Peking Duck, Lobster, And WODs For Four

Workout dates: 4/9/16 and 4/10/16

Friday was a painful day for me to take off because the WOD included rope climbs.  Eight of them!  I do love me some rope climbs.  However, my body was sending clear signals that I needed a day off, so I complied and stayed home from the gym.  The day of rest made me feel refreshed enough that I decided to make an appearance at Competitors Class on Saturday morning.  That wasn't the only reason I went.  Rachel and Michal were headed off to Mexico for their rendezboo the next morning and I feel like I almost never work out with them anymore.  So I sucked it up and went to Competitors.

The beginning of class was very strange.  Perhaps I should say things were strange even before class. I got up earlier than I typically have in the past for Competitors Class and ended up getting to the gym about 10 minutes early.  Michal was there sitting in her car and soon Pam would show up.  I got out, assuming that the gym was open, but it was not because no coach had arrived yet.  A few minutes later, Giulz arrived and opened up the gym for us.  It was weird being the early one.  Even stranger?  As more and more people arrived, I noticed that I was the most alert person in class.  At 7am!  I made a joke about not knowing that everyone partied it up last night, but the responses I got back indicated that people were tired, not hungover.

The warmup involved partners alternating between rowing and doing med ball cleans for 45 seconds at a time, with each person doing 3 rounds at each station.  Since there was an odd number of people present when we started the warmup (Gordy and Keithie would arrive later), I was the partner of Michal and Rachel, who acted as twins (they both did med ball cleans while I rowed and vice versa). Aimee and Giulz were a team, as were Jill A and Pam.  The warmup wasn't too awful, although I don't think anyone enjoys doing med ball cleans for more than 20 seconds.  It was on to the strength element of the class.

Strength consisted of finding a 1RM squat snatch, then later doing 6 sets of two reps of a squat clean and jerk, with a pause at the knee during the clean.  If that sounds overly complicated, I'm right there with you.  Let's just run with the easy part first: the 1RM squat snatch.  There was once a time when I loved to snatch, because during most attempts I dive underneath the part and squat under the weight, making the last piece of the lift the second half of an overhead squat.  And overhead squats are right up there with rope climbs for me.  The problem is that, like everything in the gym, if you don't practice it, it goes away fairly quickly.  At the end of the Olympic lifting program I took at KOP, I managed to snatch 175 pounds one time.  Haven't really been anywhere close to that since then.  I've gotten 165 a couple of times, but those lifts felt fluky to me.  Getting the chance to practice my snatch during Competitors was something I welcomed, even if my expectations were low.

I started off with easier lifts at 95 and 125 pounds.  From there, I moved up to 145 where I expected the lift to begin getting much tougher and it did.  It was at this point that I started focusing on the two glaring problems I have with my snatch.  The first is my speed.  I was watching everyone else do their lifts and was amazed at how quickly they pop that barbell up over their head.  I've been trying to mimic that speed, but I am nowhere close.  The second issue is that I'm not very good at the "third pull".  I am probably going to mess up the description of the three pulls, but hey, that's why I'm not a coach!  The first pull is from the ground to your knee.  The second pull goes from the knee to your hip crease.  And then the third pull is up over your head (while pulling yourself underneath the barbell).  Why do I struggle with this third pull so much?  Because it feels like the work has been done from the first two pulls (even if that isn't really true).  That first pull makes sense because you need to get the barbell off the ground.  The second pull makes sense because you are speeding up and using a hip thrust to send the barbell rocketing upward.  But the third pull?  It's easy to ignore that one because the barbell at that point is heading northbound while your body is headed southbound.  The work seems like it has been done (to me at least).  Of course, after every failed snatch attempt, I realize that the work was not done and I simply let the barbell float upwards rather than pulling it upwards.

145 felt like a weight where I could easily fail if I didn't address these issues.  My speed was okay and I did manage to keep pulling at the top.  The result: success at 145.  Hooray!  Except I was concerned.  I certainly wasn't going to gain speed with more weight added to the barbell, so my inability to move with speed on this lift was concerning.  My guess at this point was that I'd get 155 with a couple of tries and then fail when I got to 165.  I was pleasantly surprised when I got 155 on the first try.  My speed still left a lot to be desired, but I got under it and only stumbled forward slightly when I stood up with it.

