The ACF Open 2023 - we changed the game

Wow where do I begin? If I were to start from the very beginning, you’d get bored very quickly… so let me try to make this as pain-free as possible.

Truth be told, the ACF Open 2023 was already conceptualized in Q2 of 2022, on the train en route from Incheon Airport to our Seoul accommodation.

Kylie had just come out of her crutches post-surgery and digested the feedback that came out of a not-so-great 2022 ACF Open to form the 3-team Open you see today.

By end 2022, we had confirmed the shirt designs, mini events, and had shared with the coaches the plan. It was weird to get things done so quickly, but I liked this idea of “living in Q2”… Hopefully I would be able to enjoy the Open a little better this year.

After the athletes signed up for the ACF Open, some of the coaches came together to draft the teams for the Open. I had in mind to draft it in a fun environment, maybe too “fun” and not formal enough. A note for next year!

This year I found myself on the CrossFit Open Leaderboard again too. Though I missed it last year as the fire thwarted my plans to pay CrossFit USD 20, I decided to do it this year, representing Actualize as a box owner, and to have my records on the official leaderboard yet again… It would be the only way I would take the Open seriously methinks, though a part of me knew that I would be disappointed, seeing a leaderboard result I knew (or thought) would be worse that before.

The CrossFit Open 23.1

Complete as many reps as possible in 14 minutes of:

60-calorie row

50 toes-to-bars

40 wall-ball shots

30 cleans

20 muscle-ups

♀ 14-lb ball to 9-ft target, 95-lb cleans

♂ 20-lb ball to 10-ft target, 135-lb cleans

The curse of the first Open workout…

Typically I am struck with this inability to perform the first workout in the best way possible. But I knew that this would be the perfect first workout because the 60cal row would get rid of the jitters by forcing me to manage my pace right from the start.

The plan was:

60 cal row

15 cal @ 1200 cal/hr

15 cal @ 1000 cal/hr

remaining 30 cal @ 900+ cal/hr

*last 10 cals change to reverse grip

50 toes to bar

5-5-5-5-5-3-3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2-2

40 wallball shots

15-15-10

30 cleans

2 at the beginning then SINGLES

20 ring muscle-ups

DO WHATEVER I CAN

And off I went… I followed the plan to a tee, taking up to 8s between each TTB set, feeling fresh for the next.

The wall balls felt great too — as expected, though Kylie said she was feeling pretty gassed out on them. Then came the cleans… 2 reps, into singles. BUT I ended up wasting a ton of time here. The rest between each rep got longer, and I looked to rest between every 5 reps, which wasn’t the plan. I ended up squatting down ALOT, which took time away from me to attempt my ring muscle-up.

I had a tie-break of over 13 minutes, with 2 failed attempts at an RMU.

I felt crushed. I wouldn’t profess to say that “I trained all year for this”… I really haven’t, because after getting it, ring muscle-up practice was inconsistent. But a small part of me whined in sadness because I had really HOPED To finally showcase ALL the CrossFit movements I managed to accomplish to date.

That same day, Kylie suggested that I reattempt the workout the next day in the afternoon. Did I really have to? What if I get to the exact same spot where I ended up this year.. Just a better tiebreak time but no ring muscle-up to show for it?

But Kylie said do it, so I did.

I followed the same rep scheme, but because it was just over 24 hours from my previous attempt, AND i shortened the rest time between my TTB reps, I felt myself burning out earlier on the toes to bar.

“Shit.” I whispered under my breath. Then I explained myself between breaths to CK and Nico who were the only two around “I’m feeling it.”

But I had to press on. I had committed to the redo and it jolly well better be a good redo.

The wallballs were a little tougher than I remembered it. But when I got to those darned cleans which I HAD TO JUST PICK UP THAT DAMNED BAR AND GO. I did.

Chipping away at those reps, I whittled them down from 30… to 25… to.. 1. 12:32.

But my eyes were fuzzy. And I could barely breathe.

I really wanted that one muscle up so I crawled my way up to set the box and to chalk my hands. Nico helped set the boxes— to which I was thinking that the help wasn’t allowed, but it wasn’t like I was going to the games.

By the time I attempted my RMU, just 40s were left. I held a REALLY FULL FALSE GRIP, and jumped off the boxes, kip… and nope.

I rested, mostly to catch my breath, and tried again. NOPE. My nonfunctional hips just died, and the clock beeped.

I finished 23.1 without clocking any muscle up reps.

It was disappointing. I felt like I had disappointed myself and the people around me.

Tuesday, social media was awash with 23.1 memes, and data that showed over 9,000 women unlocked their FIRST ring muscle up.

And there I was celebrating a BIG FAT ZERO.

Hah. it’s alright… I better get that next year.

The CrossFit Open 23.2

After 23.1, I did up the ACF Open Leaderboard and found myself on an airplane enroute to Hong Kong. It was a trip I knew I needed to have, and it took reckless abandonment to leave midway through the Open and to trust that things would run smoothly on the ground.

