Today was a tough day for me for a variety of reasons already recorded in my personal journal. Suffice to say, I knew I needed the release that only intense exercise can give me. I needed CrossFit.
And yet, when I looked at the day’s workout, I hesitated. It just looked too hard. 3 rounds of an 800 meter run, 10 bar muscle ups, and a 50 ft handstand walk.
I’m so slow at running right now, I didn’t think I’d get through 2 rounds. Muscle ups are completely off the table, as are handstand walks.
But after a decade of doing CrossFit, I do know the magic of scaling. And I needed the workout so badly for my physical, mental, and emotional health. I wasn’t going to be able to push myself in a solo workout the way I needed. I had to go.
I went.
I planned to scale the muscle ups to burpee jumping pull ups, and the handstand walk to scaled wall facing shoulder taps (body at an angle instead of straight). I ran 800 meters (technically 0.84 kilometers per MapMyRun) for the warmup and despaired.
I couldn’t keep up with the others in the class, but I’m used to that. The 800 just felt so hard. I tried not to think about it as we continued to warm up.
But all too soon it was time to start. I ran the first 800 in about 6:45, and got back out the door at 10 minutes even. Second 800 was a bit slower at 7:19, but I was able to smooth out and speed up the burpee jumping pull ups and headed out the door before 20 minutes hit.
With a time cap of 27 minutes, I knew I just had to run a little faster than the second round to complete the last 800 within the time cap. I pushed myself as hard as I could and got back in with just under a minute to spare.
I got through 7 burpee jumping pull ups before time, rushing to get the last one in.
I went in with low expectations of myself. But I went in.
I did my best.
I found out what my best was for today.
Better than I thought, though that won’t always be the case.
When the workout looks too hard… those are the days you need to use your discipline and do it anyway. Otherwise, you’ll never know what you can really do.
It’s good to do hard things.