Flat Hills Road

I’ve written two stories now for CrossFit Journal, a subscription-only internet publication for followers of the strength and conditioning program (movement?) called CrossFit.

The joke of those outside the program is that CrossFit is really a cult, and its practictioners encourage this by referring to people who follow the program as having “drunk the Kool-Aid.” (My editor was recently accused of “buying a Kool-Aid franchise.”) And after a few months keeping half an eye on them, I have to admit there’s a lot of allure there.

The important concept to consider, however, is how CrossFit defines “fitness.” The “What is CrossFit” page says,

Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.

That’s a great idea, in general, but it’s exactly where CrossFit and I part ways. I have a sport–distance running–which I enjoy tremendously, and on average, it rewards the specialist. I might have a laughable vertical leap, but that’s not what I’m training for. I’m training to cover distances for which most people require a car, and do it faster than the other guy. I’m aware of the compromises that requires, and I’ve accepted them because I love what I do. If I was training for combat or survival, you can bet I’d be asking for a cup of the CrossFit Kool-Aid.

My article about Masters middle-distance ace Scott Hartley is in the CrossFit Journal today. The Journal is a pay site, so I won’t be posting the text here. Hartley is a very interesting story in that he’s faced problems common to a lot of runners, but his solution to those problems (that problem) has been decidedly uncommon. It’s not clear to me whether his approach would work for true distance runners (10K and up) as well as it does for Scott as a middle-distance guy, but so far I haven’t heard of anyone at his level who has tried.