While I did have a good break, the announcement of the Open on Friday brought other challenges— but I’ll leave that talk aside…

When the workout was announced, I was sitting by Coffee Academics in Hong Kong with my head buried deep in my phone though I had a lovely view of the street. I couldn’t peel my eyes away from the many questions from the athletes coming in through WhatsApp as I tried to micromanage from miles away.

I didn’t know what to feel about this workout.

23.2A:

Complete as many reps as possible in 15 minutes of:

5 burpee pull-ups

10 shuttle runs (1 rep = 25 ft out/25 ft back)

*Add 5 burpee pull-ups after each round.

23.2B:

Immediately following 23.2A, athletes will have 5 minutes to establish:

1-rep-max thruster (from the floor)

23.2A scared me.. I didn’t know how I would fare with the extremely gassy combination, and I was not prepared to do this TWICE. The thruster on 23.2B? I hesitated to say “NO PROBLEM” because the last time I did a barbell complex in the Open I threw a barbell in frustration so… Let’s stay a little humble ok?

I attempted the workout on Sunday that weekend. And I knew that the burpee pull-up combination would KILL ME. All I could remember was telling myself “don’t squat damnit”, as I did in 23.1 to rest— but on that last set of 25 burpee pull-ups I squatted twice 😬😅

I lunged into those shuttle runs, falling, placing one feet in front of the other with what little time I had left. And while that was happening my head was telling myself “see Cass you’re not made for this kind of workouts.”

I knew that I needed to recover quickly to get to the one thing that I could do, so with pure willpower I crawled across the floor to the barbell. Kylie had concierge-d my knee sleeves and lifters next to me, which I pulled on with much difficulty.

The first thruster rep I started 90 seconds into the 5 minute time cap.

70kg. Squat Clean, big drive… and the bar shot RIGHT UP. It felt gooood.

1 minute rest.

75kg. That felt good too.

Then 80kg was loaded on. While I contemplated an 81kg just to beat CK and Alvin’s score, I wasn’t sure If I could do it because with the laboured breathing, it was getting increasingly difficult to brace my core at the bottom of the squat to drive the bar up.

Squat clean… 😮‍💨 Oops. I just had to try to get that bar up. Did a bounce and SURPRISINGLY MANAGED TO PRESS THAT BAR UP.

Kylie ordered another 2 little green plates to be added on, bringing the total weight to 82kg.

20s to go… I approached the bar… 10s to go… as long as the bar left the ground I could finish after the cap. I squat cleaned the bar… 😮‍💨 BEEEEEEP.

Nope. This time there was no saving it. I couldn’t press the bar overhead.

Dang, it felt very doable though.

But I wasn’t going to redo that 23.2A bit just to get another shot at a thruster. 🙅🏻‍♀️

With 23.2 passed, I was determined that 23.3 end on a good note. No more redos I told myself.. or so I thought…

The CrossFit Open 23.3

Starting with a 6-minute time cap, complete as many reps as possible of:

5 wall walks

50 double-unders

15 snatches (weight 1)

5 wall walks

50 double-unders

12 snatches (weight 2)

*If completed before the 6-minute time cap, add 3 minutes to the time cap and complete:

20 strict handstand push-ups

50 double-unders

9 snatches (weight 3)

*If completed before the 9-minute time cap, add 3 minutes to the time cap and complete:

20 strict handstand push-ups

50 double-unders

6 snatches (weight 4)

♀ 65 lb, 95 lb, 125 lb, 155 lb

♂ 95 lb, 135 lb, 185 lb, 225 lb

After 3 weeks of doing it at 10:30AM on a Sunday morning, I decided to do it on a Saturday afternoon.

I was mentally tired, though I felt that I didn’t deserve to be. So unlike the previous weeks I went into this final workout in a feeling of limbo.

We were preparing for the workout, standing behind the line marked out in front of the wall. I didn’t even hear the stopwatch go off but found myself walking towards the wall when the time was right thinking “why was I moving so slow?”

I did one wall walk, then the second… then the thi— “NO REP”

I messed up the second rep on the wall walks and spent a good 3 seconds thinking i should stop the workout. But I soldiered on, my mind a little shaken already.

The plan was to go 30/20 on the double unders (DUs), but I wasn’t thinking and caught myself on rep 31, and said “sorry” to Kylie because I had not stuck to the plan. Done with the DUs, I ripped through the 15 snatches @29kg, hearing a glorious and resounding “BONK” on the first rep, to which I was credited it, so I continued going at it.

I didn’t realise that I was going too fast with muscle snatches, and Kylie had to remind me to slow down to a power snatch. My mind was not there. But good thing I remembered to stop at 9 reps… before completing the last 6 reps.

I had a tiebreak time of 1:55. Lol.

The second set of wall walks felt much harder just like people said it would — my shoulders were toasty from the 15 snatches so I took breaks between the wall walks. No no-reps were called thank God.

