Chris Sinagoga | Monday, May 9, 2022 at 9:17PM Not a particularly long or organized one here, but just a few things I wanted to get down before the night is over in case I forget. So... yeah... Helen. Here we go:
Good job. The dude from Whiplash said, "there are no two words more harmful in the English language than good job,: and yet I think everyone who participated did really well. And I mean that.
Even the DNFs? Yes. Sydney (beat Bubs in the first round or DNF) went out too fast, which I never thought I would say about her. Mrs. Robinson (come in top 4 on the first run or DNF) didn't trust her speed and fitness. And Mici (come in 2nd on the run or DNF) has never been asked to work hard. I'm not mad at all with how they did; they will have their chance to do it again.
Do it again? Yup. This entire week anyone has the option to try Helen again and either 1) beat their time or 2) finish the entire thing uninterrupted. This is one of those workout that definitely suck but is low volume, which usually means you don't feel sore days and days after (unless you're the Vans or Robinsons and Karen is your first workout back from vacation). There is also a decent amount of strategy involved that takes some repetition. Again, this is an option; you don't have to.
Don't get used to it. We've had a lot of benchmark workouts this spring: Eva, FGB, Manion, and Helen, and there's also been a lot of make-up workouts on rest days, or do these instead of something else. That's not going to be a common thing going forward, and it never has. If you miss it, be here more. If you don't pr, that will just have to linger until the next time it comes up. This spring has been weird with attendance and sports schedules, so there's some extra leeway.
3rd wave adaptation. When someone first starts CrossFit, literally anything and everything will make them better; they'll see improvements from 10 squats, 1 handstand, and 2 minutes of couch stretch. This is called the 1st wave of adaptation. The 2nd wave of adaptation comes when it really matters how you eat, how you warm up, mobility improvements, and technique proficiency. And finally when you are making marginal improvements on specific workouts, those are 3rd wave adaptations. So take Helen for example: Mr. Van going from never doing Helen in his life to 11:02 with glorified kips for pull-ups is a first wave; doing it tonight in 10:21 with all pull-ups legit and unbroken is a 2nd wave adaptation; if he did it again on Friday, strategized a little better, and got 10:18, that would be a 3rd wave adaptation. He didn't necesarrily get better fitness, he just got better at Helen (yes Mel, WCABTAMD, but there's enough room for error there that 3 seconds is not significant enough). Normally I'm not a fan of chasing those, but sometimes it can be a good challenge.
Ubuntu. Got this one from Doc Rivers, which basically means the people around you won't be as good as they can be if you aren't being as good as you can be. Sydney's stipulation for today was she couldn't finish the workout if Bubs was ahead of her after the first round. Bubs finished the pull-ups first, Sydney got a DNF. Mrs. Robinson had to beat Mrs. Van on the 400m run or else her workout was done. She lost by a few meters and got a DNF. The people I really want to congratulate are Mrs. Van and Bubs for not "being nice" and allowing for their teammates to get it the easy way. Dumbledore saying, "it takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends" can also apply here. The bond everyone has in here can also give us a soft spot sometimes, but don't give into it - at least during a workout. Make your teammate catch up to you. If they stick around long enough they will.
We got a good group, y'all. We got a good group, y'all.
