Probably the biggest improvement that I've made over the last few weeks has been becoming mentally stronger. I'd guess at least 80% of my classes this year have been with Keith and he's definitely driven home that I can hold on a lot longer than I've been giving myself credit for (aka stop being such a softie). Tonight's workout seemed to be yet another mental challenge. First up, bar muscle up practice for 10 minutes. That would be followed by what was basically a super-sized wall ball and rowing tabata from hell. Ummm...yay?
Before we got into all of that though, things got chatty at the 7:30. Coach Keith was trying to persuade the 5 ladies in class to sign up for the Open. (The 6th participant in class, prominently featured in a boa in a recent Facebook posting, had already signed up.) Despite giving his best pitch, he was met with limited enthusiasm, especially when the topic of the $20 fee came up. There really wasn't any way of getting around that one, even with the promise of Friday night beers. Somehow this discussion segued into one about Pitch Perfect 2, and this was met with much more enthusiasm from the class. Except for the 6th class member, who has not seen the original Pitch Perfect. There was discussion of Anna Kendrick and whoever else is in that movie, which led to Fayth breaking out into an impromptu rendition of Cups (it was impressive!). What did any of this have to do with the workout? I have no idea, but I recap everything on here.
But here's my compromise for those not planning on doing the Open: I will go see Pitch Perfect 2 if you sign up. I will likely need to be intoxicated beforehand, but if it brings people out on Friday nights over the next month, it's well worth it.
So was there an actual workout tonight? Oh yeah...that. We started with bar muscle up practice. I kinda enjoy doing bar muscle ups off of a box. I have been able to do it off the 17" box, so I wanted to try and get my first with a 13" box tonight. That did not go so well. It wasn't that I didn't come close. Rather, I discovered the hard way that when you get most of the way over the bar but not quite all the way, momentum and the bar suddenly slingshot you in the other direction pretty quickly. I got to experience this at least 4 times tonight. Not such a great feeling. But I am close, and I imagine the 13" box is the last scale to doing a real bar muscle up. At least that is what I am telling myself.
The metcon was a special type of torture: 4 rounds of 30 wall balls followed by 20 calories on the rower. At the end of each round, you got 3 minutes of rest. REST?!?! That is a big time red flag. And 3 minutes of it? This is going to be awful. The idea was that each round was supposed to be a sprint. That worked out in round 1. I was able to string all 30 wall balls, made decent time on the rower, and finished in 2:06. I was breathing heavy, but controlled. I spent the 3 minute intermission preparing myself mentally for round 2. As the last few seconds ticked away, I tried to become calm in an attempt to steadily get through the next 30 wall balls unbroken. Almost got there, but after 22, I let the ball drop, took a 2-3 second break, picked it back up, and finished the last 8. The row was definitely harder and I completed round 2 in 2:37.
A 31 second drop off in time between rounds 1 and 2 was not what I was hoping for, especially since I expected the final two rounds to be even worse. Controlling my breath during the next 3 minutes was work. I knew round 3 would be the toughest for me. Keith knew it too and reminded me that I would have to push hard in this next round. I grabbed the ball at the end of three minutes and tried to string as many wall balls as I could. This time I got to 17. I tried to keep the break small, but my next set would be small too as I only got up to 22 before dropping. My shoulders were becoming taxed, but I felt I had enough in me to get through those last 8 reps and get back to the rower. Rowing was a slog even more than it was in round 2. When I hit 20 calories, my time read 3:02.
I was not happy about going over three minutes and there was no way I could conceive of getting back under it for round 4, as I was spent after round 3. I knew that I would not be fully recovered when the last round began and I had no idea how I was going to get through it in a timely manner other than by repeating in my head "almost done, almost done". The last break flew by and it was time for more wall balls. I tried my best to keep a good rhythm, but my shoulders were on fire, and I dropped after 15 reps. I knew that was my last big set. The plan was to chip away, but take little to no break. So I did 4 reps, let the ball drop, and then picked it right back up again. Next set was 3 (I sure like letting that ball drop at 22 reps!), leaving 8 to go. "Come on, 4 and 4, then you're done." The next set of 4 sucked, but I got it done. The last set of 4 was abysmal. There was no fluidity whatsoever. For the last 2, I caught the ball, paused, squatted, then jumped and threw with all my energy because my shoulders were contributing nada. But at least it was done. I got on the rower and pulled as hard as I could trying to get this thing over. Despite the lousy wall ball performance, I must have made up some time on that last row, as my final round came in at 3:01.
Not sure how happy I am with tonight's performance. On the one hand, I gave it everything I had. On the other hand, there was no consistency from round to round, and there were a lot of athletes who seemed to be able to keep their times in line from start to finish. Guess there's more stamina work to be done.
One last reminder for all those reading the blog: the "242 years of birthdays" celebration is taking place at the Deuces Wild Saloon this Friday night at 8pm. Come ride the mechanical bull! There will be a live band called Split Decision playing. (Their YouTube video shows them performing, but a Rage song is playing as the audio instead of their own music. Probably not a good sign. Best to have a few drinks before they begin.) There is also another bar there with karaoke if you feel that you sing better than Split Decision. And of course, there is the casino, for those of us "with a gambling problem".
Should be a good time, plus you won't want to miss the cake Diane has made for the occasion!
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