I am embarrased to admit yet not afraid to do so to my ITF family that for this WOD, I broke Rule #3 of the Crossfit Mindset: “I fear no man, but I fear my workout. If I do not fear my workout, then it is not hard enough.” I did not fear this WOD. In fact, my mental state going in was “form” and “scale.” Use lighter weight on the snatch and watch my “form” and “scale” the HSPU’s by using the box. Definitely THE WRONG approach to this or any WOD for that matter, at least in my mind. Now, I will admit, that early in my Crossfit “career,” I attempted too much weight on 2 occasions and ended up hurting my back and left wrist – back is fine, wrist still bothers me from time to time. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, I honestly believe that my sub-conscious fear of potential additional injury to my left wrist from too much snatch weight overshadowed my fear of the WOD. Now that it is over, physically, I believe I could have easily added 20 lbs to the snatch, possibly even 30 lbs and finished the WOD with no further injury. Sure, it would have taken more time, but at least I would have left it all on ITF floor instead of having this nagging feeling that I let myself down. However, mentally, there was no way I was going to add 20 or 30 lbs as I had convinced myself going in that “form” and “scale” were more important. Of all the WOD’s I’ve completed since beginning this Crossfit journey on March 29, this is the 1st time I’ve left a WOD and been dissappointed in my performance because I let the “mental” overpower the “physical.” I really have to thank Shyla for this wake up call and she really doesn’t know what she did so I’ll tell you. She worked out with us at 12:15 and I had the pleasure of watching her finish the WOD and bust her butt (literally – she fell once on one of her snatches). That girl was mentally and physically focused the whole time and it showed in every snatch and HSPU. Not only does she “talk the Crossfit talk” she also “walks the Crossfit walk.” Thanks Shyla, you inspired me today. All that being said and the lesson I learned today is that to perform Crossfit at the highest levels, mental conditioning is as important as physical conditioning.