"Nate"
Complete as many rounds in twenty minutes:
2 Muscle-ups
4 Handstand push-ups
8 Kettlebell swings, 32kg (24kg)
Post rounds to comments and BTWB.
Chief Petty Officer Nate Hardy was killed Sunday February 4th during combat operations in Iraq. Nate is survived by his wife, Mindi, and his infant son Parker.
Last week, while amidst the pain of the "Smalls" hero WOD, some kind, amazing coaching tried to coax me to "find my happy place," but I have to say all that came to mind were inappropriate retorts and negative self-talk. I had to tame my brain immediately and focus on, "lay-down, get-up" and keep moving through my burpees. You see, I love to strategize my workouts, to work the numbers to keep me moving, to find the "fun" part of the "fun—>suck–>fun" cycle we have in CrossFit. But really, let's be honest, my happy place would involve either heavy deadlifts or sleeping an extra 2 hours in a dark, air-conditioned room without the worry of listening for a toddler.
Point is, that sometimes CrossFit teaches us to accept suffering. That's right, accept that it will hurt for a while and we will survive. No, I'm not talking about sustaining an injury and working out through it. It's the mental and emotional breakdown from working through weaknesses, when we are tired, out-of-breath, when our body says, "stop and rest." It's accepting that we are stronger than we think and training our body to work hard is worth it in the end. This acceptance to stay in the "suck" part of the cycle, or the "pain-cave" and work through it is never more appropriate than during these Hero WODs such as last week, yesterday, and today. These are heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice and don't get the opportunity to come home, to fight again, to love again, or to accept what tomorrow has for them.
So, this doesn't mean that you've got to batter and break your body, or even do these Hero WOD's Rx'd–I didn't even do that WOD last week as such, but it was just as tough and meaningful to me. What it means is to find the challenge in what's in front of you, tell yourself you'll overcome it, and get to work grinding it out. You'll be thankful you did, albeit afterward.
