When I got back from AC on Tuesday, I was feeling pretty lousy. I was tired from being on the road all weekend long. I had eaten like crap for the better part of three days. I hadn't done any exercise since Friday. And my friendly blackjack dealers (Negan and Lucille) had relieved me of the money I had brought with me to America's Favorite Playground. I was hoping that a trip to Dudes After Dark would make me feel better, but I decided that I first needed to get in some double under practice before heading to the gym. Tuesday's WOD was strength-based and I was in need of some cardio.
That cardio would come in the form of one set of double unders. One set? Really? Well one set meant that things either went very well or very poorly. I am happy to report that it was the former. I stood outside with the hope of putting together at least one set of 50 in a row. I tend not to get excited about how a set is going until I've reached about 20 consecutive reps and when I hit that mark in this set, I started to feel very confident about things. My form was good, I was keeping my core tight (something I've never been good with when doing double unders), and my breathing was very calm. I was only 40% of the way to 50 reps, yet I had a good feeling that I would reach that mark in this first set. I kept rolling along from there, eventually surpassing 50 reps. Once I got to that point, it was time to start thinking about getting to 75. As I got to the 60-65 rep range, I could tell I was in trouble. My rope speed was slowing down as my shoulders began to tire out. My jump was more pronounced as I had little faith that my bunny hop was enough to keep clearing the rope. Things were starting to fall apart, but I was so close to my PR (73 consecutive). I told myself to keep fighting through the pain.
I hit 70 reps and I began to worry that I was going to blow it again, coming close to the number I needed and failing on the doorstep of victory. I had done it multiple times on Friday, but blowing it at this point would feel even worse. I became very pessimistic as the 72nd rep cleared beneath my feet. Then I became very relieved when I got #73. The reps were ugly at this point but I didn't care. 74 and 75 went by without the rope hitting me. I had gotten 75 in a row! Could I do 25 more ugly hops and get all the way to 100? Of course not. I was lucky to have reached 75 with how I was jumping at the end. When the rope finally hit me after 78 consecutive reps, I was happy and exhausted. I didn't need any more cardio before class. 78 was the new number to beat.
Now that I am constantly worried about traffic and closed off roads on my commute to the gym, I've started leaving my house much earlier to get to class on time. And naturally, when I give myself a half-hour to get to the gym, it ends up only taking the typical 12-15 minutes. Since I was early, I got to watch the end of the 6:30 class. Matt B was taking part in it and he gave me some terrible news. My old buddy Brett, the guy who I went through fundamentals with, was in town and had dropped in for the 5:30 class. I asked Matt if he was still around, but he told me that Brett had left already. Talk about some sucky news! Brett is one of my all-time favorites and I had missed his visit. Guess I'd have to catch him next time he was in town.
The Tuesday WOD featured a 2RM front squat along with an 8 minute partner cash out where one partner would hold a barbell in the front rack (135/95) while the other partner tried to accumulate calories on the assault bike. This was the part of the 6:30 class that I got to witness and it did not look like a lot of fun. Most teams chose to switch roles after every minute of work, so each partner got 4 sessions on the bike and 4 turns holding the barbell. I knew the bike would be terrible, but the expressions on the faces of those tasked with hanging on to the barbell let me know that side of things would be no picnic either. Matt and Ron took turns grimacing as they held 135 pounds in their front racks. Tia and Maggie wouldn't even look at each other while doing the cash out. Everyone seemed able to hold on to the weight (I didn't hear any barbells crash during the minute-long holds), but no one looked like they enjoyed it.
Dudes After Dark would begin with a warmup that was a variation on the cash out I just described. Coach Rachel had us partner up as we did a tabata (20 seconds working, 10 seconds resting, 8 rounds) of the assault bike and slamballs. Only problem was that we had an odd number of people in class. I tried to get Tia to join us as the 8th member of our warmup, but she wanted nothing to do with the assault bike. Her partner was more willing to even out our teams, so Maggie came over to do the 4 minute warmup with us. Did we really need an 8th person? I guess not, but it was fun to peer pressure them into some additional assault bike work. The tabata wasn't that bad, but it's important to remember that the cash out would be a lot more difficult. Each bike ride would be three times as long, there would be no breaks while transitioning exercises, and the barbell hold was going to be tougher than hurling a 30 pound slamball into the ground over and over again.
Rachel had us go through a few progressions on the front squat before sending us off to our own racks to get going. While we were grabbing our barbells, Cline referred to Rachel as "LC", which I didn't immediately get. After a few seconds of thought, the light bulb went on and I started cracking up. Rachel has a habit of getting caught up in the lobby when Dudes After Dark is supposed to begin, so she'll yell to us what we need to do to warm up as she inputs data into the gym computer from the intro session that precedes our class. That has earned her the nickname "Lobby Coach", or LC for short. I think LC has some staying power and I'll be using it at future Tuesday night classes.
