The Final Countdown

It’s here. In exactly one week (give or take a few hours), Dave Castro will announce 18.1 to hundreds of thousands of eager, excited, and probably slightly scared enthusiasts. Today we just want to leave you with a few final thoughts heading into the start of the 2018 season.

ENJOY IT

You’ve put in the hours; you’ve sacrificed your blood, sweat, and possibly some tears over the past few months. You’ve dialed in your nutrition, your training schedule, your sleep, and any other variable you think might give you an advantage. Now it’s game time. The most significant thing you can do to help yourself now is to ENJOY IT!

Stressing out over what the workout might be won’t help you at all. Stressing out about a particular movement or time domain that you didn’t train quite enough won’t help you at all. What you need to understand is that anything that happens now is largely out of your control. Stressing about this stuff is just wasted effort. Try your best to enjoy the next 5 weeks, I promise that being happy and excited will do more for your performance than being stressed and worried will. Plus, the Open will be over faster than you think – don’t waste it.

LEAVE YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR

“No one care’s what your score is.” I absolutely love that quote. It took me a LONG TIME to come to grips with it, but it’s so true. I used to think I have to put up an awesome score because everyone is watching me. Well, eventually I realized that was kind of foolish – the Open is about pushing myself to be better after all.

If you have to scale a workout, you didn’t fail. If you don’t repeat a workout, that’s fine. Again, the only thing you should be concerned with is pushing yourself. If you feel external pressure to perform at a certain level, don’t give into it. Listen to your gut and do what you feel is right for you. If you give in to external pressure I promise you won’t enjoy the Open as much as you should.

DON’T GET UPSET

Things will go wrong. The workouts will be hard and you will be pushed past your breaking point. That is the exact intent and design of the 5 Open workouts. The only thing you are allowed to be upset about is if you don’t give your full effort. Everything else is off limits. We know there will be new movements that will surprise us and we know our weakness will show up too. Greet them with a smile and a can-do attitude.

Oh, and there is no bitching, no complaining, no whining, and no excuses. These are reserved for losers and quitters. Not you.

For most of us, the next 5 weeks are what we train year round for. Enjoy it, don’t stress, and be smart. And of course, be #greaterthanyesterday.