O Solo Trio

Workout date: 6/28/16

When I write these blog posts, I try my best to include as much detail as possible.  I try to include my interactions with other folks in class.  I go into my obsession with strategy and talk about the many mini-rivalries I have at the gym.  If I can get my readers to laugh once or twice in the process, so much the better.  But every now and then I'm not given much material to work with.  Take Tuesday night for example.  Had I shown up to the 6:30 class, I could have written about being shoulder-to-shoulder with 17 other athletes.  Instead, I went to Dudes After Dark like I normally do, only to find that I was the only dude working out at that time.

Was there at least an interesting workout to write about?  Sorry, I can't deliver on that front either.  It was a strength WOD (3RM hang power clean) followed by a sprint cash out.  So needless to say, this won't be the longest blog post you'll ever read, but it does have a happy ending.  Yay?

Walking into the gym, I thought there was a chance that Dudes After Dark would be larger than it typically is.  The place was packed, but as I mentioned, there were 17 participants in the 6:30 class.  Because the cash out involved GHD sit-ups, they had to run it in heats, meaning there were people standing around not doing anything because their heat had already finished and I assumed that some of these people were there for the 7:30 class.  Nope.  A few others were sitting on the benches, but they were there for Open Strength, not for the WOD.  As the second heat finished up and people began departing the gym, I realized that I was the only one taking part in the 7:30 class.  (I blame Cline and his fun-loving lifestyle that has brought him to Portugal.)

After a warmup involving medball cleans and 200 meter runs, I went through the hang power clean progressions with Coach Rachel and Coach Shannon.  Who is Coach Shannon?  Okay, she might not officially be a coach, but since Rachel's cousin stuck around after her intro workout and had to watch me do this WOD, I'm giving her honorary coaching status for the day.  I was supposed to do 7 sets of 3 hang power cleans for the strength portion of the workout.  I saw Matt B as he was leaving the 6:30 class and he told me I should get 225.  Coach Steph was hanging out during my warmup and she told me I should get 235.  I'm not sure where the local crack dealer has his base of operations in Bridgeport, but he was clearly moving product at 200 Dekalb St. on Tuesday night.  I had barely gotten three hang power cleans with 205 in a workout at the end of May and that required some really ugly form to make it happen.  235 wasn't happening.  225 wasn't happening.  I'd be very happy if I could make 215 happen.

I started with 95 pounds and planned on adding 20 pounds to the barbell for each set, getting me to 215 for set #7.  The set at 95 didn't take long and neither did the set at 115.  During both sets, I was working on two things that Rachel tried to drill into my head during the warmup.  One was staying in my heels and generating power from that position.  The other was extending all the way up before pulling with my arms.  When I need to squat clean, I often pull before extending upward fully because I'm trying to quickly get underneath the barbell.  I wasn't allowed to squat during this WOD, so I really had no excuse for shorting the movement today.

The barbell still didn't feel terribly heavy during the sets at 135 and 155.  I had been concerned about my grip strength during this WOD, especially since there was so much grip strength required in Monday's workout.  I thought it might come into play early on because I had to do three reps in each set, but through 4 sets it wasn't a problem.  I had learned an important grip lesson from the day before, chalking my hands thoroughly before each set even though there was no chance of me falling 8-10 feet in this workout.  At 175, I could no longer go rapid fire through the three reps.  I had to concentrate more on proper form for each rep and my slower pace meant more strain on my grip.  That being said, 175 still wasn't too bad.

195 was where the true test began.  The first rep wasn't a problem, but holding on as I slowly brought the barbell back to my knee was tough.  Generating enough strength for the next rep wasn't easy either.  On the third rep, I channeled my Crossfit spirit animal, the starfish, and caught the barbell with a very wide stance.  I had made it through the set at 195, but I wasn't feeling confident about 215.  Perhaps that is why I completely blew it on my first attempt at that weight.  Deadlifting 215 to my waist was no problem, but I was unable to generate nearly enough power to get the barbell up to my shoulders.  I had time for one more attempt at this weight before the cash out.  I tried to put any negative thoughts out of my head and went up for one last try.  This time I was able to get the barbell up to my shoulders.  One down, two to go.  I didn't lose my grip as I brought the barbell back to my knees and only went semi-starfish as I got the barbell back up to my shoulders a second time.  One to go.  My grip was starting to loosen as I came back down to my knees, so I wanted to attempt that third rep as fast as I could.  I pulled with all of the energy I had left, but it wasn't enough.  I'm not sure there is anything that frustrates me more than failing with one rep left, but I had managed to do it yet again.  Final score: 195.

For the cash out, we needed to do 3 rounds of 15 GHD sit-ups and 5 hang power cleans using 70% of our 3RM.  I decided to use 145 because I felt that getting 2 reps at 215 was an indication that I could have gotten 205 had I tried it and 145 was about 70% of 205.  This was going to be an all-out sprint as most of the times on the board were in the 3:00-4:30 range.  Rachel and I discussed her expectations for me on the cash out:

Rachel: I want you to complete this in 3 minutes, Dave.
Me: I don't know about that.
Rachel: Or you could just beat Rich's time (pointing to Rich and his 2:46)
Me: I definitely don't know about that.

Because of my lack in confidence, Rachel let me off the hook and told me that she wanted me to finish in under 3:30.  That sounded reasonable enough.  I set up my barbell near the middle of the lifting platform.  I had watched the last class do this cash out and most people didn't have the luxury of setting up their barbell right next to their GHD, so I didn't think it would be fair for me to do that just because I was the only one at the 7:30 class.  I did some practice reps on the GHD and Rachel was on my case about not using my legs enough as I flopped backwards and returned using all abs.  That wasn't going to cut it for 45 reps.  I did 1-2 more the right way and she was satisfied.

Rachel got the clock ready, counted me down, and it was time to sprint.  I did those first 15 GHD sit-ups about as fast as I've ever done GHD sit-ups in my life.  I can do fast sets of 12-15 reps typically and if I was going to stay under 3:30, I couldn't stop along the way.  I needed to go all out and hope I didn't run out of juice.  I hopped off of my GHD and trotted over to my barbell.  I decided to face away from the clock like I had done during Grace.  I didn't want to look up and find out I was doing well, because I didn't want to get my hopes up with two full rounds to go.  And if I looked up and saw that I was going slower than it seemed, well, that would crush me.  I picked up the barbell, knocked out 5 speedy reps, then jogged back to the GHD.

I'm not sure if my pace slowed at all during round two, but it didn't feel like it.  Whipped through 15 GHD sit-ups.  Blazed through 5 hang power cleans.  Just one round to go.  It would have been impossible for me to move faster than I did during those first two rounds.  Round three?  That was definitely slower.  I think I got to 8 reps before my mid-section began to revolt.  I didn't have Aimee's abs, so I'm not sure where I got off thinking that I could tear through 45 GHD sit-ups at top speed.  But with only 7 reps remaining, I had reached the point where I needed to push through the pain.  Those last 7 reps were slower, but I didn't stop at all.  And I knew I would be able to get 5 more fast hang power cleans to finish things up.  With the third round complete, I dropped the barbell and turned around.  Final time: 2:42.

It's not often that I impress myself, but I couldn't help but smile when I saw my time.  That was a legitimately fast time.  Rich had definitely used more weight on his barbell, so it wasn't an apples-to-apples comparison, but any workout where I can stay fairly close to his time is a victory for me.  Nice way to end my unexpected personal training session.

Wednesday preview: Probably the most fun I've ever had during a warmup followed by a workout that is not fun at all.