The other day I was reading over ultra-marathoner and CrossFit Zoner Rob Mackay’s running blog, and I was particularly struck by his latest entry. Rob often comments on his training, both as a runner and now as a CrossFitter. He was recently reflecting on his feelings about his fitness regime, and I thought they were rather profound. Have a look at what he wrote about his experiences at CrossFit Zone:
CrossFit and Ultrarunning – By Rob Mackay
It’s obvious to me now why I enjoy Crossfit so much. It is very similar to ultrarunning and shares the same ‘community’ feel. Here are some more similarities:
1) Even though you are competing with the group, the competition is really against yourself (and the clock). I go into the workouts now with the attitude of “I’m here so I will give it everything”. (Yesterday was the first workout where I came close to puking.)
2) The workouts are intense – everyone hurts and the hurting builds camaraderie.
3) The ‘quitting Sirens’ call you constantly and it is by force of will that you finish.
4) The community is varied in athletic ability but shares the collective goal of ‘improving’. Stronger, faster, more flexible.
5) You train and compete with the elites.
6) Everyone wants everyone else to get better.
7) In the end, this is a solo challenge. Your ‘team’ can only take you so far, then it is up to you to motivate yourself to finish.
Rob has highlighted some very common feelings about the CrossFit community and training regime. Ultimately, your fitness success is entirely up to you. Dedication and motivation are key to your progress! Even more so, it is very true that the camaraderie within our CrossFit community is a thing of beauty. We all experience the same downfalls and difficulties, and are able to bond over our shared experiences, good and bad. And best of all, we truly want our fellow CrossFitters to succeed! Very well said, Mr. Mackay! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
To read more blogs by Rob, visit his blog site at http://robertmackay.wordpress.com/
And also a shout out to Turts! Happy Birthday!!!!
Today’s Workout:
Buy In – Dynamic leg warmup followed by a 500m jog.
WOD – “Nicole”
AMRAP in 20 minutes:
- 400 M run
- Max pullups
Score by total pullups. Scale pullups as needed.
Cash Out – stretch
who-ya Rob! It’s always fun to WOD with you. Great Clean and Wall balls session today!
Just to clarify, what WOD made you come close to puking??? 😉
Also, Happy Birthday Cam!
What is the birthday WOD going to be??
Rob – That’s awesome, thanks for sharing man. I’m definitely inspired by what you and your fellow ultrarunners are doing in the next couple of weeks, and share the love for the crossfit community for very similar reasons. I’m still in the honeymoon phase, but I have a feeling it’ll last!
Thanks for highlighting Rob’s blog Bones. All of these points are very true about CrossFit.
I love the support from everyone in the community. If you are not pushing yourself and missing wods, people are asking about you. Our athletes are really starting to step up their game, which in turn really pushes everyone else to compete with themselves.
Thanks for the read.
The workout that almost made me puke was Donkey Kong
WOD -”Donkey Kong”
21 -15 -9 reps for time:
* Burpees
* Kettlebell Swings (35/55)
* Box Jumps (24/30)
just trying to hammer out the last box jumps and I started to taste it in the back of my throat!
PS. Happy birthday Cam!
Awesome post from Rob (and Bones!!). There is definitely something special about pushing oneself to the limits of mind and body, seeing which one wants to give in and telling it “hell no”! It’s even better when the energy of your friends pushes you forward when you are reaching those limits.
That’s the magic, and I’m glad we’re all in this together and can experience it as a team and family.
Thanks gang for the bday wishes, I was without internet access during my trip to 70mile but am catching up on all the comments and goings on around cfz and elsewhere. Hope you all are well and see you all soon.
Turts. 31 and getting better every year 🙂 🙂
So Turts, you should be able to do 31 muscle ups in a row before you turn 32 😉
haha yeah… that would be a worthwhile goal! Imagine that…. 31 muscle ups….