I spent most of my Memorial Day weekend honoring our country's fallen heroes by sitting in traffic on the nation's highways. I had to drive to upstate NY for my cousin's wedding and knew what awaited me. Tons of people trying to get away for the long weekend. Poorly thought out road work where a lane was closed down not because some sort of construction was taking place in that lane, but because orange barrels had been placed there to mark off future work that would be done. Over the course of the weekend, I spent about 15 hours in the car. It was a nice wedding though and I got to spend that Sunday with my brothers, grilling meats and day-drinking, so the trip wasn't all bad.
What did I miss at the gym while I was away? A lot unfortunately. My buddy Calves came into town just as I was headed out, so I missed getting the chance to work out with him. Calves and I took our fundamentals classes together at the gym. He's a member of that first wave of Crossfit friends that I've recently become more nostalgic about. If there was any way I could have snuck over and taken class with him on Friday, I would have but I already had plans. On Sunday I missed a 20 minute AMRAP that consisted of short rows and lots of rope climbs. Son of a... Finally, I missed Murph on Monday. Murph is the hero WOD that we do every Memorial Day. It's a ridiculous workout to begin with (1 mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, 1 mile run), but to get an RX next to your name, you have to do it with a weight vest on (20 pounds for the guys, 10 pounds for the ladies). Did I mention that it's been crazy hot in the gym as well? God bless all the folks who turned up Monday morning to take on that workout.
Two of those who took part in Murph on Monday morning came back for more punishment at Dudes After Dark. There was Chris D, who completed Murph as part of a team with EJ. And then there was Cline. Cline took on that monster all by himself, a feat which required over 67 minutes of effort. So to see him right back at it the next day was very impressive. The mandatory non-dude role at Dudes After Dark was being filled by Beth. I rounded out the Tuesday night foursome that would be taking on Grace before finding a 5RM back squat.
I had known Grace would be the Tuesday workout since 10pm on Saturday. (Nerd Alert!) The Sunday WOD was announced at that time and it wasn't Grace. Murph was going to be on Monday. And Tuesday was the final day of May. Since Grace was one of our benchmark workouts for May and it hadn't come up yet, that meant it had to be locked in for Tuesday. Grace is an all-out sprint of 30 clean and jerks for time. Typically this would be a workout that I look forward to. My times have been pretty good for this workout, especially three months ago when I broke three minutes for the first time, finishing in 2:38. But there was something about the combination of having sat in traffic all weekend long mixed with another very warm night in the gym that had me dreading this workout.
The four of us were split into two teams as Coach Rachel had us complete three rounds of 20 medball cleans alternating with spins on the assault bike. I was flinging sweat around already. With that completed, we began practicing the clean and jerk. My clean form sucks, but you already knew that. Rachel stopped and tried to get me adjusted several times, but it didn't take. I didn't think it would be as big of a deal during this workout because no one uses good form while doing Grace. If they are using proper form, they're probably going too slow. (Note: There is also the possibility that people go fast and use proper form in this workout, but as Gollum would say, "we hates them".)
As is the tradition when we do Grace at the gym, we run two heats so that one person can count for someone else who is working. Cline and I ended up as partners. Cline asked if I wanted to go first and I gave my typical "not really, but I'll go first if you really don't want to" answer. Cline didn't seem thrilled about going first, but he volunteered to do it anyways. His main grievance was that Grace had been scheduled the day after Murph. Cline has been adding 10 pounds to his barbell each time he's done Grace in the past year as long as he was satisfied with the last time he got. In February, he finished with a time of 3:44 using 125 pounds. That result meant he would be using RX weight (135 pounds) when he did this in May. Except he didn't know it would be the day after a 67 minute workout. As a result, Cline decided to stick with 125 pounds this time and hold off his RX attempt until Grace comes round again.
Cline and Beth made up heat one and Rachel sent them on their way. Cline started off by doing 2 reps before dropping the barbell. He followed that with another double. From that point forward it was all single reps. I could tell he wasn't enjoying himself, but he never took any long breaks. Cline tends to be much better than me about getting right back to the barbell, although he occasionally takes a big step away from it before putting his hands on it again. After one of his reps, I noticed that the weight had begun shifting out on the barbell. The clips weren't doing a great job of holding the plates tight to the center of the barbell. I tried a couple of times to sneak in and tighten up the weight when Cline took a step away from the barbell, but I didn't want to mess up his rhythm either. I was able to get the plates back to the middle, but didn't have enough time to move the clips in, so the plates eventually migrated out again. Didn't seem to phase Cline at all as he kept chipping away at his reps, stopping the clock at 4:11.
With the first heat over, it was time for me to get ready. Chris watched me warm up with the 135 pound barbell and said he could tell I was about to turn into a "fucking monster" for this workout. I'll file that one under compliments. The truth was that I didn't feel like a fucking monster at that moment. Just doing a few practice reps got me breathing a bit heavily. Plus the heat was not going to do me any favors. Samson had stuck around to watch (possibly shadow?) the class and asked me what time I was going for. Originally I said 3:00, but then I felt guilty about it. I had worked hard to get under three minutes and I smashed that mark in February. Now I was going back to that because I was feeling off before the workout? Weak! I told Samson that I changed my mind and that 2:50 was the goal. Not PR pace, but keeping it under three minutes.
