Give It Up To Rocco

Workout date: 5/3/16

The WOD for Tuesday was one that I knew I would struggle with, so my expectations were pretty low when I arrived for the noon express class.  My expectations for the room temperature were pretty low too, but I quickly discovered that they needed to be adjusted much higher.  The infamous broilers were on in the gym and I wasn't sure why because it wasn't particularly cold in there.  Apparently this varies depending on what gender you are as the females claimed it was cold in the gym, while the sweat glands of the gentlemen in class were about to work overtime.  Guess it was time to train for the summer heat.

I was familiar with the WOD we were doing because it is the one I watched Gordy take on when he was attempting to qualify for the Crossfit Games in the Masters 60+ division.  (Note: Gordy ended up finishing 24th in the world, with only the top 20 advancing to the Crossfit Games.  24th in the entire world.  I told you he was a machine.)  Here's the workout:

AMRAP in 15 minutes:
55 double unders
15 chest-to-bar pull-ups
5 hang power cleans (155/105)
(Note: Men in the 60+ division only had to do regular pull-ups for this qualifying event.  To be honest, they could have scaled it to "walk by and glance at the bar 15 times" and I wouldn't have been able to match Gordy's score.)

With wildly inconsistent form on my double unders and only the ability to do chest-to-bar pull-ups one at a time, my only saving grace during this workout would be the hang power cleans.  Unfortunately, they constituted a measly 5 out of the 75 reps in each round.  And you had to get to the end of the round to even do them.  Like I said, low expectations here.  I gave some consideration to scaling the chest-to-bar pull-ups, but that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.  For starters, I need to practice doing chest-to-bar pull-ups.  Coaches often say you don't get better at double unders by doing single unders.  Guessing you don't get better at chest-to-bar pull-ups by doing regular pull-ups.

Coach Aimee put us through a typical Aimee-style warmup, meaning that it was a borderline workout in advance of the actual workout.  We did some double under practice, including that game where you do as many double unders as you can in 45 seconds so that you'll have an idea of how fast you will do them in a workout.  Except you are totally fresh when you play this game and you'll be winded when round two of double unders comes around, so it ends up not being the most reliable barometer for future double under performance.  Yeah, we played that game twice.  We went through some drills with the hang power cleans.  And then we spent more time hanging on the bar than I would like, mainly because I have soft, baby hands.  The warmup concluded with us holding hollow rocks and supermans, rolling back and forth from one position to the other.  As I got up from the floor, I noticed that Tim H had left a huge sweat angel on the floor.  That made me turn around and look where I had been laying.  Yet another huge sweat angel.  And the WOD hadn't even begun!

We got ready to do a bunch of double unders and I did my best to remain calm.  There was no need to feel rushed in this workout.  It was going to be difficult for me.  But if I could stay calm and get through the double unders in a reasonable amount of time, then maybe I could post a better score than I was expecting.  The first round began and even though I wasn't stringing together huge sets of double unders, I was doing a decent job of completing some medium-sized sets and taking very little time before beginning the next set.  Did I complete my 55 reps as quickly as Pam and Dana?  Nope.  But I wasn't totally dejected about that first round when I headed over to the bar.

My form was better than this early on.  I swear!

My goal for the chest-to-bar pull-ups was modest and yet after one rep, I knew I wouldn't be able to achieve it.  I was hoping to do two sets where I strung together two chest-to-bar pull-ups.  Except it was such an effort to get the very first one that I quickly ditched that goal for a new one.  New goal: don't stand around all day in between chest-to-bar pull-ups.  Much more reasonable.  I tried to do mini-sets of 3 singles before taking a break, but those sets would end up dwindling down to two.  The warmup had left me sweaty, but I was officially drenched as I edged nearer to finishing the 15 chest-to-bar pull-ups.  With the 15th rep complete, I walked over to my barbell, did 5 quick hang power cleans and picked up my rope to begin round two.  Just over five minutes had already elapsed, meaning there was zero chance of me finishing three rounds.  Even two might be a stretch depending on how this next set of double unders went.

As you might guess, being sweaty and tired did not lend itself to pristine double under form in round two.  My sets went from the 8-12 range in round one to the 3-7 range in round two.  And it was a little more difficult getting myself motivated to go right into the next set once the previous set had ended.  It was slow going and I could see other members of the class lapping me.  Typically that really aggravates me, but getting lapped in this workout was not a matter of if, but when.  And the answer to that question was at about the 8 minute mark.

Soon after, I made my way back over to the bar, revising my goals once again as I was simply trying to do two quick singles before needing a break at this point.  It took a lot of energy to hurl my chest up to the high bar and my gas tank was trending towards empty.  Aimee came over to watch me on a rep and I managed to completely miss the bar with my chest for my only no rep of the day.  You can always count on me to mess up when the pressure is on!  No one would ever describe my progress through this set of chest-to-bar pull-ups as fast, but I was at least moving well enough that I knew I would finish the second round.  And it seemed pretty certain that when I finished my 15th chest-to-bar pull-up of this round that I was unlikely to make it back to the bar.  So I managed to find one little push towards the end of this set to get me back over to my barbell.

I trudged over there, wishing this workout was over and feeling a little bit concerned that I might not be able to hold on for all five hang power cleans.  Once I got through the first two reps, that doubt went away and I hung on for the final three cleans.  There was about two minutes remaining in the WOD and it seemed unlikely that I would finish all 55 double unders awaiting me, but I've been known to find a little double under magic once I'm exhausted and can't overthink the movement any more.  I did manage one larger set of about 12 reps during the last round of double unders, but I needed more than one medium-sized set to get me to 55 before time ran out.  Final score: 2+37 (187 reps).

If you had asked me to predict a score prior to the workout, it wouldn't have been far off from what I ended up with.  It would have been nice to finish off three rounds of double unders and get a few extra chest-to-bar pull-ups in, but completing three full rounds would have been a stretch for me.  So while I wasn't thrilled with my score, it was hard for me to feel disappointed when it was over with.  Especially because I could go and change into a dry shirt.

Did I mention I was promised lunch too?  Pam, Dana, and Erika L headed over to the Taphouse for lunch and an adult beverage.  Possibly two.  Someone may have talked us into a third.  It was a lot of fun and I got to hang out with some cool folks from the gym that I normally don't get to spend much time with.  We got to share gym stories.  We talked about kids (even though Dana called me out for not having any).  We debated what a Becky was.  And I made a promise that the next time I was part of a team at the gym, I would dub that team "Give It Up To Rocco".  Oh, the fun things you hear while day drinking...

Wednesday preview: My final heavy front squat day before testing as I do 2x2 at 265 (my current 1RM).  Also, some snatch tips from Clay and some clean tips from Jim C.