Lessons I learned at CrossFit Regionals

CFN may have the more supportive community on earth.  I was floored by so many things that people did the entire weekend.  It all started when I walked into the gym last week and was greeted with lots of good luck goodies, gift cards, and posters.  The weekend continued with supportive friends, facebook love, and emails which constantly reminded me of the amazing community I was representing while I was there.  The crew from Vitality, which is another amazing community, astounded me as well.  It is so nerve racking for me to sign up and commit to train to do events like Regional’s, but the support I had throughout the entire weekend made things a lot more fun.  Daily I am reminded by all of you why I love CrossFit so much and the support I felt throughout the weekend only heightened the fact that I hope in my daily coaching at the gym I support you all in the same way

 

 

1. Lessons I learned at CrossFit RegionalsCFN may have the more supportive community on earth.  I was floored by so many things that people did the entire weekend.  It all started when I walked into the gym last week and was greeted with lots of good luck goodies, gift cards, and posters.  The weekend continued with supportive friends, facebook love, and emails which constantly reminded me of the amazing community I was representing while I was there.  The crew from Vitality, which is another amazing community, astounded me as well.  It is so nerve racking for me to sign up and commit to train to do events like Regional’s, but the support I had throughout the entire weekend made things a lot more fun.  Daily I am reminded by all of you why I love CrossFit so much and the support I felt throughout the weekend only heightened the fact that I hope in my daily coaching at the gym I support you all in the same way.

 

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2. Things don’t always play out how you imagine they will.  I am big on visualizing your goals playing out.  I often tell the people I am coaching or students I am teaching to picture themselves completing a goal before they accomplish it.  In the weeks leading up to Regional’s I pictured myself going through each of the workouts.  What rep counts would look like, how fast I might approach the wod, etc.  I never pictured myself on the sidelines on the last day having to watch the top girls take on my favorite two workouts of the weekend.  The ones I worked the hardest on because I knew they would put me where my leader board goals were going into the weekend.  I felt my back do something in the middle of the deadlift wod and continued anyway.  I knew I needed a good time and some forward motion up the leader board to make up for overhead squats and muscle ups.  What I did not anticipate was waking up the next morning in tears when I realized I couldn’t even put on and lace up my shoes without help.  I realized later I had sprained the SI joint in my lower back and it wouldn’t be too smart to go squat clean and lunge with heavy weight.  I was pretty bummed out.  I spent about twenty minutes recollecting myself.  I didn’t want to go out this way.  I had worked so hard, and devoted so much time to leave like this.  I also didn’t want to disappoint people who have supported my every move this year to get to the point I was going into that last day.  I choose in those minutes to be positive and instead of berating myself and feeling sorry for myself I sat in those stands and chose to be inspired by the girls I saw pushing their limits through those workouts.  Those girls were amazing to watch and I am still in awe that I got to compete with them all throughout the weekend.  The biggest lesson I perhaps learned the whole weekend was that even when things don’t play out you still have to put your best foot forward and appreciate every second of the experiences life hands you even when they don’t end as you envisioned they would.

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3. It is always amazing what you learn about yourself when you put yourself into uncomfortable situations.  Every year when the CrossFit open comes around I am so excited.  There is an interesting part of me that loves to compete and I love the energy the open brings to the gym.  I approach the open with the “one and done” mentality and treat it just like any other workout I may walk in and complete at the gym.  The open is perfect for me because it is CrossFit in it’s purest form which is what I love.  It is not too technical, not too heavy and tests what kind of engine your working with.  Regional’s tends to bring out the heavy and the technical and always exposes the fact that I don’t work as hard as I should on strength or higher level skills.  I always sign up with a feeling of dread and questions running through my mind..”will I embarrass myself and my community,” “can I keep up,” “am I good enough…” and so on.  What it boils down to though, and what I learn every year at Regional’s, is that it is good to put yourself out there once in awhile.  It is good to test the unknowable and see what you are capable of.  It is good to approach those questions and fears with a “full steam ahead” approach and prove to yourself that you can do things that you never imagined you could.  I think this applies so well to our everyday life.  Sometimes we have ideas and dreams and we are not willing to make ourselves uncomfortable enough to pursue them.  We think that if we stay inside of our lane we will always be content.  I challenge all of you to question your lane choice every once in a while and go out and do something you have always wanted to even if it is scary, and uncomfortable.  The confidence you build in yourself and the lessons you learn about your character as a whole are worth it.

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4. CrossFit community as a whole is an amazing group of people.  Growing up playing lots of sports I can honestly say that the CrossFit community is such a unique group of individuals.  Images will be forever ingrained in my mind from this weekend.  Some specific examples are watching competitors cheering each other on as they completed a workout, judges and volunteers who handled themselves in such a professional way, and seeing the spectators cheer on people they had never met before to reach their goals.  My favorite memory of the weekend was watching the crowd grow crazy as a girl on a team tried continuously to reach the top of the rig in a rope climb.  They all saw the effort she was putting into reaching the top and you could see that there wasn’t a person in the room who didn’t want her to get where she wanted to go.  Here is yet another example of how CrossFit applies to life.  Can you imagine if the world approached life like this?  Where we motivated people around us, cheered people on when they moved forward (even if it’s in front of us), and sincerely wanted everyone to be the best they could be.  That’s the way I want to approach the people God has put in my life and I was reminded that I need to do a better job of that this weekend as I sat in the crowd and soaked in the action around me.

 

5. Goals moving forward.  Every year I leave Regional’s with a brand new set of goals.  I often sit down at some point in June and reflect on the year and how I want to proceed with the next year.  I honestly am not sure what the next year brings.  I know that I love to compete and will definitely continue to do so, but am just not sure what that will look like next year.  One big take home from the weekend was that I really want to prioritize my time a lot better this year.  At the end of the day my family and the community we are trying to build here at Northlake come first.  I don’t want CrossFit and my successes and failures within the sport to be my defining point in life.  I don’t want my husband, kids, or even my members to think I placed my training in precedence over them.  That I missed important things because I was too busy training for the next big thing.  I certainly believe that there is a way to find a healthy balance between it all and I am making it a goal for my type A self to do a better job of finding that healthy balance this year.  I will keep you all posted about what I decide next, although I am thinking going team is looking better and better….any takers (:

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