So how did Vegas go? I came tantalizingly close to winning a second entry for the NHC on Wednesday. On Thursday, I began the NHC by hitting an 8-1 shot who won by more than 6 lengths. Things were looking up. Then I had a string of longshots finish 3rd (you earn points by picking horses who finish 1st or 2nd). At the end of the day, I had little to show for what felt like a solid day of handicapping. I came back on Friday determined to stay positive about qualifying for the final day on Saturday. In the first four races, I had a winner and two seconds. I was moving in the right direction. Then came a race at Oaklawn where I had placed my hopes on an 11-1 shot. As the field entered the stretch, he loomed up on the outside passing horses one by one. In mid-stretch, just as he was collaring the leaders, one of the horses veered left, pinching my horse back. All his momentum had been stopped and my chance at getting back into contention at the NHC was pretty much over. He came on again late in the stretch and he stormed by the leaders past the wire. But it was too late, both for him and for me. I was forced to play some true longshots the rest of the day, but none of them panned out. No Day 3 for me.
I went out with one of my buddies and played blackjack until 4am, hit up the consolation tournament at 9am (finished in the top third of the field...yay?), then really stayed out late Saturday night. As in, when I left the blackjack table, I began to wonder if the casino restaurants had begun putting out Sunday brunch menus. I got a little bit of sleep before having a fairly low-key Sunday. Then it was time to catch a 7am flight home.
Earlier in the week, I had felt bad about not working out while I was there. I had brought my jump rope with me. On my first day in Vegas, I checked out the fitness center in the hotel. And that was when my thoughts of working out disappeared. It was a room filled with machines. There was not much room to do anything besides use the machines. Certainly no room to practice double unders. It was okay though. I was going to get back to the gym a couple hours after I touched down in Philly.
Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. I had gotten less than 25 hours of sleep on the trip. Going to the gym on Monday night sounded like the worst idea ever. Maybe the WOD wouldn't be so awful and I could zombie my way through it. At 7pm Vegas time, I clicked refresh on the Safari browser on my phone and saw Fight Gone Bad. What is Fight Gone Bad?
"Fight Gone Bad"
3 rounds - 1 minute at each station per round - 1 minute rest between full rounds
Station 1: Wall balls (20#/14# to 10'/9')
Station 2: Sumo Deadlift High Pull (75/55)
Station 3: Box Jumps (20")
Station 4: Push Press (75/55)
Station 5: Calories Rowed
It's amazing. Every time I return to the gym after some time away, something truly horrendous is scheduled. Chances were good that I was returning to the gym on Tuesday instead.
Since I had to be up at 5am to check out of the hotel and get to the airport for my flight, my sleep total for the trip didn't increase all that much on Sunday night. I was exhausted when I boarded the plane, but I almost never sleep on planes. Even told the guy sitting next to me as much. Then I fell asleep for 3.5 hours. Once you leave Vegas, your body resumes default mode. I may have been able to stay up all hours of the night in Vegas, but my body wasn't having that 33,000 feet above the US. I woke up, still feeling lousy, but not quite as lousy as I had when I boarded the plane. After picking up my luggage, my car, and then my dog, I headed home. I had time to catch a little more sleep before deciding whether to go to the gym. When I woke up this time, gym guilt set in. I had treated my body like crap for 7 days. It was time to go get it back in shape again.
I went to the 6:30 class knowing full well that Fight Gone Bad took up a lot of space and that we'd already have limited space because of the "New Year, New You" program. There was no getting around it this time. That extra 90 minutes of sleep was more important than hitting up the 5:30 class. A huge crowd of 14 was there to take on Fight Gone Bad, but it wasn't as bad as you might think. Fight Gone Bad is traditionally done in two heats with a partner. One person scores your reps as you are going through the misery of this workout. I partnered up with Mike C because Matt Bohen said he didn't want to be near me while I was sweating booze in the workout. (The joke was on Matt as we both went in the second heat in adjacent lanes.)
Each of the five stations were laid out in order, so you had a medicine ball, then a barbell, then a box, then another barbell, then a rower. Aimee informed the class that it didn't matter whether each partner was using the same weights. Multiple medicine balls could be stored at the wall and if you were using different weights for the barbells, then each partner would load up one of the two barbells with the weight they wanted. The only catch was that you had to go back to that barbell for the second movement. So partner one would go to the stations in the following order: 1-4-3-4-5. Partner two would go 1-2-3-2-5. (Everyone else just went 1-2-3-4-5.) Simple enough, although it meant some extra running during a workout where you don't want to waste energy.
