This Is How You Get Stronger

Workout date: 8/10/15

I had a very tough decision last Saturday morning.  Should I get up at the break of dawn, drive to the gym, and spend two hours at Competitors Class?  Or should I get up at the break of dawn, drive to the gym, have mimosas in the parking lot with Cline, then go to a breakfast buffet to celebrate Rachel's 25th birthday?  So tough to choose!  Luckily my two-headed coin landed on heads and I got to lose my Shady Maple virginity.  There was raspberry french toast, a bacon omelette, many types of breakfast meats, a bowl of fruit, and some coffee.  Perhaps not my greatest performance in overindulgence, but I left a happy man.  Happy 25th Coach Intern Rachel!

On Sunday, I went to see the new 25 year old compete at the Co-Ed Throwdown with her partner #keithie.  The event was being held at Crossfit Advance, which was lucky for me as my friend D works out there.  I got to see her in action, as well as Michal and her partner Craig (also a member of Crossfit Advance).  With my friends Shaymus and Kristina in town (along with their little girls Natalie and Emma), I wasn't able to make it to Crossfit Advance for the beginning of the event, but I did catch the second half of it.  The workouts were definitely more difficult than you would come across in your typical Crossfit competition, although to be fair, all of the competitions I sign up for come with divisions for scaled, intermediate, or old guys.  To give you an idea of how tough the competition was, Rachel and #keithie finished 20th, and those two are rock stars at our gym.  Let's be glad I didn't embarrass myself by signing up.  (That would have to wait a week)

With a weekend free of working out, I was looking forward to a Monday WOD.  Unfortunately, it turned out to be a real mess.  And for once it wasn't due to my lack of athletic ability.  The Monday WOD was:

Snatch Balance: 1-1-1-1-1
Snatch: 1-1-1-1-1-1-1
Cash out: Complete 60 Pistols while doing 3 Burpee Pull-Ups EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute)

Why was this such a mess?  It was a bit of a perfect storm really.  The 6:30 class was pretty large.  The snatch balance is a movement that we don't practice a lot, so to go through the progression of movements that lead up to the snatch balance took up a chunk of time.  Going through the technical aspects of the snatch took more time.  That meant rushing through the 5 snatch balance attempts with little time to change weights.  That would be repeated when we switched over to the snatch.  All of a sudden this skill/strength workout had turned into a very frustrating metcon.  I did not get all of my snatch balances in before we had to move on.  And there was no way I could legitimately get all of my snatch attempts in unless I didn't change the weight at all.  I managed to successfully snatch 150 pounds, before a rushed attempt at 160 failed.  With 90 seconds left to lift, I decided not to rush any more and make the next lift my last one.  At least by doing that, I had a chance to get 160.  In the end, I did not, but it was better to do that last lift calmly then try to rush to get 7 attempts in.

I was hoping things got better in the cash out as I enjoy pistols, but even that was a little frustrating.  The burpee pull-ups favored the shorter athletes in the gym, as the taller guys would have to jump up to the higher bar.  That would require more energy and more time.  Since this was an EMOM, that could result in the workout lasting minutes longer than it would if you got to use the lower bar.  After the first 3 burpee pull-ups, I knocked out 29 pistols before the clock reached one minute.  I did 3 more burpee pull-ups (slower the second time around), then got 20 more pistols in the second minute.  I didn't move with tremendous urgency in the 3rd minute.  I finished my burpee pull-ups, did 10 pistols, got a little wobbly, and then completed the last rep.  Final time: 2:53.  Not sure if I would have finished in under 2 minutes on the lower bar, but it would have been very close.

I thought my legs, particularly my calves, would be aching after the pistols, but I wasn't hurting too bad.  I decided to stay for strength and continue my back squat program.  The next phase of my back squat program was to do 6 sets of 5 reps at 235.  I warmed up like usual with sets at 135 and 185, before doing my first set of 5 at 235.  It was at that point that I could begin feeling some ache in my legs.  So I made sure to incorporate adequate rest (approximately 3-4 minutes) in between my sets.  There were moments during certain sets where I struggled to fire out of the hole, but I worked my way through the first 5 sets.

After taking another break, I got ready to do my final set.  Tom C was setting up his bar to begin squatting himself.  He saw me approaching my bar and began giving me encouragement.  I laughed and told him I was tired, but that it was my final set.  His response:  "Doesn't matter.  Get this set done.  This is how you get stronger."  Sounded wise to me.  I picked the bar up out of the rack, did my 5 reps, and placed it back on the rack.  I was tired, but hopefully the will to finish up the work even when I was tired will make me stronger.

Next blog post: Hang squat cleans don't seem so bad, but they're evil!  Evil I say!