I've had many instances where I came up with a plan for a workout only to watch it fall apart as I attempted it. But having the plan fall apart 10 hours in advance of the workout? Well that didn't happen too often. I had gone to bed on Saturday night thinking that I would hit Open Gym at 11am and give 16.2 another go. The only problem was that I was up most of the night. For some reason I was having some mild abdominal pain that was keeping me from getting a good night's rest. I woke up around 1am thinking that my consumption of wings, ribs, smoked sausage, pork shoulder, cornbread, and macaroni and cheese during Giulz's birthday dinner might be coming back to haunt me. After tossing and turning for a half hour, a much more terrifying thought crossed my mind. Wasn't this how my kidney stone episode from last year had started? The last thing I wanted was another night in the hospital. I immediately got up and grabbed a couple bottles of water in the hopes that some last minute over-hydration might prevent that outcome. Eventually I was able to get some sleep.
When I woke up in the morning, I still wasn't feeling spectacular. Was it worth going through with 16.2 again if I wasn't feeling 100%? The stubborn side of me didn't want to wait until Monday. What if I felt worse a day later? As I got ready to head to the gym, I started feeling a little better. I managed to eat an apple as I didn't want to do this workout on an empty stomach, but I didn't have a lot of confidence that I could eat more than that without angering my digestive system again. I got in the car and kept my fingers crossed that my performance wouldn't be affected by whatever was ailing me.
I originally was going to practice some of the WODs for the Festivus Games at Open Gym, but that ended up taking a back seat to 16.2. If I didn't improve on Friday's performance, then I figured I'd still have enough energy to take on one or two of the WODs from the competition as they tended to be on the smaller side. I left the gym on Friday feeling like I hadn't completed a workout. I wasn't going to leave on Sunday feeling the same way (Spoiler: I certainly left Sunday feeling like I had worked out). Shawna was doing something similar, starting out with an Open re-do, while "Megs" and Ashley M were going to attempt 16.2 again on Monday. Those two were going to do the two Festivus workouts I had done two weeks ago (the rowing/bench press sprint, along with the longer high pull/clean/jerk with burpees workout). "Megs" had even come in for the scheduled WOD at 10am, setting a PR on her 3RM front squat. It must be nice never running out of energy.
As I warmed up, Shawna and Steph C took on 16.2 again. Both of them made it to the jump rope, but neither of them got to their barbell, so when 4 minutes was up, it was time for the next heat. And the next heat included me. Crap, it was time to go already. I did get to practice doing double unders with a higher jump before my heat began and I was able to string 15 in a row before voluntarily stopping. No need to waste all my energy during the warm-up. Besides jumping higher during double unders, I was planning on making two other adjustments in my second attempt at 16.2. The first was bringing over a small box next to the rig where I was doing toes-to-bar. If I was going to do multiple sets on the high bar, there was no point in wasting energy jumping back up to it. I could step on this box and reach the bar to begin a new set. The other adjustment was my approach to the squat cleans. I wanted to try and string reps from the beginning, if possible, as I felt the singles required too much time. I needed to reset my grip every time while doing singles, with the result being a rep every 7-8 seconds on average. That meant I needed 1:45-2:00 for the 15 cleans. Last time around, I only had 1:26. Of course, not botching the double unders would help matters as well.
Mike Santivasci and I made up the next heat and there was no more time for planning. Coach Rachel was counting for me and she gave us the "3, 2, 1, go!" As I had done on Friday, I strung my first 10 reps on the high bar. When I got to the 8th rep, I noticed my motion was becoming less efficient. So when I hopped off the bar, I didn't bother with taking a break and trying for another big set (possible mistake). Just went straight to the low bar as I had done on Friday. Time was precious and I wanted to keep moving. The low bar still felt awkward to me, but I kept grabbing it and doing quick singles until I got to about 20 reps. At that point, I needed to shake my arms every now and again on my way to 25 reps. Quick time check: 1:07. Six seconds ahead of Friday.
It was put up or shut up time. I grabbed my rope, told myself to stay calm, and twirled the rope. Before going into a set of double unders, I do one single under. Somehow, I managed to hit myself with the rope on the very first single under. Not the greatest start. Michal and Rachel immediately told me to remain calm as I started over. The second attempt was better. In fact, I made it through 22 reps before hitting myself with the rope again. Two sets later and I was at 42 reps. I took a breath, made sure that my setup was correct and got through the final 8 reps. Time check: 2:04. Thirty seconds ahead of Friday.