I pleaded with Mike to go first. It wasn't like I was going to have time for a nap by going second, but I figured giving my body an extra 20 minutes to recover from the trip couldn't hurt. Mike was using 70 pounds on his barbell while I was using 75 on mine. We got started with heat one and Mike maintained a decent pace. He did well on the wall balls, had a solid round of sumo deadlift high pulls, and kept a good pace on the box jumps. Push presses were a little tougher for him, but then he ended the round with a nice surge on the row. First round score: 84.
I got Mike his water so he could rehydrate a little before round two began. I let him know the most important thing going forward was going to be keeping his breathing under control. Suddenly it was time for him to begin round two. He struggled a little more on the wall balls and the push press, stayed close to his numbers on the sumo deadlift high pulls and box jumps, and rowed one calorie more. Second round score: 70. That was not bad at all. I already knew my drop off between rounds one and two was likely to much steeper than that.
Mike's round three followed the pattern of round two as there was no denying that he was liking wall balls and push presses less and less as the workout drew on, but once again, he finished with one more calorie on his row. Third round score: 62. Final score: 216.
Now it was my turn to go. Only had one goal: don't puke. I wanted a decent score, but given the circumstances, that seemed unlikely. If I was fresh, I would have wanted a PR (previous best = 256), as it's been a long time since I last did this workout. But not puking worked for tonight.
Round 1: Didn't put down the wall ball. Completed 30 reps before the first minute was up. Moved over to the sumo deadlift high pulls. Those things are so damn awkward. Okay, they probably aren't, but when you're lopsided like I am, this movement becomes extremely awkward. I kept my barbell level for the most part. Have no idea how many I completed. Let's call it close to 20. Went over to my box next and started doing rebounding jumps. Shouldn't have been a problem because this was a lower box than I'm used to (24"), but I started getting tired. Did about 20 reps here too. Went back to my barbell to do push presses. This was where I was supposed to pour it on. But after 9 reps I needed to put the barbell down and catch my breath. When I picked the barbell back up, I was determined to keep it in my hands much longer. 17 reps later, I dropped the barbell, just as minute four was finishing. I had a little further to walk to get to my rower and that cost me a few seconds, but I doubt it cost me more than a calorie or two. I pulled hard, but didn't zip back and forth on the rower. Even though I had a minute rest coming up, I remembered how short that break was. Going crazy on the rower would screw me over the rest of the way. I got 9 calories before the round ended. First round score: 109.
Round 2: I was still breathing pretty heavily when round two began, but when I heard my score was 109, I began having delusions of grandeur. Maybe I could get a score of 300 tonight! Or maybe not. I dropped my wall ball after 10-12 reps. I wasn't in a big hurry to pick it back up. I did manage one more larger set before having to move to the next station. Similar theme on the sumo deadlift high pulls. Got a good first set, then needed a break. Did another set, then snuck in a smaller set right before moving on. At the box, there was no more rebounding. I tried to keep moving with the jumps, but I wasn't landing upright, which meant I needed to stand up after landing on the box. All of this was causing me to be much slower at this station than I had been in round one. At the push press, I started with a larger first set, but as was the pattern this round, needed a break to catch my breath. I got another larger set in, ending up with over 20 reps at this station. Finally, I got to the rower and did 9-10 calories to complete the round. Second round score: Unknown.
Round 3: I didn't hear Mike tell me what my second round score was. It didn't matter. I was tired. Puking was still a possibility. 300 was not. The wall balls had to be broken into smaller sets. I started clanking the barbell off the ground unevenly on my sumo deadlift high pulls. The box jumps were about the same as in round two, although that speaks more to how poorly I did them in the second round. For push presses, I made sure to get at least 20 once again. Finally, I went all out on the rower, getting 13 calories at my last station. Third round score: Unknown. Final score: 262. YES! I had gotten a PR while feeling like absolute dog shit. Hooray for me.
Know who got a higher score? Rachel. Like 50 reps more. She has been pouring it on recently, probably because the Open is right around the corner. Or because Giulz hung a bag of chocolate covered potato chips in front of her during the workout.
I'm not sure I've ever seen Giulz this happy
Anyways, I'm glad that I learned my lesson from a year ago. No more throwing down the gauntlet. If I competed against Rachel this year, I'm sure the pummeling I'd receive would be even worse. (If that's possible)
After drinking 2-3 bottles of water, I finished my evening by doing week 4 of the Wendler program for shoulder press. This was the de-load week, meaning you did more reps at a lighter weight. In previous weeks, you did as many reps as you could in your final set. Since I did not read Cline's spreadsheet, I didn't realize that you did not do that in week 4. So after doing 5 reps at 55 pounds and 70 pounds, I did 18 reps at 80 pounds for no reason at all.
Tuesday preview: Everyone is losing their muscle-up virginity recently, but there's a padlock on my chastity belt. Then I do a hero WOD with a weight vest on because I'm a crazy person.
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