Never Give In by Ed Bauer

As I type this, it’s the night of February 27, 2014. The Reebok CrossFit Games Open has officially started. At 5:00 PM PST, they announced the first of five workouts. This one is titled 14.1. One workout will be released each week at the same time for the next four weeks. I, along with 174, 508 athletes across the world, have registered and are ready to give everything we have to the worldwide Open competition. This is the moment that I have been waiting for since July 2013. I have been training week in and week out, eating to fuel my recovery, constantly focusing on improving myself as an athlete, all for this moment. So, the workout is:

In 10 minutes, as many reps as possible of:

30 x Double-Unders
15 x Barbell Snatches at 75lbs

I actually completed this workout a few weeks ago during regular training because this is a repeat of the first Open Workout of 2011. I scored 276 reps, which was 6 completed rounds and 6 additional reps. To give you some perspective of what the best CrossFit athlete in the world could do, in 2011 Rich Froning completed 448 reps. That is 2 reps shy of 10 full rounds. He is also the guy who won the CrossFit Games for the last 3 years in a row. For those of you still unfamiliar with CrossFit, it is a training program that tests power, speed, strength, flexibility, endurance, agility, coordination, stamina, balance, and accuracy. In other words, an athlete who can snatch 300 lbs. overhead and run a sub-5 minute mile does really well in CrossFit. I shifted to this style of training in 2011 because I felt bodybuilding was not a complete picture of what it means to be healthy. Though I was strong and lean, I had no flexibility and pretty terrible endurance. I now have the benefit of all 10 components of fitness since I practice them regularly with CrossFit. I am nowhere close to setting any records with some of the best athletes in the world, but I am going to give it my all, regardless.

I am doing this workout on Saturday, March 1, which will be judged and videotaped. My goal is to complete 7 rounds and 30 additional doubles-unders. That would give me a score of 345. This is a lofty goal, but I might as well aim high. I am representing for all the vegan athletes out there every day that are told they cannot succeed if they eat tofu. I am competing to show that 34 years old isn’t “past your prime.” I am competing because I accept the pain and humility it takes to truly achieve success. I am competing to always test myself and to constantly pursue getting better. With this drive, I will never give in. I am taking on the entire world of CrossFit, and I want to be a part of showing that vegans can excel in any path we choose.