By Leah Hosburgh
Many of you have wrapped up 14.5, or soon will. After 5 brutal workouts, your non-CrossFit friends might be scratching their heads, wondering why you paid $20 to do that. Or maybe you are, too. Well, here's a few ideas about how to wrap this up properly:
1. Celebrate! Congratulations! You did it! No matter what transpired, you saw it through, and you are better because of it. So grab that cheat meal and beverage, and enjoy a night of treating yourself right!
2. Reflect. Every week at the gym has its highs and lows. Heck, every WOD has its highs and lows. The Open serves up 5 weeks of opportunity to smash it! Aaaand also to feel itty bitty. So what did you kill? Where do you need to improve? What did these workouts expose? The most fun is reflecting on how you surprised yourself. Which workouts were you convinced you weren't going to get very far or lift a particular weight--and then you DID!
3. Find Gratitude. In my opinion, this is the greatest aspect of community. Without the push of the community, you may not have shown up, gotten that extra rep, or hit that weight. Find gratitude for the people that motivate you and make you better. It's hard to be thankful in isolation. Look around your gym next time. There are so many faces to be grateful for. You may have put in your own score every week, but you hardly did this alone.
4. Attack. It probably happened. You probably hit a wall in one of the WODs. Or just couldn't get a better score no matter how many times you repeated it. This year, Castro didn't leave a whole lot out of the hopper. We saw double unders, muscle ups, heavy deads, and a row. Maybe it wasn't any of those movements, but at some point, just like that, plain as day, there is your weakness. Now you know. So attack it. Find every opportunity to do that thing that got you this year. Before WODs, after WODs, get excited to do that thing when it shows up on the whiteboard. Ask your coach how to attack that thing. Just. do. that. thing. A lot.
Next year: no problem.
You: better.
Congrats, CrossFitters!
