Knowing that I was going to be away from Saturday through Monday, I got home on Thursday night thinking "you only need to get through one more WOD, then you get three days off". It was about 8pm when I got home, so I had no clue what would be awaiting me in less than 24 hours, but I assumed it would be something that I could put my head down and grind my way through. While that eventually proved to be true, my original thought was that said grind would last 12-15 minutes, not 45 minutes. Oops.
Going to my gym has taught me that I don't know a lot about my body. From a dieting perspective, that was no big shock. (Although I would like to note that Friday marked the end of 4 weeks of abstinence from soda and alcohol. I can be good when I put my mind to it.) But as far as what muscles are being used in a workout or what muscles I need to stretch afterwards? I'm pretty clueless. Meanwhile, both the coaches and a good chunk of the members rattle off this stuff like they are guest starring on an episode of Grey's Anatomy. So take what I am about to say with a grain of salt.
Having read that Badger was awaiting me on Friday evening, I decided that I needed to get a bit rejuvenated prior to the workout. I'm not one to take anabolic steroids (because Crossfit is very serious about testing for that stuff...wink!), or to a lesser degree, pre-workout, so my drug of choice was an epsom salt bath. Most of my body was achy after Thursday's workout. The gas tank had not hit empty yet, but the idiot light was definitely on and I had every intention of finding a rest stop in the next 30 miles. After 5 straight days of training, I believe I was dealing with some CNS fatigue. What is that? CNS fatigue is Central Nervous System fatigue. It is the idea that you have put your body through an inordinately large amount of physical stress. Most people have dealt with going through a large amount of mental stress before. This is like the physical equivalent of watching a Mets playoff game.
I felt somewhat better after my bath, but in the hours leading up to Badger, I found myself constantly stretching out my hamstrings. They have been my physical focus recently and they had been sore for most of the week. I had my doubts about getting through a very long workout with less than 100% hamstrings. So my thought process eventually became "don't worry about the length of this workout, just grind away at it and you'll be fine". I wasn't setting any speed records in this workout. It was going to be more about staying mentally strong. Oh, and about doing a ridiculous amount of pull-ups.
Don't remember Badger? Let me refresh your memory:
"Badger"
3 rounds:
30 squat cleans (95/65)
30 pull-ups
800 meter run
When I first attempted Badger this year, it was a complete mess. Here is one of my favorite photos of the year:
Marisa = not impressed
Talk about a grind. This was back when I wasn't even considering doing the pull-ups without a band. And despite the assistance, it took me forever to get through the pull-ups. My final time that day: 49:09. No extra time was added on due to Marisa's disappointment in my performance. (Note: Saturday was Marisa's goodbye party as she heads to chiropractic school in Iowa. Best of luck to Coach Marisa!)
I attempted Badger again in April. It was a very disheartening experience as I actually tried to do the pull-ups without a band to start the workout, only to fall way behind everyone else in the class before needing to use a band anyway. My final time was considerably better (43:46), but it seemed like everyone improved 5 minutes or so from how they had performed in January. I was not around when Badger came up in July, so I got a reprieve from having to do it in the heat.
Could I really do 90 pull-ups in a workout? I have been slightly obsessed with pull-ups recently. Once the back squat program ended, my attention turned to stringing together sets of pull-ups. Nearly every day I spend time at the gym trying to knock out sets of at least 5 reps. My kip has slowly gotten better. I'm still playing around with my grip, but if I can figure that out, maybe I'll be able to stay on the bar longer than I currently do. With all that being said, 90 pull-ups was a lot to get through. My personal best for a workout was somewhere between 50 and 60 pull-ups. I would need 60 pull-ups just to get through round two!
When I signed up for the 5:30 class, I noticed that it would be held in the annex as the main gym would be hosting the Superfit competition the next day. That could be bad if it was a big class (sorry 6:30 class), but it turned out that only three of us would be working out at 5:30. It was the entity known as Jalona (Jen and Alona) and myself. Doctor Coach Sommelier VP Giulz didn't waste a lot of time with the warmup knowing we would need extra time to get through this workout. So once we had settled on the weight to use for the squat cleans and had chosen a spot to do pull-ups, she sent us on our way.
