Don't Disappoint Us

Workout date: 4/16/16

After two days of rest, it was time to make up for my laziness with four WODs over the course of four hours.  The Festivus Games were on Saturday and this was going to be my second attempt at this special competition for intermediate and novice level athletes.  I was once again taking part in the men's intermediate division as was Cline.  We were the only guys representing KOP, but there were also four ladies from our box ready to throw down: Shawna in the intermediate division, and Danielle, Ashley M, and Megs in the novice division.  Giulz (our coach for the event) and EJ were along as well, giving us a group of 8 people to start the day.  That number would fluctuate over the course of the day as other folks from KOP dropped by to cheer us on.

It would be impossible for someone like myself to come to a competition where I would be doing multiple WODs and not have a game plan for the day.  After all, I tend to have a plan when I'm simply doing one workout for the day.  Typically, that plan encounters some bumps along the way and my plan for Festivus met the same fate.  Athletes do not find out their heat times in advance, so I wasn't sure when I'd be doing each event.  Adding to the dilemma was the fact that we had to do a floater WOD, which is a workout where you sign up for an available time on the day of the competition.  Because I knew the floater WOD would tire out my forearms, I wanted to make sure it wasn't too close to either WOD #1 or WOD #3.  Doing it right after WOD #2 seemed perfect.  I just needed to get to that sign up sheet in time to make sure the plan worked out.

A quick recap of what the four WODs were for those who don't make a habit of memorizing my blog posts.  That is a shame bell you hear ringing.  Shame!

WOD #1:
10 minute time cap
25 wall balls (20# to 10')
25 air squats
25 hand-release push-ups
25 double unders or 50 single unders
25 KB swings (53)
25 double unders or 50 single unders
25 hand-release push-ups
25 air squats
25 wall balls

WOD #2:
6 minute time cap
Find 1RM thruster

WOD #3:
8 minute time cap
12-9-6-3
Sumo deadlift high pulls (115)
Hang power cleans (115)
Shoulder-to-overhead (115)
Remaining time used to complete as many burpees over the barbell as possible

Floater WOD:
3 minute time cap
20 calorie row
Remaining time used to complete as many reps of bench press as possible using weight chosen by athlete

There was just one problem: I had forgotten to take into account that athletes don't necessarily do the workouts in the order they are numbered.  Last year, I did WOD #2 first, then WOD #1, then WOD #3.  This year?  When I checked in, I received scorecards letting me know that I would be doing WOD #3 at 10:28am, WOD #1 at 12:28pm, and WOD #2 at 2:20pm.  The window for doing the floater WOD was supposed to be 9:00-2:00, but because they were 20 minutes behind schedule, it was changed to 9:20-2:20 (we found this out right around 9:20).  Time to change the plan.  Rushing and doing it before WOD #3 seemed like a bad idea.  Doing it between WOD #3 and WOD #1 also seemed ill-advised, as both of those workouts were going to be taxing on my arms.  I couldn't do it after WOD #2 as I wanted to, which meant the only time that made sense was about midway between WOD #1 and WOD #2.  I ended up choosing 1:40pm as my time because I figured I would rather have a little extra recovery time from WOD #1.

At least I knew when I was going now.  And the good news was that it sounded like all the girls were going early on, and then Cline was going in the heat right after me.  So I even had my cheering schedule planned out.  The novice competitors were starting with WOD #1 while the intermediate competitors were starting with WOD #3, so Danielle, Ashley, and Megs would be the first to compete.  They were lined up in that order, with Danielle in heat #1, Ashley in heat #2, and Megs in heat #3.  These competition rookies were not playing around.  Danielle won her heat.  Then Ashley won her heat.  Megs may have won her heat, but her judge forget to tell her when to start and seemed bothered by the fact that she was supposed to be counting her athlete's reps.  (Note: I had this judge during one event last year and had similar issues with her.  More interested in gabbing with other judges and singing along with the music playing.  It's completely unfair to the athlete who is working their ass off in the event.  If you're that disinterested in judging a competition, then find some other way to volunteer or don't bother showing up.)

The bottom of the KB needs to be pointing towards the ceiling?  No problem for Ashley.

