EMILFs

Workout date: 1/9/16

EMOMs I'd Like to Finish.  What did you think it stood for?  Perv.

Competitors Class on Saturday morning was once again in the annex, which meant there would be little operating space for the eight of us who showed up at 7(ish).  The annex is even tougher to deal with in the winter because it goes from igloo to sauna over the course of a workout.  It takes a while for the heater to get going, but then once it does, the sweat starts flying.  By the end of class, the floor was dotted with a collection of sweat puddles, with at least one or two not belonging to me.

As is usually the case with Competitors Class, there were two parts to class.  The first typically involves an Olympic lifting movement.  This part of the class is done individually.  Then the second part of class tends to be a partner/team WOD of hero-length proportions.  So here is everything that we did on Saturday morning:

Strength:
10 min EMOM
2 clean and jerks at 80% of 1RM

Partner WOD:
10 min AMRAP
Cleans (155/105) with 12 wall balls (20#/14# to 10'/9') EMOM

(5 min rest)

8 min AMRAP
15 burpees
10 hang power snatches (115/75)
5 overhead squats (115/75)

(7 min rest)

For time:
120 double unders
60 deadlifts (205/135)
30 front squats (155/105)

(Note: originally that second rest period was programmed as 5 minutes, but with limited resources in the annex, it took a little longer than expected to change the weights on everyone's barbells.)

We decided on our teams before we began with the strength portion of class.  At first I thought I would be partners with Gordy again as he was the only other male in class.  But then we did a random drawing of names out of a cup and I selected Giulz as my partner.  The other teams were Gordy and Jill A, Pam and Laura A, and Rachel and Jenna.

I wasn't too concerned about the strength aspect of class.  At least not until I realized I was illiterate.  I thought the EMOM said 1 clean and jerk.  I had done a 15 minute EMOM using 1 clean and jerk at 80% of my 1RM before and it wasn't too bad.  But two?  I began to worry that 180 pounds would be too much for me.  We don't tend to cycle through heavy clean and jerks all that often.  I had tried to move quickly through my 175 pound clean and jerks the other night with mixed results.  I could already envision myself finishing the first two reps, looking at the clock and seeing I had about 15 seconds until the next round began.  There was a lot of doubt running through my head as we got ready to go, but I decided that I would just run with it and see how it went.

How did it go?  Better than expected.  I'm always more concerned with my cleans than my jerks, but I was able to power clean 180 pounds over and over again without much issue due to some good technique (translation: my fast elbows were legitimately fast).  I didn't want to push jerk this weight over and over again, but doing a split jerk seemed like something that could be time-consuming, so I did a bit of a hybrid jerk.  It was a split, but it wasn't the full on, get real low split that I would use if I was in the 215-225 range.  I moved with good speed, going right into the setup for the second lift as soon as I had dropped the bar from the first lift.  And more often than not, I was done with each round in under 30 seconds, giving me a nice cushion before the next round began.

One scary workout down, one to go.  Giulz and I had a little pow wow before embarking on our nearly 40 minute journey.  I offered to do more of the wall balls because I know she's not a big fan, but she felt that it was better to just split them every minute, 6 and 6.  From there we would just feel out the cleans as we went.  We would address the other segments of the workout during our rest periods.

I led things off for us on the wall balls in minute one before Giulz took care of the final 6.  When she was done, I strung together 3 cleans before letting Giulz go.  Giulz did 2 reps before handing off to me again.  From there we alternated single reps, as I completed the round.  Since I did the last clean, Giulz led us off on wall balls.  Over the next two minutes, Giulz would go first on wall balls, then we would go 1-3-1-1 on our cleans, as I always tried to get three cleans the first time I touched the barbell.  In minute four, we snuck in an extra rep, going 1-3-1-1-1, which meant Giulz went last and I became the first one on the wall balls.  I would lead off the wall balls for the final 6 minutes and our pattern on the cleans became 3-1-1-1, with the only exception happening in the final minute when I got one last clean in before time was called.  Final score: 64.

