Thursday – Recovery
A Lesson Learned at Regionals
We saw some truly savage athletes last weekend at the Dirty South Regional qualifiers. The event was the best organized and run that we’ve seen from CrossFit so far. The venue was first class, and we are really enjoying being on the front lines as this sport comes into maturity.
Some interesting math that we looked at on the final day of competition -
CrossFit Atlanta’s Leah Polaski was in first place going into the day. After the 5th event, she had cemented her lead by such a large margin that she could not be denied a trip to the Games, no matter what happened in the final event of competition. Leah took first place in exactly ZERO of the events of the weekend, but still had such a firm grip on the lead that even had she finished dead last in the final event, she would still have been guaranteed a trip to the Games. Just for fun, she went ahead and finished 2nd in the final event. She took first place overall in the competition. What a competitior!
Russell Berger of Huntsville, Alabama took 1st place in 3 of the first 5 events of Regionals. Yet even still, after 5 events, he was mathematically eliminated from a chance to go to the Games. His weaknesses in the other 3 events of the weekend put him in such a points deficit that he had no chance of advancing in competition. Berger took 1st place in 3 of the 6 events, and he didn’t just beat the other men in those events, he dominated them. Yet his other deficiencies were too great to overcome. He finished 6th overall.
The athlete with no chance to lose went into the final event with nothing on the line, but she wouldn’t go into it with anything less than 100%. The athlete with no chance to win went into the final event with nothing on the line, but he still left everything out there in the final chipper.
What can we learn from these two incredible competitors?
1st – Your weakness can be your strength. Eliminate your weaknesses by embracing them and training them into strengths.
2nd – Don’t quit. Ever. What you leave on the floor is more precious than any medal, any gift bag from Reebok, any fame or prize money. When the celebrations are over, it is all you are left with.
Post work and results to comments.