There was a little break before Shawna took on WOD #3.  When practicing this at the gym, Shawna had struggled to finish the round of 9 before time was called, so I told her that I wanted a big smile from her when she completed the round of 9.  I also informed her judge that she needed to smile once she reached that point.  Shawna's biggest concern was the sumo deadlift high pulls.  It is a movement that we don't do that often and we almost never use as much weight as we were using in this competition.  Her heat began and I was really excited to see Shawna knock out the first round of 12 sumo deadlift high pulls in two sets of 6.  That was 40% of the sumo deadlift high pulls she would have to do and she finished them in under a minute.  From there she went through her hang power cleans and her push jerks.  I think this was probably a heavy weight for Shawna to do a lot of push jerks with, but she remained composed and completed them.  The round of 9 looked more difficult than the first round, but in true Shawna-fashion, she kept grinding away through the reps.  With just under two minutes to go, she finished the round of 9.  As she set up to begin her round of 6, she flashed me a brief smile, followed by a look that said she might stab me in an alleyway.  Despite getting a few no-reps, she finished off the sumo deadlift high pulls for the round of 6, then got 4 hang power cleans in before time was called.  It was another awesome performance to start the day.

A smile is on the way as Shawna wraps up the round of 9.

I was next to go and I had already made a tactical mistake.  I never like to eat a whole lot before I work out, but I knew I had to eat over the course of the competition.  I picked up some light snacks for the day, but I also picked up a couple of RX bars to eat if I needed something a little more substantive.  About 45 minutes before my heat, I was feeling rather peckish and decided to eat one of these bars.  Turns out that my body requires more than 45 minutes to process one of these bars.  It wasn't that I was feeling it at the start of my workout, but as the event wore on and I became more out of breath, I started feeling a little nauseous.  Never good.  Despite that, I did much better in this event than I had done during practice.  I strung the first 12 sumo deadlift high pulls.  Then I strung 11 hang power cleans, leaving 1 rep as this was the natural progression into the next movement and there was no point in doing an extra rep.  (Note: I did this for the first three rounds and my judge seemed very confused by what I was doing.  She kept saying "you still have one more rep left!"  Yes, I know, that's the whole idea.)  After doing the last hang power clean, I strung all 12 push jerks.  My back was to the clock, but I felt like I was making good time.

Then I was hit with a dose of reality.  My plan was to push hard through the rounds of 12 and 9 because the rounds of 6 and 3 should be more like sprint rounds.  Except the round of 9 was harder than I remembered, meaning the other two rounds were certainly not going to be sprints.  (Okay, maybe the round of 3 was still a sprint.)  When I went to do my first sumo deadlift high pull for the round of 9, I thought I used the same amount of power that I had used in the round of 12.  But the barbell didn't even come close to my clavicle.  Just in case my judge wasn't sure, I informed her that this attempt was a no rep.  A little startled, I tried to regather my composure, but found I could only do two reps in a row.  I had to do better than that.  For my next set, I got three in a row.  If I was going to get a good time, I couldn't break up the last four reps.  I pulled as hard as I could on each one and managed to complete 4 good reps before dropping the barbell.  From there, I did 8 hang power cleans, then 1 last clean and 9 push jerks.  On to the round of six.

I don't recall how I did the sumo deadlift high pulls in that round (guessing I did two sets of three).  Followed that with 5 hang power cleans, then the last clean and 6 push jerks.  I took a quick look at the clock because it felt like I had been working for a long time and might be up against the time cap. That was not the case at all.  After sprinting through the round of 3, I completed the first portion of this workout in 5:42, more than a minute ahead of where I was when I practiced this.  Now it was on to the burpees, where I slowly crawled down to the floor and then over the bar.  I kept moving the whole time, but I was a combination of exhausted and nauseous.  Just take a look:

I have to do this for two more minutes???

I had no clue how I was doing in comparison to the other athletes, but it felt like there was no way anyone could be going slower than I was.  As the final three seconds were being counted down, I hit the deck one last time, then took a quick frog leap to my left to sneak in a 23rd burpee.  Final score: 5:42 + 23 (11th place).

Cline was the last in our group to take the floor.  I may have battled a little bit of nausea during my eight minute dance with WOD #3, but Cline had a tougher go of it.  He did not look happy as he made his way through the sumo deadlift high pulls.  The hang power cleans looked a little more palatable and then he was simply showing off that he no longer has noodle arms by push pressing all of his shoulder-to-overhead reps.  With less than a minute remaining, he got in 6 burpees and then proceeded to throw up in the trash can outside.  It was a rough start for him, but he would rally in the later events.

