Six Degrees Of Perspiration

Workout date: 5/19/15

By the time you reach the end of this post, you will have the impression that I hated this workout.  But the truth is that when I saw today's WOD, I was excited.  The workout went like this: 15 clean and jerks (135/95), followed by 100 double unders, then 15 more clean and jerks, another 100 double unders, capped off with 15 more clean and jerks.  I have gotten to a point with my lifts where clean and jerking 135 pounds is no longer intimidating to me.  This workout would also be a great test of how efficient my double under technique was.

Throughout the day, I looked at the finishing times of various people and determined that my goal would be to finish the workout in under 14 minutes.  Knowing what I know now, I'm guessing that overexertion of the body leads to poor predictive skills.  As I got to the gym, I saw Michal finishing up her workout in the 6:30 class.  She finished in 19:17.  Uh oh.  Matt B. finished in 15:21.  Uh oh.  Both of them are significantly more proficient than me at double unders.  A revision on that finishing time may be in order.

The 7:30 class was made up of me, Matt E., Cline, and Rachel.  While I enjoyed getting to work out with so many people yesterday, I was glad to have some additional space tonight.  We began what I will call the warmup, but honestly, with temperatures in the mid 80's and tons of humidity, my body is fully warmed up walking from my car to the front door.  It's more accurate to call this piece of the WOD "the lather-up", since I am fully soaked by the time it is done.  I visited the paper towel rolls several times, trying to get somewhat dry before things kicked off for real.  We got our barbells loaded and we were ready to begin.

First round of clean and jerks went smoothly enough.  Matt was working next to me and may have been 1 rep behind me.  When I turned for my rope, Rachel was picking hers up, and Cline seemed to be finishing his last rep on the clean and jerks.  I knew 100 double unders was not going to be easy, but I wanted to peck away at them and medium-sized sets.  That did not happen.  Instead, there were a considerable amount of small sets along with a few medium-sized sets that left me tired.  Never a good feeling when you haven't completed half of the workout yet.  My three classmates had all gotten back to their barbells while I still had 20+ reps to go.  Just keep pecking away...

I got through the first 100 and went back to the clean and jerks.  If anything, this was the part of the workout where I may be able to make up some time.  I tried to stay on the bar as much as I could, but I couldn't duplicate the efficiency I had in round one.  There was one rep in particular where I nearly dropped the bar on myself as I struggled to complete the jerk.  Another bad sign.  Still, I tried to remain positive as I finished off the clean and jerks.  I was more than halfway home.

When I got back to my rope for the second set of 100 double unders, everything unraveled.  The first set was 3 reps.  The second set was 3 reps.  Then I hit myself with the rope twice.  Finally, I got going again for (you guessed it) 3 reps.  Running low on energy and completely frustrated with the rope, I threw it on the floor.  I couldn't believe I was going through this crap for the second day in a row.  And this was something I thought I was decent at.  Surprise, you're not!  A bunch of very tiny sets followed, as Rachel and Cline headed back for their last set of clean and jerks.  Finally, Keith stopped me and asked if I knew I had a knot in my rope.  I did not.  If I'm being honest, I really didn't understand what he was saying at first until he pointed directly to the knot in my rope while I was in between reps.  Somehow I had managed to mess up my rope even though I've tried to be very conscious of storing it properly.  We got the knot out and I tried to do another set.  18 reps.  Nice job idiot!  Probably could have saved some of that precious energy had you taken a second to look at the rope you were using.

I did manage a few more medium-sized sets, but I could barely jump at all near the end.  My legs were toast.  They were more of a problem than my breathing or all the sweating I was doing.  I finally made my way back to the barbell, did 2 clean and jerks, then tried to squat to get my breath.  Only I didn't have enough strength left in my legs to do that.  So I kneeled next to the bar.  For the third time in less than a week, I was dealing with the helpless feeling of being close to completing a workout, but unsure that I could do it.  I got back up eventually and knocked out 3 reps.  Soon I was making my way to 10 reps before requiring that awkward kneeling position next to the bar.  The last 5 reps were just desperation to finish.  When the last rep was complete, I was informed that my time was 20:45.  Really nailed that prediction Dave!

While I struggled during that second round of 100 double unders, Keith asked me if this was my 5th day of working out in a row.  It was not.  It was my sixth.  And my body was not being ambiguous at all on whether I should be going for seven in a row.  I'm tapped out and in desperate need of a day off.  With my trip to Regionals this weekend, I wanted to get in as many workouts as possible before leaving, but there comes a point where you need to be a little sane about this.  So I will be staying home tomorrow.  I'll probably work out on Thursday night before hitting the road for Hartford.