Learning To Fly

Workout date: 3/8/15

YES!  YES!!!!!!

That was my reaction upon seeing the WOD listed for Sunday.  After being thwarted by Dave Castro two years in a row, I would now get the chance to do some heavy overhead squats.  The WOD was 4 rounds for time of a 500M row and 10 overhead squats (155/105).  I wasn't exactly sure if going RX was wise (it is probably never wise for me, but when has that stopped me?), but it seemed on the cusp of my abilities.  If it felt too heavy when I warmed up, I could go with 135, a weight I know I could manage.

NO!  NO!!!!!!

That was my reaction when I woke up Sunday morning, my shoulders on fire from the partner WOD Saturday morning.  It was to the point that I wasn't sure I could raise my arms over my head.  And that's kinda the whole idea behind overhead squats.  Ok, technically that is half of the idea behind them.  Not only would it be dumb to try and RX the workout, it was going to be dumb to do the workout at all.  So with much sadness, I decided against doing this WOD and went to Open Gym to practice some things instead.  (Even writing this made me sad.  I'll wait for your return, heavy overhead squats!)

When I got to the gym, I immediately began working on my shoulder mobility.  If I was getting anything done today, it needed to include double under practice and kipping practice.  The latter was more important due to time constraints (Open scores must be in by 8pm Monday), but I am a procrastinator by trade.  There is a new shoulder mobility contraption set up by the rings that I got an intro to the other night, so I went over and spent some time on it to at least get some range of motion.  I did a bunch of arm circles and things like that to loosen up my shoulders.  After a while, I was ready to hit the double unders.

Today's goal for double unders was to expand on the mini Flight Simulator I did recently.  Instead of 5-10-15-20-25-20-15-10-5, I was going for 5-10-15-20-25-30-25-20-15-10-5.  I had just gotten started when Michal joined me and then Rachel jumped in once she was done with her shadowing duties for the day.  Since Michal is a rock star with double unders, she decided she was doing the entire Flight Simulator (where 50 is the midpoint).  I didn't have too much trouble until I got to the first round of 25.  I had a set of 19, which felt like a total waste of energy.  There's a point where this process becomes really tiring as a big set where you don't hit your number is not productive.  I mean, it's productive as far as improving your double unders goes, but not with completing the actual workout.

Rachel and I were both on 25 and Michal had made her way up to 40.  Rachel had a set of 23 and a set of 22, and I completely sympathized with her frustration of doing all that work and having to start over again.  I got a big set going and tried to remain calm.  I passed the 20 mark and when I got to 23,  I decided that I was taking absurdly big jumps to ensure I got to 25.  Two crazy jumps later and I was done with the round of 25.  Oddly enough, on my next set, I got all 30 with little problem (no absurd jumps necessary).  It was a relief to be on the way down.

Michal had gotten a little stuck at 45 and Rachel was still working on her first set of 25.  I got through my 25 a few rounds later, but ended up getting stuck at 20 as I had really begun fatiguing.  Michal had done 50 instead of 45, hoping to skip a round, but I told her she still had to do 50 again.  And she did that pretty quickly.  Rachel got past her first round of 25 and was now at 30.  With my energy running low and my sweat flying everywhere, I got through the round of 20.  The rounds of 15, 10, and 5 were fairly simple at that point and I was done.  Michal had started to make her way down, while Rachel was still at 30, quickly losing interest in completing this workout.

So I sat next to her and stared while she did the next set.  Of course, she got all 30.  Same thing on the next set as she got 25.  And on and on until she finished.  Apparently she just needed an audience.  The same was true for Michal, because once we went over to watch her, she zipped through her remaining rounds as well.

Once the double under extravaganza had ended, I worked with Rachel on rope climbs.  As soon as she gets confidence in her initial jump and learns how to J-hook, she will be zipping up that rope.  In return for working with her on that, she agreed to work with me on my kipping.  Soon that led to Keith helping me with my kipping as well.  And Jill A. came over to help out because she just glides back and forth during pull-ups, which is pretty much the polar opposite of what I'm doing up there.  The group was very helpful in showing me what I need to do to kip, I just need to get it in my thick skull and not forget it.  Plus a boatload of practice would help.

Finally, I want to give a shoutout to my birthday souka, Diane.  She does not give herself enough credit.  I knew she could do pull-ups if she tried.  Last night, she semi-secretly tried (she was by herself, but she videotaped it).  Not surprisingly, she kipped up and made it look like the easiest thing in the world.  Hopefully some of that souka magic will work for me Monday night when I give 15.2 one more chance.