my last four pushups in a set. I got three, tried four, and couldn’t do it, then rested before a successful attempt. That failure and rest cost too much time; while I was resting, Zac had moved onto the box jumps. I tried to get as many as I could, and certainly would have done them all unbroken, but time ran out after just four—at which point Zac had hit nine.
My score was 349 reps, nine rounds plus deadlifts and pushups and four box jumps. So I failed to beat Zac and failed to get 10 rounds, but did beat my previous score and didn’t let the pushups beat me in the last round.
I was fairly happy with going through all the sets of deadlifts and box jumps unbroken; I had to reset my feet a couple of times on the box jumps but never took a break to rest, which is far better than I’d expected when I first saw the workout. It’s a shame I’m so bad at pushups, but overall I think it’s a pretty respectable score and am happy with it.
Here’s a comparison between my results and the best in my gym, region, and worldwide, with my score expressed as a percentage of each:
- Me: Tadhg O’Higgins, 349, 100%.
- Gym best: David Bui, 448, 78%.
- Region best: Adam Jamieson, 562, 62%.
- Worldwide best: Jean-Claude Jardim, 629, 55%.
03 Apr 2011 at 23:21
That was a fight