Adam gets ready to attack the Prowler in the rain.
You know this look. You’ve had it before. When something hard and tough is looming before you and you’re digging deep to find some energy, some nerve, some wherewithal to survive the sh**storm that you know is coming.
It’s called CrossFit. And it happens every single day here.
We can see it in all of you — the stare, the look, the mental bracing. Everyone has a different way of preparing, of coping, of bringing up the guts to do what they have to do. I’m a starer like Adam, but only briefly, because I also suffer from impatience (not always the best quality, trust me). Barry looks at things out of the corner of his eye, like a cat getting ready to pounce and kill some unsuspecting mouse. Becky might dance up to the task at hand, while Rockstar will sashay, almost daring the challenge to resist her charms.
Everybody’s different, yet we’re all the same. We’re all scared. Really. Scared that we will falter, that we will fail, that we will end up bloodied and bruised and shaken.
But we tackle the task anyway. We have to. It’s almost not a choice for us anymore. The harder the task, the more we want to try it. It’s a sickness we all have. An illness that has infected all of us, not just here in the gym, but in our workplaces, our schools, and our homes. We embrace tests of our strength, our mettle, our heart. We long to find out what we’re really made of. It’s a disease that doesn’t harm us, however, and that oddly makes our lives better and more thrilling, and the conquering of that fear and those tasks makes us feel more alive. It’s a virus that we have passed from person to person . . . and it’s called CrossFit.
(Words by Lisbeth Darsh/CrossFit Watertown.)
August 23rd, 2010 at 7:42 am
LOVE this pic! Great job Adam, Barry, Lis, Jeanine, Marnie, Arell, & Toon pushing the prowler in the rain yesterday! For the life of me I cannot figure out why it was incredibly harder in the rain – maybe it was just the area….
August 23rd, 2010 at 8:35 am
Nice words Lis.
August 23rd, 2010 at 9:30 am
Thanks, David!
I’m just glad Barry went last. He made it look too easy.
Now, the really stupid thing is that, as painful as it was, all I can think about is that stupid Prowler and when I get to battle it again. Struggling with it is gratifying in some odd way.
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:23 am
Ok, so… “wherewithal”?
Off the top of your head or via thesaurus? For some reason I need to know.
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:24 am
“We long to find out what we’re really made of”
Wow, so true… in CrossFit and in life. As always, I love the post Lis!
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:29 am
LOL Nate. It was just in my head, has been for years. And I have no idea how it got there. Ever feel like that? I used to think it was just me, but my kids feel the same way. Like someone shoved things in our brains while we were sleeping and we have no idea how we know the things we know.
August 23rd, 2010 at 12:03 pm
That’s a pretty cool photo.
I feel the need to inform everyone who missed yesterday just how hard it was to push that thing in the rain. If you’re looking at that picture and saying “It’s only 90 lbs. How hard can it be?” I will give you a point of reference. About a month or two ago, a group of us were working with the prowler on a nice, sunny and more importantly dry day. Having only brought down a couple 45 lb plates and and in need of more weight we added a Jen and a Melissa to the sled. My guess is that the sled probably had the equivalent of 6 or 7 45# plates on it (maybe 340 lbs – Google doesn’t convert Jens or Melissas into US Pounds). Pushing that was about the same difficulty. The only reason I was able to get the sled moving yesterday was because it was only weighted with 90 lbs and I was able to tilt it up slightly and overcome static friction.
I’ll ad one more thing. When coming back on the lower bar I was able to get the thing to go maybe 10 to 15 feet before I ran out of steam. After getting it going one time, I hit a stone after about 4 feet and the sled came to a stop early. It was mental equivalent of getting kicked in the balls.
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Before a tough WOD, I usually get lost in outer space somewhere, thinking about the WOD and asking myself how the hell I’m going to get it done. Which is why I had almost no response the day Lis yelled “YOU READY BITCH!!??” seconds before a WOD started. The only word I could muster was a weak, mouse-like “yes.” I think that was one of her favorite moments ever at CFW.
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:00 pm
LOL Not true, Kirk! You actually were hysterical that day because you just nodded and said “Yup” . . . it was like a John Wayne moment!
(Nate, feel free to embellish this scenario as you may.)
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Schedule Alert! Competitor’s WODs are now TUES at 7pm and FRIDAY at 5pm. Permanent change! Good-bye to the Team WOD and hello to a fresh kind of hell!
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Becky & Barry, Thanks for explaining just how hard it was to push that damn thing in the pouring rain- I was feeling like a wimp.
For lack of a better phrase, I popped my prowler cherry on wet pavement in a downpour, not the best case scenario I am assuming.
For some reason, I am anxious to get back out there when the sun is shining to see what this prowler pushing business is really all about.
I think I drank the CF Kool-Aid.
August 23rd, 2010 at 4:34 pm
My wife came home looking like you guys beat the piss out of her. I liked it, please keep it up.
Mental prep is something I do before each WOD. Even the surprise ones that Jen does I take a second to digest what needs to get done. Sometimes I configure my weight a certain way to try and maximize my efficiency from station to station. Or spread them apart to take a break from station to station. It is all about knowing you strengths and weaknesses.
I learned to do this while competing in skydiving competitions. Mental prep is probably the most important thing to do in skydiving. Unlike other sports when you can practice muscle memory over and over again, in skydiving you only get 60 seconds of practice at a time.
In Crossfit you can practice a move over and over again but training for the “Unknown” takes mental prep. I sort of do what Kirk does. I go in a place all by myself and I even do this during the WOD. Sometimes I don’t even here the music playing until I am finished.
August 23rd, 2010 at 4:50 pm
… still laughing at Berry’s “It was mental equivalent of getting kicked in the balls.” comment. You guys did great on Sunday with the sled. For those of you who were not there, Jeanine used her knees for traction in the rain. Ask to see the scars next time you see her at CFW.
August 23rd, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Oh My God, Jeanine was a trooper. A combination of being tall and having no traction on your shoes makes pushing that thing a brutal experience. Many people probably would have stopped after one knee started bleeding but watching Jeanine finish after bloodying both knees was as inspiring as it was terrifying. At that point, I had yet to even touch the prowler on wet ground and was not looking forward to it after witnessing that.
August 23rd, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Sick workout on Sunday! The rain definitely made it difficult to get traction and grab the handles, but it made it kind of awesome in a way too. This was my first encounter with the Prowler, and I’m anxious for the next.
I’ve got a fever….and the only prescription….is more prowler!!!
(said like Christopher Walken)
August 23rd, 2010 at 8:03 pm
Omg, Arell wins Post of the Day:
“For lack of a better phrase, I popped my prowler cherry on wet pavement in a downpour, not the best case scenario I am assuming.”
LOL I’m still laughing.
August 23rd, 2010 at 8:03 pm
And Jeanine is a killer! Watch out!