Fayth and Steph C join Shawna, myself, Troy and Diane in cheering on Cline through WOD #3

We all had one WOD complete, but there was little time to rest as it was time to cheer on the ladies in the novice division.  It was their turn to take on WOD #3.  To be fair, I only got to watch all of Danielle's performance in WOD #3 as Shawna's heat for WOD #1 conflicted with the end of Ashley's WOD #3 and the beginning of Megs's WOD #3.  The highlight of Danielle's second workout was proof of a phenomenon that apparently I had only seen to this point.  When I judged Danielle on Sunday as she practiced this workout, I witnessed something very strange.  When leaping to the other side of the barbell after a burpee, Danielle would jump over with her far leg first, criss-crossing it with her near leg.  Then the near leg would swoop over behind it.  If I did this, I would trip over the barbell at least 90% of the time.  But for Danielle, it seemed like second nature.  I thought for sure that she wouldn't do it at the competition, making me look even crazier for claiming that it happened on Sunday, but sure enough...

Danielle's cross-legged leaps over the barbell!  Do not try this at home!

After cheering on parts of the second workout for Ashley, Shawna, and Megs, it was time for me to go again.  I had been worried about WOD #1 and WOD #3 prior to the competition.  WOD #3 turned out alright.  If I could only get through WOD #1, then maybe I'd finish higher in the standings than I thought possible.  There was one decision that I still needed to make and that decision was with regard to the jump rope.  I had decided in advance that I was going to choose the double under option for WOD #1, but after watching a lot of people do single unders, I started to waver on my decision.  Perhaps I should just go with single unders and take any possible double under breakdowns out of the equation.  As my heat time approached, I gave myself a test to determine whether I should do double unders or single unders.  I took my rope out of my bag and if I could do 10 double unders right off the bat, then I'd do double unders.  If I messed up, it was single unders.  I began twirling the rope and 10 easy double unders later, my decision was made for me.

Boy, I really wish I messed up that test.  Doing double unders was such a bad decision.  My judge asked me as I got ready to go whether I'd be doing double unders or single unders.  I told him I was taking my chances with double unders even though I wasn't that great with them.  Duh.  Try listening to yourself Dave!  When it came down to it, I guess I felt like I should be doing double unders if I was doing the intermediate division. I felt that my little test was the universe's way of saying "some days you have double unders, some days you don't, but today you have them".  Or maybe I had the Almond Joy-Mounds commercial in my head.  It's all a blur at this point.  One more point in favor of the double unders decision: Michal had shown up after the first event to cheer us on.  There is no one at the gym who is better at getting me to remain calm when I struggle with my double unders and she was going to be right there in front of me helping me get through this WOD.  If I messed this up, it was purely a mental failure on my part.

It was a colossal mental failure on my part.  I strung all 25 wall balls.  Zipped through 25 air squats.  The hand-release push-ups were difficult and I had to break them up more than I wanted to, but I was still well ahead of my pace from practice.  I was going to finish this workout as I long as I didn't fall apart on the double unders or the KB swings.  I picked up my rope and got 2 double unders.  Went again and got 2 more.  I stopped for a moment to clear my head, to get calm.  But I kept messing up.  I don't recall how I got to 25 except to say that it took a lot of attempts and a lot of time.  At the KB, I did a set of 11 reps and a set of 14 reps.  There was still time to finish if I could find my double under form the second time through.  Didn't happen.  Pretty sure the second round was worse than the first round actually.  It was extremely frustrating.  Eventually I finished those and began doing sets of 3-4 push-ups to inch my way to 25 reps.  I had less than a minute left when I got to the air squats.  I did those as fast as they could possibly be done, leaving me about 10 seconds to do the wall balls.  I'm not sure if I've attempted to do wall balls in a hurry before, but it was ugly.  Instead of throwing the ball straight up, I was throwing it to the side, forcing me to run under the ball and throw it back up again at an angle.  I was going side to side in a desperate attempt to get a few more reps in.  After 4 wall balls, time was called.  Final score: 10:21 (33rd place).

Once again I had shown up to a competition and fallen flat on my face.  I was more enraged than tired.  Had I done single unders, I would have finished the workout with plenty of time to spare.  My guess is that I would have finished around 20th in the event.  I wouldn't have plummeted down the standings, leaving me with no hope of my first ever top 10 finish in a Crossfit event.  There was no point in being anxious about the final two events.  I was officially out of it.  (Note: The only saving grace was that my judge told me that I had the best form he had seen all day, as he was "no-repping the crap" out of most people.  Yay?)

