The Lifecycle of the CrossFitter - part 5

Year Three - The Difficult Third Album

You've burned through two skipping rope cables.
You're on your third pair of Nanos (and maybe your first pair of Metcons).
You've got so many CrossFit t-shirts you have a special drawer just for them.  Or two.

You're in Year Three, and you are Old School.

On a scale of Chucks to Nano1, how Old School are you? #Pre-bok

You were not tempted back to the warmth and mediocrity of Globo Gym,  by the cheaper "Functional Fitness" gym that opened in town, or by AquaPoleZumbaSpin or whatever this year's fad is. 
Maybe you're still at the same box you started in, maybe you are not.  
Maybe you've still got a good number of people around you who started the same time as you, but it's just as likely that there are only a handful of you left.  
But that's ok. 
All the "new " people are nice too.
Even the brand new ones who are sharing every single CrossFit related post on Facebook and are bombing around head to toe in Reebok.  
Even that one kid who is like 8 years younger than you and could do double unders on their first day.   What's that about?  That should be against the law.

In fact, that person who joined the year after you, who you've been good naturedly comparing your scores to has suddenly had a little jump in performance and is now beating you more often than not.   So is double under kid.  
But that's fine, you say, I'm only competing with myself. 

Except you seem to be losing there too.  You haven't PBd your snatch in over a year. 
You retest your front squat at the beginning of the new strength cycle. 
It's gone DOWN 5kg.  
How is that even possible?? Don't we squat enough? 
Sure, you've been spending more time on your gymnastics trying to get your bloody butterfly pullups in order, or working on your handstand push ups since the Open, but what the Hell?

Gymnastics, Cardio and Weightlifting are now three plates that you have to keep spinning. 
Pay attention to one, and the other two start to wobble.  
Except that it's not three plates, it's 30 plates. 
Toes to bar and wallballs and double unders and power cleans and all the other things.
You can't work on them all.  You can't keep them all spinning.

It feels like you're stuck.  
Your Coach reminds you that you can now link 10 toes to bar which you couldn't do a few months ago, but it feels like small comfort. 
Where are the PBs?  Where are the gains?  

Ask not for whom the PB bell tolls, CUZ IT'S NOT ME CUZ I SUCK AT SNATCHING.

You've lost your CrossFit mojo on the Year Three Plateau. 

At this point, you have two choices. 
You can let it get on top of you, cause you to start skipping class or cherry picking the WODs to avoid the things that make you mad.  
You can make excuses ("My shoulder hurts.")
You can blame your Coach or the programming or CrossFit itself. 
You can quit.

Or you can shrug your shoulders, check your ego, pull up your socks and think
"F*ck it.  This is supposed to be the best hour of my day."

You keep turning up, keep working, keep trying, keep sweating.
Sometimes you do better than you expected, sometimes not, but you know that every rep in the bag and every score on the board is a victory.   A victory against weakness. 
You remember that a long time ago, the reason you did this was to get fit - and you have.
To be a better version of yourself - and you are.
To have fun - and when you chill out, you do.

You do the Open again, and can't help but get caught up in the excitement at the box.  
The new people are staying up late to watch the announcement shows - you sleep through it and catch up in the morning. 
 It's still tough as balls, but your chest to bar are WAY better than last year, and you beat your score on the repeater WOD.  

Trust the process, they say.  
You say it too, to a new person who desperately wants their kipping pullups.  
You tell them to keep turning up, keep working hard and being nice, and it will come, just like it did for you.
You tell them that year one is the best time ever for a CrossFitter.  They look at you like you're nuts.

And then one day, while you're messing around in Open Gym with some mates, when you weren't even really trying, you PB your snatch. 

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Year Three is tough - agree with me?  Did I forget something?  Add it in the comments.