I may have been the only irrational human being giddy about doing 126 pistols this evening at the gym. The reaction of most people when told they will have to do pistols in a workout tends to range from "I was kinda hoping for something else" to "bite me". But I'm a weird guy who likes weird things, and I like pistols. To be fair, it may have something to do with the fact that I'm relatively good at them. That's a pretty strong statement for me. 99% of things at the gym I'm either average at or quickly put me in danger of getting time capped on a workout. Pistols, on the other hand, are my friend. I desperately hoped that pistols would wind up in one of the Open workouts last year, just so I could put up a good score. Instead I got chest-to-bar pull-ups. Can't win 'em all I guess.
(My legendary side-kick pistol)
Despite my confidence with pistols, I sure hadn't done 126 of them before, and that gave me some cause for concern. The workout tonight was structured as follows: rep scheme of 18-15-12-9-6-3 of power cleans (RX weight of 115/75), pistols on the right leg, pistols on the left leg. The weight for the power cleans didn't seem too cumbersome, which got me thinking that this was a specially designed Dave sucker WOD (I know, redundant). What I didn't bank on was Coach Aimee putting us through the ringer during our long warm-up session. Whatever sweat didn't come out of me warming up last night came pouring out in buckets tonight. I was drenched before I even put weight on the barbell. Not a good sign.
Feeling slightly dehydrated, Aimee let us know we would be starting in 90 seconds, which became 45 seconds approximately 2.7 seconds later. I loaded my bar with 25 pound and 10 pound plates, just in case I had underestimated the workout and would need to peel some weight off. My plan for the workout was fairly simple. I had seen that times earlier in the day tended to be in the 15-18 minute range, although only a handful of folks had gone RX. My hope was for something around 16 minutes, but anything under 18 minutes without having to scale would keep me happy. Knowing that the workout would take that long, I didn't want to do big sets on the power cleans. I was going to do 5-6 reps, then put the bar down, shake out my arms, and then get going again.
Aimee yelled 3-2-1 GO and we were off. I divided up the power cleans as planned and was surprised that I wasn't immediately behind everyone. A few people had started their pistols when I got going, but most of the class was on the same pace as me (maybe we all had the same plan!). The first round of pistols let me know that my left leg is stronger than my right leg. I tried to do sets of 3, but that fell apart a little bit on the right leg. On my left leg, I was able to do a couple of larger sets and got myself back to the bar as quick as I could. The round of 15 was more of the same story, although I was definitely getting winded and the pistols on my right leg were starting to get tough. Knowing at the end of the round that I was slightly past halfway, I glanced at the clock as I made my way back to the bar. Nearly 9 minutes. That's not so good.
Part of me thought the second half might go faster because when you get to the sets of 6 and sets of 3, you bust right through it with everything you have left and get finished. Then again, my shirt had reached full saturation and my legs were starting to get sore. 18 minutes was gonna be work. The round of 12 was tough as I split the cleans into 3 sets of 4. I did sets of 2 pistols on my right leg, while trying to do 3-4 on the left. Not being able to alternate legs not only slowed you down in this workout, it took a toll on your legs. Got through the round of 12, did not look at the clock.
The round of 9 was where I thought I could kick it into high gear. A set of 5 and a set of 4 on the cleans, then 3 sets of 3 on the pistols. Not quite. The cleans went well enough, but they were definitely starting to work my lungs. Then I got back to the pistols and everything started to hurt. My calves hurt. My hamstrings hurt. And I don't know what the hell I had done to my abs, but I suddenly felt like I had been on the GHD machine during the workout and somehow forgot about it. I slowly got through the round of 9 on the right, then slightly less slowly on the left.
Seshu came over to try and help me finish off the workout and his yelling definitely helped me do all 6 cleans. With really sore calves, I got through my 6 right pistols, then went to do the 6 left ones. I did the first rep and...rut roh...that didn't feel great. It felt like my left calf was about to cramp up. I stopped to shake out my leg a little bit, while Seshu implored me to keep going. A little gingerly, I made my way through the last 5 pistols. The last round was a sprint. I grabbed the bar, did 3 quick cleans, did 3 semi-fast right pistols, did 2 fast left pistols, lost my balance for a second, then did the last pistol. TIME! The clock read 17:39.
As happy as I was with the workout, I was exhausted in a way I have never been after a Crossfit workout. Usually my arms or shoulders will be burning because I do not have big boy muscles (biceps, triceps, things like that). It is pretty rare that my legs are shot and if they are, it's generally not the entire leg. Tonight, the entire back of my legs (hamstrings and calves) were fried. And they didn't feel all that much better even when I got home. So while I love pistols, I am not really eager to do 126 of them again in a workout.
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