I had a lot of silly ideas about how much exercise I'd do on Thursday. My legs were still a little beaten up, but I was definitely going to Endurance for the final mile time trial of the year. I didn't realize the new Thursday 7:30 class was starting this week, so it was possible for me to go to Endurance at 5:30, chill for a while, then hit up the 7:30 WOD. That was under consideration until I saw the crazy ass workout programmed for today. It involved three five-minute rounds where you would do a bunch of calories on the rower, rounds of Cindy (pull-ups, push-ups, and air squats), and if you had any time remaining, as many power cleans (weights varied by round) as possible. Between each round you got five minutes rest (huge red flag). Your score was how many power cleans you completed. Thoughts ran through my head about how I'd probably score zero on the later rounds. When I saw that Rob C and Pam got a score of zero on their final round during the nooner, my fears were confirmed. Screw that. I wasn't interested in doing some workout where I'd go nuts for 5 minutes and receive a score of zero.
If I wanted to supplement Endurance, I could do a rowing workout at home or I could throw in some double under practice. I was concerned that rowing might kill my legs too much in advance of the mile, so I only worked on my dubs. The goal was to do a very large set, optimally one that exceeded 50 reps. If I could get more than 62, I'd have a new PR. I began my first set and immediately hooked a big one. I tried to remain calm, but fatigue began to set in at about 40 reps again. As I passed 50 reps, I started having thoughts that I might PR. That would have to wait another day. After 58 reps, the rope hit me. It was nice that I reached my goal for the day on my first set though. I tried some additional sets, but didn't put together any that exceeded 25 reps. I brought my rope to the track with me in case I had any energy after Endurance. (Spoiler: I did not.)
11 was a popular number this week as today's attendance at Endurance matched what we had at Dudes After Dark. Most of the regulars were there, along with some old-school Endurance folks who hadn't been there for a while (says the guy who disappeared for 5 weeks) like Laura P, Justin R, and Luke. We did two laps of Indian Runs and then Tim had us go through an assortment of drills. We did a little stretching out along the fence before making the slow walk down to the starting line.
Coach Tim gave us some pointers before we began our four-lap journey. He told us to stay as close to the inside as possible during the run. Flounder took this to an extreme by lining up on the inside of the front row like he always does. (That was a little mean, but he'll be happy that I mentioned him in the blog. And he'll give me a bunch of shit the next time I see him.) Tim also told us to kinda go hard on the first lap, but that we should also maintain our pace on the remaining laps. And when we hit the final lap, we should really kick it in. So to recap, we needed to stay on the inside while running fast, fast, fast, and very fast over the course of four laps. Got it.
If you had asked me prior to the time trial who I would wager on to cross the finish line first, it would be Justin. I've done time trials and 5K's with him and the guy can run. He has that easy gliding along style like Laura A does. Never looks like he's exerting a ton of energy, but he keeps moving away from everyone else. Before class began, he admitted that the mile was better for him than any of the sprint work we do at Endurance because, as he put it, "my 100 meter pace is my mile pace". If anyone might be able to catch him over the next 1,600 meters, it was probably going to be John M. He had told me earlier in the week that he had a time in mind for the mile, but he wouldn't share it with me in advance. My guess was that he wanted to break 6 minutes.
I was part of the back row as Tim sent us on our way. Off to a slow start yet again as John, Joy, Laura, and Flounder went out to the front. Luke was behind them and then came Justin. I followed Justin through the first 100 meters or so before going around him. It didn't feel like I was going incredibly fast, so I was surprised that I went by him. I didn't have to worry about Justin hanging behind me for very long. As we went into the second turn, Justin went right on by me. Then he passed Luke. He would later claim that he didn't accelerate much at the end of the first lap, but by the time he revisited the starting line, he was already in the process of passing the lead quartet.
While Justin was in the midst of putting the rest of us to shame, I was working on reeling in the people in front of me. I didn't get my splits at the end of class, but I know I was around 1:35 at the end of the first lap. It didn't seem like the people in front of me were slowing all that much, so I was going to have to earn it if I was going to catch up with them. At some point during that second lap, I was able to catch Luke. My next target was Flounder.
We were halfway done and my time was in the neighborhood of 3:15. That was a faster pace than we had run in the mile time trial that I participated in during the summer. It would have been awesome to get a breather during the third lap so I could finish strongly. That is what I typically do in a workout. I drop off in the middle and then give it everything I have left at the end. I needed to break that habit. As I began lap #3, I decided that I was going to push hard a lap early and hope for the best on the last lap. When we hit the back straightaway, I went past Flounder. As I went by, I prayed that he didn't pick up his pace in an attempt to stay in front of me. This third lap was tough enough already. I didn't need to battle him in order to get by. Luckily, he let me go. Having passed Flounder, I set my sights on John and Laura. They were running together as Joy had gotten away from them a little bit. I kept on trying to accelerate, but I wasn't making much progress. When I hit 1,200 meters, Tim said my time was 5:09.
