CrossFit Open 26.3 Complete - Final Results

I missed the live announcement for 26.3 and caught up on YouTube later. Classic David Castro trickery. He described the workout like it was just cleans and burpees, then asked if something was missing before dropping the thruster bomb. How anyone could've predicted this from the 26.3 hint is beyond me.

26.3 WORKOUT

For time:
 2 rounds of:
  12 burpees over the bar
  12 cleans, weight 1
  12 burpees over the bar
  12 thrusters, weight 1
 2 rounds of:
  12 burpees over the bar
  12 cleans, weight 2
  12 burpees over the bar
  12 thrusters, weight 2
 2 rounds of:
  12 burpees over the bar
  12 cleans, weight 3
  12 burpees over the bar
  12 thrusters, weight 3
Time cap: 16 minutes

♂ 95, 115, 135 lb (43, 52, 61 kg)

My initial plan was burpees unbroken, cleans in sets of 6, thrusters in sets of 6. But after watching Colton Mertens' video before the workout and seeing him do singles on the cleans, I changed my strategy.

Got to the box, registered, and got assigned to Heat 2. While warming up, I watched Heat 1 athletes struggle through it. Instead of analyzing strategy, I was mostly thinking "that's gonna be me soon" - some kind of psychological prep for the pain ahead. Watching most of them start strong on cleans then fade into singles later, I reminded myself: "slow and steady from the start."

Score: 170 reps [Rx'd]

Details:
 3 rounds +
 12 burpees over bar
 12 cleans (weight 2)
 2 burpees over bar
 Tiebreak: 12:36

After finishing the first set of thrusters, round 2 hit different. "This is harder than I thought" kept running through my head. By round 3, the burpees were crushing me and my pace dropped hard. I thought I could handle the 115lb thrusters in sets of 6, but after those burpees? Broke them into sets of 4 instead.

I was aiming to finish round 4 and get into round 5. Ended up at 170 reps, didn't even complete round 4. In the 40-44 division, that puts me around top 40%. To crack top 25%, I would've needed 10 more burpees plus 3 more thrusters at 135lbs.

This was my fourth official Open. Started with Scaled in 2023, moved to Rx'd, and my overall rank and age group placement have been climbing steadily. The jump from 2024 to 2025 was huge - both in rankings and in how much better I felt during workouts. Movements that used to be impossible - snatch mobility, butterfly pull-ups, ring muscle-ups - I can do them now after lots of practice. The confidence boost and sense of achievement? Pretty great.

Sure, tracking my progress each year and learning my strengths and weaknesses matters. But what really makes the Open special is doing it alongside everyone else, working toward the same goal. Back in Korea it was like this, and here in Portugal - different environment, different language - CrossFit and the Open gave me a way to be part of the community. That's what made it meaningful.