Ok, my 2018 CrossFit Open strategy is about more than survival. But as I’ve said before, I’m very much a scaled athlete. (I’m also at the beginning of another half marathon training cycle, this time for Rock N Roll Nashville. But that’s another post altogether.) The only way I’m going to the CrossFit Games is if I buy a ticket. (Side note: I think I want to go to the Games for my birthday. It’s a big one.)
Anyway. My Morning Chalkup email said this:
Predicting the Open: honestly there is no predicting the Open, but when you lay out all the past WODs some patterns emerge.
The following movements have been in all seven years of the Open: chest to bar pull-ups, double unders, snatches, thrusters, toes to bar, and wall balls. There were no burpees in 2015.
Every single thruster workout has been a couplet and it’s always been the final workout.
Since 2014, once a movement is introduced it usually sticks around. (Examples: row in 2014, handstand push-ups in 2015, bar muscle-ups in 2016. The only exception to this is the overhead lunge in 2016, which was not repeated).
As we noted above, Dave also has repeated a test-priority WOD in each year since it was introduced in 2014.
In 2017, the new movements introduced were dumbbell cleans, front rack dumbbell walking lunges and dumbbell snatch.
Out of six possible repeats, Dave chose to hold the repeat during the same week it was introduced every single year except in 2013.
Last year, I drove myself crazy with trying to predict the next WOD. Yes, I’ve seen Dave Castro’s Instagram feed. I have no idea what that statue means. We can only speculate.
My Actual 2018 CrossFit Open Strategy
Survival is definitely a part of my 2018 CrossFit Open strategy. However, I do plan on doing a few more things:
- Ignoring Dave Castro’s Instagram. His clues don’t make sense to me. I’d rather not try to read too much into them, lest I descend into his brand of madness.
- Eating well. I’m going to need clean, whole foods to perform my best. I want to see how I do this year vs. last year and push myself. I can’t do that if I’m eating junk food.
- Resting. I don’t mean I’m going to lounge around the rest of the week, nor does this mean I’m going to just focus on getting enough sleep. In addition to getting enough sleep, I’m going to make sure I don’t overdo any of my workouts, running included.
- Mobility. Yoga, foam rolling, stretching – all of these are going to be critical in the next five weeks. In addition to my regular Monday night yoga class, I’m going to spend a few minutes every night with my foam roller and/or lacrosse ball, as well as do some gentle stretching and some yoga on my rest day, too.
- Mentally preparing to scale everything. Last year, there was literally not a single workout I could do RX. They all started with something out of my wheelhouse, and I scaled everything. (2015 was a fluke, starting with toes to bar.) This year, I’m mentally prepared to scale all five WODs.
Have you crafted a 2018 CrossFit Open strategy? What is it?