Rachel asked me and Chris if we were ready to go. Chris approached his barbell facing the clock. I turned around and approached my barbell so that my back was to the clock. I wasn't optimistic about how this was going to go and I didn't want the clock to make me feel worse if I was struggling. Rachel counted us down and we were off. I typically start with a big set when I do this workout, but I could tell after only three reps that wasn't happening this night. In February, I started with a set of 8 followed by two sets of 2. This time around, I made it to 5 reps before I felt the need to drop. And from there I did singles the rest of the way. (Note: Cline later suggested that I should have attempted to string reps for a second set rather than go right to singles. Probably good advice. I think I was a little freaked about not being able to string 8-10 reps at the start and decided I might as well go to singles as soon as possible.)
Once I got to the singles, I tried to stay right over the barbell, picking it up as soon as the barbell stopped bouncing on the floor. I got to 10. Then I got to 15. When I closed in on 20 reps, I was gasping for air. Cline and Samson were next to me screaming for me to get my hands back on the barbell as soon as it hit the ground, but all I wanted was a nice 5-10 second break so that I could breathe normally again. They weren't having it. As I got to 25 reps, the screaming became more intense and I could tell there was some excitement in their voices. I must be close to 2:30 (or better?). If I wasn't on a PR pace, I don't think they would have sounded that way. Each time I picked the barbell up, I hoped that I didn't mess up and get a no rep. That would have crushed me. I had one rep near the end where I got very little out of my dip and basically push pressed the weight overhead. A few reps later and I was done. Final time: 2:35.
I laid on the floor, gasping for air. I had done the best I could at staying near the barbell after each rep and it had worked out for me. Samson made fun of my initial 3:00 prediction, but that was honestly how long I thought it would take me to finish the 30 clean and jerks on this night. He also let me know that I had 14 reps at the 1:01 mark. Good to know.
I was nowhere near recovered when Rachel announced that we needed to get started on our 5RM back squat work. I rolled over and looked at the clock on the wall. There was 15 minutes left in class. We were supposed to do 5 sets. Squeezing in all that work while sucking wind seemed like a recipe for disaster.
In the end, it turned out better than I thought it would. Rachel ended up giving us an extra 5 minutes to get through our back squats. I did sets at 135 and 185 that weren't too much of a problem, even though I was still working on recovering from Grace. My next set at 225 was probably the most difficult because it was a combination of "not quite recovered" with "this is starting to get heavy". By the time I reached my 4th set, my breathing felt relaxed again and I could calmly make my way through each of my 5 reps at 255. As everyone began putting their plates away, I added 20 pounds for my final set. Chris said I was going to go all fucking monster again, but the monster was pretty calm at this point. I took care of my 5 reps at 275 and was finished for the evening. I think I might have been able to get to 285-290, but there wasn't time. And besides, I wasn't all that eager to do another set.
Wednesday preview: Heat + cardio = Dave melting. A 12 minute workout consisting of DB hang squat cleans, burpees, and toes to bar where scaling does very little to help me out.
Once I got to the singles, I tried to stay right over the barbell, picking it up as soon as the barbell stopped bouncing on the floor. I got to 10. Then I got to 15. When I closed in on 20 reps, I was gasping for air. Cline and Samson were next to me screaming for me to get my hands back on the barbell as soon as it hit the ground, but all I wanted was a nice 5-10 second break so that I could breathe normally again. They weren't having it. As I got to 25 reps, the screaming became more intense and I could tell there was some excitement in their voices. I must be close to 2:30 (or better?). If I wasn't on a PR pace, I don't think they would have sounded that way. Each time I picked the barbell up, I hoped that I didn't mess up and get a no rep. That would have crushed me. I had one rep near the end where I got very little out of my dip and basically push pressed the weight overhead. A few reps later and I was done. Final time: 2:35.
I laid on the floor, gasping for air. I had done the best I could at staying near the barbell after each rep and it had worked out for me. Samson made fun of my initial 3:00 prediction, but that was honestly how long I thought it would take me to finish the 30 clean and jerks on this night. He also let me know that I had 14 reps at the 1:01 mark. Good to know.
I was nowhere near recovered when Rachel announced that we needed to get started on our 5RM back squat work. I rolled over and looked at the clock on the wall. There was 15 minutes left in class. We were supposed to do 5 sets. Squeezing in all that work while sucking wind seemed like a recipe for disaster.
In the end, it turned out better than I thought it would. Rachel ended up giving us an extra 5 minutes to get through our back squats. I did sets at 135 and 185 that weren't too much of a problem, even though I was still working on recovering from Grace. My next set at 225 was probably the most difficult because it was a combination of "not quite recovered" with "this is starting to get heavy". By the time I reached my 4th set, my breathing felt relaxed again and I could calmly make my way through each of my 5 reps at 255. As everyone began putting their plates away, I added 20 pounds for my final set. Chris said I was going to go all fucking monster again, but the monster was pretty calm at this point. I took care of my 5 reps at 275 and was finished for the evening. I think I might have been able to get to 285-290, but there wasn't time. And besides, I wasn't all that eager to do another set.
Wednesday preview: Heat + cardio = Dave melting. A 12 minute workout consisting of DB hang squat cleans, burpees, and toes to bar where scaling does very little to help me out.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.