You learn more in defeat!

First and foremost I want to commend Jeff Tincher on putting together a great regional qualifier. The events ran seamlessly and the judging was very professional and accurate. While I might disagree with some of the events chosen, mainly because a large majority of the exercises did not cater to my strengths, you would have a hard time arguing that the Mid-Atlantic is not sending the most well rounded Crossfitters to the Games in July. Given the technicality of a lot of the lifts we performed it will be interesting to see how those individuals perform in an event billed by Coach Glassman as “None of the competitors will have done any of the workouts. And perhaps more significantly, none of the athletes will have ever competed in several of the movements.”

Since this was my first Crossfit competition to say I was disappointed in my final standings is an understatement, but I honestly believe that you learn more in defeat than in victory. This year Chris and I tried to practice what WE thought would be events in the games in an attempt to shore up some of my weaker lifts. This methodology was completely wrong, but given we really only had 6 months of dedicated Crossfit training we can’t blame ourselves for that approach. Jeff Tincher exposed me in several Crossfit disciplines that I am below average in and for that I thank him. I can assure you that we will not make the same mistakes next year. This entire year will be dedicated to being great at everything. I will no longer avoid the movements I dislike or disagree with; instead I will attack them like they are my favorite lifts. The beauty of Crossfit is it punishes specialization. It forces you to train in the things you hate and excel at them. I will be a completely different competitor at next year’s qualifier and unlike this year I will not be eagerly waiting for the event coordinator to post the WODs with my fingers crossed hoping the events favor me. Next year every event will favor me.