Once we got to our racks, we were supposed to do 8 working sets of 2 front squats. What's a working set? I didn't know the exact answer to that question. I figured starting at about 50% of my 2RM and working up from there would be sufficient. My 2RM was 265 and I was hoping to get 270 today, so I would begin with 135. The progression in my head was 135-165-190-210-230-250-260-270. That was all well and good until Rachel told us that working sets shouldn't be "like 50% of your max". There goes that plan! Oh well, maybe I could hit 270 and then try 275 or 280 after that.
I set up my barbell down at the far end of the gym alongside of Neil. I've been guilty in the past of being chatty during strength workouts and falling behind the class in terms of getting all my sets done. I legitimately did not think that was the case on this night. Neil and I would knock out two reps, add weight to our barbells, then move on to the next set. If anything, I was worried that I might not be taking enough rest between sets. I did the "warmup" set at 135, then the sets at 165, 195, and 210. To get to my next weight of 230, I needed another set of 45 pound plates, so I headed down to the front of the gym. And that is when I passed Ryan A's rack. Here's what it looked like:
Ryan front squats more than I deadlift....scary!
What in the world? I did some quick math and asked if that was 395 on the barbell. Ryan gave me a bit of a puzzled look and said it should be less than that. I realized that the big plates weren't all 45 pounders. There was one set of 35 pounders on there. So it was only 375 pounds. That was insane. I asked Ryan what set he was on and he said "3rd or 4th". Dear lord! How high was he intending on going? He may not have been planning on going too much higher as Rachel had given us the option of doing drop sets (sets with less weight) at the end and it was possible that Ryan might be doing some of those. But even if he didn't go any higher from where he was, two reps at 375 pounds was an incredible achievement.
I returned to my end of the gym with extra plates in hand. I put 230 pounds on my barbell (which looked pitiful after having walked by Ryan's barbell) and got through that set. 250 pounds was where it began to get tough, but I got through two reps at that weight. All of a sudden, Rachel told us that we had time for 1 or 2 more sets. I am really not good at moving fast enough through sets on strength days! I put 260 on my barbell and had to work hard to complete both reps, but I got through it. I would have time for one shot at a PR. Seven working sets would have to do.
As I got prepared for my attempt at a new PR, I walked around the far end of the gym, telling myself to forget the number. It's easy to get fixated on (or scared) by certain numbers as you're doing lifts. If you can find a way to block that number from your mind, you'll have more success. That is what I was trying to do. When I felt like my mind was right, I marched over to the barbell. I didn't want any hesitations at this point. Any delays were just going to allow doubt to creep into my mind. I took the barbell from the rack, got my feet and breathing set, and prepared for rep #1. I hit the bottom, began to ascend, and simply did not have it. I don't even think I fought it that long. It was apparent that I wasn't going to be able to stand up with it, so I dropped it. Final score: 260.
I might not have ended up with a PR, but the majority of the class hit new highs. Noel had a PR of 165. Actuary Mike (we have multiple Mike R's, so I'm going with this nickname from now on) had a PR of 180. Cline had a PR of 210. (Note: the KOP blog doesn't say this was a PR, but I think it was.) Neil had a PR of 245. And the star of the show was Ryan with a 2RM PR of 375 and a 1RM PR of 405, giving him the top spot on the gym leaderboard for the men's front squat.
It was on to the cash out where we no longer had Maggie to even out our numbers. Ryan decided to do it on his own, alternating back and forth with an imaginary partner. My teammate was Actuary Mike. He didn't feel comfortable holding 135, so we used 115 instead. I thought that wouldn't be so difficult to hold on to, but there were definitely some shaky moments during those 8 minutes where I grew concerned that I'd drop the barbell. Both Mike and I did some strong work on the bike and we ended up with a solid score of 127 calories for the cash out.
Members of EJ's fire house were holding a fundraiser at the new brew pub across the street, so several of us decided to head there post-workout. As we were getting ready to leave, I dropped a few LC's on Rachel, which she did not enjoy. She said it sounded way too much like Elsie, which was a cow's name. (Note: I've always been partial to Bessie as a cow's name, but to each their own.) Rachel's reaction to her new nickname was reminiscent of how Keith first reacted to Keithie, so LC may be here to stay.
When we got to the brew pub, a surprise awaited me. Brett may have left soon after the 5:30 class, but he hadn't wandered far. There he was upstairs, hanging out with Shawna and Samson. It was really good seeing him and getting to catch up a bit. He even told me that he was staying at the casino near my house if I wanted to go over there after the brew pub, but my AC experience had dampened my enthusiasm for gambling. I had a beer, some dinner, and then headed home to sleep in my own bed for the first time in four nights. I'm not sure there's anything better than that.
Wednesday preview: A workout that goes really well. Or did it? Depends on your perspective.
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