Thoughts on CrossFit Open Workout 24.3
My first reaction for CrossFit Open Workout 24.3: THANK GOSH WE’RE NOT HINGING AGAIN
My second reaction: R.I.P. to my hands…
24.3 was a beast of a workout. Not really anything in my personal “wheelhouse” so to speak.
15 Min Time Cap to achieve:
5 rounds of:
10 Thrusters at 65#
10 Chest to Bar Pull-ups
1 min break - clock is runinng
5 rounds of:
7 Thrusters at 95#
7 Bar Muscle Ups
Wow I’m glad that’s over. So are my hands. And my lats. And my quads… Let’s just say, I haven’t been THAT sore after a workout in a long time.
I went in thinking that I was going to pace. HA. Now, if you know me, you know that’s comical. I never pace. I talk a good game plan, explain why pacing is so important, and then inevitably throw it out the window at the end of the 10-second count down. I went all out from the beginning and just kept in mind I would have a mandatory one minute break where i could catch my breath and refocus.
This was the first year I didn’t re-do any of the workouts, and also the first year I think I got progressively better each workout (placement wise). Take a look at the CrossFit Open Leaderboard to see what I mean. Maybe a correlation maybe not, but we’ll the real test of how the past year of training plays out will be in Individual Quarterfinals in April!
Overall lessons learned:
Be an efficient athlete. Thrusters are a LOWER BODY exercise, chest to bar and muscle ups are UPPER BODY exercises - treat them as such and don’t cheat yourself. You’ll be exhausted.
IF you are a pacer, pace and break it up from the beginning. The time you invest in the in-between transitions now might save you in the long run. (Yet to be determined, personally)
IF you are NOT a pacer - move consistently and as quickly as you can, but take your time walking between efforts. Take deep breaths chalking up your hands and walking from the thrusters to the pull up bar, etc.
If you don’t train a movement and then have to do oh, say, 50 or 35 of them at speed, you’re in for a lot of pain.
I’ve never stared at a pull-up bar so much in my life. Turns out if you don’t train muscle ups, they don’t really get any easier.
Let your judge worry about the clock. I think this is true for every single workout I’ve ever done, Open workouts included. If you’re looking at the clock, chances are you’re doing some mathematical equation in your head about how much time you’ve spent doing thrusters, how long you have worked on this round, how much time you have left before the next part, where your heart rate is in comparison to the last round… NO! None of that matters :) What matters is you get the work done. As I like to say, “You’re already in pain, you’re already hurting. MAKE IT WORTH IT.”
Congratulate yourself. If you’re doing the CrossFit Open, you’re part of a small subsect of the American population that’s consistently exercising and weight training, and you’re doing it competitively. Whether you came in the top 5% or the last 5%.- you signed up. You completed the workouts. You challenged yourself. You pushed through with a community of people who didn’t let you quit, and that’s saying something. Now that the Open is over.. what’s your next big event to train for?! Let me know on Instagram.