DUs: I started feeling my forearms like Amy said I would. So I broke these up into 20-20-10, which helped a lot.

12 Snatches @ 43kg: Doubles was the plan, and doubles I did.

I was panting, but not terribly hard. My tiebreak was 4:45. LOL.

Then I rested up for those strict HSPUs, and could not press up for one. Then two… then… my eyes started to water. I felt like a disappointment. I felt helpless. I knew my shoulders were rising and falling as I started to hyperventilate.

People would know that something was wrong.. and all I needed to hear was Kylie saying, “Cass, listen to me, you’re doing well. Rest a little longer.”

I just needed to focus on one voice, and not the eyes of the people behind me. I used my sleeves to wipe off my tears and gave it another go.

A kick-up, and I made one.

It was already 7 mins in and I knew I wouldn’t make it to the snatches, much less the DUs. I just wanted to get as many reps in as I could… after all I had already failed the ring muscle-ups in 23.1, and I didn’t want to discount myself of these gymnastics reps in 23.3.

In the end I just clocked 2 strict HSPUs, not far off from that workout where strict HSPUs made their debut — I think I got 2 or 3 strict HSPUs and that was a while ago.

Kylie asked if I wanted to go to the toilet to freshen up. I nodded and went straight in, shutting the door to allow the cool tap water to wash away the tears and hopefully bring my swollen eyes down.

I couldn’t think why I was so upset.

I figured I cried for a few reasons:

• The helplessness that I felt in that moment, was the same helplessness I felt with the Diane + Heavy Diane repeat— and I could not meet the HSPU standard

• Lousy and empty— I felt like I was pouring out into athletes to calm their insecurities, but no one had regard for mine— they didn’t believe it when I said that I really couldn’t do it

• I was allowing events that I couldn’t control mess up my mind— relationships between people around me that I cared about going awry

• I HATED how I reacted after I got a no rep. Sure I continued the workout (which in hindsight Amy said was a good thing), but I was angry with myself, and knew that I was not focused on the workout

• I felt like I was losing my touch. I wasn’t as resilient as I was before.

So on Sunday (the day after my first attempt), Amy asked me which was my favorite workout, I said 23.3.

Sure, the HSPUs suck so bad for me, but in this workout I learned so much about myself.

How I could still keep on going and maintain control despite being given a no-rep just 10s into the workout. And how a barbell to the head could leave me unfazed… and how it mattered how I acted and performed on the Open floor… because of the athletes were watching as well.

I felt like I had a mild headache on Saturday, which didn’t even go away when I woke up on Sunday. In fact, I was feeling nauseous throughout the weekend, and I feared I caught COVID from my mum. Well, a few Panadols, and a post-mortem later, it occured to me that I may have had a mild concussion after that barbell headbutt. Haha.

So waking up on Monday to attempt 23.3 was unnerving. I had a teeny bit of that dizziness from the day before and the revelation of a possible concussion, plus it’s not like I fasted to lose some weight for those strict HSPUs.. soooo… whatever it was, I had committed to a redo and there I was.

I booked a slot at the time that Kylie could come back to the box to judge me. I needed that voice on the hardest part of the workout for sure.

Stick to the plan— was the plan. And I did, save for that one muscle snatch on the first rep of 29kg. “Tamper your strength” she said. I didn’t realise I was ripping that weight of the ground and I TRIED to manage the power in each rep.

I paced a little more on each wall walk, and felt great on the 43kg snatches.

Lo and Behold, I did go faster after all, with a tiebreak time that was 3 seconds faster than before.

Then came the handstand push-ups.

I gave myself a lot longer of a rest than many thought I should’ve, with no goal number of HSPUs in mind. I just wanted a GOOD attempt— ie a smooth set of HSPUs, as few fails and frustration as possible.

Though people were cheering me on to go, I just listened to my body, and Kylie.

Overall, I DID PRETTY DECENT??

93rd percentile like I was at my peak in 2019… SO WEIRD HUH.

Yes I am disappointed, because I knew that I had lost touch with my ability as an athlete, and that unfamiliarity had caused me to burn out early/not push hard enough. BUT it was a learning experience, and given the circumstances, I learn to cut myself some slack.

On a separate and sillier note, what if I planned to redo ALL my workouts for next year’s Open? Or at least do a test run before the actual one… May be worth a shot!

SO WHAT NEXT?

What is Cass going to be a year from now? I can't say with any certainty at this very moment what 2024 will look like for me, because even though alot of things in the businesses that I own are looking up and stabilizing, I am still not at a place where I can say that I can focus on being the athlete that I want to be.

BUT next year's Cass isn't going to:

• Be failing her ring muscle-ups in a workout

• Dying at cardio components of the workout

• Be crying in a workout

I'm quite sure of it.

Ending it off with a fun photo with my new friend Eugene, who decided to attempt 23.3 twice in the same day.

Love,

Cass