The question for the New Year

I trained throughout the Christmas/New Years period.

While James was away in the UK visiting his family for Chritmas I had organized with my parents to watch the kidlets for an hour each day while I went and worked out – it was my “me” time.

(No work out makes for a very grumpy Mumma .. just ask the kids) 😉

As people come back from their holidays I’ve found that when I’m taking to any one of my “crossfit friends” EVERY conversation goes like this ..

Crossfit friend * kiss * “Happy New Year!”
Me “To you too!”
Crossfit friend “Are you doing the open?”
Me “Nope”
Crossfit friend * close to fainting * “What??”

Although when I spoke to my coach it went more like this ..

Coach * writes wod *
Me * groan *
Coach “It’s good practice, those movements are always in the open”
Me “I’m not doing the open”
Coach “Oh yes you are!”
Me somewhat petulantly “No, I’m definitely not, we made a deal remember?”
Coach “Oh yeah .. “

I’ll tell you about the deal another day, but suffice to say It got me out of arguing over doing/not doing the open (although I’m me, I was always going to win the I can out stubborn you battle).

“The open” is a big thing for crossfitters large, small, old, young, proficient and not so much so … last year more than 138,000 people competed worldwide and this years event kicks off soon!

This post is for all of you who are wondering “what the f**k is the open?”

Well in a nutshell it’s five scored crossfit workouts completed over a five-week period and more importantly it is the start of (a very long) road to the Crossfit Games (you know the games you see on the TV that Rich Froning seems to constantly win.)

After each workout competitors are ranked both worldwide and regionally. The regional placing has the most significance at this stage as the top 48 athletes and 30 teams are invited to compete at one of the 17 regional events around the world.

New Zealand athletes are aiming to make the regional event held in Wollingong, Australia on the weekend of 16-18 May 2014 and it is there that they battle for the few precious games qualifying spots.

(Yep Kat made Regionals last year!)

I’ve got to be honest and admit I have no idea how they determine who qualifies for the open, last year the top 3 men in the Australian Region went through but 5 men from the Central East (Rich Fronings Region) qualified and only 2 went through from Canada West. Hopefully I’ll remember next time I see a Coach and I’ll ask one of them. When I find out an answer I’ll get back to you ..

If you are keen to put your skills to the test against the rest of the world the open registration begins on 15th January and the first wod will be released on Thursday 27th February. A new wod will be released every Thursday after that (with the final one being announced on March 27th).

For further details go here

If you happen to be one of the 140,000 doing the open this year .. good luck!

Till next time