The Open has a unique ability to point out the holes in your training. In my case, 19.3 didn’t point out anything I didn’t know. Instead, it pointed out a gaping hole I identified a year ago and deliberately ignored.
I had a knee surgery in January 2018. Nothing major - just cleaning out a bunch of pieces of debris that had calcified over the past 15 years since my ACL reconstruction. In the weeks after my surgery, I identified a significant gap in my unilateral strength. I hadn’t been able to get into the bottom of a squat for a couple of months prior due to the debris in my joint, and anything unilateral was out of the question for the extra stress it caused. I had developed a large gap, and I knew I needed to fix it.
Fast forward a year, and I haven’t done a lunge in probably 18 months. Have they been programmed? Absolutely. Did I sub them out because they hurt and I needed to work on them at my own pace? Again, yes. Did I actually do the out of class work on them? No.
So when 19.3 was announced and it started with a 200 foot walking lunge with a 35 lb dumbbell, followed by 50 20-inch step-ups with that same dumbbell, I could only laugh. Lesson learned.
CrossFit has a way of finding our weaknesses and hammering them. It’s a matter of when, not if, those weaknesses cause a problem. You may spend a year avoiding a movement, but at some point, it’s going to appear somewhere you can’t, or don’t want to avoid it.
This life we live is a privilege. The pursuit of health and fitness is not something everyone chooses, and it’s not something everyone understands. Every day I get to walk into my gym is a blessing and a privilege. Not everyone is capable of doing that; not many choose this path. Spending a year not working on the pieces I knew should be a priority is the worst kind of arrogance. Every moment of the 9:56 it took me to complete a 200 foot walking lunge was a lesson in humility that I needed.
I have the opportunity to spend the coming months chipping away at my weaknesses and closing those gaps. I won’t sit idly by this year and miss the chance to be better. After the next Open, I will not be able to say I wasted my opportunities. I won’t laugh because a year of avoidance came back to bite me. I won’t have to assume I won’t be able to complete half of a scaled workout.
So bring it on, 19.4. Point out my weaknesses - it’s just fuel for my fire.