Feeling dejected couldn't stop me from smiling as Cline did WOD #1.  Anyone who has watched Cline at the gym knows that he practices his double unders religiously.  Unfortunately for him, he hasn't had the opportunity to show them off during the Open because Dave Castro keeps programming advanced movements ahead of double unders in the workouts, preventing Cline from getting to them.  Today, that would not be a problem.  As unhappy as Cline might have looked during the sumo deadlift high pulls, his expression told a completely different story as he whipped through his double unders the way I envisioned myself doing them.  That expression may have changed as he finished his last round of wall balls, especially when he got no-repped on his last toss of the medicine ball.  But after checking the clock and seeing he had time to re-do the rep, he tossed the ball well over the line and finished under the time cap.

Cline proving that his noodle arms have gone al dente

There was a bit of a break at this point as the judges and volunteers had to transition out all of the equipment for WODs #1 and #3 from the main gym and get it ready for WOD #2.  In the meantime, most athletes were getting in their floater WOD, which was taking place outside of the gym.  I'm not sure I have had a more masculine moment than bench pressing on a sidewalk in South Philly, but that probably speaks more to my masculinity than anything else.  By the time I returned to the area where we had set up our tent, all of the girls except Megs had done their floater WOD.  Megs went before I could go over and root her on, once again just leaving me and Cline to go.  Cline was going 10 minutes before me, so I went over to push him through this 3 minute sprint.  In one of the more epic moments of the afternoon, Cline pulled so hard at the beginning of the row that the back of his rower briefly came off the ground, followed by the front of his rower.  Two judges came over to stand on it, making him the only person I saw that day who needed a spot for his rower more than he needed it for the bench press.  Ten minutes later, I competed in the same heat as Jill C, who was there representing Crossfit Fairmount (boooooooooooooooo!).  I could tell on the row that I was a little more tired than I realized.  However, once I got on the bench press I felt pretty good.  During practice, my final score was 57 reps at 75 pounds.  This time around, I started with 23 in a row before stopping.  I thought I should try and break it up a little rather than go for max reps in that first set.  Again, probably a dumb idea, but I tried it.  After 37 reps, I heard a judge say there was one minute left.  20 reps in the final minute seemed like a lot, but I could have managed it time-wise if only I had the energy for all of those reps.  I made it to 53 reps, then needed the judge to grab the barbell on rep #54.  With a few seconds left, I tried for one last rep again, but fell short.  Final score: 53 reps x 75 pounds = 3,975 pounds (23rd place).

I wasn't pleased about that performance as 60 reps was my goal, but maybe I underestimated how tired I would be for the later events.  The last event was the one I thought I would do the best in, but now I had my doubts.  I was determined to get 195 pounds for my thruster when I showed up for registration, but now I was preparing myself for the fact that 185 pounds might be more realistic.

We all headed inside for the final event.  Raj and Sarah S were part of our cheering section as well at this point.  Somehow Shawna's heats seemed to keep starting earlier and earlier as the day wore on, so I didn't get to catch her new thruster PR of 100 pounds.  I was there for the novice competition though.  Cline was inspiring them with sage advice like "just lift the fucking bar!"  (Note: That was a good one, but nothing beat hearing him yell "don't disappoint us" to the girls as they competed in their first event.)  Danielle led things off by getting 95 pounds.  Ashley got 95 pounds pretty easily, then failed with a few close calls at 105 pounds.  Giulz told her to switch off the weight and put 100 pounds on.  Ashley walked up to the barbell and took care of business at 100 pounds.  She ran out of time before getting another attempt in at 105.  Finally, Megs was up.  She ran into the same issue at 95 pounds that Ashley was having at 105 pounds.  Her attempts were close, but she couldn't quite lock out the barbell.  With time winding down, she took one last attempt at 95 pounds.  Using all of the rage that had built up from the failed attempts, she cleaned the barbell, squatted down, then burst up with everything she had left.  When the judge let her know she was good, she threw down the barbell and had the best celebration of the day.

A raging Megs and her final thruster.  It was never in doubt.

With the girls on one side and the guys on the other, it was time to cross the floor of the main gym as Cline and I got ready for our final WOD.  After some brief confusion as to which lane I would be in (people are oddly territorial about such things even when lanes aren't assigned to them), I set up shop in lane 2 with the judge I told to make Shawna smile at the beginning of the day.  He seemed very laid back and was easy to talk to.  He gave me two instructions: 1) communicate what weight I was using for each lift and 2) don't drop the barbell until he confirmed the lift was good.  Fair enough.  I told him I wanted to go 135-165-185 and then go from there.  He told me I could go higher than that. I confessed that my real goal was 195 and he said to me "I think you can handle 200".

