The second week of the 2023 CrossFit Games Open is here and for the first time ever in this stage of the competition, we’ll be running!

Why are we running and doing burpees, you ask? Because at my gym I programmed shuttle sprints two days ago and burpees today. (ha!)
In Colorado, this winter has been *FREEZING* so not a lot of people have been running. The fact that runs are only 25ft will encourage a lot of athletes start running way too fast, but remember that you need to run TWENTY intervals at a time. The requirement of touching the ground also means that athletes are going to be bending and standing a lot. Try your best not to twist every time and instead square up your hips and shoulders prior to pushing off and heading in the other direction. Make sure your shoulders stay loose during the run, since a lot of people shrug when they run tired.
For Burpee Pull-Ups, ask yourself which variation will allow you to keep moving for as long as possible. If the jump back + jump up Burpee plus a powerful vertical jump right into a Pull-Up works when you’re fresh, are you going to need to change that technique drastically once you start to fatigue? This is not going to be a 15-minute sprint for most people so don’t start off sprinting if you’ll have 8 minutes of suffering on the back end.
I encourage athletes to build up to a heavy, but not 1RM Thruster during warm-up to use as a gauge on where you hope to get during Part B. View this like an Olympic Weightlifting meet where you only expect to get THREE attempts. The first weight should be one that you KNOW you can hit when you’re tired and out of breath to “get on the board.” The second attempt can be a challenging weight that you’re confident you can still hit after that first attempt. Based on how much time is left, gear up for a really challenging final attempt that you take with less than 15 seconds left.
My strategy video is below and I hope it helps some of you! Thank you all for tuning in for another year of these videos!
***GOOD NEWS! With the programming we’ve seen these first two weeks, it means that we likely won’t see Rowing, Thrusters, Burpees, OR Pull-Ups for the final week!***
As always: Good Luck, Have Fun, I Believe In You!
Please let me know if this helps and I’ll see you back here next week!