I was happy with how well I was able to hold on during that first part of the partner WOD.  There was hardly ever a break during those 10 minutes, but I kept my breathing under control.  I was very appreciative of the 5 minute break, but I wasn't lying on the floor or clutching the pull-up rig during it.  Instead I changed out the weights on my barbell, got some water, and prepared myself for the next part of the workout.

Pow wow #2: Giulz thought she could handle 10 burpees before switching off, so we went with a plan of person 1 does 10 burpees, person 2 does 5 burpees, person 1 does 6-7 hang power snatches, person 2 does 3-4 hang power snatches and then all 5 overhead squats.  Seemed like a nice distribution of work.  Naturally, that went out the window immediately in round 1.  The burpees went to plan, but Giulz only got 4 hang power snatches.  Feeling all confident, I figured I could do the remaining 6 hang power snatches and the 5 overhead squats.  Except I could only hold on for 4 hang power snatches too.  Giulz did the last two snatches and then finished the 5 overhead squats.  The new plan: person 1 would do a lot of work each round, but person 1 would alternate.  In round 2, I did 10 burpees, Giulz did 5 burpees, I did 4 hang power snatches, Giulz did 5 hang power snatches, then I finished the round with the final hang power snatch and 5 overhead squats.  In round three, we followed the pattern of the second round, only Giulz became person 1.  In round four, I was person 1 again.  With only a few seconds remaining after completing round four, Giulz did 3 burpees before time was called.  Final score: 123.

Now I needed some rest.  Burpees have never been my thing, but I had my struggles during the hang power snatches and the overhead squats as well.  My breathing was no longer under control (although the 7 minute rest remedied that) and my back was feeling sore.  I didn't know how long the third segment of this WOD would take, but I figured it would be the quickest.  And naturally, I was wrong.

Pow wow #3: I was concerned about double unders, but Giulz said she had that.  She was concerned with front squats, but I said I had that.  Giulz offered to do more deadlifts, but I wasn't as worried about that part of the workout.  Let's finish this thing!

Giulz led us off on the double unders and did two big sets before stopping with 38 reps.  I then proceeded to hit myself with the rope.  I hit myself with the rope a second time.  And then I magically did 22 reps in a row.  When I told Giulz to go, we were at the halfway point.  Giulz put together another 30, having faith in my ability to get the last 30 double unders.  She was mistaken.  I hit myself with the rope.  Twice I got 1 rep then hit myself with the rope.  For the grand finale, I did 2 reps before failing again.  I yelled over to Giulz that she should go and she obliged by taking care of the last 26 reps.

I tried to redeem myself by doing the first 10 deadlifts for our team.  Giulz could only manage 4 in her first set, while I was down to 5 reps in my next set.  Giulz did 6 reps in her next set to get us to 25 reps and from there we alternated sets of 5 reps until we got to 60 reps.  We had made it to the last part of the workout.  Each of us stripped weight off of our barbells to get to the proper front squat weight we were using.  Giulz led us off with a set of 5 reps.  I held on for a set of 8 reps before dropping, as my back was beginning to cause issues.  Giulz came back for 7 more reps and we were only 10 reps from the finish line.  Surely I could hold on for these final 10 reps, right?

Nope.  Got through 5, then had to bail the barbell.  My back was bothering me each time I squatted.  Not in an "I'm severely injured" way, more in an "I had crappy form during the hang power snatches then compounded the problem by doing heavy deadlifts" way.  I was going to take a second then do the final 5 reps, but Giulz said she had it.  The girl who was concerned about the front squats ended up doing 17 of our 30 reps, completing the last five to stop the clock for us.  Final time: 9:31.

I tailed off a bit towards the end, but I took a lot more positives out of this 40 minute workout (along with the initial 10 minute EMOM) than I did from the one I had done a week earlier when Gordy had to carry me around like a backpack the whole time.  My cardio is slowly improving, while my ability to stay mentally strong during tough segments of workouts is definitely improving.  And for a head case like me, that's probably the more important of the two.

Monday preview: Wall balls, sprints, and snatches.  And someone who regularly appears in the blog reaches a major milestone.