Dub (Mis)Step

Workout date: 3/4/16

I had a rare instance of good judgment when I decided to forego wall ascents on Wednesday night in order to rest.  Elizabeth had shown me that I was a little more beaten up than I wanted to admit to, so a WOD where I'd be climbing walls, doing burpees, and working through sets of moderately heavy deadlifts was likely not going to help me recover.  On Thursday night, my plan was to get over to the gym around 8:00 so that I could watch Cline take on 16.2 before he headed overseas.  Unfortunately, dinner with my parents ran long and by the time I got to the gym, he was done with the workout.  Here's what he faced as the first person in our gym to take on 16.2:

Open Workout 16.2

Each round begins with:
25 toes-to-bar
50 double unders

Starting with a 4 minute clock, you must complete the toes-to-bar and double unders followed by a given number of squat cleans:

Round 1: 15 squat cleans (135/85)
Round 2: 13 squat cleans (185/115)
Round 3: 11 squat cleans (225/145)
Round 4: 9 squat cleans (275/175)
Round 5: 7 squat cleans (315/205)

Upon completing a round, you receive 4 additional minutes of time to continue through the workout.  The final score is the reps completed when your time runs out.

Initial thoughts: I was kinda happy with this announcement.  25 toes-to-bar was a lot, but it helped that this would kick off the workout.  I thought I could get through those in a reasonable amount of time.  I had just done Annie recently, so I knew what going through a round of 50 double unders felt like.  I had also done Elizabeth recently and I was not looking forward to the squat cleans.  115 pounds was troublesome enough, but the round 1 squat cleans were heavier than that.  Still, I thought I could get through round 1 and possibly flirt with the end of round 2 if I kept moving throughout the time given for the workout.

Watching the Open announcement didn't dissuade me from thinking that two full rounds was a realistic goal.  Granted, the two guys doing the workout were among the fittest in the world, but they didn't appear to be moving with some great sense of urgency as they went through each of their rounds.  In fact, they did singles on the squat cleans for the entire 20 minutes.  I was likely only going to be working for 8 minutes.  If by some miracle I made it to 12 minutes, I would need to do 11 squat cleans at my 1RM, so that wasn't happening.  But given enough time at the end of round 2, could I churn through 13 squat cleans at 185?  It would be tough, but I had just done a 2RM hang squat clean of 215 earlier in the week.  It didn't seem impossible.

The Open can be a very humbling experience, even before you attempt the workout.  As I had done with 16.1, I looked at the early scores on Friday to get a sense of how crazy my initial goals for the workout were.  Answer: pretty crazy.  Cate, Tim P, Laura P, Pete, Jon P, Mike Simonson and others had all attempted 16.2 in the morning and none of them had finished round 2.  By the time Friday Night Lights rolled around, there was still no one who had worked longer than 8 minutes.  Either I was going to put up a ridiculously good score in the team competition or I had horrendously misjudged how well I was going to do in this workout.  I think you know how this story ends.

Who would be the best barometer of how tough this workout was?  Rich A.  Rich had made the top 3 on the gym whiteboard with his performance on Elizabeth (squat cleans) earlier in the week.  He was already on the board for Annie (double unders).  And based on his ability to stay on the bar forever doing butterfly pull-ups, I assumed that toes-to-bar would not pose much of a problem for him.  He had mentioned on FB that he wanted to take part in the 5:00 heat, so I tried to get over there to watch him.   I showed up about 5 minutes late, so I ended up catchng him at the end of round two.  He had made it to the squat cleans, but his singles at 185 were very slow.  Uh oh.  Time was ticking away and Rich seemed unable to pick up his pace.  8 minutes was drawing near and reaching round three was now in doubt.  With a few seconds remaining, Rich was able to stand up with his 13th squat clean at 185 to get himself four more minutes to work.  Except he was more exhausted than I had ever seen him before.  He could barely do single reps of toes-to-bar.  In the 9th minute, he completed only 5 reps.  At that rate, he wasn't going to get to his jump rope, where 50 easy reps (for him) awaited.  He got to 12 reps by the time 10 minutes passed.  He eventually finished the 25 toes-to-bar with just over 30 seconds left in the round, then rattled through 44 double unders before time expired.

What had I learned?  I certainly wasn't completing round two!  In fact, I was starting to have concerns  about finishing round one.  That concern grew even larger after being Samson's judge for his heat.  Samson strung together all 25 of his toes-to-bar.  Then he did really well on his double unders, wrapping those up at the 1:45 mark.  The barbell spelled trouble for him though.  His first clean was heavier than he expected and he dropped it immediately.  No worries, still plenty of time to get the 15 squat cleans done.  Samson adjusted to how heavy the barbell was and began knocking out one good rep after another.  However, he was taking more time between reps as he progressed through the set.  I started looking at the clock to make sure he was on pace to finish the round, but he was cutting it close.  He had begun looking at the clock as well with a concerned look on his face.  With about 30 seconds left, he needed to pick up the pace.  He finished the 13th squat clean with about 15 seconds remaining.  I told him to get back on the barbell, but it was clear he needed a break.  He looked at the clock again and began shaking his head.  With a few seconds left, he got one more squat clean in, but he was one rep short of making round two.  Damn.  The chances of me getting to my barbell with 2 minutes and 15 seconds remaining was low, but clearly these squat cleans were going to require a solid chunk of time to get through.  I could not afford to mess up my toes-to-bar or my double unders when it was my turn to go.

