Winter Transitions

Today was first real snow day in Minneapolis. Great. It actually stuck to the ground this time, too, which meant that getting home on the bus took twice as long. As such, I was kind of late to the gym today and that really set the tone for the WOD.

I think the snowfall deterred a lot of people from even coming to the gym, so I guess I should commend myself for even going. But I had a hard time "dialing into" the WOD today:

Four rounds for time:
21 jump squats
21 pull-ups

I finished in 7:54 with blue band pull-ups, which was a decent time. When it was all said and done, I felt like I could have pushed myself harder and taken fewer breaks in between. Something that my more "veteran" Crossfit friends have mentioned is that Crossfit is just as much about overcoming psychological barriers as it is about overcoming physical barriers. Jump squats and pull-ups are not difficult physical movements to master, but they sure do tire you out after the first round. But you have to mentally prepare to keep going, even when you're tired. I think I was so tired and stressed out already from a full day of work, meetings, and snow, that I just couldn't get in the zone to push through this workout as much as I wanted to.

On the plus side though, the jump squats were meant to help us train for better cleans. I think Tyler got really frustrated one day when we all were practicing cleans for a warm-up and our hips just weren't popping the right way and we were breaking our arms too early. So, he's having us break down the movement and do little pieces of it in the workouts. As my old drill team director, good ol' Barbara Loomis, would say: "committing things to muscle memory." I think it's an excellent coaching technique and a skill I hope to acquire.