As I sat in the fetal position following Thursday's workout, Pam came over and talked to me about coming to the nooner again on Friday. It was Becky's birthday and they were going out on Friday night, but there was a chance they'd both be at the noon class to get a workout in before partying it up later that evening. (Note: Becky is Dana, aka Double D. You are fully responsible for keeping track of all nicknames used on this blog.) On Friday morning, I texted Pam to see if Becky was going to be at the noon express, but I was informed that she had a mandatory company picnic instead. There better have been a surprise birthday cake involved!
Since I was already in the state of mind to go to the noon class, I went despite knowing there would be no birthday celebration of any kind. I also went knowing the mid-day heat was going to be just as much of an issue as it had been 24 hours earlier. The workout for Friday wasn't quite as daunting as Thursday's WOD and at no point would we have to go outside, so that was an upgrade. That doesn't mean it wasn't muggy as hell within the confines of KOP. And this was still a decent-length workout that would take 13-15 minutes depending on how fast you could row 1,000 meters.
Friday WOD:
Row 1,000 meters
Then 10 min AMRAP of the following:
5 burpee box jumps (24"/20")
5 wall balls (20#/14# to 10'/9')
20 double unders
When I first read this workout, I thought that the 1,000 meter row was included in the 10 minute time parameter. That would mean only 5-6 minutes for the AMRAP which didn't sound so bad. 10 minutes wasn't the worst thing in the world either, but I was dreading the burpee box jumps. These had sucked when I had done the partner WOD with Matt B and I wasn't expecting them to be any better today. Workouts that begin with a row have a funny way of taking more out of your legs than you expect, so these were going to be slow for me. The wall balls were not going to be a problem, especially only having to do 5 at a time. Double unders are always hit or miss, so I had no gauge of how well those might go.
At this point I shouldn't be surprised at how well attended the noon express class is, but it was nice to see a healthy group of 10 show up for this workout. I think this was the first time I had seen Gordy since the Masters qualifier, so it was good to see him again. Pam is always there for the nooner. And John McHugh was in class! There were definitely going to be plenty of folks to push me through this AMRAP.
Coach Steph had us warm up on all of the movements, but for the most part, these were fairly low-skill movements that we could all do. Double unders would be the trickiest element of the workout, but since the sets were small, most people could get through them even if it took a while or they could trim the amount they did in each round. I toyed with the idea of doing lateral jumps during the burpee box jumps as that makes it easier to go right into the next burpee when you land from the jump. In practice they went fine, but I suspected that it might not go as well after the row. Gordy had an interesting technique, which was to treat the burpee box jumps like they were jump overs. He would do a burpee, jump on the box, then come down on the other side. I liked that idea because the jump on to the box makes your momentum naturally go towards the opposite side. So when it came time for the AMRAP, I piggybacked on Gordy's technique.
My plan for the row was to use a higher damper setting than I've used in the past for this length of a row. I think I've probably kept this a little lower than it has needed to be, holding it in the 5-7 range unless we were rowing for calories. For this workout, I set it at 8. I was hoping to PR my 1,000 meter time, one of the rare things in the gym that I don't have an accurate record of. The last time that I did 1,000 meters for time, my time was over 4 minutes. But I've done 2,000 meters in 7:42, so clearly the 1,000 meter PR I have in my spreadsheet is outdated. It had to be at least 3:51 (half of the 2,000 meter time) and was likely well below that. So if I could complete the 1,000 meter row in under 3:51, I'd have a new mark for my spreadsheet, even if that time might not really represent the fastest 1,000 meters I've ever done. I did not, however, want to expend so much energy on setting a new top time for this row that I'd be too exhausted for the AMRAP.
John was seated in the rower on my left and I told myself not to get too wrapped up in how fast he was going. John and I always have these little competitions with each other and I knew John tended to be faster on the rower than I was. (Note: Usually people are secretly competitive with one another at the gym, but John and I are very open about the fact that we're trying to beat each other when we take class together.) My natural tendency would have been to row faster, but that was almost certainly going to lead to a bad score on the AMRAP portion of this workout. I needed to focus on breathing, good form, my split times, and the dwindling number of meters on the monitor.
