Fran is a good thing..maybe the best of things.

Yesterday I did Fran.

As posted on the Crossfit HQ facebook page.

Fran is a hard woman who you have to go at hard and fast she likes it no other way.  Problem is, you feel like you just went toe to toe with Xena Warrior Princess.  For those not in the know, Fran is a classic Crossfit workout that is a great measure of progress.  The actual workout is 21 Thrusters - 21 pull-ups - 15 thrusters - 15 pull-ups - 9 thrusters - 9 pull-ups.  Done.  Easy enough right?

no

Oh god no.

Every time I do this workout (4 times now) I come to the brink of vomiting.  For 5 minutes after the workout I'm useless to society.     But yesterday...yesterday I did something that I didn't think I would be able to do for another 10 months.  I completed Fran, prescribed (95 lbs), in 6 minutes 57 seconds.  Not elite by any stretch of the imagination (Sub 3 is elite) but what an improvement for me.   Two months into Crossfit I did fran at 65 lbs in 14 minutes and some change.  Then 3 months later I did Fran at 85lbs and pulled a 10:12.  This time I took another 3 minutes off the time to be sub-7.

My thoughts exactly

Will this ever become an easy workout?

No.  The answer is a definitive no.

That is what is great about Crossfit.  Whether you are new or Rich Froning, the workouts are hard, but not impossible if you scale it to your level.  Your time and weight will improve, but it will always hurt the same.  You have to keep pushing yourself to improve.  Ask Molly and Evan and they will tell you the same thing.All the workouts are like that. It is you against the clock and in order to win you have to beat that shadow of the past and push your body to the brink.   Then 6 months later you do it again and hopefully, the definition of brink will have changed for you.

It has for me.  And hopefully it will change again on Saturday and I can push myself through what I did yesterday.

New Goals:

Fran 2012: sub 5 minute
Fran at PA's Fittest:  Gold: Sub 6:30  Silver: 7:00 Bronze: 7:30