Friday marked the end of my first week back at the gym. I knew I wouldn't have time to come in on the weekend and it probably wasn't a good idea to push my body too much while it was still reacclimating to Crossfit. The workout on Thursday didn't result in a lot of soreness, but it clearly showed that my conditioning left a lot to be desired. That conditioning was going to get an even sterner test less than 18 hours later as I took on DT in the midday heat.
"DT"
5 rounds
12 deadlifts (155/105)
9 hang power cleans
6 push jerks
DT is a workout that I like, but I learned how cardio-intensive this one was back in June. I foolishly performed the WOD with RX weight, promising Giulz that I would finish in under 15 minutes. As was the case all summer long, it was extremely hot in the gym and I had to push with everything I had to make good on my promise by only a few seconds. There was no chance that I was repeating that insanity on this day. I had it in my head prior to arriving at the gym that dropping 20 pounds and using 135 made much more sense. If things went well, maybe I could finish in the 10-11 minute range.
I was attending the noon express because there was a farewell happy hour in the city for a girl that I used to work with. Gotta have your priorities. I like hitting up the noon class though. There are different vibes in various classes whether it be the early morning class, the noon express, or Dudes After Dark. I enjoy that variety. It's part of the reason I enjoy Endurance so much even though it's been a solid two decades since I've been remotely good at running. This express class had an interesting mix of people in attendance. There were the late night guys (me and Cline) making early cameos. There were early guys making a later appearance than they normally do (Nick, Jonathan, and Rich). And then there were the folks who you can find most days at the nooner (Pam, Tim H, Denise, Joe, and Meredith). We had all congregated for what may have been the last brutally hot workout of 2016 at KOP. I don't tend to pay a lot of attention to the weather, so I wasn't expecting the impending sweatfest that awaited me. The weather had been cooler earlier in the week and, with Labor Day having passed, I thought the KOP sauna was closed down for the season. Turns out it was open for one last steam.
Coach Aimee got us warmed up. We ran 200 meters, then came back in and went through the movements with a PVC pipe. Once Aimee was happy with how we all looked using PVC, she allowed us to substitute in an empty barbell. Some more practice ensued before Aimee had us do a full round of DT using the empty barbell. Granted, this was a very light weight, but I whipped through it quickly, giving myself some confidence that this WOD might go better than expected. I grabbed some paper towels to dry myself off (yes, I was soaked already) and then went for two 45 pound plates to put on my barbell.
Having already conceded that I was going 20 pounds lighter on DT this time around in comparison to what I had done in June, it didn't occur to me that this weight could possibly be too heavy for me. That's why I put the 45 pound plates on my barbell rather than a collection of smaller plates that I could strip off if I found the weight to be overwhelming. Yet when I went through a small set of deadlifts, hang power cleans, and push jerks with 135, I grew concerned. It felt tougher than I thought it would feel and my spidey senses told me that I should drop even more weight. Aimee was getting ready to start the clock when I asked her if she could hold on a minute so that I could lower the weight on my barbell. I grabbed 25 and 15 pound plates and Aimee became part of my pit crew, quickly removing the 45 pound plates and putting on these new plates so that I could do the workout with 125 pounds instead.
Once the switch was complete, Aimee made sure I was ready and then got the class started on DT. Almost everyone starts this workout the same way: with 11 deadlifts using a mixed grip. This workout is a grip killer, so if you can save it with the mixed grip on your deadlifts, you do that. The reason you do 11 reps (rather than all 12) is because you need to do a deadlift to go into the hang power clean. Thus, you drop after 11, go back to a regular grip, deadlift the barbell and then go into your hang power cleans. I was hoping to complete all 11 in every round, but it was hard work getting through the 11 in round one. Uh oh. This was not exactly the toughest element of this WOD, yet I was struggling already. I told myself to remain calm and do the best I could.
From that point on, the workout was very redundant for me. Like the strategy with the deadlifts, you want to do 8 hang power cleans if you're going to need to drop the barbell because the last hang power clean brings you into your push jerks. And you never want to break up your push jerks because then you're wasting energy (a break in the push jerks requires an extra deadlift and an extra hang power clean). I was pretty sure that I wouldn't need to break up my push jerks, but after the initial struggle with the deadlifts, I knew I wouldn't be stringing 8 hang power cleans together. Four and four would have to do. So round one went like this:
11 deadlifts
<break>
1 deadlift, 4 hang power cleans
<break>
4 hang power cleans
<break>
1 hang power clean, 6 push jerks
Only one round in and I was definitely behind the class. The thing is, I didn't really know how far behind I was. I could see Rich and Nick in front of me and I could see Cline next to me, but I was trying to stay focused only on what I was doing. I knew I was breaking things up more than them and my breaks were certainly longer than the ones they were taking, but the three of them were kind of a blur in my periphery. As the workout went on, I assumed they were all way ahead of me, but towards the end I would discover it wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought.
In rounds two and three, I did exactly the same thing. Broke my deadlifts into two sets (6 and 5). Broke my hang power cleans into two sets (4 and 4). I used the remaining rep of each to transition into the next movement. I observed the cardinal rule of DT: Thou shalt not break up thy push jerks. With long breaks to catch my breath, I knew I wasn't finishing in 10-11 minutes. When I finished round three and saw more than 8 minutes had gone by, I began to get concerned that I wouldn't break 15 minutes. I was using 30 pounds less than I had in June, yet there was a real chance that my final time could be slower than my effort from three months ago. I was less than psyched about this development. While I was hampered by the heat and an inability to breathe very well, the truth is that my desire to push through pain wasn't what it had been prior to my leave of absence from KOP. If I couldn't ratchet up the intensity, I was going to fall further and further behind my classmates.
Apathy by Dave
Intensity by Cline
(Both scents now available at your local department store)
I had reached the last round. As I gathered my breath, I took a look around the room. Nick was still working. Rich was still working. Cline was still working. Even Pam was still working. I hadn't felt very good about my performance up to this point, but none of the people around me had lapped me. That was a surprising development. It wasn't necessarily a good one for me though. It was almost a reassurance that my pace was okay, so I didn't feel any pressure to ratchet up the intensity for my fifth round. I went back to splitting up my deadlifts (6 and 5), bringing back that extra break I didn't need in round four. The hang power cleans were done four apiece, as they were in every round of this workout. Finally, I completed the WOD with my last hang power clean and 6 push jerks. Final time: 14:17.
I couldn't even use the heat as my excuse since it may have been hotter when I did this in June. What it comes down to is a lack of conditioning and a lack of intensity. I wasn't upset at the end of this workout and that is a bit telling. On one hand, it is good that I've gotten better at remaining calm during a workout and that I've been able to block out what others are doing so that I can concentrate on myself. On the other hand, the intensity I need to perform at my best is sorely lacking. I just don't want it badly enough to suffer the same way my classmates are willing to. There is a delicate balance in Crossfit between staying calm and bringing intensity to your workout and I've tipped the scales from crazy person who placed way too much of his emotions into WODs to someone who appears to have been the recipient of a Crossfit lobotomy. My conditioning needs a lot of work, but achieving a better balance between staying calm and bringing intensity to the workouts is also high on my self-improvement list.
Monday preview: My first weigh-in! Plus a workout filled with affirmation and all sorts of things that sounded dirty but were not.
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