August 29, 2017

I am reading Learning to Breathe Fire, which is a history of CrossFit.  I found CrossFit in 2007 or early 2008 as I was really tired of running marathons and realized that the pursuit of a 3:10:00 marathon had left me skinny, weak and plagued with injuries.  My back hurt all the time, I could not do one pullup, my knees ached, my hips hurt.  I was taking Ibuprofen like a kid eating Skittles and not feeling any better.

I decided that I would take some time off running and try to gain back some strength.  I foundRoss Enamaits site and eventually CrossFit.  I loved both of them instantly.  Ross had a forum on his site which taught me A TON and then the CrossFit WOD and comment section allowed me to compete worldwide with soldiers, MMA guys, police, fire, first responders as well as the high school pottery teacher.  It was underground, gritty, and awesome.  I checked it daily, met some really cool people and gained back my strength, quit taking Ibuprofen, cleaned up my diet and invested in some weights. 

The book highlights some of the early days of CrossFit in Santa Cruz when Nicole Carol, Annie Sakamoto and Eva Twardokens were among the early adopters.  They filmed this awesome video that changed so many peoples idea of fitness and eventually changed the lives of 100,000+ people as they began to do CrossFit and realize what was possible in fitness.

In this video, Annie, Nicole and Eva go after a new workout called Nasty Girls.  Annie wins, Eva 2nd and Nicole shows the world what it means to dig deep and train hard.  Crying, struggling and giving it her absolute 100%, she finishes this workout well behind the other 2 girls but ends up the hero.  Her ability to face a challenge, dig deep and fight was recognized instantly as this video went online.  For so many people who love CrossFit today, this video was a big part of their journey.

While it was tempting to throw Nasty Girls in the mix today, we needed a long and heavy one so I chose Eva.  This one is nothing but tough.

Run 800m

30 KB Swings at a heavy 70 lbs

30 pullups

x 5 rounds for time

I did not wake up this morning with a burning passion to do this workout.  That happens sometimes.  Today, I kind of thought about changing the workout to something easy, but I wrote it on the board last night and when it is on the board...we do it.

Round 1 went ok, but there were alot of voices in my head urging me to quit, cut it back to 3 rounds, or use a lighter Kettlebell.  I just kept chipping away and soon I was making my 4th run.  When I came back to the garage after the 4th run, Rusty told me that he had the finish in the crosshairs and I realized that I was well over the hump and I could also finish. 

Breaking up the swings and the pullups, I set no records today, but I did accomplish something much greater in so many ways.  When the voices were loud, the temptation to quit was strong and the work was incredibly tough, I dug deep and broke the overwhelming workload down into manageable chunks. 

Soon I was finished and I felt really good about it.

Try this one someday and let me know what you think.