It\u2019s just after noon on Sunday at Ketchikan CrossFit.<\/p>\n
Bo Meredith yells at Jeff Williams from the rower. <\/p>\n
\u201cC\u2019mon man, fast singles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeff lifts the 135-pound combination of bar and plates, lowers to a squat, then stands upright. One. Fourteen more squat cleans and he can get back to the pull up bar where he\u2019ll lift his feet to hand level 25 times. It\u2019s a movement that makes the wrists tired, the forearms tired, the core tired and the lungs pump oxygen out at a rate faster than they seem to take it in. Then he moves to jump rope for 50 double unders. He repeats the combination of 25 toes to bar, 50 double unders and 15 squat cleans (increasing weight but fewer reps on the squat cleans) with a four-minute time cap. The fitter you are, the more rounds you can make it, which means you\u2019re rewarded with punishment. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s the second week of the CrossFit Games Open and hundreds of thousands of crossfitters around the world are competing against themselves, knowing that only the elite will get invited to regionals after the five qualifying workouts. From there it\u2019s on to the actual games, but that\u2019s television for the vast majority.<\/p>\n
Bo qualified for regionals in 2013 and yesterday he dominated the workout, totaling 344 reps.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t. My ability to do double unders is laughable and slowed my progression. It\u2019s a real shot to the self-esteem that I struggle doing something third graders do for fun at recess. Apparently it\u2019s one of those things \u2014 once you get it, they\u2019re easy, but until you do, the\u2019re awful.<\/p>\n
Kevin Manabat, Ketchikan CrossFit\u2019s owner, is going next. He posted 259 reps on Friday. While he warms up, Bo\u2019s checking the scores of the competition on social media. Ian Johnson-Beitman came to support Kevin and wore jeans to the gym on purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to get convinced to work out.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not that Ian doesn\u2019t like working out, it\u2019s that he knows he needs a break. He\u2019s redoing the workout tomorrow.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to be quietly ordinary at the gym. At a CrossFit \u201cbox,\u201d daily scores go on the dry-erase board. The funny thing is, no one cares, because everyone knows everyone\u2019s context and level is different. <\/p>\n
Bo admitted to me after I struggled yesterday that it took him almost a year to master double unders. I\u2019ve been going for over a year so any day now, right Bo?<\/p>\n
Kevin\u2019s a few minutes from starting. <\/p>\n
\u201cI keep telling myself, just suffer, suffer, suffer in those middle rounds, you know what I\u2019m saying? Suffer now and look like a champion later, who said that?\u201d<\/p>\n
It was Muhammad Ali, and it was \u201cSuffer now, and live the rest of your life as a champion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Close enough.<\/p>\n
Kevin\u2019s one of the fittest in Alaska, but there are thousands who are bigger, faster and stronger. But that\u2019s not really the point.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe competition aspect is there in anything,\u201d he says. \u201cThe competition with myself is always there. If [I think] I\u2019m tired, it\u2019s too heavy, every time I silence those words, that reflects how I live my life. I think it goes for everybody. If you can silence those words in your head, that\u2019s what makes your life better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin gets a good sweat before starting. He wants to increase his heart rate so he doesn\u2019t hit a wall when he goes from resting to working.<\/p>\n
The clock starts.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not like a man in fast-forward. It\u2019s just a man who doesn\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n
:51 <\/p>\n
Finished with toes to bar, he breezes through the double unders. I\u2019m jealous. He moves to the platform and grabs the bar. Bo and Ian encourage him.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s go, steady. Fast singles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking good man. Looking strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin completes another round and is back on the squat cleans. <\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t step back from the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAtta boy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you step back from that bar, go.\u201d<\/p>\n
6:41<\/p>\n
Beads of sweat drop between his feet as he reaches down for the bar. He finishes 11 squat cleans of 185 pounds. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s back to toes to bar. <\/p>\n
\u201cC\u2019mon Kevin, this is where the workout is.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laugh. Kevin has already doubled my effort. <\/p>\n
8:16<\/p>\n
\u201cC\u2019mon, five more.\u201d<\/p>\n
9:04<\/p>\n
Back on the jump rope. Two misses then more consecutive than I\u2019ve done in my life.<\/p>\n
10:15<\/p>\n
He pulls on 225 pounds, it spits him out the back. He tries again, but drops the weight. Not worth an injury. He sits on a stack of 45-pound plates. <\/p>\n
\u201cNot in me today\u2026.I don\u2019t have any legs.\u201d<\/p>\n
He gets three, maybe four words per breath. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what\u2026.limited me there\u2026I couldn\u2019t pick up\u2026from here to here\u2026\u201d he points to his quads and motions to his hip. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was max effort right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll keep his Friday score. <\/p>\n
Matt Hagen congratulates him. Ian, Kevin and Bo have strategies, and worry about splits. Matt and I want to be able to do double unders.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, great job man,\u201d Matt says as he leaves.<\/p>\n
Kevin has enough breath to respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks for coming out and watching me fail miserably.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a couple no-big-deal dry heaves outside, Kevin comes back in and sits on the rower. He and Ian discuss strategy for Ian\u2019s second attempt. Ian knows he\u2019s not on Kevin or Bo\u2019s level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not worried about the [round of] 225 [pound squat cleans]. I just want to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u201d is the point, wherever \u201cthere\u201d is. <\/p>\n
\u2022 Jeff Lund is a teacher and freelance writer based in Ketchikan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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