CrossFit offers workouts that challenge across all fronts. In other words, wods will often be as challenging on the psychological front, if not more so, than they are on the physical front. And any wod you see offers psychological intimidation, constantly questioning your resolve and ability to endure, dangling the "tap out" button in your face as you struggle. Some times just slightly depending on your ability given the particular exercise at hand. All the CrossFit benchmark wods, aka "The Girls" and "Fight Gone Bad" rank fairly high given there ability to scare. But even still, I find benchmarks that don't cause much anxiety and I think others would say the same, again, given their ability. And then there's the "Hero" workouts. Workouts dedicated to the memory of men fallen in service to humanity. They're beautiful and, no matter your affinity for particular movements, downright frightening. I don't care who you are or what you're capable of, the Hero wods will have you fighting to survive and leave you mentally crawling to finish what you started. And perhaps none are more beautiful, or frightening, than "Murph."
"Murph" is:
-1 mile run
-100 pull-ups
-200 push-ups
-300 squats
-1 mile run
-Complete as fast as possible (afap). Partition the pull-ups, push-ups and squats as needed. If you have a 20 pound vest or body armor, wear it.
time=47:20
What a grind. This was my first "Murph" but certainly not my last. As horrible as it was, I loved it. I performed the wod as prescribed without the weight vest. Initially, not knowing what to expect, I was hoping to break 40 mins. By the end, I was hoping for 45. I came in @ 6:17 for the first mile, a time I was pretty stoked with. I left for the second mile @ 37:05 with 45 mins in my sight. But no matter how hard I tried, all I could do was waddle for the first 3/4 of lap 1. I came in @ 8:58 for the second mile. All said, not too bad a showing @ 267 pounds. I'll be looking to challenge this wod again in another 30 or 40 pounds.