Still believing that I needed 1:45-2:00 for the cleans, I was happy about having 1:56 left, but not overconfident that reaching round two was a done deal. I grabbed my barbell and strung two reps. Going for the third one felt like a mistake. In fact, I was pretty sure that stringing any more reps would be a mistake for me as I was starting to get tired. I've always struggled on these sprint workouts as adrenaline and panic probably get the best of me. I was at a point now though where I knew I was capable of finishing in the remaining time. As always, I simply needed to keep moving. It felt like I was not getting any break between each squat clean, yet the clock was indicating that I was taking about 7-8 seconds per rep as had been the case on Friday. I was getting set up for my 12th squat clean when I heard there was 30 seconds left. This would be tight.
As I did the 12th rep and then the 13th, my body was telling me that I needed to stop and catch my breath. The small crowd encouraging me on was saying otherwise. As I approached my barbell a 14th time, Rachel yelled to me "15 seconds, you have to go!" I was in the exact same spot that Samson was on Friday, only I knew I would be crushed if I fell one rep short. I completed squat clean #14. "Again, again" came the yells. I took a second to compose myself knowing that I could not mess up this last squat clean. I hit the bottom of the squat clean and pushed as hard as I could to stand up with it. Success! With only a couple of seconds to spare, I had made it to round two.
When I imagined this moment in my head, it was very triumphant. Maybe a fist pump before going back to my bar and working my way through the toes-to-bar. What actually transpired was very different. I had reached the point that Rich A had reached after completing round two with seconds to spare on Friday. He told me afterwards he had redlined, but that he had no other choice in order to finish the second round. (Note: For those unfamiliar with redlining, it is similar to driving more than 30 miles with the low fuel light on in your car. You might make it a little further, but it won't be long until your car starts sputtering to a stop.) I gave it everything I had to finish round one and now my body was responding to pushing it a bit too far. I could barely walk over to my bar. When I got there, I needed to kneel in an attempt to breathe. I tried standing and holding on to the rig. Tried propping myself against the wall. No matter what I did, my body was not taking in the oxygen it desperately needed. 30-40 seconds went by before I attempted a toes-to-bar. I weakly flailed my feet at the bar, missing it badly. Time to kneel again. One minute elapsed and my score was still 90.
Everyone was trying to help me continue, but I was in bad shape. Michal told me to get chalk, but I told her chalk wasn't going to help me breathe. Apparently my hands were soaked with sweat and she was trying to help me get a better grip on the bar, but I was too far out of it to understand. As the second minute of my bonus four minutes ticked away, I stood up and made another attempt at a toes-to-bar. My kip was weak again, but I closed my shoulder as violently as I could in the hopes that I could pull my feet up to the bar with what remaining upper body strength I had left. It worked, but it took a lot of energy just for one rep. I got a couple more as my body began to recover slowly. There was no chance of me getting to the jump rope, that was for certain, but I could tack on a few more reps to my score if I could just manage to stand. I did what I could until the clock hit eight minutes. It wasn't much of a second round, but I completed 13 toes-to-bar. Final score: 103.
Was this an example of winning the battle, but losing the war? I don't know. I desperately wanted to make round two and I did, so I was pleased about that. As for the rest? Well, I think that is just an indication of where my cardio currently is. I wish I could have done more with the extra 4 minutes I got, but the truth of the matter is that I was probably lucky to even get to that point.
I spent the better part of the next half hour trying to breathe normally. That is not a misprint. This was my first experience with something Crossfitters call "Fran cough". Fran is a WOD made up of thrusters and pull-ups that ends up being a sprint for those proficient in both movements. Afterwards, people have been known to have trouble breathing, developing a cough they did not have prior to the workout. The medical term for this phenomenon is exercise-induced pulmonary edema. You feel like there is a never-ending supply of mucus that you need to cough up. There is a burning feeling in your lungs and a metallic taste in your mouth. It's as wonderful as it sounds.
I walked around the gym and the lobby trying to recover. I sat on a bench outside for a while. I wanted to see Kevin B and Mike C do their heat of 16.2, but I only made it in to see the very end of their workout. Any thoughts of attempting the Festivus WODs were now out the window. I'd be spending the rest of the day trying to get rid of my new cough.
I thought 16.2 would be a better workout for me than 16.1, but it turns out it was the other way around. I ended up 24th in the gym for 16.1. I'll likely end up in the range of 30th-35th place for 16.2. The good news? I'm probably done with gymnastic movements on the bar for this year's Open unless bar muscle-ups come along, but I can't do those anyway. The bad news? With handstand push-ups and ring muscle-ups on the way, I will most likely be doing the scaled workouts. Since that puts me behind all of the RX folks, I will really need to knock it out of the park to have a shot at staying in the top 35 in the gym by the end of the Open.
Monday preview: 3RM deadlift and a sprint cash-out involving KB swings and burpees.
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