Murph Recap ’15

Monday I joined my hometown CrossFit box for the annual Murph challenge. If you follow many CrossFitters or even fitness nuts you’ve probably seen this workout a lot from this past Memorial weekend.

Don’t know what Murph is? Here’s an explanation from crossfit.com 

In memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005. 

This workout was one of Mike’s favorites and he’d named it “Body Armor”. From here on it will be referred to as “Murph” in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is. 

Last year I had been doing CrossFit for a handful of days, so I was excited this year to see what a difference a year makes. Last year I only did a half Murph so 1 mile run, 50 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, and 150 squats, 1 mile run. I finished in about 30 minutes.

The Rx version of Murph uses a 20lb weighted vest which I didn’t do, but I did complete the rest. I can also do pull-ups on my own without a band which is another reason I was excited to do this. I finished in 1 hour and 30 seconds.

I broke my reps up into 5-10-15. 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 air squats for 20 rounds.

I was cycling through everything well until my palms started to rip from pull-ups. Then I had to do only 1 or sometimes 2 at a time for the last 5 rounds. I also think I could have been a little faster if I had been running longer distances regularly. However, the longest I’ve run lately was 800m for a WOD.

Though I am excited about the difference a year has made for me physically, that’s not what is most important. Our coaches reminded us consistently, that we weren’t doing it just for another workout. We were doing it in honor of Michael Murphy and all those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Every time we wanted to take a breather or didn’t want to do another rep they reminded us to think of those who fight for our freedom. So that’s what made me push through it. I knew that the 1 hour of suck I was going through was easy compared to what others had faced.

Back to a lighter note, I didn’t get any personal Murph photos. There were people at our box taking photos so I know there are some of me somewhere. Anndd I realized once I got home and attempted to take some pictures for blogging purposes that I had been wearing my tank-top inside out the entire time. How embarrassing.

So Murph this year was a success. My goal for next year is to either cut down my time or wear the 20b vest!

Did you do Murph this weekend? How did you do?