The Open has begun

I promised more about the Open.  We have just entered the beginning of the CrossFit games.  The Open is (as implied by the name) open to everyone around the world.  Each week a new WOD is released and all the competitors will have their performance judged individually by official coaches.  The top 60 men and top 60 women from each region will meet in the Regionals.  From there it is on to Home Depot center in California for the Games where the Fittest Man and Women On Earth are crowned.

Why am I doing the Open?  It is pretty clear that 18 work outs into my CrossFit life I don't have even the faintest hope of making it to regionals.  But that's ok, because that's not why I'm doing it.  I'm doing it to test myself, to participate in something that over 55,000 other people are competing in, and to compare scores long distance with my sister-in-law (who got me into this whole thing in the first place).

The first WOD of the Open was released at 5:00 last night and so many people were trying to get on the site to see it that it crashed (not for long).  Almost as soon as it was announced, the complaints started filing in.  I guess you can't please everyone.  But I was both pleased and dismayed because the first WOD of this competition to find the fittest people in the world is starting with....Burpees.  I was worried that we would start with skills I have not yet developed (double unders, HS walks, T2B...), but burpees I can do.  The dismay comes from the fact that I simply hate burpees.  They are exhausting, they bruise the shit out of my knees, and they make me want to die a little bit.

Our box (and likely most boxes in the world) had the Open WOD 12.1 as their WOD today so all the people signed up can basically practice for their official judged workouts.  I have signed up for a Saturday time slot so I will post my official score later, but here is my practice!

2/23/12 WOD #18: OPEN WOD 12.1

• Warm up: 500 m row
                  30 ft: walking lunges
                           bear crawl
                           broad jump
                           crab walk
                           high knees
                           butt kickers
                           (you were supposed to do this twice, but I only got through one set)
• WOD 12.1: 7 min AMRAP: BURPEES! with a 6" jump at the end of each rep.
                                              Total: 62

My goal was to get over 50 and also to not throw up.  So success there!  Fortunately in the official workout the judge will be counting for me, because I am honestly not convinced I got 62.  It could be 65, or 60, or something else.  It's hard to keep track of burpees for 7 minutes.  This is the official standards and demo video: