jayteewin

[jayteewin]

It’s not THE Open, it’s YOUR Open

2022 will be my third CrossFit Open. My Open No.1, 2020, was just 3 months after my first ever CrossFit class, the heady pre-pandemic times of busy gyms, sweaty hugs and slammed hi-fives.

I completed the workouts (there were 5 that year) in the Eton Box where I was a fledgling member and at WIT (London) where my partner, Julie, was a member. WIT was FULL ON; Friday night, 20 somethings, tops off, abs out, blasting music, hectic and packed…I was a bunny in the headlights! Eton; much more understated, more intimate, relaxed older demographic…but no less determined than their big city counterparts!

The atmosphere in both was electric…I was hooked.

Both boxes had qualities that just lit me up. There was a generosity of spirit that is authentic - everybody wants their fellow athlete (and yes, at 49 years old and new to the sport, it took me a while to be comfortable calling myself that) to be their version of “best” on the night.

There was zero negativity.  People I had never met were cheering for me, willing me to grind out those final reps; at the time I wanted to kill them (oxygen starvation makes me very grumpy!), but when I added up my score, those final torturous reps meant everything to me.

I scaled the workouts, was in awe of those that were bashing out RX reps…my barbell was tiny, I couldn’t double under, hardly had a pull up, deadlifts scared the life out of me and at one point my knee started to make a very odd clicking sound!  But it didn’t seem to matter, the support in both boxes was unwavering, at times it felt like the slower I went the louder I got cheered!!!

Under the watchful eye of coaches and judges, I got through safely…and achieved the heady result of 8,450th in the 45-50 age group!  All that effort and I was in the bottom 20% of my age-group!

It was a reality check; it was humbling and yet hugely motivating.  A benchmark had been set, one that was equitable, measurable, and repeatable.  I was pumped!!!  I didn’t care about the ranking (well, a little bit!), I had done it and I could not wait for the opportunity to enter again.

Open No.2 was a very different experience.  The pandemic had hit and we’d all been forced to innovate with home workouts. After valiantly supporting its members throughout the darkest days of the pandemic, it was a huge shame that the Eton box had to close its doors. As we weren’t in London WIT was not an option so we were temporarily gym-less, but determined…Julie and I both did the Crossfit Judges course (being a judge for your very competitive partner and miss-counting reps during a tough WOD is a wonderful test of a relationship – I really must recommend it!!!!), brushed up on our video submission skills and cracked on.

Determined to improve on 2020 I committed to RXing the wods if I could; we discussed strategy, tried to eat well, minimised alcohol, re-did wods that we felt hadn’t gone well…it all got a little bit geeky, but hey, there was a pandemic on, we had nothing better to do!

My thrusters were still mechanical, toes to bar were singles, I couldn’t do a bar muscle up and 22.5kg dumbbell snatches felt like I was lifting atlas stones…but, once the last workout was done, I had moved from bottom 20% to top 25% of my age-group…almost six thousand places higher at 1,732nd

Not likely that No Bull will be knocking on my door offering me sponsorship, but I can promise you, the cold beer felt very good that evening.  I was genuinely proud of what I had achieved…and now look towards 2022 I’m keen to see if that extra year on my bodies milometer has slowed it up or pushed it forward...how great that I have a way of measuring and I am so excited to be doing it in my new box @Crossfit Slough

So that’s my story, but the reason I wanted to share it was because that very first year I almost didn’t enter, I thought I was too new, too unfit, and honestly, I was intimidated.

But looking back, I am so glad I did enter, it has genuinely changed my life.

My message to any athlete that is still deciding whether to enter is; It’s not THE Open, it’s YOUR Open. Every athlete’s experience is individual to them and where they are on their fitness journey.  BUT I can promise you, while the WOD’s will hurt, you will experience camaraderie, support, joy, and pride like no-where else.

#crossfit #crossfitopen