Round 1: I believe when I did this in April that I got through some sets of 10 on the squat cleans, which probably explains how I shaved 5 minutes off of my time. Because let's be honest: it certainly wasn't due to my immaculate pull-up technique. Having gotten stronger since then, I thought I could at least duplicate that part of the workout on Friday. That seemed necessary as I had no idea how long the pull-ups could take me, especially if I got stubborn about not using a band. When I needed to drop the barbell after 5 squat cleans in round one, I knew I was in some trouble. This was a "light weight", but my legs were burning after only 5 reps. For the rest of the round, each set was between 3 and 5 reps. Jen finished up work and then Alona finished her squat cleans as I did my 29th rep. One rep later, I joined them on the pull-up rig.
When I've practiced stringing together my pull-ups, I haven't been under duress. Generally, I'll finish a workout, take at least 15 minutes or so to try and remember my name, and then go work on my pull-ups. As I moved from the squat cleans to the pull-ups, I was breathing pretty heavily. It wasn't a cardio thing (as strange as that might sound), but more of a sign that my body had been taxed by something that shouldn't have been that taxing. At least not after 30 reps. So I needed a moment to compose myself before hopping on the pull-up bar. When I got going, results were not good again. I strung together 3 reps. I may have done that one more time. There were some sets of 2 performed. But I'm not sure I even made it to the halfway point of round one before I realized I needed to do quick singles. (The one bright spot from this development: I learned that I should use the full grip when stringing pull-ups and the monkey grip when doing fast singles. Store that one away in the old memory banks.) Not tremendously pleased with myself, I tried to jump right back up again without too much rest between reps. Jen was on her first run, but Alona was still working across from me. As I got ready to do rep #26, Alona headed out the door. I had hoped to stay with her, but I had fallen behind. With 29 reps done, I jumped up for my final rep. Naturally I failed, following up the disappointment by yelling out a profanity that rhymes with "phuck". I'm not sure there is anything that bothers me more at the gym than failing on the last rep. Was I hitting the end of the road on pull-ups already, without even completing round 1? I shook out my arms, made sure I stayed tight on my kip, and got the 30th rep.
As I headed out the door for my run, I noticed something unusual. For most recent workouts that have included running, I have struggled to get my legs moving. On this run, it took a little bit of the start to stretch my legs out, but once I did, I felt pretty good on the run. I even made up some time on Alona. Jen was way too far ahead to catch, but maybe I could stay close to Alona on rounds two and three.
Round 2: As I came back into the annex, I tried to psyche myself up for the squat cleans. They were going to be painful, but I had to push through. As I began my second set, I managed to string together 6 reps. Good start, but my legs were once again burning. From there I did sets of 3 and 4 reps primarily. As I worked through my last 10 reps, I began to take a different resting position. I had gone down into my low squat resting position a few times, but today was really not the day to do that. To try and take some pressure off my legs, I began kneeling in front of my bar when resting. Looked stupid, but it was helping.
I staggered over to the pull-up bar once I had finished 30 squat cleans. I didn't even attempt to string reps at the beginning of this round. Grind, grind, grind. Giulz was telling me not to take more than one step away from the bar between reps, but there were points where I needed to walk over and simply lean on the rig to get some energy back. Jen had returned from her second run and was working on round three of her squat cleans. Come on Dave, don't get lapped in a 3 round workout! After my 14th pull-up, Alona headed out the door. I was pissed. My hopes of staying close to Alona were gone. My legs were sapped. And I wasn't sure how many more pull-ups I had left in me. Members of the 6:30 class and of the Open Strength class were beginning to file in. The pity circle was slowly forming.
I had begun doing sets of 3-4 reps where I would do a pull-up, come down, take one step away, then go right back into the next pull-up. I tried to push so that I'd finish my pull-ups before Alona came back from her run. As I completed pull-up #60, I had a tired internal mini-celebration as I knew I had now done more pull-ups than I had ever done before. And I had a suspicion that I could get through most of the next round, if not all of it. My 800 meter run wasn't super fast, but I did get another chance to unwind my legs and prepare for the final round.
Round 3: Home stretch. I had seen Jen during my run, but I got back to the annex before she could lap me. Hooray for small victories! Alona moved over to the pull-ups right as I began my squat cleans, so she was long gone. It was time to work alone. I tried my best to do sets of 5 in this final round, but it was really painful to simply stand with the weight. Breaks were longer. Almost every time I took a break, it was in that position on my knees behind the bar. At one point, I stood up and went over to the wall to stretch my hamstrings. None of this was fun. I was almost welcoming getting to do pull-ups. It seemed stupid to scream while doing 95 pound squat cleans, but that was the only way I could manage bigger sets. When I finished my last squat clean, I had a very tiny moment of happiness, before realizing there were still 30 pull-ups to do.
Stay tight. That was all I kept telling myself on the pull-ups. I had failed on my last rep of round one, but since then I had gotten through the pull-ups with good form. My mind was always on keeping that hollow rock position during my kip and it was paying off in one successful rep after another. I stuck with 3-4 fast singles before a break. Jen and Alona were done. I was eating into the beginning of the 6:30 class unfortunately, but I was going as fast as I could. Despite sweating a lot, I wasn't experiencing much of a grip issue on the bar. The grips on my hands were soaked, but I wasn't sliding as I did the pull-ups. I gradually made my way through the set of 30, with my confidence increasing as I got closer and closer to being done. Finally, I swung up for the 90th pull-up of the day. Seems crazy that I could do that many pull-ups in one workout with all the pull-up issues I have had this year, but somehow it happened on Friday.
Coach Miranda told the 6:30 class to warm up by running the final 800 meters with me. I honestly didn't even care about the final run at that point. I was excited about finishing the 90 pull-ups. As we hit the turn around point on the run, I knew I had less than 400 meters left, most of it downhill. I tried to lean forward and gain momentum. I had no idea what my time was, but might as well trim it down as much as I could. The group pushed me along up the final incline towards Frosty Falls, then it was a small dash down to the annex. Final time: 45:41.
I needed to sit down. My legs were jelly, but they'd be getting three days off soon enough. I wanted to watch the 6:30 class, but there were so many people in it that there was limited space in the annex and I didn't want to be in the way. I moved around as people went from station to station so that I didn't impede anyone's warmup or workout. As I recovered, Rachel came over and congratulated me on my PR, although I let her know that since this was my first time doing this workout RX, I could have taken 6 hours and PR'd. She wasn't having it. She told me I needed to come up with 3 good things to say about myself concerning this workout (which, if you know me, is approximately 3 more than I would usually have handy). So here is my best shot at it:
- Ninety. Freakin. Pull-ups. Who knew? And the best part is that it now seems semi-realistic that I could do 120 for Wolverine in a couple of weeks.
- Improvement in my running. I had reached a point in workouts with runs where they became an insanely slow recovery period for me, tacking on way too much time as I slowly shuffled along. All three of my runs during Badger were solid.
- Confidence. It might not be at the level of the average person from my gym, but it took a certain level of confidence to think I had a legitimate shot at 90 pull-ups. And that confidence began to really grow near the end of the second round. Despite being exhausted, I had little doubt during the final round that I was going to make it to 90. Completely unusual for me.
Sorry for the delay on the blog post, but I spent most of the next 3.5 days on highways, whether I was driving or on a bus. There was really no time to write all of this out and the recap of this workout required a little extra verbiage. It was a special one for me.
Tuesday preview: The back squat program gets serious and my first time climbing a rope in months!
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