I usually leave the blogging to Jason but I had to throw this one up for all of you today. IF THERE WAS EVER ANY DOUBT IN ANYONE'S MIND ABOUT THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CROSSFIT and its transfer into real life/other sports etc. here is a story for you.
About a month before Christmas this year, Kristen, our 17 year old daughter ( many of you have met her during WODS) announced to me that she wanted to run a half marathon. 21K is not a small undertaking for someone her age and especially for someone who had never run more than the odd 5k crossfit WOD that Jason would throw up on the whiteboard every so often. Kristen asked me if I would train her and train with her for the Chilly half marathon this past weekend. I was both excited for her and dreading the training. I hadn't run more than 10k since completing Ironman and really didn't have a big desire to run that far....but how could I say no?? The chance to see her acheive something this big at 17 would be priceless. So at Christmas I wrapped up her entrance form and put it under the tree for her along with some nice new running gear.....we were off.
Now I had to come up with a training plan. One that Kristen could live with and one that I could fit into my own training schedule which wouldn't totally wipe me out for my crossfit WODS. Kristen was already doing WODS 2-3 times a week so I knew she was tough enough to get through the run....but how else would I prepare her? Well the traditional running program would have us out there pounding the pavement at least 3x a week....this I just couldn't fathom.....so here was the plan....crossfit for Kristen 2-3x per week and one long run on the weekend just to feel the endurance piece. We practiced pose running during our long runs to make sure her joints wouldn't suffer the distance and she would stay injury free. We started at 5 k, worked up by 2k per week till we hit 17. We missed a few weeks of running due to illness/exams etc so never made it to 21 before the race. All in all we ran a GRAND TOTAL of 7 times before the race!!!! It was going to be a great experiment to see if only 7 distance runs since Christmas plus a whole lot of crossfit would get her to the 21k mark.
Well I have to be honest....the night before the race I was a little nervous......what if things fell apart after 17k? How would I get her over that finish line?? What would I tell her along the way to keep her motivated? Will she be able to dig deep? I knew she was tough and anyone witnessing her doing a WOD will attest to the intensity (lol).
Race morning was here....the weather was picture perfect....we were all set....our nutrition plan was bare minimum ....we shared one gel and a granola bar and a sip of eload every second water station...just enough to get us through.....we made it to 10k....our time was great......we made it to the turn around at Burloak.....I tried to get Kristen to stop for a minute for a photo opp with the police but she wouldn't ( bad sport).....we made it to 15k and then to 16k and then it started to fall apart....I was getting a little worried...it was a little windy so I told her to tuck in behind me and just follow my feet. We got that way to 20k....not too much being said between us ( unlike my Ironman experience where Jason will claim I had turrets syndrome....can't believe I said all those horrible things to him)....THEN I SAW THE 20K mark.....I said...Kristen...1K to go....you are going to do this!!!!! Thats when she got this huge adrenalin rush....she took off to the finish line...and yes....I am such a Sap ...I had tears in my eyes watching her finish.....
Soooooo the moral of the story?? Crossfit transfers over to anything you do in life. It makes you physically strong. It makes you mentally tough when the going gets tough. It allows you to take on life's challenges and WIN the battle.
WAY TO GO KRISTEN! YOU ROCKED IT!
WOD
In keeping with the theme of running.........today we do HELEN
400 m RUN
21 KB Swings 24 kg/16 kg
12 Pull ups
3 Rounds
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