The 2011 CrossFit Open Workout 1 – Strategy Breakdown

They’re baaaaack.  Like a sequence to a super scary horror movie, power snatches and double-unders return to Roots today for a second go around.  Come in and make it a good one.

And here’s something to chew on…

I watched many of your do the workout last Thursday.  For those of you who are proficient in double-unders and power snatches, I saw most of you drop the bar after round 1 in under 1:00.  Play that out to the ten minute mark and most of you turned in 4-5 rounds.  What does this tell me?  Your pacing is off.

Remember the movie Prefontaine?  There’s a clip when Pre and coach Bill Bowerman sit on the porch by a lake and Bowerman tells Pre he needs to go out slower in the first 400 of the mile.  Pre rejects the idea.  Bowerman then shows him how holding the reins a little tight in the first round will gain him 7-8 seconds at the end of the mile.  The same concept applies to this workout.

A 1:20 pace for this workout would play out like so…

1 – 1:20
2 – 2:40
3 – 4:00
4 – 5:20
5 – 6:40
6 – 8:00
7 – 9:20
with :40 seconds to play with for missed double-unders

I know what some of you are thinking…yea, but I’ll fall off that pace as I go through the workout.  Yes, but you’ll still get more than 4-5 rounds.  Even if you slow each round because you tire out, you will still open the door for six rounds.

1 – 1:15
2 – 2:25 (2:20)
3 – 3:50 (2:25)
4 – 5:20 (2:30)
5 – 6:55 (2:35)
6 – 8:35 (2:40)
With a minute and a half to work into the next round.

You’ve all done this workout once before.  Try it a different way.  Constantly Varied.