Being on the Other Side of the CrossFit Open 2026!

I now get to live on the other side of the CrossFit Open 2026!! Huzzah!!

Workout 26.3 dropped yesterday down at Wodapalooza in Miami, Florida, with three elite women taking it on in the sunshine. None finished within the time-cap, though Olivia Kerstetter came close. Dancing with my own goals each week, I had decided an Open strategy for this year: if I could do the Masters 55+ movements, weights, then I’d stay with the Rx workout, even knowing I’d only get a portion of it completed. 


Unusual for Castro’s planning, both the first and the third WODs were basic technique & engine-burners more than gymnastic and/or upper body strength. Favored my own practice/capabilities, in other words. 26.3 involves three movements I can do, and the weights for Masters 55+ Rx were heavier than I would normally choose in a daily workout, but I knew I could at least do them, even at those heavier weights.


So I chose the Masters 55+ Rx workout, with a smile. Barbel weights beginning at 55#, then to 65#, then to 75#, if one would get that far. My goal was to get to the thrusters in weight-round #2. Burpees at a steady pace can be the recovery space, I learned. While lowering my heart-rate, I stepped back. Once I felt recovered, I returned to hopping back up. Stepping-over the bar also keeps the heartrate controllable, allowable for Masters athletes.


I did make my goal of weight-two round thrusters. Had I set an inner goal to make it back to the barbel with the cleans, might I have? I don’t think so. I knew the thrusters at 65# would be my upper limit for a WOD weight in that movement. My 1 rep max is 95, I think, from a previous Open WOD, part II. After 60 burpees, 24 cleans, and 24 thrusters, I knew it would be poor form at 65# to try to speed up the barbel. Not worth it. By minute 14, I knew I’d make it to my goal, so I began to prepare for the heavy-for-me thrusters with a bit more breathing room.


As many now know, I don’t bother much with Rx/Scaled in my CrossFit ‘usual.' For the Open, I decided to prioritize that a bit more than ‘getting further in the WOD.’ I feel some satisfaction in that this year. I tried heavier weights and deeper capacities than I usually do. The shorter time-caps made that easier to choose. You knew you’d only suffer for a precise amount of time, determined beforehand. No one in my box expects to finish this week’s WOD–well, maybe one guy–so that means all of us get to finish together at 16 minutes this week. I like the optics of that, for sure.


And I was glad when 16 minutes arrived! I laid there for a while, catching my body-breath and lowering heartrate. My phone buzzed and I laughed aloud to see my husband’s inquiry: “How did the 16 minutes of awful go?” I think I'd used those words that morning, but that he remembered and asked touched me. Perfect timing for a text-fist-bump and anticipation of celebrating after I teach tonight.


So my body releases its sigh of relief to be on this side of the CrossFit Open. Nearly eight years into CrossFit, with six completed CrossFit Opens, I am finally getting the hang of how to make this all work for me, my commitments, my body, my desire to maintain the healthiest self I know how. AND I’m glad to get back to my own rhythms–Peloton tomorrow, a mixture in a work-trip next week, if the CrossFit box across the street from the hotel beckons me.


Or not…


I like being on this side of the Open. Not unlike preaching on Sundays for us pastor-types. Sunday night is the longest amount of time before having to/getting to do it again. 2027 Open is the longest way away it can be.

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