Half-a-WOD

Workout date: 3/1/16

I wasn't too down on myself about Monday's WOD because I assumed it was simply one of those days when things didn't go my way.  I'm not great with KBs and it was unseasonably warm.  That combination led to 25 minutes of struggling.  No biggie.  I'd come back on Tuesday and right the ship.  Or maybe not.  The Tuesday WOD had two parts to it, with the first part being a benchmark WOD called Elizabeth:

Elizabeth
21-15-9
Squat cleans (135/95)
Ring dips

I had never done Elizabeth in its RX form before and I was giving heavy consideration to trying it at Dudes After Dark.  The squat cleans would be difficult, but I was much more concerned about doing 45 ring dips.  There was a strong chance I wouldn't be able to do that many, but I could have a band nearby to help me through them if I hit the wall.  The second part of the workout would take place 2 minutes later.  After a 120-second recovery period, we had 10 minutes to find a 2RM hang squat clean.  Based on the scores I saw from earlier in the day, it looked like Elizabeth could be expected to take some of the starch out of you as the 2RM numbers were a little lower than I thought they would be.

We had six people in class (5 dudes and a Julie), so space wasn't an issue.  We could all line up our barbells close to the rings and there would be no need to share rings.  Doctor Coach Sommelier VP Giulz walked us through some squat clean progressions, then had us add weight to our empty barbells.  Since there was a pair of 35 pound plates near where we were working, I took those and warmed up with 115 pounds.  I did some reps and felt very comfortable with the weight.  Did I put 20 more pounds on the barbell?  I did not.  That wasn't like me.  Maybe that was the first sign that I was feeling more lethargic than I realized.

After doing some dip practice, we were ready to go.  I had placed a medium-sized band next to my rings in case I needed it.  I had some second thoughts about using only 115 pounds as I was worried about finishing Elizabeth too quickly (watch how silly that seems in a couple paragraphs), but I stuck with that weight.  Giulz said Elizabeth should take about 10 minutes, so my goal was 9 minutes because I had gone lighter than originally planned on the squat cleans.  3-2-1-fail!

Right off the bat, I felt awkward with the squat cleans.  Maybe this is a movement (like snatches) where I struggle to string reps.  Giulz had said that we should be able to do 5-7 right off the bat, but I needed to drop my barbell after 3 reps.  On the third rep, I had fallen forward while doing the squat clean and I wanted to reset my setup.  Except the same thing happened on the third rep of my next set.  And the set after that.  Suddenly this was like the double under WOD where I kept doing 5 reps before hitting myself with the rope.  Okay, new plan.  I would do fast singles, but they legitimately had to be fast singles.  No walking away from the barbell between reps.  Plan B might have been Plan B for a reason.  I was no longer falling forward on reps, but this method seemed to be more tiring than my original method.  I needed a break after 3-4 singles.  Meanwhile, the rest of the class was finding their way to the rings.  Behind yet again.

Eventually I got to my rings, but I was already feeling tired.  Keeping with the theme of sets of 3, I would do 3 reps at a time before dropping and shaking out my arms.  I thought I was doing good reps, but Giulz said I wasn't completely locking out at the top.  Wow, slow reps without full range of motion.  Impressive stuff Dave!  My sets became two reps and then singles.  The rest of the class had begun their round of 15 while I looked at the clock and figured out that there was no way I was finishing in under 10 minutes.  I was on the initial round of 21 and somehow I had already been mathematically eliminated from completing the workout in the designated time frame.

From that point forward, I tried to keep things respectable.  I wasn't going to catch the rest of the class, but I didn't want to be hopelessly far behind them either.  There was no desire to extend my gym record of being lapped on workouts that only had three rounds in them.  Not sure if I was successful on that front, but I think I got off the rings (now doing banded dips) at around the same time that the first couple of people in class finished up the workout.  I did a little better on the round of 9 squat cleans as being able to see the finish line always helps matters.  As I began my ring dips, those who had previously finished were starting the next phase of their workout.

