Valhalla

Workout date: 2/3/16

The first time I met Rachel was during Open workout 14.5 two years ago.  She needed a judge and I volunteered.  As she got near the end of the workout, her pace slowed a bit and she began to think that she was doing horrible.  I reassured her that she was still doing very well and that she was nearly done.  She probably wasn't convinced I was telling the truth until 10 minutes later when she was my judge.  I was properly demonstrating what one looks like when they are struggling through a workout: slowly crawling through my burpees and taking very tiny hops over the barbell.

I might associate Rachel with the Open in my mind because of that day.  Or it could be because she scarred me for life last year by beating me like a drum for five consecutive weeks.  I didn't come close to making her sweat even a single time during last year's Open.  Now with the Open just a couple of weeks away, I've noticed that Rachel's performances (at least in the classes I have been in with her) have been stronger than usual.  In the last workout I did before Vegas where I was racing Silver Fox over and over again, Rachel finished more than two minutes faster than anyone else in the gym.  (Note: She only went to 15' for her first 3 rope climbs because she didn't know you were supposed to go to 20', but climbing 5 extra feet three more times wouldn't have taken her over two minutes.)  On Fight Gone Bad, she had the highest female score in the gym by 18 reps, with only 4 guys posting higher scores.  (Note: Male scores tend to be higher on average in Fight Gone Bad.  I suspect it is because we get to use the same size box for box jumps and because men typically do better on the rower.)  And then there was Wednesday's WOD.  We'll get to that soon enough.  But for whatever reason, it's clear that the Viking rage has been released.  Perhaps the Open is Rachel's version of Valhalla on earth.

The workout on Wednesday was basically a hybrid version of Grace and Isabel with a twist:

5 rounds:
5 Squat Clean Thrusters (135/95)
5 Power Snatches (135/95)

This was one of those tricky workouts that didn't seem that bad on the surface.  25 thrusters and 25 snatches?  How long could that possibly take?  The answer, as usual, was longer than you might think.  At least I'm a little older and wiser when it comes to workouts like this one.  I knew I wasn't going to use 135 pounds on my barbell because I'm not proficient enough at Isabel with 135 pounds.  I was leaning towards 125 pounds, but then I spoke with Matt Bohen after he did the 6:30 class and he told me how awful the workout was using 115 pounds.  Hmmm...maybe 115 was the way to go rather than 125.  Persuaded by Matt, I decided that 125 pounds might be a mistake and went with the lower weight instead.

The 7:30 class consisted of me, Rachel, Julie, and Kenton.  The four of us formed a single line facing the main whiteboard as Doctor Coach Sommelier VP Giulz put us through our warmups.  For the workout, Kenton and Rachel were going RX, while Julie was using 65 pounds on her barbell.  My plan was to try and string some of the squat clean thrusters and to do quick singles on the snatches.  Stringing snatches has always felt awkward to me and I didn't think I would lose that much time dropping the barbell before going into the next one.  However, Giulz made a comment that it was probably better to do quick singles on the squat clean thrusters.  Again, I made an adjustment and decided I'd be doing quick singles for everything for 5 rounds.

Giulz gave us the countdown and round one began.  I was at the far end of the line with Rachel on my right.  I didn't hesitate at all as I did one squat clean thruster after another, but I could see out of the corner of my eye that Rachel was already moving faster than me.  When we got to the snatches, I continued doing singles, but I think Rachel strung her reps together.  We were about 30 seconds into the workout and I was already falling behind despite going as fast I could.  I tried to block that out of mind.  My focus the rest of the way needed to be maintaining this pace for as long as possible.

My first round took a minute and change.  At the end of the second round, the clock was near 2:30.  I took a look over to my right and saw that Kenton and Julie were moving faster than me as well.  Damn, I thought I was moving at a pretty good pace, but I was being left in the dust.  During round three, Rachel's barbell and my barbell started bouncing towards each other between reps, so she moved hers forward and completed the workout up closer to the front of the class.  At the end of three rounds, the clock showed just over 4 minutes.

I was having a very difficult time with my grip on the snatches.  My hands had become very sweaty and every time I did a snatch, I could feel my hands slide as I pulled the bar over my head.  That was very disconcerting, but I didn't want to slow down.  I tried to wipe my hands off quickly in between reps, but that was costing me time as I still needed to get my hands set before each snatch.  For the squat clean thrusters, I was fine.  My hands were closer together so there wasn't any sliding.  When I caught the barbell in my squat clean, I had it supported by my entire front rack, so I wasn't worried about it slipping on me.

I completed round four, but I didn't take a look at the clock before starting the final round.  Just 5 more thrusters and 5 more snatches.  Time to make one last push.  The squat clean thrusters were requiring a little more exertion, but I was never concerned about the weight being too heavy for me.  As I got into my 2nd or 3rd squat clean thruster, Rachel finished her workout.  I kept trying to move right into the next rep after dropping the barbell at the top of the previous rep.  The squat clean thrusters were done and only 5 power snatches were keeping me from being done with the workout.

To be clear, those final 5 power snatches were some of the ugliest you could ever witness.  I was pulling way too early as I was rushing to get the workout done.  Julie finished her workout as I was setting up for my second-to-last snatch.  I did that one, wiped off my hands one more time, then completed one final snatch.  Final time: 8:26.  Kenton was right behind me, having one snatch left when I finished.  Rachel's time?  She finished in 7:14, the fastest time of the day by 33 seconds.  Don't mess with the Viking until the Open is over.

Thursday preview: Lots of overhead squats!  And more internal debate about double unders.