In the heat before mine, I got to watch Aimee and Keith face off in this workout.  I was surprised that neither of them raced out to a fast pace in round one.  After all, this was a workout where you could progress to the next round immediately.  If you finished round one in 2:30, then you had 5:30 to finish round two.  A quick pace in round one could buy you the cushion you might need to get through round two.  The two were neck and neck until the squat cleans, where it appeared that Keith was having some back issues.  He made it to round two, but his pace slowed considerably.  Aimee became the second person to reach round three and almost became the first to get to round four, falling 1 squat clean short at 145 pounds.  Keith was in pain, but after finishing up his double unders, ripped through 6 fast squat cleans to complete his workout.

It was now time for me to take a crack at 16.2.  My plan was to use the high bar to crank out a big set of kipping toes-to-bar to begin.  I might attempt a second set on the high bar if I was feeling it.  Otherwise, it was on to the low bar for fast singles.  For the double unders, it was all about remaining calm.  Then at the squat cleans, I would do singles, but I had to stay on the barbell after each rep.  Not a crazy game plan.  But even the vanilla game plans can fall apart.

My heat began and I knocked out 10 quick toes-to-bar.  Maybe the adrenaline of the heat got to me, but I immediately headed to the low bar, not wanting to waste time recovering before a second big set on the high bar.  Doing reps on the low bar felt awkward after using the high bar, but I kept a solid pace until about rep 17 or 18.  From that point, I needed to shake out my arms after every few toes-to-bar.  I got into a rhythm of doing 2 quick singles, then shaking my arms out before doing two more.  I wrapped up my 25th rep and headed to my jump rope.  The clock said 1:13.  A little slower than I wanted, but not horrible.

I grabbed my rope, took a second to compose myself, then began to twirl.  Only a couple of reps before hitting myself.  Then 1 rep.  Then a few more reps.  Finally a set of 5 reps, but I had barely broken double digits and I was about to begin my 5th set.  I kept repeating the word "calm" in my head, but I was told later that I began to look panicky.  Two more small sets before finally putting together a set of about 15 reps.  After that, it was more small sets.  In all, I must have needed around 12 sets to get through 50 reps, which is not good at all.  When I finished my double unders, the clock said 2:34.  Forget 2 minutes and 15 seconds, I only had a minute and 26 seconds to get through my squat cleans.

I rushed over to my barbell and thought about stringing reps.  My gut told me that if I moved quickly with my singles, I could still make it, so I was sticking to that game plan.  I picked stuff up and I put stuff down.  The weight wasn't unbearable, but having to squat with it each time was not pleasant.  With 40 seconds to go, I had 8 reps left.  5 seconds per rep meant no rest between reps.  I was starting to have trouble catching my breath, but I couldn't afford to stop.  In fact, it was now time to consider stringing reps.  After rep #8, I tried to go right into rep #9, but I did not have the energy at that point to pull off consecutive reps.  The barbell barely got above my knee before flying out of my hands.  I was screwed.  There would be no round two for me.  I finished up three more reps before time expired.  Final score: 86 (4 reps short of round two).

I was really mad at myself.  All that double under practice and I screwed the pooch when it counted.  The squat cleans were rough, but if I had given myself another 25-30 seconds, I think I could have made it.  By the time the next heat ended, I had "recovered".  It almost felt like I had not worked out at all.  I wanted to try it again.  Not later that weekend.  I wanted to try it again at the end of the night.  I had enough sense to know that was a really stupid idea, but that was how aggravated I was with myself.

Making up for my lousy performance were some other folks with great performances.  Coach Steph made it to round four of the scaled workout.  Coach Rachel once again won the Viking vs Giant Ginger challenge, besting Faby by 8 reps this week.  The real battle though was between Rachel and teen athlete Veronica.  Rachel ended up 3 reps short of completing round two, but Veronica was only 2 reps short of seeing round three.  Maybe the Viking only picks on the male athletes in the gym.  But the performance of the night was turned in by Ashley M.  She also got to round 4 of the scaled workout, where she had to do squat cleans at a weight that would be a PR for her.  Despite being exhausted from nearly 16 minutes of work, she managed to get several squat cleans at this heavy weight to the delight of everyone cheering her on.

After a long night of trying to play designated driver to the drunk folks who danced and drank in honor of Giulz's birthday, I headed home on the late side with no designs on working out the following day.  I'd try 16.2 again on Sunday morning.

Sunday preview: 16.2 does not get any easier the second time around, especially if you do it while not feeling well.  Also, I get to experience a famous Crossfit phenomenon for the first time.  (Spoiler: It is not something one wants to experience.)