My parents visited this weekend and there is one thing that I can count on every time they drop by: a trip to Maggiano's. Jenn and I had our rehearsal dinner there 10 years ago and ever since then, my parents have expressed a desire to go back every time they are in town. Jenn actually made the reservation before my mom had the opportunity to text me about having dinner there. Life gets a little predictable as you get older.
Why am I telling you about Maggiano's? Because family-style eating at an Italian restaurant is probably not high on the list of "successful ways people have gotten leaner". It has become abundantly clear over the last 5 weeks that I can handle my diet from Monday through Friday, but once the weekend comes around, things go downhill. It is very difficult to remain sociable while adhering to stricter eating standards. I'm guessing the folks at Maggiano's would not have been pleased if I showed up with one of my smoothies and declined pasta and dessert.
With that in mind, I got ready to stand on the scale this morning with the expectation that I might have packed back on some of the 3.4 pounds I lost last week.
Original weigh-in: 213.2 pounds
Last week's weigh-in: 209.8 pounds
This week's weigh-in: 209.8 pounds
That's strange. I'm beginning to wonder whether my scale has a finite amount of readings that it will display for me. Apparently 213.2 and 209.8 are popular ones at the moment. This upcoming week will be another toughie for me as I head out to Vegas from Wednesday through Sunday for the Fall Classic handicapping tournament at the Orleans. I'm bringing my jump rope with me and dammit, it will be used! (I should probably do some push-ups and sit-ups as well.)
October begins the 4th and final cycle of the benchmark WODs that we have been doing throughout the year and on Monday night, we bid adieu to Christine.
"Christine"
3 rounds
500 meter row
12 body-weight deadlifts (thank God I weighed myself this morning!)
21 box jumps (24"/20")
I knew that my bald partner-in-crime Chris D would be at the gym this evening because this is his favorite workout. I should have known Bryan would be there too because that man loves him some box jumps. You know what fellas? Invite 17 of your closest friends. Let's pack the house one more time on a Monday evening. The 6:30 class last Monday had 21 people in it and we came very close to duplicating that with 20 attendees this evening. With so many people in class, we needed to run Christine in two heats.
Coach Giulz got the class started by introducing us to her cousin, Katie. Then she had us do an ice breaker where we went around saying our name and the name of our favorite cousin. It was a bit awkward when Giulz and Katie both had to lie about being each other's favorite cousin, but we made it around the circle with a 90 percent honesty rate. When the 20 of us returned from a 400 meter run, we paired off into 10 groups for the workout. Chris did not partner up with me, probably so he could kick my ass while going in the same heat. He joined Bryan to form a box-jumping supergroup, while I teamed up with Mike R to form an actuarial supergroup. Both supergroups sounded equally intimidating.
After some additional warmup, we got ready to go with Mike leading things off for our group and Bryan leading things off for Team Box Jump. They were working right next to each other, so Chris and I took turns cheering both of them on. Mike did well on the rower, then methodically took care of his deadlifts. While he wasn't rebounding on his box jumps, he moved through them about as quickly as you could without rebounding. He was the first one back to his rower, although Ashley was right on his tail.
Mike was methodical in all respects during this workout. When he sat on his rower to begin round two, he calmly leaned to his right, picked up his water bottle, took a swig, and then continued on. He seemed very composed throughout this workout, a trait I can't attribute to myself (as you'll see in the photo later on). Mike was off the rower just before Ashley, but she caught him on the deadlifts. Both were impressive on the box jumps, although I could see from Mike's face that he was not enjoying this part of the workout anymore. Ashley got back to her rower first to begin round three and I tried to motivate Mike by telling him to go catch her. Mike calmly drank from his water bottle as I spewed encouragement. Clearly I'm no Tony Robbins.
Ashley was back to her barbell first and all indications from the first two rounds were that this is where she was going to pull away. And she did. Mike gutted his way through three sets of four deadlifts (pretty sure he's not a big fan of deadlifts) before coming back to his box to wrap up his workout. That last set of box jumps looked like agony for him, but he kept chipping away until his third round of 21 reps was complete.
The brutal final round of box jumps
Bryan was still working when Mike had finished up, so I went to cheer him on. He definitely struggled on the deadlifts, eventually needing to drop from body weight to 30 pounds less than that in the last round. I think Bryan is still getting used to certain elements of Crossfit and I'm sure it won't be long before he feels more comfortable with deadlifts. (Note: He told me during the 400 meter run that he now has chest-to-bar pull-ups. If an advanced move like that came quickly to him, so will deadlifts.)
Heat 1 was done and I added weight to the barbell because I weigh 210 pounds and Mike does not. Other people were still setting up their barbells, so I figured I had time to pee. Glad it was a quick pee, because when I came back out, most of the people in heat 2 were beginning to sit on their rowers. I jogged over to mine and as I put my feet in the straps, Giulz clicked the remote to reset the clock. We were going right now!
The first row was all about being controlled. Don't get exhausted early on, but don't go super slow either. My pace felt comfortable and I tried to use my legs as much as I could, something I've never been very good at while rowing. I remembered doing this earlier in the year and struggling with my deadlift because I had used my arms so much on the row. Didn't want that to happen again. I wasn't moving back and forth as fast as Chris was on his rower, so I assumed that he was ahead of me. In fact, I figured several people were ahead of me because my pace was about 1:50 the whole way. I was pleasantly surprised to see I was the first one off of the rower.
