Sunday Story…The Road

 

To the games Part 5

 

“Dance with the one that brung you.” In these final 8 weeks of preparation, a serious misstep would be to change what I have been doing. What I have done so far has gotten me a 1st in the open a 5^th in the quarterfinals and now a third in the semifinals. This is not bad, not at all, especially considering how I have not been training to get this far…or have I? After the 2018 debacle and subsequent surgeries and re-hab, I modified my outlook. I will only go to the games if I can do it without upending my whole life.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The past year of training has been easeful and enjoyable. I was not constantly chasing the next personal record or doing everything to finish the listed workout as prescribed. I cut my training days down to 5 of 7 and one of those was a recovery workout. In December I stumbled into Zone 2 training with Invictus, so I started dabbling in that. The results were unquestionably good. I felt better and had much more stamina.

 

The ramp-up into the games does require a bit more refinement, though. A little bit more volume, and a lot more intensity. More running and going back to the drawing board on the double unders, as well as improving some skills on the rings and bars. This is where the smallest improvements have the biggest impact. I can’t get a lot stronger in 2 months, but I can get just a little better at some skill-based work.

 

We have ramped down this week and I leave on Sunday. The next report will be all about the results! In the meantime, have fun, learn something and Full Effort is Full Victory!!!

 

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com    

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com         

775-338-2412

Sunday Story…The Road

 

To the Games Part 4

 

Upon returning to Dallas from a week in Florida at, of all places, Club Med I got off the plane and hustled over to the box to throw workout 1 down. It’s a rowing/bench press workout and luckily this is a space I’m pretty good at, thanks to all the rowing LSD I’ve been doing.

 

The weekend is all jammed up with these workouts, judging and the videos as well. There’s some heavy weightlifting and another workout with fast snatches. This one was a problem…I went super-fast and upon reviewing the video there is no way we can let that one stand. It’s going to have to be re-done. This is a serious wrench in the works. The second time around I got 7 less reps but they were all good. It does no good to go fast and go wrong. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast!

 

The leader board is a mess with videos being audited and scores being corrected. I go from 5^th to 7^th to 5^th and finally when the dust settles…3^rd. I should go on vacation every week before competing! The games are 2 months away and I am going. But the mantra remains the same…health, fitness, and fun!

 

So now the ramp up but I keep the Zone 2 sessions on just not as many per week. More on this next installment!

 

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodysasey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

775-338-2412

Sunday Story…The Road

 

To the Games Part 3

The quarterfinals take place about a month after the close of the open. I am not doing anything special and I have to be honest… ever since the first age group online qualifier (2013) I have hated these things. There is a tremendous amount of pressure. Every movement must be correct and then you must video the entire workout. There is rarely any way to repeat the workouts, so you must be spot-on right out of the box. There is little to no margin for error.

 

This year is no different and maybe worse. I know people are going to be watching my videos closely. The setups are not optimum for our layout. But based on my current attitude, which is this…I’m just going to do my level best and the results can fall where they may. Full effort is full victory.

 

I got a major penalty in the first workout (failed to lock out the one-arm snatch too many times) yet my performance was good enough for 7^th in that one. The rest were up and down but so was everyone else! The bottom line was that I finished 5^th overall!

Since the top 30 move on to the Semifinal stage, I am in! And I’m going on vacation the week before the Semifinal weekend!

This is the primary difference this year…the Road to the Games is not all-encompassing for me. It must fit into my new mantra…Health and fitness must be in harmony with the rest of my life. It is not the end-all and be-all of my existence.

 

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

775-338-2412

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Story…The Road

To the CrossFit Games Part 2.

The Open comes around at the end of February. Since I am not training for the games, I thought I would hit the open hard. The first workout came out with 3 wall walks, 12 35# DB snatches, and 15 24” box jumps. Due to some scheduling issues, I did it in the middle of a Saturday class with lots of distractions and a messed-up clock. So, Monday morning rolls around and Ellie and I devise a strategy to exploit my Zone 2 training…in other words, go slower to go fast. Bang! I improved my rep count over 15 minutes by about 30 reps. Crushed it and won my first Open workout in 10 years!

 

Ok, interesting but a fluke? The second week comes up and it is dead center in my wheelhouse…185# deadlifts and burpees over the barbell! And, to top it off, the burpee standard is adjusted so the jump is more efficient. I did it the first time and did well but with a few adjustments, the second time improves the score again! I didn’t win this one…but I did end up in a 3-way tie for first!

 

The last workout brings my current kryptonite…double unders! I have to do single-doubles to get any consistency which means I have to do over 200 jumps to get it done. Again, zone 2 comes through…the adaptation that allows my heart rate to recover quicker and get back to work puts me in 10^th and for the first time in 10 years of Open competitions I end up on top!

 

I still haven’t adjusted my training from 5 days a week plus 2 or 3 Zone 2 sessions at this point. But the quarterfinals are next!

 

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com 

775-338-2412

Sunday Story…The Road

 

To the CrossFit Games 2022 has been unplanned and, in many ways, inadvertent. After my 2018 appearance (13^th) I returned home broken. I left home damaged and returned worse. Several surgeries and months of rehab work got me back to working out but as far as my competitive CrossFit career was concerned it was over. After three appearances at the Games, lots of success in the open, and qualifiers it was time to stop the obsession.

 

The pandemic came and went. I did the open in 2021 and the qualifier but nowhere near as seriously as years past. All the workouts were one and done and the results were Ok but not top tier. And I was more than OK with those results. Life was much more harmonious without obsessively working out or following a strict diet plan.

 

In December of 2021 Invictus Masters started some zone 2 training workouts as part of their regular weekly programming. To my great frustration, these were hard to do. The hardest part? Going slow! My brain and body rebelled against the basic philosophy of going slow to go fast. But I stuck to it. Without really realizing what was happening my base level of fitness improved. Neuro-muscular adaptation took place. Slow-twitch muscle fiber got activated and put to work. Heart rate recovery improved.

 

I continued with the regularly scheduled programming and added some of these Zone 2 workouts on my own. Then the 2022 CrossFit Games Open rolled around.

 

Continued next week!

 

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sundsay-stories.blogspot.com

775-338-2412