Back To The Thruster

Workout date: 10/24/15

After receiving a very solid "maybe" in response to whether or not I'd be getting post-workout breakfast on Saturday, I agreed to show up for Competitors Class.  With a Level 1 seminar taking place in the main gym, weekend classes were being held in the annex.  The annex isn't the greatest place to workout when there are a lot of people signed up for class, but luckily there were only 5 of us participating in Competitors Class this weekend.  The downside?  While Rachel had come up with a very cool metcon revolving around the theme of "Back To The Future" day (the day they travel to in Back To The Future 2), it had a lot of movements, meaning things would be tight during that part of the class.

Before we got there though, we had our warmup (athlete's choice) followed by some Olympic lifting work.  While I wouldn't say we reached full-on dicking around status during the first hour of class, we were slow-moving and that continued as we worked on our Olympic lifts.  We were doing hang snatches, which implies a full squat in the movement.  The format was 5x2, followed by 3x1.  I began at 75 pounds followed by 95 pounds.  Did I do a squat during those sets?  No I did not.  Obviously I was not awake yet and it took the sight of everyone else going into a squat several times for my brain to pick up on the fact that I was doing the workout wrong.  Oops.

I did start doing things correctly when I began my third set at 105.  Dropping into the squat isn't much of a problem for me as I kinda feel comfortable in that position.  I don't get the bar as high as some other athletes when I'm snatching, so it has always felt normal for me to dive underneath the bar to secure the lift.  Also, in contrast to the squat clean, I find it much easier to bail on the squat snatch if I haven't executed it properly.  In the squat clean, the bar is on your body, while in the squat snatch it is over your body.  Pushing it in front of you or behind you feels much easier when the bar is over your head.  At least that's my view on it.  (Note: I'm always the weirdo in the gym.)

So the set at 105 wasn't a problem, nor were the next two sets at 115 and 125.  I decided on a progression of 135-145-155 for the singles as my snatch form is not great currently (to be fair, it is not something I have spent a lot of time practicing) and when I'm going from the hang position, I struggle even more.  The lift at 135 went off without a hitch, but Jill A mentioned how slow I was getting the bar over my head.  A little bit of background would probably help.  Even though I think I am moving with speed in these lifts, I have gotten enough remarks to learn that I am not.  However, the tone of these remarks has changed over time from "wow, that is slow, and that is a huge problem" to "wow, that is slow, but good for you that you still have the strength to get it overhead".  Do I still take it in a negative way?  A little bit, but those are my issues.  I have learned to appreciate that people are saying it in a different, more complimentary way these days.

I might have had that comment in my head when I went to do 145, as I tried to be a little quicker with the movement before failing the lift.  The weight wasn't the problem so much as getting my balance in the squat.  On the second try, my balance was much improved and I completed the lift.  Unfortunately, that would be the end of my success, as I tried 155 twice, but each time I was unable to stabilize the weight overhead.

From there it was time to take on the metcon: "Back To The Thruster"

3 rounds:
10 pull-ups
21 calories rowed
20 dumbbell snatches (athlete chooses weight)
15 burpee box jumps

*After each of these 4 movements, the athlete must complete 3 thrusters at 115/75

The significance?  10/21/2015 is the day they travel to in Back To The Future 2.  3 rounds because the series was a trilogy.  And 3 thrusters because 10/21/2015 was a Wednesday, the third day of the week on the Spring calendar.

My main concerns during this workout:

• Pull-ups:  Always pull-ups.  Even though I'm constantly working at them, this seemed like the most likely place where I would fall behind.
• Burpee box jumps:  Because they involve burpees.  And burpees suck.  Also because I needed to set my box up inside the rig in the annex.  Despite there being nothing above my head, I was paranoid that I would clumsily ram my head into some of Rogue's finest equipment.
• Thrusters:  While we only had to do 3 reps at a time, 115 pounds is no joke when it comes to thrusters.
• Breathing:  Rumor had it that the time cap for this metcon would be 45 minutes.  I didn't see how it could take that long, which generally means it would take even longer than 45 minutes.

With only 3 rowers at our disposal, Michal, Shane, and Jill agreed to do the workout as it was written, while Rachel and I decided to start at the dumbbell snatches and loop through each round from there. We had limited options on the dumbbells, so I went with a 45 pound dumbbell for my snatches.

Once we started the metcon, my goal was to not get smoked by everyone else there.  I could really only keep track of where Rachel was in relation to me because it would have been too confusing figuring out where the other three were when they were doing the workout in a different order.  So here's how it went:

Round 1 - Only slightly behind Rachel on the dumbbell snatches, getting through all 20 without needing a break.  My original thrusters were not wonderful, as I tried to go fast rather than focus on form.  The burpee box jumps were slow, especially since I had forgotten full extension was not necessary at the top.  And because I was reaching out with my hands as I jumped on the box, just in case I tripped and fell forward towards the rig.  I also kept checking above my head to make sure I didn't hit my head on the air above me.  (Maybe I'm claustrophobic?)  The pull-ups went very well on the first round as I made up a little time on Rachel.  Eventually I did catch up on the row and we finished round 1 at about the same time.  Shane joined us on the row, meaning he was already through a round and a half.  

Round 2 - Similar to round one, although I did need to break up the dumbbell snatches into two sets.  The thrusters were much better as I made sure to keep the barbell on my body for the entirety of the movement, except for the part where you need to push press the barbell over your head.  Burpee box jumps were slow yet again, but I didn't fall way behind Rachel.  I finished my 10 pull-ups in about the same amount of time as her, but once again I made up ground on the row, finishing about a calorie behind her.  I was definitely breathing heavy, but there was only one round to go.

Round 3 - Shane finished up well before the rest of us.  From what I could tell, Jill was ahead of Michal and Rachel was ahead of me.  After doing the dumbbell snatches in two sets as I had done in round two, I fell apart on the burpee box jumps.  Lots of crawling on the floor and tired jumps up to the box.  Rachel finished hers when I had 6 left, meaning she had created quite a bit of separation during that movement.  The pull-ups were all singles, but I tried not to stray more than a step from the bar each time I came back down.  I was way too far behind on the row to catch up to Rachel this time, but I still put together a decent final row.  Shane, Rachel, and Jill were done, but Michal and I were nearing the end together.  I got over to my barbell, did three thrusters with solid form and was done with the workout.  Final time: 26:51.  Michal finished less than 30 seconds later.

Although tired, I was happy with how the workout went.  If I'm not several minutes behind everyone else in class, I'm usually satisfied with how I did, with the exception being if it is a workout that emphasizes my strengths.  Then it's all about stopping the clock early.

(Important note: I did end up getting breakfast after the workout.  It was probably luck more than anything, but I'll take it.)

Another rest day on Sunday as I'm beginning to notice that my body requires a few more of these lately.  If I don't set an alarm on the weekend, I can be out cold for 12-14 hours.  That doesn't strike me as normal.  Perhaps my body is trying to tell me something.

Monday preview:  I totally forgot about Jackie!  This may be a workout that I can actually do now!  But can I complete it in the 10 minute time cap?  No, I can't, but read about it in the next blog post anyway.