Killing Keithie

Workout date: 8/17/15

Two days later.  That's always when a hard workout hits me.  Having gone through 5 workouts on Saturday, I didn't have grand expectations for the Monday WOD.  Those expectations were lowered even further when I saw it was...

Helen - Test Day
3 rounds:
400 meter run
21 KB swings (53/35)
12 pull-ups

I vaguely remember doing this three months ago.  From what I recall, I fell way behind everybody, gave up on the pull-ups during the second round, went to ring rows, and still took a ridiculous amount of time to finish.  But that was before I became "mildly proficient" with pull-ups.  (Wait, I just looked up what "mildly proficient" means.  I think what I meant to say was "able to do more than 1 per minute".  Yeah, that feels more accurate.)

Making matters worse was the fact that today's weather was sweltering.  This was not the day I wanted to be breathing in thick warm air.  As I sat before class putting on my hand grips, I felt less than motivated.  I was kinda feeling sluggish as it was and there was certainly some unpleasantness awaiting me during this workout.  But this was one of those benchmark workouts that I've never been able to do because I couldn't handle 36 pull-ups and I wanted to finish it RX for the first time.  So I prepared myself for the suck.

Little did I know I would get a confidence booster prior to doing Helen.  The class participated in a game of Musical Med Balls.  Did I at one point use my big ass to knock Rachel over in a desperate attempt to remain in the game?  Yes.  Yes I did.  But from that point on, the class knew I meant business and it became a foregone conclusion that I would win.  Or I was the one person in the final 3 who paid attention to the music while doing high knees to the other end of the gym, allowing me to sprint back to the last med ball first.  One of the two.

It was nice finishing first in something because I was about to finish last in something.  And that something was the WOD.  I got to relive the end of the Championship WOD on Saturday as a large group stood around helping me finish the workout.  I'm not sure if we have photographic evidence of these good-hearted people yawning while I tried to complete my pull-ups, but it's a safe bet that a few folks were ready for a nap while watching me try to kip.  Let's rewind to the start of the workout.

3-2-1 go and I was not moving fast on the run.  Could I have run faster?  Sure.  But I suspected that this workout was going to be a struggle and didn't want to burn out early on.  I was happy to cantor along at the back of the pack as we came in to do our first set of KB swings.  I thought about trying to string all 21, but again, my main concern was having enough energy to get through the pull-ups.  I did 16 reps, placed the KB down, then did my final 5 reps.  Time to take on the pull-up bar!

And it did not go well.  I thought at the very beginning I could put together a couple of sets of 2-3 reps.  Maybe get back out the door pretty quickly for round 2.  Instead, I was out of sorts right off the bat.  I tried to do fast singles, but even that wasn't happening.  Damn you, lack of cardio!  I made my way through the 12 pull-ups, but I was already kipping wildly instead of flicking.  The game plan was out the window as I'm fairly certain that my brain had suffocated in the heat.

I was one of the last people out the door to begin round 2 and I was not about to catch anyone.  My second run was probably a little slower than my first run, which normally wouldn't be too bad.  Except I hadn't set any land speed records during my first quarter-mile.  As I headed back towards the gym, I saw Josh M on his third run.  Then I saw Rachel.  Then Michal.  I was definitely about to get lapped by a bunch of people.

For the KB swings, I managed to do 14 reps, then 7 reps.  My breathing was getting worse and worse.  At the pull-up bar, I attempted fast singles again, but reaching my hands up to the bar felt awful.  In the middle of that set, I got through 3 or 4 reps fairly quick, but then needed a break again.  As I finished my 12th rep, I saw several people who were done with the WOD.  And I was the last one headed out for round 3.

Josh agreed to run with me and pushed me along on my last 400 meter journey.  He also tried to get me to take my sweat-soaked shirt off as it had become the equivalent of a weight vest, but that wasn't happening.  I got back to my KB huffing and puffing as Josh had made me push it on the last part of the run.  When I was ready, I managed 12 reps before setting the KB down.  I needed to sit in a squat to get my breath back.  Keithie came over and told me to stand up.  I was not pleased.  He urged me again and I angrily told him that I could stand up, but not with the KB.  That was a compromise he was okay with.  I walked in a small circle, trying to get my breath, before doing the last 9 KB swings.  Later, Keithie would say that it sounded like I wanted to kill him at that point.  Now I can't swear that there were no homicidal thoughts at that moment, but that's the nature of these workouts.  Coaches yell at the athletes.  Every now and then, the athletes yell back at the coaches.  It's all in the heat of the moment.  After the workout is over, there aren't any problems.

To get to that point though, I needed to finish 12 more pull-ups.  And everyone else was done.  Great.  I wanted to be done with this quickly, but Michal reminded me to remain calm so that I would do the pull-ups efficiently.  It was a helpful reminder.  As I got to reps 9 and 10, I could feel my sweaty hands starting to slip on the bar.  Sure enough, when I went to do the 11th rep, my hands slipped completely, nearly resulting in a fall to the floor.  I grabbed the paper towel I had put near my bar before the workout and wiped off the bar as well as my hands.  When I reached up to attempt pull-up #11 again, my grip felt secure and I had no problems doing the rep.  I reached up one more time, did one last kip, and got my chin over the bar for the 12th pull-up.  Final time: 18:36.

That's a pretty terrible Helen time.  And I was not pleased to be the last one finishing the workout again.  That gets old very quickly.  But I did manage to finish this workout RX for the first time and I was happy about that.

I stuck around for strength to do my 6x2 back squat at 235 pounds.  On Wednesday, I will be taking on 6x6 at 235 pounds, which will be a major test for me.  From that point forward, the 6x2 sessions at 235 will alternate with sessions of less sets and less reps at higher weights.  I also did some shoulder press work as I thought it might help me with my handstand push-up progression, but it didn't go so well.  I wrapped things up with 3 reps of shoulder press at 125 pounds and put the barbell away.  I spent the rest of my time at the gym rolling out, something I need to be doing more of.

Tuesday preview: 1RM clean and jerk.  Can I finally get 225?  Probably not, but you should at least come back and read how I attempted it 20 times and came super duper close.