I had two difficulties in completing Elizabeth.  One was doing the dips themselves.  But the other was getting the band to stay hooked on to the rig as my big ass was causing it to snap off repeatedly.  The band came off three separate times in the last round alone.  Guess that's a sign I need to lose a few pounds.  At long last, I did my 45th dip.  Final time: 15:02.

That was a disaster.  I was drenched in sweat.  I was tired.  And I still had the strength portion of the WOD to go.  Prior to the workout, I thought my 2RM might fall in the 185-205 range, but now all bets were off.  As my two minute rest period ticked away, I grabbed some 15 pound plates to add to my bar.  By the time I had added this 30 pounds to my barbell, my two minutes were up and it was time to hang squat clean.  The attempt at 145 pounds was mercifully easier than I expected after the calamity that was Elizabeth.  Giulz declared it easy and I decided to grab 30 more pounds.  For as fast as the clock seemed to tick during the first half of the workout, it was amazingly slow for this second half.  I put 30 more pounds on the barbell and made my attempt at 175 pounds, only 2 minutes having elapsed in my 10 minute window.  The two reps at 175 pounds weren't easy, but it was clear after this successful attempt that I needed to add more weight to the barbell.  Giulz had mentioned doing 3-4 sets, but I had already completed 2 sets with nearly 8 minutes left in my window.  I took the long route in adding more weight to the barbell.

I strolled over to my favorite area of the gym and grabbed some paper towels to dry off.  Then I crossed the gym to grab a pair of 10 pound plates.  My next attempt would be at 195 pounds.  I figured this would be my last shot at a successful lift.  Or this could be another instance of me being wildly optimistic (I may never worry about finishing too quickly on a workout again).  With about four and a half minutes remaining, I gave 195 a shot.  The first clean went fine, but as the weights get heavy, that transition to the second hang always becomes a bit tricky.  My mind flashed back to when Miranda helped me with my hang power clean issues by reminding me to keep my shoulders pinched back.  I had a tendency to let my shoulders roll forward as I came back to the hang for my second rep.  So when I got back to the hang, I made sure to pinch my shoulders back again before attempting the second rep.  Success.

205 was the logical leap for my final attempt, but I now had a little more pep in my step with the Elizabeth disaster behind me, so I thought I'd give 215 a shot.  If I failed, I'd still be pleased with a score of 195 as that was right in the middle of my expected range before I began doing the hang squat cleans.  It was house money time.  I loaded 20 more pounds on the bar, walked around a bit, and watched a couple other folks attempt their last sets before it was my turn to go.  I made sure my setup was exactly how I wanted it and then did the first rep.  I got my elbows through quickly but this barbell felt very heavy.  I had to work to stand it up.  Rather than go directly into the hang again, I stood with the barbell in my front rack for a few extra seconds.  I wanted to get my breathing under control prior to the transition into the second rep.  When I felt ready, I brought the barbell down into the hang.  I made sure my shoulders were pinched back, then attempted the squat clean.  Got my elbows through again, but I was stuck in the bottom of the squat.  My initial push to stand up went nowhere.  I wasn't ready to bail the weight, but it's not all that often that I make it out of a squat with a second surge.  This was one of those rare exceptions.  When I tried a second time to stand up, my body began to move.  I pushed my hips forward as hard as I could and began to rise.  It wasn't pretty, but a second later I was standing straight up with 215 pounds at my shoulders.  I felt somewhat redeemed from the complete failure that was the first part of this WOD.

____day preview: My exhaustion during workouts the past two days has me wondering whether I should take two days off prior to 16.2.  I am definitely taking Thursday off, but taking Wednesday off might be a wise course of action.  Except there are wall ascents programmed for Wednesday!  I love those and they are rarely in workouts.  So I'm not sure whether I'll drop in Wednesday night to work out.  If I do, there will be an extra blog post.  Otherwise, the next blog post will be after 16.2.