[rs-box_content style=”basic_block” txt_color=”#000000″ bkg_color=”#ECECEC” brd_color=”#636363″]
WOD
[rs-divider type=”solid” brd_width=”1″ brd_color=”#636363″/]
Kelly
Complete 5 rounds for time of:
Run 400 m
30 Box jumps, 24″/20″
30 Wall balls, 20#/14#
Compare to: 6/28/12, 7/5/11, 11/15/10, 8/25/10
[/rs-box_content]
[rs-space space=”30″/]
[rs-image img_url=”https://www.crossfit-evolve.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Photo-Mar-26-6-34-59-PM.jpg” link=”” alt=”Devon” width=”” height=”” type=”img-rounded” border=”default” new_win=”no” margin=”” pos=”center” wrap=”no”/]
Devon getting some pulls in.
You may have noticed we’ve been consistently hitting some benchmark WODs lately. In CrossFit, the named WODs can seem like a big deal. We track the top times/scores on a big board at the front of the gym, there’s about a million apps out there that makes keeping track of these WODs easier, and a quick Google search will provide days of reading about and watching other people’s experiences with these well-known workouts.
We like to do them because they give us a chance to see what’s going on with your training. You guys know we seldom repeat WODs at Evolve, but the named WODs we get to know fairly well. Over time, the expectation would be to see a general improvement of our performance on these WODs. It’s important to note that if during your first month you modified Kelly by doing 3 rounds of a 200m run, 15 step-ups, and 10 wall balls with a 10# ball, and today you do it RX, although your time may not be faster, increasing the distance run, the box jump, and the load and height of the wall ball, that would constitute an improvement. Remember, it’s not always about time.
So if we plotted 5 performances of a single benchmark WOD over time, we would expect to see a general increase in performance. Now here’s the important part that can be really hard to get through to folks: a PR is far from guaranteed. There are a lot of factors that come into play, and some of those factors may not come together to allow you to do better. I’ll use the WOD Nancy as an example because I had a conversation with one of my friends who didn’t PR it last week. When Nancy came to visit us, it was mid-April. Our first WOD this year with running outside was March 10th. There were only 5 WODs with running as a component before we did Nancy last week. The last time we did Nancy before last week was June 2013. We had approximately 14 WODs with running prior to that day, including Murph and a 5K. Do you think that matters? I think it definitely is a factor, especially for those of us who don’t feel like running is in our wheelhouse.
Most of us don’t run nearly as much during the winter months in Colorado. When spring comes around, just like you’re experiencing now, we bring the running back into the programming. It takes a little while to get back in the swing of things. If you’re someone who has a tougher time being efficient with the run, tackling the 5 x 400m of Nancy early on in the season may not lead to the PR performance we all chase. When you’re ripping out the overhead squats unbroken, the only place to make up time is the run. Nancy came up a little earlier in the season this year. My guess is that with continued exposure to running during the WODs, most of you would PR Nancy should she show her face again. Maybe we need to test this theory, what do you think?!
