CrossFit Open: 15.1 (Rx) & 15.2 (Scaled)

Hey, hey and happy Monday! How was your weekend? In DC it warmed up — all the snow is melting and I have to say, I’m happy to see it go! With daylight savings, spring feel so close and I’m so, so ready for it!
You might have noticed I haven’t been blogging as much lately (insert sad face!) but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to tell you about the Open. Even though I wasn’t looking forward to 15.2 when I heard the announcement — that it would be a repeat of 14.2 — I ended up really enjoying the workout! Here’s a recap:

15.2 {Scaled}

Every 3 minutes for as long as possible complete:

From 0:00-3:00
2 rounds of:
6 overhead squats (65 / 45 lb.)
6 chin-over-bar pull-ups

From 3:00-6:00
2 rounds of:
8 overhead squats (65 / 45 lb.)
8 chin-over-bar pull-ups

From 6:00-9:00
2 rounds of:
10 overhead squats (65 / 45 lb.)
10 chin-over-bar pull-ups

Etc., following same pattern until you fail to complete both rounds

I wanted to do more than 10 squats this year so I decided to scale the workout. At first I thought that meant just swapping whatever movement I couldn’t do — chest-to-bar pull-ups — for a movement I can do — kipping pull-ups — but, when I showed up Saturday I found out scaled meant fewer reps at a lighter weight, too!

I debated scaling the weight because I’m pretty comfortable squatting 65 lbs (the scaled weight was only 45 lbs) but I decided to just go with it, knowing that’d be the easy part of the workout. Pull-ups, on the other hand, have always been really challenging for me.

Knowing I was a bit nervous about the pull-ups my friend Wendy suggested I just do one pull-up at a time. I really liked that advice because when I try to string them together I usually get tired fast (after just 3 or 4), and frustrated with myself for not being able to kip string them together easier.

Welp, guys, Wendy’s advice was golden!! I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed pull-ups as much as I did Saturday!! Doing them one at a time gave me so much confidence. They felt great! I would do one and get my chin well over the bar. I’d plop down feeling really good — strong! — and ready to tackle another one. Of course I tried to be quick about it — jumping right back up after rep, but because the squats were so easy, I had plenty of time to pace my pull-ups. All in all, I’d say the technique really worked for me. It was awesome! I felt great! You can see my big kip in the photo below… Can you tell I was putting my all into it? I was! 🙂

In the end, I got a total of 135 reps.

Considering I just figured out how to do kip and pull-ups have always been such a mentally challenging and frustrating part of workouts, I’m really happy with my score. I know I should have squatted more weight, but in the end I had a lot of fun with this workout and that’s what it’s all about anyway, right?

Super proud of Wendy and Naomi for their hard work, too! Check them out!

15.1

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 9 minutes of:
15 toes-to-bars
10 deadlifts (115 / 75 lb.)
5 snatches (115 / 75 lb.)

15.1a

1-rep-max clean and jerk
6-minute time cap

15.1 and 15.1a weren’t nearly as fun as 15.2, but part of that was also because I did them on a Monday night; not at our usual Open event on Saturdays. I met up with Naomi to do the workout in just enough time to post it and truthfully, both of us were sort of dreading the workout… I think we were nervous and neither of us have been going to CrossFit as often as we used to, but in the end I think we both had fun.

Yay! We did it!

I ended up doing the workout Rx even though I knew the toes-to-bar weren’t going to suck. The deadlifts were a breeze and the snatches felt good, but I ripped my hand on my last few toes-to-bar, which I think totally messed up my one rep max clean and jerk. In total I got 95 reps (three rounds and 5 toes to bar). My goal was to get at least three rounds so I was pretty happy with that! My clean and jerk max was 115 lbs (my PR is actually 135 lbs!). I know I can go heavier, but whatevs! I did my best considering my hand was bleeding!

I’m predicting 15.3 will involve thrusters, wall balls, and/or box jumps. Whatever it is, I know it’s going to be good.

Are you participating in the CrossFit Open? 

How did you do on 15.1 and 15.2?

Any predictions on what 15.3 will include?  

To learn more about the Open, visit the CrossFit Games website.