Steph got us going and I have to say that I felt good on the rower. My first 500 meters was fast without me having to push hard to make it happen. I had no idea how fast anybody else was going. At this point in the row, it didn't matter. I'd find out in less than 2 minutes whether people were going faster or slower than me. I had completed the first half of the row in about 1:45. I expected to be slower on the second half of the row, but a final time in the 3:35-3:40 range would be nice. And it would be a realistic PR for me since I doubt I've ever done 1,000 meters in under 3:30. As I hit the final 100 meters, I picked up the pace a little bit. When the "meters remaining" hit 0, the monitor showed a final time of 3:40.2. I'll take that!
I hadn't put the handle down on my rower before I saw that John was done almost at the same exact time as me. As I got up, I saw Gordy getting up from his rower, so we all had completed 1,000 meters at about the same pace. Steph had told us that it might be a good idea to stand up our rowers when we were done so that we had more space during the AMRAP and I agreed. I took a few extra seconds to stand up my rower even though that let John get to the burpee box jumps before me. I began my burpee box jumps and they were just as unpleasant as I suspected they would be. There was no moving fast through these. Crawl down to the floor, crawl back up, jump on to the box, step off the other side. Oh, and sweat everywhere. Each time I crawled down to the floor, I'd see drops of sweat pouring off of me. Sweat began dripping into my eyes consistently. It wasn't fun, but it did beat having to deal with the sun like I had to do the day before.
Slowly I finished my 5 burpee box jumps and then headed over to the wall balls. Even though my legs were sore from the row and the burpee box jumps, I knew that I'd be able to get 5 wall balls pretty easily. It was just a matter of picking the ball up and getting through the reps, even if my breathing was more erratic than I would like it to be when doing this movement. From there it was on to the double unders. Please let me have these today. I don't want to be slow on both the burpee box jumps and double unders. Prayers unanswered. I tried to remain calm. Tried to tell myself it was only 20 reps. But for the most part, I was only getting sets of about 3-5 reps. When I completed my 20 double unders, the clock told me that I had finished the first round in just over two minutes. I could get 4 rounds of the AMRAP done if I stayed on this pace.
John and I were neck and neck throughout the AMRAP. He was always faster on the burpee box jumps. I think we were pretty even on the wall balls. I'd catch up on the double unders, passing him at the end of the first two rounds. We completed round two just beyond the 4:30 mark, so our pace had slowed and four full rounds was becoming a dicier proposition. I couldn't catch John on the double unders at the end of round three and a glance at the clock showed that we were past 7:30. I was officially not going fast enough to finish four rounds. I needed to pick it up to get this fourth round in before 10 minutes had elapsed.
I tried to pick it up on the burpee box jumps, but I only managed two quick reps before needing to crawl again. And on my 5th box jump, I hit the box and careened off to the left. Because that is what I do every freakin time there are box jumps. Aggravated, I re-did the box jump and headed to the wall balls. I was struggling to breathe, but this was an example of the benefits of building mental strength in workouts. I knew I could do 5 reps even if I was having a hard time breathing. So I walked over, immediately grabbed the ball, and did my 5 reps. About 45 seconds remaining to complete round four.
John was already working on his double unders, so this was my last chance to catch him. There was no way I'd catch him on the burpee box jumps if he got there before me. I did my best again to remain calm and started twirling the rope. It was a good sign when the rope didn't hit me after 3 reps. Then I was up to 8 in a row. When I reached 12 consecutive double unders, I started begging my body not to screw this up before all 20 were done. The rope continued to twirl and I got through my 20th rep without a hitch. I had completed four full rounds and I had snuck ahead of John. There was less than 20 seconds remaining and I thought I might have a crack at three burpee box jumps, but after doing the first one, I realized there was only time for two, not three. As I stood on the box after my second burpee box jump, I watched the final couple of seconds tick off the clock. Final time and score: 13:40, 4+2.
John gave me a little grief about passing him at the very end, but it was all good-natured. It was fun having that head-to-head battle during class. As was the case on Thursday, it took some time to recover from this workout, so before we hopped in our cars to head home, John and I worked on our selfie game with Karen.
Three sweaty (but happy) messes
Saturday preview: Giulz says she needs a guy for a partner WOD at Competitors Class, so it's an early morning for me to kick off the weekend.
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