The Badger and the Wolverine

Workout date: 4/27/15

Tonight was a re-test of a hero WOD that we did back in January (see the blog post "Typical Dave Workout" for all of the grisly details).  The WOD is called Badger and consists of 3 rounds of 30 squat cleans (95/65), 30 pull-ups, and an 800 meter run.  How badly did things go when I did this in January?  My final time was 49:09 and that required the use of bands for the pull-ups.  My hope for the rematch was that I would be able to do all 90 pull-ups without the use of the band.  Why?  Because there is another workout that I want to do that requires 120 pull-ups and I would like to complete it RX.  That workout?  Wolverine.

Wolverine is the WOD done at Halloween at our box.  I haven't attempted it yet because the dates for the Breeders Cup have conflicted with it (sadly, that will be the case again this year if I go to the Breeders Cup).  Everyone who completes Wolverine RX gets their name on the wall (seriously, I'm not obsessed with that at all) and I believe once upon a time they got a t-shirt.  The workout takes forever to complete though.  It is 6 rounds of 10 clean and jerks (135/95), 20 pull-ups, 100 sit-ups, and a 600 meter run.  Now from what I've heard, the 600 sit-ups either destroy your core or get so boring that you want to quit.  But for me, the pull-ups would definitely be the challenge.  Badger would provide me with some indication of how much progress I have made towards being able to do Wolverine.

And that progress would be zilch.  (We'll get there, don't worry)

I remember everyone hating Badger when we did this 3 months ago.  Personally, I remember my calves in pain as I did the squat cleans, the embarrassment of not being able to do pull-ups, the next class waiting for me to get the hell out of the way, Marisa staring at me like I had kicked Polpetta as I was dangling from the pull-up bar with 17 bands hooked to my feet.  It was one of those workouts where you wonder why the hell you're even doing this stuff.  When I got to the gym tonight, I saw some other people that looked like they were wondering the same thing.  Samson was on the pull-up bar without a shirt on, the very definition of his happy place.  Yet he was shaking his head side to side when I looked over at him during his final round.  Jill C. was getting to run a mile and a half during this workout, but her face was redder than I had ever seen it.  Neither of them would give up though, and they both finished the RX version of Badger.

In our class, I knew Rachel would do the workout RX, but Michal took some convincing.  She put 65 pounds on her bar, but she was very hesitant about taking this monster on using that weight.  Turns out she had nothing to worry about at all (I said we'll get there, relax!).  I believe Conn, Borden, and Cline were also using RX weight on the squat cleans and there was nary a band to be seen hanging from the pull-up bars.  I had a bad feeling that I was going to be not only slow, but one of the few needing to scale this thing.  Not a great combination.

We got started and I immediately noticed that the squat cleans were not as bad as last time.  Perhaps they only got bad in rounds 2 and 3?  I'd find out soon enough.  I opened with 10 reps, then did 4 sets of 5, taking a little break between sets.  My mindset was to be calm and methodical as I have been trying to be for most of my workouts recently.  I wasn't the first one done with my squat cleans, but I was only a few seconds behind the group that was making their way to the pull-up bar.  And my nemesis destroyed me again.  I started trying to kip some pull-ups, but there was no rhythm and I couldn't string them.  Then I tried to jump up and do fast singles.  That was getting taxing quickly.  Knowing that I would need to 90 of these (and that there was a soft time cap of 40 minutes on this workout), I reluctantly grabbed the box and band that I placed near my bar and set up for scaled pull-ups.  Maybe I should stick with the Breeders Cup.

The sad thing was that even with the band, I still wasn't making much progress.  Everyone else in the class made their way out the door for their first run, but I was still working through my last 10-12 pull-ups.  There were absolutely no positives in this experience, only frustration.  When I finally finished my last pull-up, I ran out the door with a scowl on my face.  I had approached a workout I didn't like with a very positive attitude and I was getting my butt kicked anyway.  Fantastic.  The run didn't go so bad, perhaps fueled by my anger.  I remember struggling on the runs from January, so I was improving on 2/3 of the workout at least.  Meanwhile, Conn and Michal were smoking it, with Rachel not too far behind.

When I got back for round two, I was still angry.  13 and a half minutes had already elapsed and I was fairly certain my rounds were not going to stay at the stellar pace I had put together for round one.  I grabbed the bar and did some very pissed off squat cleans.  After each clean, I would bring the bar back towards the floor, pound it off the mat, and go into my next rep.  I did 6 to start, then did some sets of 3 or 4.  Still, it was no use.  Almost everyone had moved on to pull-ups, so even though I was making good progress with my squat cleans, the entire experience was deflating.  Especially since I knew I was about to lose even more time when I got to the pull-up bar.  After wrapping up the squat cleans, I made a slight detour to grab a second band to assist me on the pull-ups.  This helped some, but it didn't give me the muscles I needed to do pull-ups properly.  Everyone disappeared yet again, while I slowly knocked out one rep at a time.  Conn was even back from his second run by the time I got to my final few reps.  Finished my pull-ups, engaged in another anger run.

When I got back, the clock was closing in on 29 minutes.  I had to get moving.  I channeled my anger into 7 consecutive squat cleans.  Then I did 4 more.  From there on, I pecked away at the squat cleans, eventually taking care of them by doing fast singles.  At least there were still a couple people around as I began my last set of pull-ups, although that would not be the case for long.  Rage wasn't working on the pull-up bar, so I went back to calm again, and this helped me get through 16 reps quicker than I had done the first 16 reps in either of the first two rounds.  From there, it was get 1 rep at a time as my tired arms had let me know how disinterested they were in doing any more pull-ups.  When I finished rep #30, almost everyone from the class was back in the gym, having completed the workout.

But I didn't get a chance to go on a third anger run.  Instead, Michal and Rachel volunteered to go run another half-mile with me, even though they had run a mile and a half already.  It was very kind and very helpful.  During the run to the boathouse, they each started trying to bribe me into running faster, offering me free dinner at Chipotle if I sprinted the last 400 meters.  I was fairly certain I could not sprint 400 meters at that point, but I did want to make a good push to the finish.  The run back from the boathouse starts with a long decline, so I leaned forward and tried to kick for home.  Now at this stage, I would have bet a lot of money that the girls were setting me up.  They were no longer next to me, but they were yelling "keep pushing" to me as I ran.  I suspected at some point, they would kick it in and try to sprint by me, if only to force me to go hard all the way to the finish.  I was dreading that.  So when I heard "we're catching up to you!", I dug for more.  Getting around the turn at Frosty Falls, it was a straight sprint to the gym door.  It wasn't much of a sprint, but I pushed hard, hoping to stay ahead of the girls.  As I came through the door, I was told my final time was 43:46.  It turns out that the girls were not that close to me, as my paranoia gave me wings.

So what to take from this workout?  Well, I was not pleased to be so far behind everyone, but I did improve my time by 5:23.  I'll call that a push.  Pull-ups continue to be a problem and it seems like I won't get them unless I quit my job and devote my life to learning how to kip.  Seems a bit extreme, even for me.  So I'm stuck in a rut there.  I was happy with everything else in the workout though.

Tomorrow's workout will include double unders, KB swings, and burpees.  Could I do worse in that workout than tonight's?  It's a possibility...