I added 10 pounds to my barbell and became very anal about my entire setup for the next lift.  I needed to have the right amount of intensity as I walked to the barbell.  I needed my hands set up properly.  Shoulders needed to be pinned back.  Butt at the right level.  Breathing needed to be just right.  When everything was set, I needed to glide up to my knee then accelerate into my hip crease.  Big hip pop, keep pulling, keep pulling, keep pulling, then stand it up.  The whole process was clear in my head.  You would never have known that though if you watched my next lift.  The setup was good, but there was nothing speedy about the lift.  I highly doubt that my body made contact with the barbell anywhere in the vicinity of my hip crease.  And I didn't get under it.  So much for that.  It always amazes me when I watch a golf tournament on TV and the caddy tells the golfer to visualize the shot and then they go up and hit it like they visualized it.  I visualize so much when I'm in the gym and rarely does it turn out the way I saw it.  Maybe I should work on my golf game instead.

I took a couple minutes to gather myself, then went through this whole routine again.  Got into the setup, began the first pull, tried to gain speed, got through the second pull, dropped under the barbell, kept pulling upward...and then I was frozen.  I was in a full squat, the barbell was locked out over my head, and I was confused.  I sat there for a couple of seconds before Michal, who was working behind me, yelled "stand up!"  So I stood up.  I actually got 165 despite my first attempt being horrendous.  It was a complete surprise to me.  (Note: Don't make a habit of being stunned while holding a large amount of weight over your head.)  After that, I made three attempts at 175.  The second attempt was the best of the three, but my lack of speed killed me on those lifts.

The folks working on the platform had just started their clean and jerks when I missed my third snatch at 175, so I wasn't too far behind them.  Turned out it didn't matter because I was definitely done before them.  This segment of the workout was very confusing to me.  Let's walk through all the ways I screwed this up:

1. The clean and jerk had a stipulation that you had to pause at the knee.  So it's like a hang clean?  Apparently not.  Watching everyone else do this lift, it seemed like they were pausing slightly below the knee or with the barbell right in front of the knee rather than slightly above the knee (as you would for a hang clean).  I found this incredibly awkward each time I did it, but I tried my best to stick to what was programmed.
2. The snatch and the clean and jerk were written as "snatch" and "clean and jerk".  In Crossfit, it is generally understood that when these terms are written this way that a full squat is involved.  However, that's not always the case.  I did a workout recently where we could power clean the barbell even though the WOD was written as having "cleans".  I'm not sure why it's so hard to write "squat" when a full squat is required, but Crossfitters avoid it like a trip to Planet Fitness. Kinda annoying.  I messed up my first set at 145 pounds because I power cleaned after pausing at the knee.  For the next three sets, I did the squat cleans, but after doing the pause at the knee, it only added to the awkwardness.
3. Next three sets?  I thought the WOD called for six sets total?  Yeah, I only did 4.  I'll explain in the next point.
4. After the pause at the knee and the squat cleans, the barbell kept getting off kilter on my front rack.  I kept trying to adjust it, but it was a mess.  I couldn't focus on the jerk and ended up doing split jerks that looked nothing like real split jerks.  When I did my third set, Keithie called it a split push jerk.  For my fourth set, Gordy came over and asked why I was push pressing.  The answer?  Because there was no part of this strength segment that I was doing correctly.

With that in mind, I stopped after four sets.  I went 145-165-175-185, then got ready to do the metcon.

The metcon required a team of four that had two sets of teammates in it.  The first team of four was Jill A, Pam, Michal, and Rachel.  Keithie, Aimee, and Giulz drew the short straw and got me as their fourth.  There were four stations where we would perform a 3 minute AMRAP before rotating.  In each group of two, only one person could work at a time.  Here were the four stations:

1. High box jumps (30"/24")
2. Wall balls (20#/14# to 10'/9')
3. Snatches (115/75) - Full squat not required even though it was written this way.  Just sayin'.
4. Heavy KB swings (70/53)

Giulz and I were starting at the box jumps, while Aimee and Keithie started at the wall balls.  It may surprise you to read this, but I don't remember our exact scores from the various stations in this metcon.  My focus was on not letting Giulz down.  I had a bad feeling that I wouldn't be able to keep up with her, but I had to try my best not to take breaks when it was my turn to go.  

