Our Last Bootcamp With Crystal

This morning, the fabulous Crystal McReynolds passed the torch of coaching the Deep Eddy Bootcamp to Coach Andy, so a bunch of us ol’ Bootcampers returned to our cold (41 degrees) stomping grounds for one last workout together in the dark of 6:30 a.m.

It was a core-killing day!

WOD #1
AMRAP, 10 minutes

• 25 med ball situps, 6# ball, facing uphill
• 50 bicycles
• 25 med ball slams
• 50 mountain climbers

I finished three and a half rounds. I almost barfed on  my third set of bicycles. Neato!

WOD #2
5 rounds, for time

• 20 dumbbell push jerk, 15# DBs
• 10 cowboy squats, 6# ball
• 10 sprawls

My time: 9:45

WOD #3
2 rounds

• 30 donkey kicks up the hill
• sprint back
• 1:00 plank

Donkey kicks are ridiculous! And fun! But ridiculous.

Crystal doesn’t like when we get all ooey-gooey, so we tried not to gush too much when we took her out to breakfast. But since she’s not here, I need to elaborate on her skills as a coach and mentor.

There are not many people that could coax otherwise level-headed and/or lazy people from their beds at 6:00 a.m. to either train in lung-drowning humidity (Hello, Austin summer!) or bone-chilling cold (Welcome to O-dark:thirty!). But Crystal not only made it seem worth it, she made it fun and created a crew that still has bond, even though almost all of us have made the move to indoor classes and the challenges of barbells, pullups, and rings.

Almost exactly a year ago, I was the only sucker to show up for Bootcamp, and Crystal insisted we do a workout anyway. She trained us so well that even when stupid fate intervened and kept her from class, we carried on.

Crystal (and Carey) has been my coach since my first CrossFit Bootcamp. She was the one to convince me that doubling my Zone fat blocks was a good idea… and made me unafraid to try it. When my weight loss stalled, she laughed me out of my tears. She always seems to know exactly when I need her to yell my name in encouragement, and she totally lets me know when I suck at something. There’s no better quality in a friend or coach.

I don’t have to miss her because Crystal’s my indoor coach… but our Bootcamp has been really special. Lucky us.