Liminal Space of Crossfit

This past weekend was Crossfit Covington’s 2^nd annual Barbell Blitz Competition.  It’s set up as a Superbowl style battle, where the top 2 teams go head to head in the final show down…winner takes all. 

Advanced Competition.

Regionals Prep.

Teams & Individuals who went to the Games.

These are not things that I associate myself with when it comes to Crossfit, but yet I competed.

Chris Spealler wrote about different kinds of Crossfitters.  I am definitely Type 1.  Training Crossfit.  Don’t get me wrong; I have goals, I compete with myself, I compete with others in class, with my current PR, with my last benchmark time-but I am not a good competitor in the formally organized competition.  I do Crossfit because I want to be better at life, it makes me feel good mentally & physically & because it gives me an excuse to buy really cute workout clothes :) …not for competitions.

I never really understood why competing gave me anxiety.  I’m decently strong, can do most skills (even though I have terrible endurance) & am physically capable of handling what most competitions throw at me.  Minus that 5k ruck with a 30# backpack where Courtney quite possibly saved my life by being such a strong runner.  Let’s not ever do that again.  But in general I can handle whatever you throw at me.  So, what’s the problem?

I finally understood when I went to a service at Crossroads this past Sunday.  It was the day after the competition, so the soreness was still very fresh-both figuratively & literally.  If you were there too, you learned about the concept of “Liminal Space”. The word “liminal” comes from the Latin word limens, meaning, “threshold." 

Liminal space is kind of like purgatory between 2 communities, rituals, life stages or abilities (in my case).  An example would be the time after you graduate from college, but before you accept your first (career) job offer.  You’re no longer a college student, you no longer to go class, you have a diploma, yet you haven’t fully inundated into the professional workforce & all that comes along with it.  That is liminal space.

And exactly how does this apply to Crossfit & competing? 

By nature, I’m a highly competitive person.  I want to be the best at my job, win Pictionary during our neighborhood game night (even though the ladies have been getting crushed by the guys…and I’m sure it’s because they cheat), solve a riddle before my husband does (which I rarely ever do) and stack a set of blocks faster than my 2 year old can knock them down (stop judging me for competing with a toddler).  After reviewing all of these things…I guess it’s nice that I’m decent at my job, because I don’t “win” at any of the others! 

Anyway…AND I want to "win" while doing Crossfit. 

The tension is that I’m trapped somewhere between intermediate & advanced competitors.  My strength would dictate that it wouldn’t be fair to compete in an intermediate competition, but my strength + endurance would dictate that I’m not good enough to place in an advanced competition, go to regionals or mentally feel like “I won”.  You can see how this would (probably not) create anxiety for any normal person. Well, it definitely creates anxiety for me.

I continue to compete anyway.  The motivation to compete comes from a sense of accomplishment, pushing myself beyond physical & mental limitations (usually, self imposed), a sense of community & team bonding, camaraderie and simple enjoyment & excitement of being part of something bigger.  Bigger than me.  Bigger than the gym.  Bigger than Crossfit.  It feels like being part of a family.  Now, while I have my own family whom I love dearly, it also feels good to be part of a family, unrelated by blood-except of that on our hands and shins.

So, here I find myself, trapped in Crossfit Liminal Space. 

I will continue to be a Type 1 Crossfitter and Train Crossfit to be a better person in & out of the gym.  I will continue to set goals, achieve goals & set new goals.  I will continue to track my progress.  I will continue to surprise myself & be disappointed in some performances, but I think I’m done competing.

…maybe.

A quick review of the results:

WOD #1:  2 Position Snatch Ladder, from the ground & then from hang.  You must successfully complete both lifts before proceeding to the next weight:   80#, 95, 105, 115, 125, 135, 145

Going in I knew I could hit 115# once.  Almost every single time I made an attempt at the ladder I could hit 115.  Once.  I never hit the 2^nd rep from the hang.  Not even once.

I ended up getting 1 rep at 125#!  My max is 125# and before the competition, I’d only hit it once.  I finished this WOD with a big happy face :)

WOD #2  Team Chipper with :30 time cap-Front Rack Lunges 95#, Box Jumps, Pull Ups  Women start & then guys repeat same rep scheme

Female 1:  30-20-10

Female 2: 20-20-20

Female 3: 10-20-30

Then complete as a team:

100 Deadlifts 95#

50 Thrusters 95#

25 Should to Overhead 95#

This workout was by far the hardest in my opinion & also the one I was most proud of my team for completing!  We finished with :16 to spare in the time cap, and when it was practiced there was an indication that we wouldn’t finish.  Go team MMFA!!

I did 30 lunges & 10 pull ups.  I intentionally broke the lunges into 10 which worked well, because I was able to drop the bar & pick it right back up.  The rest was no problem…until the thrusters.

The thrusters were by far the hardest part of the whole workout.  They sucked & made me want to cry a little.  Starting them I’d think to myself, “I’m going to get at least 7 or 8.”  I’d get to the 3^rd & think, “Just get to 5!”

WOD #3:  Divide into 3 guy/girl teams. 

6 Minute AMRAP #1

10 Squat Cleans (205/125#)

75 Double Unders

*REST 1 MINUTE & THEN SWITCH

6 Minute AMRAP #2

100 Wall Ball Buy-In to a 10′ target for both men and women

AMRAP Handstand Push-Ups

They then switch stations.  After the first 12 minutes, the 3^rd team will begin:

WOD #3 – Time Cap – 12 Minutes (WILD CARD Guy/Girl Team #3 ONLY)

For Time:

90 Partner Burpees

70 Pistol Squats (Alternating)

50 One Arm Kettle Bells Snatches (53/35#) – Alternating

30 Muscle Ups

I did the last portion.  Travis was my partner and he did awesome!  I could not get into the rhythm of the partner burpees until about 10 in, and around 60 I wanted to die a little bit!  The pistols were easy-we flew through those pretty quickly & the KB snatches were consistent, but not quite a quick as I would have liked, but I was pretty gassed at that point.  I did the majority of them to save Travis for MUs, since clearly I’d be no help there.  I tried twice.  No bueno.

He cranked them out!  The last movement of the day & he was still stringing a bunch together…amazing!

At the end of the day, I couldn't have been more proud to be part of this team.  We battled a blizzard to get there, we battled ourselves to keep going when our minds told our bodies to stop & in my eyes we won.  I’m proud of us.   But I’m still done competing.

…maybe.

3 times this day I said, "I'm never competing again."  Another 4 times I said, "This is so much fun."  Thanks for making it fun more than it sucked, Team MMFA!!