I kept Giulz up to date with how many reps I did and as we moved to the next station, she would write down our number on a white board.  Aimee and Keithie's numbers were on the same white board though and at the end it was a jumbled mess.  But here's a recap of how things played out at the various stations:

• Box jumps - Giulz started and we traded 10 reps at a time to start.  On my third set, I had the mandatory "Dave collides with the box" moment.  Giulz was worried about whether I needed to stop, but I finished up my 10 reps.  With set #4, we went down to 5 reps at a time.  Giulz was going as the first 3 minutes was running out, so she told me to get ready on the wall balls.
• Wall balls - This was sets of 10 at a time for the first two rounds.  I did 10 reps on my third set before Giulz said she was doing 5.  I started going on my 4th set and I heard that time was running out.  I told Giulz to get ready on the snatches as I kept doing wall balls (I think 12?) before time was called.
• Snatches - Easily the slowest part of this workout.  Giulz and I traded 5 reps at a time.  Giulz was much more graceful on this movement.  There was a lot of yelling and grunting that came out of me in order to get through my sets of 5 reps each time.  Giulz was on the barbell as the three minute block counted down, so I was first at the KB.
• KB swings - I was very worried about this for two reasons: 1) I was tired and 2) I was sweaty.  I did not want to lose control of the KB and send it flying.  I typically struggle with the 70 pound KB and this experience was no different.  I did 5, Giulz did 7, I did 8, Giulz did 8, I did 5, Giulz did 6, and then I finished with 5 reps before time was called.  (Pretty sure we got 44 reps here, but I could be guessing.)

That was a nice full workout, right?  Oh, did I not mention there was a cash out at the end of this?  Freakin' Competitors Class!  The cash out was 50 GHD sit-ups for time.  I completed it in 4 sets (15-11-12-12) in a time of 3:06.

Later that night there was a rare KOP outing into the city to celebrate the birthday of five of the coaches over the past month.  Also rare was an appearance by Jenn Nichols at such an event.  At least now I know that all I need to do to get her to go in the future is tell her that Kelly Ann Garber is her date and that dinner will be in Chinatown.  Everyone was eventually meeting up at a bar/club called Time, but before that we needed food.  The coaches had their own dinner plans, so Cline organized an outing to the Sang Kee Peking Duck House.  In all, 13 of us ended up going.  Cline was trying to get enough people to take part in the Peking Duck and Lobster meal for 10, but had only 6 takers.  Jenn tried to use her negotiating skills to get them to do the meal for 6 people instead, but our waiter hit us up with a counter offer.  It was $26.80 per person to do the Peking Duck and Lobster meal for 10, but if we got both the Peking Duck dinner for four and the Lobster dinner for four, it would be $28 per person and essentially the same amount of food (if not more).  Sold!

After making our way through the pyramid of dishes that had been placed on our table, we grabbed some Ubers and headed to Time.  We were going to meet at 8:30, but they let us know when we got there that dancing wasn't an option until 9:30.  The group headed out the door, hung a left, and walked into a bar a few doors down called...Bar.  As the name might indicate, this was much more of a no-frills establishment than Time was.  But it was also a place where we could get drinks  A place where Cline could set up his Spotify playlist on the jukebox.  And a place where we could learn the surprisingly complicated nuances of a game called Fingercup.  (Yes, your finger counts!)  The coaches showed up a little later, as did several others who had not gone out to dinner.  Finally, the crew headed back in Time.  (See what I did there?  Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

Oh, let us go through all the reasons why places like Time are not meant for me.  When we went back over to Time, we had to wait in line get back in.  Then there was a cover charge of $5 to go dancing.  Always wonderful having to pay for something you don't enjoy doing.  And it was $3 more to check your coat.  Once you finally got upstairs, you had to lambada your way through the crowd to get over to the section where the bar and the bathrooms were.  And did I mention that there were green lasers shining everywhere?  The best part of being there was running into John McHugh (aka Mr. Intensity).  He seemed a little more at ease in that setting than I was.  A group of folks from KOP were near the front of the room, although I'm not sure there was truly enough space to dance up there.  After finishing one drink, a group of us decided to head back to Bar, where we had a couple more drinks before calling it a night.

