The Open Sectionals.....Now It Begins!

Well it's finally here! The Open Sectionals is upon us. Now, I'm not going to lie. I'm still not as excited about these online sectionals as I was for the Sectionals Weekend last year in Austin. There's just nothing that can compare to the atmosphere at a big CrossFit Competition. I can't explain it if you've never been to one, but let's just say the energy is palpable and the camaraderie can't be beat. People accomplish things that they never thought possible and old and new CrossFit friends unite. It's part of what makes this sport so much fun. But enough about that. I think it's safe to say that the initial phases of this Open Sectionals have been disappointing from a technical standpoint. The first WOD was posted about 7 hours late making it impossible for anybody to complete the WOD on Tuesday night as had been previously planned. The Website has had problems ranging from people not being able to register to people not being able to submit scores and the leaderboards are frequently all screwed up. Does this frustrate me? A little bit. I mean, I haven't had any problems BUT it's irritating that HQ has known that they were going to try and pull this off for a LONG time and yet, they still underestimated how much work it was going to be. But I think the thing that really bugs me about this whole thing is that HQ claims to be going big-time. Reebok is sponsoring. Glassman and Crew can't stop talking about how Elite the CrossFit Athletes and the CrossFit Program is, that it's just as legit as any other professional sport BUT when things get rough...like they are with the Open Website....they hide behind the fact that they're just a small group of people trying to do big things! Be straight with us HQ. Either you're Pro sport status or you're not. You can't be both and when you screw something up....just apologize! I think that's what we're all looking for. Just say "hey look we screwed up. It's much bigger than we thought and we didn't plan enough ahead for it, but we're working our asses off to make it right." That's all I want, an acknowledgement that they still have things to learn and ways to improve. We're not all sheep.

Sorry, I am done with my rant. Back to the Workouts themselves. The first Sectionals WOD this year was:

AMRAP in 10 minutes of

30 Double Unders

15 Power Snatches @55lbs

I admit when this WOD was announced, I was not that psyched about it. It's light....meaning it's gonna be all cardio! Anything that is high rep/light weight means cardio and that is exactly what I SUCK at! So far, I have surprised myself. The first time I tried this WOD was Wednesday afternoon with Neal, Brittani, Kim and Adriana. I told myself before it started that the key to this WOD was going to be my double unders. I can rock out some double unders but I have to be relaxed when I do them or I screw up...big time! I didn't go into the WOD with any expectations of doing that well because, like I said, cardio is my weakness. I started out steady and got a great rhythm with my double unders that carried through for most of the WOD. I didn't even keep track of my rounds because all I could think about was "stay relaxed and get those double unders". When the clock hit 10 minutes, I'd gotten 6 rounds, 30 double unders and 1 snatch! That was the best time in the gym and you know what, I was pretty stoked about it! I rocked a cardio WOD! How did that happen?? When I uploaded my score, it put me in first place in the Region....which was VERY short lived! :) I ended up getting knocked down to 11th and decided to hit the WOD again today to try and get back in the top ten. My goal was 7 rounds. This time, the WOD did NOT feel as good as it did on Wednesday, but I did get an extra 6 reps bringing my new total to 6 rounds plus 37. It was enough to put me back into the top ten at #7....BUT I have once again, dropped to 11th. HQ has given us an extension of one week to get this WOD done...I just might have to try again. Maybe this time I'll get my 7 rounds!