Because of my bathroom break, I didn't get a chance to test out the deadlifts at 210 pounds. However, I remembered from Friday that I was going to need to fire myself up if I was going to move that weight 12 times per round. I went right into my first set and started moving through reps as quickly as I could. Early on, the thought of trying to string all 12 crossed my mind. Then I ignored that thought. Stringing 12 reps at that weight would be pushing it and I definitely wouldn't be able to do it for all three rounds. I made it to 8 reps before dropping my barbell. That seemed alright to me. I didn't take a long break before taking care of the last 4 reps. Yet when I turned to go to my box, I saw Chris was now ahead of me. Bastard! He must have strung all 12 of his.
I didn't think I could catch Chris on the box jumps because I had no plans of rebounding during them. I was stepping down each time. That was slower, but rebounding has sapped my legs in the past and I needed my legs for two more rounds of this workout. This was the second surprise of the workout for me as I stayed fairly close to Chris while churning through my 21 reps. I was only a few seconds behind him as I came back to my rower. That was when I saw Chris meant business. As he got ready to row for the second time, he took off his shirt, Crossfit Games-style. I responded by...keeping my shirt on.
Giulz had been telling the first heat how important it was to push hard through the second round as many people share my affliction of letting the workout get away from them in the middle rounds. I had completed the first round in about 3:45, so I was on a good pace. I wasn't exactly sure what my best time was on this workout, but I thought it was over 13 minutes. I couldn't let my pace drop off in the second round to something like 5 minutes. That second row was going to suck, but I needed to keep it respectable and that was what I did, finishing in the 2:05-2:10 range. That wasn't fast enough to keep pace with Chris and there seemed little chance of me making up ground on the deadlifts, so I accepted the fact that he was ahead of me for good and did my best to prevent the gap between us from growing out of control.
Chris getting a head start on the second round of deadlifts
I walked to my barbell, giving myself a chance to calm down from the second row. I took a deep breath, then began my deadlifts. They were much less pleasant in this round and I considered stopping after 6 reps. I hate leaving myself an equal number on the back end though, so I hung on for 7 reps, leaving myself 5 to go. As much as I didn't want to go into my resting squat in this workout, I did it. I needed some recovery if I was going to string the last 5 reps. After a short break, I got up and held on for 5 reps.
Pain setting in during round two
The box jumps were slower for everyone at the conclusion of round two and I was no exception. I think I had a medium-sized set to begin, but I needed a moment after that. From there on, I tried to do sets of four or five at a time. I took a glance at the clock when I was about halfway done and it showed about 7:30 had elapsed. That was very good for me. By the time I wrapped up my box jumps, the clock was in the 8:05-8:10 range. I had made a good push on round two, but I needed to hold on to that pace for one more round if I was going to break 13 minutes.
I didn't get off to a good start. I felt like I was pulling strongly during that third row, but the monitor said otherwise. My pace was in the 2:15-2:20 range and I couldn't seem to lower it even though Mike was yelling encouragement to me. Chris was off of his rower as I passed 250 meters, meaning I was now about a minute behind him. I knew at this point that I was going to have to make up time somewhere else and that was probably going to have to happen at the deadlift. When I finished up on the rower, I got up and walked briskly to my barbell. No time for a break. I put my hands on it and started working towards 12 reps. Tried to ignore the pain as best as I could, but that only got me to 7 reps. I kept my break short, but I couldn't hold on for the final 5 reps when I went again. Only got 3. Mike was telling me to get the last two reps, but I needed another short break first. Took care of the last 2 reps and headed to my box.
I must have done two sets of four and one set of five to get to 13 reps, because I remember standing on the box with 8 reps remaining thinking "just two more sets of 4". I really wanted to get at least one large set, but I know that didn't happen. I couldn't handle more than 4-5 reps in a row at this point. I was almost done, but my legs were definitely wobbly. I did another set of 4, then stood on my box for a break. While I was up there, I looked at the clock. It was nearing 12:45.
How dare you suggest this isn't an athletic pose!
If I was breaking 13 minutes, I had to move. I stepped down immediately and tried to do the four quickest box jumps I could. When the fourth one was done, I looked up again. Final time: 12:55.
Exhausted, but very happy to break 13 minutes. It was also the rare box jump workout where I didn't trip at some point. I couldn't hang with Chris (he finished in 11:39), but he's a body weight ninja and this workout favored lighter guys. As one of the heavier guys in class, I think I did pretty well.
KOP's summer intern, Sarina, was back for one class with us as she was visiting for the weekend before heading back to college. Sarina was a great addition to the KOP family and even though she is no longer technically the intern, she looked like she was still fulfilling that role. Among the things she took care of tonight was the inputting of scores for the KOP blog. Giulz had written all of them on the board. Okay, maybe not all of them. She asked if she had forgotten anyone and I told her she had forgotten her favorite cousin, Dave. She then added me to the group and I let her know that my time was a PR. Some time later, I checked my phone to make sure it was a PR and saw "Dave 12:50" in the January results. Oops. I went over to Sarina and asked if the results were already on the blog and she confirmed that they were. I told her about my mistake and she shook her head. She said she would fix it on the blog. I mentioned that it was okay to use hashtags like #Davelied, #notaPR, and #notmyfavoritecousin to explain why the change was necessary.
(Note: When I got home, I looked at my Excel spreadsheet and did not see 12:50 for my January time. After checking the January results on the KOP blog again, I realized I was looking at the results for the wrong Dave. So this was my first time breaking 13 minutes and therefore was a PR. Guess I lied twice.)
Double under update: Prior to class, I worked on double unders again. I believe I did better in terms of taking smaller jumps. And I got 68 in a row! (Things start falling apart around 50 reps and it was all I could do to make it past 66, my old record.) After class, I was determined to keep practicing. I was tired and did lots of lousy sets, but I did have one where I strung 48 reps. Just gotta keep practicing and I'll get to 75 in a row.
Tuesday preview: 25 minutes of light thrusters, burpees, and light sumo deadlift high pulls. Sounds like a cardio/mental challenge to me.
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