13.1 is in the books and WOW, I hope you guys had as much fun with it as I did. As challenging as it was I hope you learned a thing or two about yourself as an athlete. So let’s talk about what we should have learned from this workout. By definition CrossFit is constantly very functional movements at high-intensity, with intensity being relative. I watched this workout over and over and over again and the common theme was the burpees took everything out of every athlete I watched. I want to use this example to compare the two most common workouts that show up on the main site, that being the Cindy/Mary combo and a 5K. Both of these workouts are roughly in the 20 minute time domain and neither one of them will you come out of the gate with max effort. They are about starting with an effort that you can maintain throughout the whole time and push it towards the end when it really matters.
Every CrossFit workout has a work to rest ratio built into it, and it is important to know yourself as an athlete to know when, how much, and where to take it. Have a plan, follow through with that plan until it is time to change the course. Follow your plan up with positive self talk before, during and after the WOD.
Being a better athlete isn’t always about the work you put in, although, that is the most of it, it’s about your mindset and attitude and leave every training day at least 1% better. You should have a goal to learn something from every training session you have and all the open workouts will be the perfect opportunity. Each workout should build a repertoire of experiences to reflect on for the future WOD’s that bring fourth similar challenges.