The next day was Open Gym and several of us had planned to be there to make one more run through some of the WODs from the Festivus Games.  The first one we were doing was "25 To Life".  This was the only WOD that I had not tested out yet.  It tests five different movements, four of which are repeated.  And as the name may have given away, you do 25 reps of each movement.  I apologize if you're tired of numbered lists in this post, but you'll have to endure one more.  Here is the sequence for "25 To Life":

1. 25 wall balls (20#/14# to 10'/9')
2. 25 air squats
3. 25 hand-release push-ups
4. 25 double unders (or 50 single unders)
5. 25 KB swings (53/35)
6. 25 double unders (or 50 single unders)
7. 25 hand-release push-ups
8. 25 air squats
9. 25 wall balls

There is a 10 minute time cap for the workout.  Much like Thanksgiving dinner, I went into this thinking I could finish the whole thing.  Unfortunately, when 10 minutes was up, I needed a doggie bag.

It started out fine.  I strung all 25 wall balls.  I didn't stop during the air squats, although I didn't rocket through them because I thought that might be a bad idea.  It wasn't until the hand-release push-ups that things came to a crashing halt.  Maybe I didn't get enough rest from staying out late the previous evening.  Maybe I didn't take into account how much work my shoulders had done at Competitors Class the previous morning.  Whatever it was, my body had little interest in doing push-ups.  And for those of you not familiar with the hand-release version, it has nothing to do with a shady massage parlor.  Rather it simply means your hands must come off of the ground for at least a split-second between reps.  Or if you did them like I did them, many seconds between reps.  In our group of four people doing this WOD (EJ, Ashley, "Megs", and myself), I was the first one to get to the push-ups and the last one done with them.

When I did complete them, I dejectedly went to my jump rope and failed four times to do a single double under.  Part of me wondered what would happen at the Festivus Games if I had done this.  The rules state you can't switch from double unders to single unders, but since I hadn't completed one double under, I guess it's possible I could have started doing single unders.  Let's forget that mindset because I am doing double unders at the competition on Saturday.  When I finally got going, it took me several sets, but I completed the 25 double unders.  From there, I brought my trail of ineptitude to the KB, where I've done 25 consecutive KB swings with 53 pounds in the past.  Not this day.  Nope, I needed three sets to get through 25 this time around.  A peek at the clock let me know I wasn't going to finish.

I did make up some time on my second tour through the movements.  Normally I perform better with the jump rope when I am calm, but a pissed-off Dave went back to the rope and zipped through 25 consecutive double unders on the first try once the KB swings were complete.  At the hand-release push-ups, I struggled once again.  But as I neared the end of my set of 25 reps, I may have gained some clarity on why I was struggling so much.  I had some serious chicken wings (arms away from the body, elbows pointing out) going on during my reps.  I should have known better, but somewhere along the way I lost my focus and didn't fix my lousy form.  With less than 10 seconds before the time cap, I finished my last push-up.  I jumped up and did 7 air squats as fast as I could before the time cap.  Final score: 182.

I was definitely not in the right mindset to work out, so I skipped doing the second WOD that I had planned on doing.  Instead, I kept time for Danielle and Ashley as they did it.  Then I kept count of Danielle's burpees at the tail end of the WOD.  After that, I tried to give Ashley, Danielle, and "Megs" some tips on doing thrusters.  And then it was time to get out of the gym as Giulz was closing up shop.

Monday preview: Push presses with Matt B!  Plus a partner cash out of power cleans and ring dips before capping things off with a low volume front squat session.