I showed up to Dudes After Dark with some extra energy that I needed to burn off. I got to the gym about 10 minutes early, said hi to a few people, and then I got out my jump rope. Maybe it's in my head, but I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to a breakthrough with my double unders. There was a cleared out area where the exercise/assault bikes typically are (you'll find out where they were moved soon enough), so I stood over there and got ready to go. I did one set. It wasn't the longest set I've ever done. It might not have even had the best form (John M told me that I wasn't breathing during the set). So why am I telling you about it? Because I had that solid whistling sound during my set. It's the sound I hear while watching someone who is actually good at double unders. Now don't get me wrong, I don't suddenly think I'm good with a jump rope. But I do think that my speed has gotten better and that has been my main focus recently with regards to double unders. I just have to remember that pesky breathing thing. (Note: I got 27 consecutive double unders during this set.)
We didn't have 21 people there, but for the second straight night, an attendance record was broken. (All attendance records are made up in my head, but just go with it.) Dudes After Dark was packed with 11 dudes this evening. Gone are the days when a group of 4 would seem like a big class. This is what a big class looks like now:
Dudes representing!
There were so many dudes in class that we had to run two heats of the workout! Even with two heats, not everyone would get to use an assault bike (we only have 5), but we had one person who was okay with using a regular exercise bike. I bet his legs were very happy with that decision.
The Tuesday WOD was a leg test. Could you handle the first part of the workout and not kill yourself on the second part? And then could you repeat that trick over the course of four rounds? Here is what we were facing:
Tuesday's WOD:
4 rounds
3 minute AMRAP
20 calories on the assault bike
15 box jumps (24"/20")
10 power snatches (135/95)
*Between rounds, rest for 3 minutes
3 minutes of rest between rounds? Uh oh. As Coach Rachel would tell us prior to the workout, this one was going to be spicy. The assault bike was going to drain your legs. Then you had to find a way to grind through the box jumps without tripping over your box. If you had any energy or time left, you'd continue on to the power snatches. Then you'd get to relive this misery 3 more times.
Rachel led us through progressions for the power snatches before telling us to choose someone about our height for the assault bike. I was over near Cline, John, and Chris D. I could have gone with any of them, but I chose Chris because he and I were involved in an "oh, so all bald guys look alike" situation prior to class. If we were being mistaken for one another, then we must be close to the same height. I called dibs on one of the assault bikes that were lined up in the middle of the gym and Chris secured us a 24" box. We did a few calories on the assault bike and then 5 jumps each on our box. All that was left to do was figure out how much weight we wanted for our barbells.
Chris and I didn't have to use the same barbell and at first I didn't think we would. He was originally going to use 95 pounds while I toyed with the idea of using 115. Chris then said he could probably do 115. I told him we should get 25 and 10 pound plates for our barbell. That way we could start with 115 and we could strip it down to 95 if he didn't feel comfortable with it. We loaded our barbell to 115 and I did a practice rep. Wow, that felt heavy. I knew I was going to be very fatigued when I got to this segment of each round, so if this felt heavy now, it was going to feel like it was attached to the floor during the workout. I let Chris attempt a rep and he felt the same way. We agreed to drop down to 105. Each of us tested that out and felt much better about the weight.
As we got ready, we were all joking around about how many times we were going to trip over the box in this workout. Then Cline said something shocking to me. He believed that this would be the workout where I was not going to trip over my box. What kind of odds would you get on that in Vegas? 100-1? 1,000-1? Cline knew my track record when it came to box jumps, so he couldn't possibly be serious. Yet I got the sense he was being serious with his prediction.
Cline and I sat next to one another on the assault bikes as we would be partner #1 for our respective teams. Because the work periods and the rest periods were the same length (3 minutes), it made for a smooth transition between heats. Partner #1 worked, partner #2 rested, and vice versa. Rachel told us to get ready and soon we were pedaling away. That first round of 20 calories wasn't too traumatizing. Cline was closest to me, so I could see that he got off his bike before me, but I wasn't too far behind him. In fact, he hadn't started his box jumps when I came over to my box. I could see that he was hesitating, trying to talk himself into jumping despite how his legs must have felt. I didn't see his first jump, but he later told me that he lost his balance during it and wasn't able to stay on the box. I decided to go right into the box jumps, even if it meant I would trip and fall, mainly because I was totally expecting to trip and fall. But I didn't. Rachel had told us during the warmup not to walk away from our boxes between reps and I was doing a decent job of resisting that urge as well. I made it through 15 box jumps without tripping. There was over a minute to go when I got to the power snatches.
