Photo: Paradiso CrossFit

After the 2016 CrossFit Games, many athletes are posting rosy reflections brimming with positivity.

My experience is different. I want to be as honest and respectful as possible with my recap, in order to broaden the conversation and tell my story.

That story is actually pretty short: after Event One, I was fucked up. The trail run destroyed my calves and ankle, and had me peeing gatorade-red for the rest of the day.

My thoughts going into The Games were the following:

Every year I get a slow start.

The first events typically place me low on the leaderboard, and this makes it difficult to compete against the top athletes during the weekend.

I need to get on top early.

I need to go as hard as possible out of the gate, and get myself in the mix.

Well, I went as hard as I could for 7 kilometers of crawling and falling up and down hills. I am EXTREMELY proud of this effort. I’m also proud of the 575lb deadlift that left me in the top 5 overall after 2 events. After this, however, I failed to produce any more top performances.

Now, before you say, “well Lucas, you need to recover! You need to push through, and overcome adversity!” That’s what I did. For the rest of the weekend, I WAS recovering, I WAS pushing through, and it still wasn’t enough to achieve my goals.

I think this is where my frustration comes from. It feels like there were two competitions happening: The Dave Castro Games, and The CrossFit Games.

The Dave Castro Games had a very military feel. It was all about adversity and survival. Can you get through it? Pass or fail. Live or die. In this competition, I’d say I passed. I survived, I got through it. Same as last place, same as first place.

Only problem is, this was also The CrossFit Games. There is a complex and detailed ranking system based on split seconds and inches. That’s what I’m frustrated about: I feel like I wasn’t part of that competition. I feel like I was on the outside looking in.

So, my overall attitude during and after the 2016 Games was quite negative. Were there positive aspects to my experience? OF COURSE.

I spent time with my family.

I bonded with other athletes.

I felt energy from the crowd.

I visited Aromas on the 10th anniversary of The Games

I got a tan. I picked up some fancy Reebok kit. I got more instagram followers and sold a few sweet t-shirts.

But those were not my goals. Yes, I want to have fun – but winning is always more fun. I want to win events. I want to be in the top heat. I want to storm the podium and show my loved ones the results of their sacrifices.

So how do I move forward?

First, I’ll take some time off. No focus, no training. Then I’ll reset my body and mind for the year ahead. Despite my frustrations this year, I have some solid performance points to lean on: