Gym Kelly

Workout date: 12/8/15

This week has been a little rough on the sleep front.  Both Jenn and Indy have been sick and I've been up throughout the night making sure they're both okay.  On Monday night, I got about 1-2 hours of sleep, so I wasn't super excited to be taking on a monster of a workout at the gym on Tuesday.  I mean, even if I had a full eight hours of sleep, I wouldn't have been doing cartwheels over the WOD that was programmed, but the lack of sleep didn't help.  The workout?  Kelly.

"Kelly"
5 rounds
400 meter run
30 box jumps (24"/20")
30 wall balls (20#/14# to 10'/9')

This was one of our benchmark WODs this year and I had done this one when it was last programmed back on September 22nd.  I had hoped to keep my time under 35 minutes, but instead I finished in 37:43.  That doesn't sound all that great (mainly because it isn't), but it might have been a PR for me.  I had done Kelly RX at least one time prior to that and my time was somewhere in the neighborhood of 37-39 minutes.  I believe I might have done Kelly early on in my second year of Crossfit, but I think I ended up being time capped into doing 4 rounds rather than 5.

Michal was in class with me on that night back in September and we had a conversation before the workout which was identical to the one we had on Tuesday night:

Michal: "I'm not feeling it tonight"
Me: "You're probably going to kick my butt"
Michal: "I don't think so"

She then proceeded to beat me in the workout by about 5 minutes.  So when she said this to me on Tuesday, I told her that she was going to probably beat me by at least 5 minutes and that I would hate her guts afterwards (idle threat).  My real fear was that she would lap me.  Back in September, Alex lapped me during this workout and I was not pleased.  Also in class on Tuesday was Cline.  Because there was a lot of running in this WOD, I had concerns about him lapping me as well.  Rounding out the class were Chris, Michael, and Heng.  Chris was part of the Summer Shape Up program, while Michael and Heng took part in the Holiday Head Start program.  All three are fairly new to the gym, but I've gotten to work out with them more and more recently, and all three seem like really good guys.  I wasn't sure how they would do in this workout, so I played the odds and considered them threats to lap me as well.

I have written extensively about my cardio struggles in the gym.  I have also gone on and on about my failings in workouts with multiple rounds of running in them.  Back in September, my splits for Kelly worked out to (approximately) 5:30, 7:30, 8 and change, 8 and change, 8 and change.  That was my recollection for previous attempts at Kelly as well, that I had done alright in the first round, only to falter in rounds two through five.  If I was going to do this workout in 35 minutes, I needed to approach Kelly the same way I've started approaching Nancy (which also includes five 400 meter runs).  I would need at least two strong runs and a semi-decent third run wouldn't hurt either.  As for the rest of Kelly, I wanted to stick with the rebounding technique on the box jumps, trying to go for longer sets if I could, while taking any rest from on top of the box.  With the wall balls, I've been getting better at bigger sets, so I would attempt to do a set of 18 and a set of 12 each round.  That would significantly improve my chances of a time close to 35 minutes as well.

Whoa, whoa, whoa....wait a second Dave.  Didn't your last preview say this post would be brimming with positivity?  Saying everyone in class is going to lap you doesn't sound very positive.

Fine, fine...I'm guilty of not being positive in this post.  Until now!  The truth is, I had very little faith that I wasn't finishing last in this workout.  It was more about damage control.  Don't get lapped, don't finish 5 minutes after everyone else, etc.  If I could manage to finish in under 35 minutes, that would be awesome.  Those were honestly my thoughts going into the workout.  What happened next defies all explanation.

There was nothing remarkable about the first round of the workout.  I didn't note an exact time for my first round when I did this in September, but it was in the neighborhood of 5 and a half minutes.  I figured my first round on Tuesday would be similar.  You are fresh on that first run, so you run like a normal human being, not like you've been shot in the leg (people who have seen my post-first round gimpy stride can attest that I run this way).  You have energy for the box jumps and the wall balls.  In short, the first round is what the whole workout looks like when you are Pam.  (Note: the Queen finishes this workout in under 25 minutes when she does it.  Averaging less than 5 minutes every round?  Sick.)

Cline took off on the first run, with Heng and Michael trailing behind him.  Chris was just ahead of me, while Michal ran alongside me.  As we got back to the gym, I was the last one in the door, but I felt like I would be able to keep pace on the box jumps and the wall balls.  When I got to my box, I did 15 straight rebounding jumps before stopping on top of my box.  It was a good start for me and a preview of what was to come.  Over the course of all five rounds, I never started with less than 10 reps in my first set of box jumps and all sets after that would be at least 5 reps long (unless I had less than 5 left at the end).  I went from 15 to 24 in my second set, then planned on finishing the last 6 in a row, except I nailed the front of my box with my foot on my 29th jump, stumbling off to the side.  I regrouped, did the final 2 jumps, and headed to the wall balls.  As planned, I did a set of 18 and then a set of 12.  That wasn't fast enough to beat Heng and Michael out the door, but I had moved ahead of Cline, Michal, and Chris.  A glance at the clock showed that I had finished the first round in just under 5 minutes.  It was a little faster than my first round in September, but the test wasn't the first round, it was the four rounds to come.

As I went on that second run, I tried to keep Michael nearby.  Heng had put a little distance on the rest of us during this run.  I tried to picture Cline yelling at me that I needed to lengthen my stride so that I'd keep moving along.  I wasn't excited when Chris went by me during the first 200 meters of the run, but I pushed myself to go with him on the way back to the gym.  Also, on the way back to the gym, we passed Cline and he yelled at me to lengthen my stride.  Who needs visualization when you can have the real thing?

Back inside, I got to work on box jumps again.  There was pain after about 8 reps, but my internal drill sergeant pushed me along until I completed 14 reps.  The confidence trigger in my mind doesn't seem to go off until I have less than 10 reps remaining, so it was huge for me to get to that 20 rep mark as quickly as possible for both the box jumps and the wall balls.  A few more sets of box jumps and I was back to the wall balls.  And this was probably the point in the workout where I had to show the most mental strength.  The plan was 18 and 12 for each round of wall balls.  To be honest, I could have done more than 18 during round one, but I dropped after 18 reps and stuck to the plan.  Being a hero in round one was not going to help me in rounds two through five.  The only problem was that when I started my second round of wall balls, it became clear that I wasn't getting 18 reps in a row.

I've run into issues like this repeatedly throughout the year.  Seeing my plan fall apart so early in a workout is extremely frustrating and I'm sure my mental state has turned to mush more often than not when it has happened.  That results in a poor workout the rest of the way.  But on this night, I didn't let that happen.  I felt confident that I could do sets of 10, so there was no reason to do more than 3 sets of wall balls in any round.  I made a promise to myself: no more than 3 sets the rest of the way.  After dropping at 12 reps, I did 10 more in the next set, then 8 to finish up round two.  I was still behind Heng and Michael, but that didn't matter because I was floored by what I saw on the clock.  It read 11:10.  I had done the second round in about 6:15.  Even if I averaged 8 minutes per round for the final three rounds like I had in September, I would be close to my goal of 35 minutes.  I was psyched!

On the third run, I had a partial onset of the gimpy stride, but just as I visualize Plentus yelling at me to get aggressive whenever I'm about to squat, I continued to visualize Cline yelling at me to lengthen my stride.  Michael had left me and had caught up to Heng, while Chris wasn't too far behind me.  The big surprise was that I had a good-sized lead on Cline and Michal.  Everything about this workout was somehow backwards from what I thought would happen.  If this was truly the one night where up was down and down was up, maybe I could make it through three fast rounds.  As I entered the gym doors, it was time to find out.

This was going to be where my cardio and legs would be tested.  Further proving it was my night, Till I Collapse began playing as I walked to my box.  All of a sudden, Eminem was calling me out about round three.  I started doing box jumps in rhythm with the clapping in the song.  I only got 11 reps to start off, but then I turned into Mr. Intensity and yelled at myself before going into another large set.  When I eventually reached 30 reps, I marched over to my wall ball.  Like I had in round two, I led things off with a set of 12, but then I did 12 in my next set as well.  I gave myself the "you can do 5 wall balls without breathing" speech, only I substituted 6 in for 5.  Round three was done.  The clock said 17:15.  Not only did I have a good round three, it was faster than my second round.  Thanks Eminem!

The pessimist in me had brief thoughts that this could all come crashing down on me, that after three good rounds I was going to hit the wall, that the last two rounds could take 10 minutes each and I'd end up at 37 minutes again.  But I was driven Tuesday night.  Even if the last two rounds took 8 minutes each, I'd be at 33 and change, which would be a huge improvement for me.  In fact, I think I told Chris prior to the workout that if someone would write "36:00 RX" next to my name, I'd skip the WOD and go home happy.  Oh how things can change!

The last two rounds were far from easy.  For starters, the gimpy stride was in full effect.  I think it was in full effect for everyone except Michael, who continued to extend his lead on the run.  I didn't lose too much ground to Heng on the run, and I seemed to be maintaining the lead I had on Chris, Cline, and Michal, who was being joined on the run by professional Crossfitter Faby.  Eminem wasn't around for round four of the box jumps, but I started off with 11 reps again on my way to 30.  When I was done with those, I walked over to my wall ball, needing the pull-up rig to support me when I got there as I was gasping for air.  I went back to a routine of 12-10-8 for the 30 reps, although I'm sure I needed more rest between those sets than I had needed back in round two.  With the fourth round in the books, the clock was a few ticks under 24:30.  It was a tough round to be sure, but I had kept it under 7:15.  If I could stay under 7:30 for the last round, I could finish under 32 minutes.  Had delirium set in due to fatigue?  Maybe I passed out after round two and was having the most exhausting happy dream of all time.  Even if that was the case, this dream had one more round left in it.

As I passed the annex on the outward portion of my final run, Michael passed me on his way back into the gym.  Heng was still about 60-70 meters in front of me and I was doing my best to not let that gap increase too much.  Chris was probably about 150 meters behind me, but his stride looked better than mine on that last run and he was making up ground.  I passed Cline at about the same spot where Michael had passed me, while Michal headed out on her last run right as I was finishing up mine.  Once I was inside, I resolved to empty the tank.  I got 14 box jumps in my first set, despite the onset of back pain.  When I get tired, I tend to do a hunched over jump on to the box and then I stand up.  I'm not sure how many of the 150 box jumps I did were of this variety, but my back was definitely sore as I completed round five.  Chris was doing his box jumps next to me and it seemed like he was catching up to me no matter how hard I pushed through this round.  I wasn't going to catch Michael or Heng, but it would have been a little deflating to have Chris pass me in the final round.  When I did this in September, Sheila had been behind me in every round, only to finish one second before me at the very end.  Must.  Keep.  Moving.

With the box jumps done, I came over to the wall balls the same way I did in the last round, needing to lean on the rig for a few seconds before starting.  I was completing my set of 12 when Chris began working.  Then I did a set of 10.  I hadn't heard Chris drop his ball yet, but as I took a few seconds before my final set, he dropped it and walked away from the rig as Coach Rachel congratulated him on the huge set he had just done.  Did he just do 30 in a row?  Did I get passed at the very end again? Why can't I breathe like a normal human being?  So many questions were floating through my head as I picked up my ball and began my last set of 8.  As I went to do my 29th rep, my questions were answered.  Chris came back to his wall ball and got ready to do more reps.  I took care of my last two reps and then turned to see the clock.  Final time: 31:14.  Holy shit.

That time wasn't making a whole lot of sense to me as I collapsed next to my box, holding on to it with a death grip that would give you the impression that I thought the floor was made out of quicksand.  I drank the remaining water in my bottle and used the box to help me get off the floor.  Chris was now done, but I wanted to cheer on Cline and Michal as they did their final round of wall balls.  When they had finished, I grabbed a second bottle of water and thought a little bit about what had just happened.  I completed the final round in under 7 minutes.  That was absurd.  I had beaten my best previous time in this workout by 6:29.  That was like improving by one full round.  Insane!

I couldn't recall a single workout this year where I had kept it together both physically and mentally as well as I had during this WOD.  I've had strong workouts where at the end I've thought to myself "I can still improve on that".  This workout?  I'm not sure I'll ever be able to duplicate that magic again.  My hope is that I can duplicate some of that physical and mental strength in other workouts going forward.

Because of the daily Advent challenges going on, my work wasn't done on this night.  The challenge for Tuesday was a partner race to 200 sit-ups.  When Cline was ready to go, we cranked out 200 sit-ups together, alternating after every 10 sit-ups.  I am told that I made plenty of unpleasant noises and faces during this challenge, but that was the only way I was gonna be able to complete 100 sit-ups at that point.  Final time: 5:32.  No raffle tickets earned.  Did not put a damper on my night.

Wednesday preview: More partner work, this time involving deadlifts and push jerks.  Plus, the rope climb Advent challenge.