I got started and the lift at 135 was easy enough, but I didn't hear him say the lift was good, so I held on to it for a few extra seconds until we made eye contact and he repeated that I could drop the barbell.  The next lift at 165 wasn't too bad either.  It was the third lift at 185 that I was nervous about.  Was I tired out from the earlier events?  How devastated would I be if I couldn't get 185?  Would this be yet another event in a competition where I crashed and burned?  I tried my best to keep it light, joking around with the judge before the lift.  I got ready for the lift and had a decent clean, but then I didn't keep my elbows up as I descended into my front squat.  As a result, I began to lean forward on the way up and the push press overhead was a struggle.  I had to take a step forward as I pressed out the weight and I wasn't sure if that would get me a no-rep.  Luckily, the only word that came out of my judge's mouth was "good" and I was moving on from 185.

Because I struggled on that rep, Giulz called over to me and asked me whether it would be better to add only 5 pounds rather than 10 pounds.  It was the double unders vs. single unders decision all over again.  But at this point, I had nothing to lose.  I told Giulz that I had already been mathematically eliminated earlier, so why not take a shot at 195?  I slapped on 10 more pounds and got ready to go.  Maybe I had a better mindset at this point, knowing that I was essentially playing with house money.  After the floater WOD, I wasn't expecting to get more than 185.  If I failed, I still had my 185.  If I made the lift, I'd be very excited, having reached the original goal I set for myself.  It was about as stress-free a situation as I have encountered during a competition.  I had another solid clean and made sure the barbell was exactly where I wanted it on my front rack.  Once my breathing was right, I dropped down, drove up, squeezed my butt, and extended out my arms.  It had been about 18 months since that one time I had gotten 195 pounds on my thruster (and that day it took 3-4 attempts), but here I was tying my PR on my first attempt at that weight while in a competition.  It was nice to come through for a change.

There was about 45 seconds remaining on the clock, so I ran over and grabbed the 2.5 pound plates and put them on the bar.  I had never attempted a 200 pound thruster before, but you know how much us math guys like round numbers.  I was excited that I was even attempting this weight.  If the gambling analogy at 195 was playing with house money, then making an attempt at 200 was the equivalent of trying to ride out a hot roll at the craps table.  Maybe I was due to throw a 7.  Or maybe I could hit one last point before cashing out for the evening.

Despite knowing that I was low on time, I had an idea of how much time I needed in my head.  The clock was behind me, but the emcee was announcing how many seconds were remaining at various points of the final minute.  I felt that I needed 15 seconds for the entire lift.  I needed 10 seconds to clean the bar, adjust it if necessary, and set my breathing.  Then I needed 5 seconds for the thruster.  If I failed because I needed 8 seconds for some prolonged press out at the top, then so be it.  Probably wasn't a legit rep anyway.  I was either pressing this out immediately or I was dropping it and fighting another day.

Here's the lift:

Final score: 200 (11th place)

I've been doing Crossfit for more than three years and I'm not sure I've ever had my moment.  That time when all eyes were on me and I came through with a performance that was beyond what I was expecting.  I've seen other people have really big moments and wished that mine was right around the corner, but it never seemed to be.  At approximately 2:26pm on Saturday afternoon, it finally happened for me.  This was the lift where I was supposed to make a good attempt at it, but ultimately fail.  Instead, it was a no doubter.  I remained calm even with the clock ticking and everyone yelling.  I was ready to fight through the inevitable sticking point on the press, but I never hit it.  I began nodding my head before I had even locked out the lift because there was that split second where I knew I had it.  I was told I had a "very Dave celebration" (it definitely needs work), but that's how I am.  I was tremendously excited, but didn't want to go crazy.  So the head nod and the mini fist pump will do for now.  I'll reserve the outburst for my next Crossfit moment.

I took a spot on the floor and cheered on Cline through his thrusters.  Cline got to 165 and failed several times, although like Megs, it was clear that he was only a fraction off from getting it.  As Megs had done, he got ready for one last attempt, gave it his all and claimed victory when he extended the barbell over his head.  He then dropped to the floor and talked some shit to his barbell.  (See, my celebration needs work.)  It was a cool ending to a day when we all had some success.

None of us made the championship WOD and I don't know that any of us were all that disappointed about it.  It was a long day and we were ready to eat, drink, and eventually get some sleep.  I can't say enough good things about the group that participated.  Such a fun and hard-working group.  Thanks for including me on the team on Saturday!

The 2016 KOP Team at the Festivus Games

Monday preview: Sunday was basically a recovery day (although I worked hard to keep up with my speed-walking wife over the course of four miles in the park), so I wouldn't be back in the gym until Monday, where a disturbing case of Festivus deja vu awaited.