The power snatches were a bit strange. At that point in the round, you're feeling tired and throwing a barbell over your head doesn't seem very appealing. On the other hand, it was a bit of a reprieve from all of the leg work up to that point and you could quickly throw it up over your head, then let it drop. I stupidly tried to string a couple of these during my first round before realizing it was a waste of energy. As I drew closer to finishing my 10th snatch, I began to wonder what I would do if I finished all of my snatches before 3 minutes was up. The next heat was already sitting on the bikes waiting to go. I guess I could run down to an empty bike to try and get a few calories. I was beginning my 9th snatch as Rachel yelled out "10 seconds". No sense in worrying about getting back to the bike now. I completed my last snatch with a couple of seconds to spare. Not gonna complain about a little extra rest. First round score: 45.
During the rest period, I tried to walk around to keep my legs loose while also cheering on Chris and John (who was partnered up with Cline). Three minutes goes by fast. It went by fast when I was trying to finish off my round and it went by fast when I was trying to recover. With under 30 seconds remaining, I got on the bike and prepared for round two.
The second round on the bike was much tougher than the first round. While I did pedal pretty strongly during the first round, I was mainly focused on keeping my breathing under control. That combo didn't work in round two. I tried to keep my breathing calm, but I didn't have enough energy in my legs to churn out calories quickly. I was going to have to push much harder to finish off these 20 calories. It took over a minute, but I got my 20 calories done. I moved over to my box and got right into them like I had during round one. Cline was ahead of me off the bike, but I think I passed him again on the box jumps. Right back up. Right back up. I kept repeating that to myself as I made my way through 15 more reps without a trip. Could Cline's prophecy be legit? Perhaps I needed to ask Cline what his thoughts were on the Powerball numbers this week. Somehow I was moving through the box jumps with speed, yet I wasn't screwing up along the way.
There were less than 45 seconds left in the round when I got to the snatches. I knew I wasn't going to get through all 10, but I tried to finish off as many as I could. Each time I dropped the barbell, it would bounce and roll away diagonally. I didn't bother straightening it out. I would walk up to it no matter which direction it was facing and perform the next lift. I made it through 6 reps before the round was up. Second round score: 41.
Some time lying on the floor was required during the second rest period. I didn't spend a lot of time there as I was worried about my legs tightening up. I got up, walked over to my water bottle, finished what was left in it, then grabbed some paper towels to dry off. When I looked up at the clock again, it told me that I only had 30 seconds left in my break. Time to get back on the bike.
Round three was the most painful on the bike. I hadn't convinced myself to go all out on the bike and then take my chances with the rest of the round. It took me over a minute again to finish the 20 calories. Over at the box jumps, I continued to tell myself to jump right back up, doing my best not to step back from it. In round two, I had 11 jumps done when Rachel told us there was a minute left. This time, I only had 9 done. I have no idea how much time remained when I got to my barbell, but I had finished 45 box jumps without tripping. We were on the verge of a miracle. I wrapped up the round by snatching my barbell as fast as I could. I got 5 reps in before round three ended. Third round score: 40.
I know I have a bad habit of saving the big push for the last round, but I was genuinely worried about having no legs in the later rounds of this WOD if I went crazy on the bike early on. When I got to round four, those concerns went away. I put my head down and pedaled as hard as I could, hoping that I was close to 20 calories when I began to run out of juice. As I started to fatigue, I looked at the monitor and saw 12 calories. Crap. That was not as close as I had hoped to be. I pedaled much slower until I got to 16 calories, then put in one last burst to get to 20. For the first time all night, I got off the bike before Cline.
My legs were burning when I got to the box jumps, but I didn't want to overthink it. Got right into it with two quick reps. On the third jump, the inevitable happened: I tripped and fell. Cline's prophecy was so close to coming true and then I blew it. Round four was a complete role reversal as Cline was behind me coming off the bike, then went right on by me on the box jumps. I needed some time to get my head straight before finishing off my remaining 13 jumps. As was the case in round three, I had 6 box jumps left when we got our one minute warning. I guess I went a little faster on the snatches when I got to them as I managed to scratch out an extra rep before my workout was done. Fourth round score: 41. Final score: 167.
That was definitely spicy, but I was happy that I didn't mess up my shins as much as I thought I would. I should probably spend some more time on the assault bike. It seems to be universally hated by the members of KOP, which typically means it is a piece of equipment that will yield results. Just a matter of working through the pain.
Wednesday preview: Dumbbell thrusters and 400 meter runs during a midweek visit to the nooner.
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