Dear Dave Castro

Workout date: 6/24/15

Hi Dave,

It's been a while since I last wrote.  Technically it was more of a "death threat" than a letter, but let's not get bogged down in details.  The reason I am writing to you is that I came up with a great idea for Open Workout 16.1.  The WOD goes as follows:

800 meter run

15 clean and jerks (135/95)

3 rope climbs

400 meter run

12 clean and jerks

2 rope climbs

200 meter run

9 clean and jerks

1 rope climb

Awesome, right?  You could even hold the first live announcement in Jamaica and invite this guy:

Jamaican Me Blind

Anyhoo, I'm glad we could catch up.  The restraining order probably isn't necessary anymore, so if you ever decide to drop it, maybe we can go grab a beer or something.

Take care,

The Dave Nichols

Why am I so interested in making that WOD a workout in next year's Open?  Because it was the Wednesday WOD and...we'll get there.  More importantly, it was rope climbing day!  That meant I got to rock some new awesome socks and wrist bands!  (The head band had to go post warmup.  It was just too damn hot.)  I am totally stylin' in that photo.  I do not look like an extra from the movie Tron at all.

The 7:30 class was just me and the girls who beat the crap out of me on an almost daily basis: Michal and Rachel.  However, Rachel was feeling extra feisty today.  She called me out before class saying that we were going head to head on this workout.  That's no good.  I mean, she typically beats me anyway, but if she's actually amped up to beat me in a workout, then this could get ugly.  Adding to my fear was the fact that this seemed like a Dave WOD, and whenever I get excited about how good I might do in a workout, it usually results in me writing a blog post the next day along the lines of "I suck, the workout sucked, the world sucks" or something slightly more dramatic.  Rachel said we'd even be facing each other during the workout which is the highest level of "I plan on breaking your will to live" you can have in a WOD.

We did a core tabata as part of our warmup.  I wasn't thrilled about that as I thought the workout was pretty core intensive and I didn't want to be sore before we got started, but it didn't end up having any effect on me during the workout.  We did some warmup with clean and jerks and honestly those didn't feel great.  My original plan was to string sets of three reps throughout the WOD, but the warmup made me change my mind.  I would do 3 fast singles then take a slight break and keep going like that.  The break would be very small in the first round and I would adjust it as necessary.

We went outside to start the first run and then we were off.  The three of us decided that we would stick together on the run going a solid pace.  On the first downhill, I moved slightly ahead, but I have a bit more gravity pulling my body than the other two do.  We were all together again in a few strides and stayed that way as we hit the halfway point.  On the way back though, it was a different story.  Without warning, Michal hit the gas hard and spurted away from me and Rachel.  She later explained that it was necessary since we would be faster at the clean and jerks and rope climbs, but that story didn't smell right to me.

With her newfound lead, Michal was already working on her clean and jerks when Rachel and I came in the door.  I was set up in front of the other two and I could have turned around to face Rachel, but then I would have had my back to the ropes.  I wanted to be able to see the ropes so that I could drive myself to keep going.  "Look, that's next!  That's why you have that goofy outfit on!  Keep going!"  So the face-to-face confrontation did not happen.  I went with my strategy of sets of 3 fast singles and I felt like I was making good progress without completely exhausting myself.  Plus dropping the bar was saving my grip and I would need that on the rope.  With 3 reps left, Rachel headed to the rope and 2 reps later Michal did as well.  I was last, but the experience from Monday night where I caught up to them at the end kept me from getting too freaked out.

The rope climbs were not pleasant, but not awful either.  I made my way up in 3-4 pulls, caught my breath at the bottom, and went again.  I probably could have taken a bit less rest between climbs, but I was trying to stay under control as much as possible.  Rachel finished her 3rd rope climb when I was recovering from my 2nd rope climb.  She headed out the door as I got back on the rope.  When I went out the door, Michal was in the middle of her last climb.

The run was slow for both me and Rachel.  She had about 70 meters on me and I thought about pushing really hard to make up some of that distance, but I also knew there was a lot of workout left.  I leaned forward and tried to maintain a good speed, although Michal caught me before the 200 meter mark.  I stayed with Michal on the way back to the gym though.  I had no idea how many reps behind Rachel I was, but she was already working when Michal and I came back into the gym.  Feeling a greater sense of urgency, I did 5 fast singles, followed by a bit of a longer break.  Then I did 4 fast singles.  As I caught my breath for the last 3 reps, Rachel was headed to the rope again.  It was clear I needed to make up time on the rope if I was going to catch her.

I finished my last 3 reps and got to my rope as Rachel finished her first climb.  My arms were starting to feel a little tired, but I knew I needed to jump up and get climbing.  I completed the first climb and made my way down.  I took just a brief pause at the bottom and jumped back on the rope.  If I didn't push here, I had no chance of catching Rachel.  As I made my first pull up the rope, Rachel came sliding down hers to start the final round.  Soon I was off the rope and running after Rachel as Michal made her way to her rope.

The final run was short and Rachel's lead was closer to 40 meters now.  Knowing it was a short run, I leaned forward and told myself "only 10 reps left when you get back".  I didn't make up much ground on the run.  Michal was coming out of the door as I was coming in and I saw Rachel string a few reps of clean and jerks.  My chances of catching her looked bleak now.  I would need to maintain fast singles as long as I could.  One by one, I did a rep, dropped the bar, then went into the next rep.  I got through 7 before needing to pause.  But Rachel hadn't gone to her rope yet.  My 8th rep was terrible and I had to really drop low on my jerk to get it over my head.  Still, Rachel wasn't at her rope.  As I put my hands on the bar for my final rep, I saw Rachel head over to the rope.  Move, Dave, move!  I threw the last rep over my head and speed-walked over to the rope.

The final part of the story is up for debate.  Here's the quick version: Rachel was standing next to her rope as I made my way over.  As I got near the rope, she decided to walk over to the chalk bucket.  I didn't care about chalk at that point.  I didn't care about form.  If it took me 7 pulls to get to the 15' mark, I was doing that, but I was going to be fast.  So as Rachel got chalk, I jumped on my rope, pulled as hard as I could, touched the mark, slid down and turned to see Rachel still working.  I won!  Now did she let me win?  Possibly.  She's very competitive, so it's hard to believe she would let me win after all of that work.  Then again, she's very competitive, so why would she walk away from her rope with only 1 rep left, seeing her competition headed there with only 1 rep left, and take time to chalk her hands?  I'm on the fence about the whole thing.  But here's what I know.  I finished with a time of 16:34, which I was pretty happy with (I thought 17 minutes would be a solid time for this workout).  I didn't look at the clock once during the entire workout.  I paced well.  I pushed when I needed to.  And if Dave Castro made this an Open workout next year, I would finally have a glimmer of hope of beating Rachel in one of those damn things.

Thursday will be a rest day as my body is exhausted.  But there will be overheads on Friday, so you know I'll be raring to go after my 24 hour break.