That third lap of approximately 1:54 might not sound very fast, but that was usually the lap where I'd throw in a lap of over two minutes. And I was excited to know that I had a chance to break 7 minutes if I could hang in there for one more lap. Everyone in front of me at that point had clearly found a little extra in reserve as they hit the final lap, so I gave up on trying to catch them. My main focus was running fast enough to break 7 minutes. My secondary focus was not letting anybody pass me on the last lap. No one went by on the first half of the final lap. As I hit the final turn, I looked to the inside of the track. That was where the shadows of the runners could be found. Was Flounder or Luke right behind me? Was Maggie going to show off her sprint speed again and go flying by me? I looked to the infield and saw only my own shadow. I think that means there will be 6 more weeks of Endurance.
As I came into the final straightaway, I wanted to get up on my toes and sprint. I just couldn't. I was pumping my arms and running fast, but I was too tired to do a full sprint. I didn't hear anyone coming up on me and those who had finished were yelling my name and no one else's. It seemed like I was in the clear. I hit the finish line and Tim told me I ran 6:54. Yes! I broke seven minutes! It's not all that fast, but it was a goal of mine. After being 6 seconds on the wrong side of that threshold in my earlier mile time trial, I had now finished 6 seconds to the good. Symmetry is a beautiful thing.
When I completed the run, I took a few steps before sitting down on the track in lane 3. I wasn't close enough to the finish line that I had to worry about anyone running over me. I got to see Mike Santivasci and Flounder come down the stretch together, with Mike winning that battle by two seconds. They would be followed by Luke, Jen, and Alona. Wait, where was Maggie? I hadn't realized it, but I dodged a bullet with her. I didn't see her shadow on the turn and I hadn't heard her steps or her breathing during that last 100 meter stretch, but I later learned that she was flying on her last lap. I crossed the finish line only three seconds before she did. I am very glad that she wasn't close enough to force me to sprint at the end because I highly doubt I would have been able to hold her off.
Tim had us walk 100 meters and then slowly jog 200 meters to get us back to the starting line that we use for most of the workouts. He let us know that we only had 400 meters left. Those 400 meters would be done in four 100 meter sprints. At the end of the sprints, we'd have to do some body weight movement. Station 1 was 20 push-ups, station 2 was 20 jumping jacks, station 3 was 20 alternating lunges, and station 4 was 20 mountain climbers. That wasn't all because every ice cream sundae needs a cherry on top. Once we completed the 20 mountain climbers, we had to hold a plank for as long as possible. It all sounded terrible.
We lined up for one last lap of pain. We headed off for our first sprint and Maggie shot ahead of everyone. I'm not sure if a split second of excessive competitiveness ran through my mind as we ran down the track, but as I watched her pull away from us, something in my head said "at least make her work for it". I got up on my toes and kicked it into high gear. Did I catch her? Of course not. She has some afterburners that the manufacturer forgot to install on my model. I was at least able to make it close.
I dropped to the track to do my push-ups. I'm not sure if you've ever tried to do push-ups after doing an all-out sprint, but let me tell you they are damn near impossible. I did two then had to stop. I was breathing so hard that I decided to start doing the rest from my knees. Even with that help, I was either the last or second-to-last person to hit the second run. Know who can do push-ups after a sprint? Luke. I had done those two push-ups before he had done any, yet he was gone before I got to 12. He was the first one off to the jumping jacks.
My performance for the rest of the lap was pretty pathetic. Those push-ups were the end for me. I wasn't able to come close to duplicating that first sprint in any of the three remaining ones. The exercises weren't bad, but I certainly didn't sprint through those either. After completing the mountain climbers, I went into my final plank. Flounder would tell me that my ass was up during this plank and maybe it was, but I was all about zoning out and trying to maintain this hold for as long as I could. Tim told us to try and hold it for a minute. I think most people made it that long, but I couldn't tell because I decided to close my eyes fairly early on. Alona started a few seconds before me, a fact I knew because Tim would alert her as to how long she had held the plank and then let me know where I was soon after. Alona hit a minute, I hit a minute. She got to 1:30, I got to 1:30. We were the only two still going. The rest of the class was telling us to keep holding the plank. Alona got to 2:00, I got to 2:00. This was much better than I was expecting, but I knew I wasn't going to make it much longer. Tim mentioned closing in on 2:30, but I think I gave out before I hit that checkpoint. When I looked over, Alona was no longer planking either, so she probably came down at around the same time as me. Just shy of 2:30? Let's unofficially say I tied my plank PR.
Luke asked me if I wanted to do a cool down lap with him and I jumped in, but not before peer pressuring John into coming along with us. I asked John to finally reveal what time he was going after in the mile and he told me it was 6:15. He seemed a bit disappointed about running 6:35 in the time trial, but I think many people showed up today and expressed that they were feeling a little sluggish. On a day when he's feeling completely fresh, I imagine John would come very close to 6:15.
Friday preview: Back squat + shoulder press + deadlift = Crossfit Total. Can I still back squat over 300 pounds? And could this be the day I finally deadlift 400 pounds?
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