when you have to

Confession: competition is not my focus in CrossFit.
There, I said it...and on the day the 2013 CF Open begin!

I love coaching CrossFit because it's such a positive environment.
It's healthy.
It's hard.
It's fun.
It's keeps us from becoming complacent.
It's challenges our bodies.
It's humbling.
It's measured in realistic steps.
It's community at its best.
It's raw.
It's inclusive.
It's about possibilities.
It's life changing.

Reality is, however, competitions in CrossFit are part of the experience.  On a day-to-day basis, it's good to offer RX and scaled divisions in competitions put on by gyms.
It accommodates all levels of CrossFitters, of which there are always plenty.
And competitions challenge you to reach deep and see what you are truly capable of.
When you have to do a particular movement in a competition, you usually find a way.  Not always at the first one, but you know you have to work for that movement for another chance. 

For the CF Open, the *sport* of CF is at the forefront. It's all RX for completion. Even still, HQ  finds a way for it to be inclusive, usually by starting with lower wts or putting the harder, more technical movements at the end of the couplet or triplet.  Everyone can work toward the full sport participation, and that's what is tested here.

Two years ago I had not done a toes to bar until two days before one of the Open WODs.  20min AMRAP of: 5PCs/10 T2B/15WBs
PCs, check
4+1+1+1 T2B....then 17 1/2mins trying to get those last three to move on to the WBs. People giving me helpful cues to no avail.  Total humiliation/frustration.
This was a valuable experience for me.
I learned that even in a 'black hole' of the moment, I would not give up trying.  I also learned that if I wanted to get better, I had to add a little work on my own. Prior to that moment, that was not a part of my CF experience.  So I added a little work on my own.
Cut to the Open WOD in 2012 with T2B...check.

Skill work is really quite fun.  Sometimes mundane, but ultimately fun because all you need is that one moment when technique and time and patience align and BAM, the movement feels fluid and successful.  FUN!

My daughter, Lissa , said that she learned pistols soooo fast last year because her team from CrossFit Brigade qualified in the 2012 Open for Regionals and there were pistols in a WOD, she had to learn...and fast.  Without that movement in a competition, she may still have floundered on them for a lot longer.  When she had to, she dug deep and BAM~pistols!

A flash from the past: 3/2011
Lissa and I got our CF L1 certs together!

Back to my original statement, competition is not my CrossFit focus.

I hired a coach this year because I wanted to see how far I could go as an athlete, particularly at my age. I really didn't have any other reasoning behind this decision.  Then I got a little side lined because of a surgery in late September.  From that, I had to refocus/restructure my execution on some particular movements due to nerve weakness, but I did.  I also had to really refocus/restructure my mindset about it all, but I did.  My coach helped me with this too, and I liked having part of my weekly WODs programmed for me. 
All the while I "had" to forgo some NE comps that I did the previous year and had fun at, but I was not fully back yet.  I was kind of secretly happy I had that excuse.

Cut to the 2013 Open starting today.  I am nervous and excited and scared and ready as I'll ever be.  I'm ready to compete...chest cold be damned!! :) It truly is in competition that we see where we are and what we have in us. 

CrossFit is always throwing the unknown at us.  Some of the most elite CrossFitters may have all their shit together, but the majority of us go out, do the best we can, hope that there are not too many movements outside our wheelhouses, and feel accomplished being able to share the competitive energy with our gyms and the world for these five weeks. 
Some move on, some don't. But one thing we all share is that when we have to, we can learn things/do things we didn't know were possible the day before.  Competition brings that to the forefront. 

So good luck to everyone participating in the 2013 CF Open. 
It's okay if competition is not your main CrossFit focus. 
But you'll find that it certainly adds to the CrossFit experience.
And when you have to, you'll dig in deeper than you ever thought possible.