On Thursday, we had our last track workout of the 2016 Endurance season. For a short time, I wasn't sure it was even going to happen. When I arrived at the track, it was dark and raining. I decided to wait in my car for a while. A couple minutes before class was scheduled to begin, I walked out to the middle of the track and stood there by myself. A little rain has never bothered me much, so I planned on standing there until about 5:45, at which point I'd feel safe that class had been canceled. I probably stood there nearly 10 minutes before Jen S called over to me. She had parked in a different area than I had. She told me that Alona, Joy, and Coach Tim were also here, but that Alona and Joy were trying to talk Tim into canceling class, replacing our workout with a field trip to Champps. Jen wasn't having it. The two of us decided to start class on our own, running a warmup lap. By the time we had completed it, Tim was standing at the starting line. He told us to do another lap as Alona and Joy were changing into their running gear.
It was kinda disappointing that the weather was so bad on Thursday. The plan for the final Endurance class of the year was to do a series of relays, finishing up with Endless Relays. We had done Endless Relays a couple of times during the summer and it was clear you needed teams of five people to make it work correctly. (As a refresher, Endless Relays features teammates running 100 meters at a time. So 4 teammates are stationed 100 meters apart from one another. The first station needs 2 runners or else no one would be there to receive the baton at the end of the lap.) With only 4 people on hand for class, Endless Relays was a no-go. We were still able to convince Tim to break out the batons though.
After some drills and stretching, Tim told us to form a line of four going from fastest to slowest. All three girls dove behind me even though Joy was clearly the fastest among us. Tim put me and Alona together on a team while Joy and Jen made up the other team. The relays would involve 400 meter runs. I would run at the same time as Joy, while Jen and Alona would take the batons from us. Tim said we were doing "2 sets of two", which everyone took to mean that we were each running twice. Part of me wondered if it meant that we were each doing two laps, getting a break, then doing another two laps. What did it actually mean? It meant we were doing 4 in a row. At least that was the plan until John McHugh showed up in the middle of the relay. John had come from the gym where he had done JJ, the hero WOD programmed at the gym. I was planning on doing JJ after Endurance while John had gone hero WOD first, track workout second.
Tim told us that we shouldn't go super fast on the first run. Rather, we should instead build into the run. Well if I was going to keep up with Joy, that meant I needed to run fast. There was no opportunity to build into it. We hadn't gotten to the first turn before Joy was out in front of me, proving that it was silly for me to be in front of the "fastest to slowest" line. I made sure that she didn't get away from me, but I had to work much harder than she did. I was only 2 seconds behind her when I handed off the baton to Alona.
I knew I had less than two minutes to recover, so I tried to stay on my feet. Dropping into my favorite resting position (the squat) was a bad idea. I watched as Jen put some additional distance on Alona. Tim said the gap was about 15 meters when Jen handed the baton back to Joy, but it was closer to 25 or 30 meters. Once again, I spent the lap trying to keep Joy from getting away from me, but she did increase the lead to about 50 meters by the time I handed the baton back to Alona. When I got the baton for lap #3, I was nearly a full straightaway (100 meters) behind Joy. For the next 200 meters, I made sure Joy didn't increase her lead, but she sped up on the last 100 meters of her third lap while I kept my same pace. She had handed the baton back to Jen before I hit the final turn of my third lap. I did my best to pick it up during my last 100 meters, but I was starting to struggle. Thankfully, I was about to get a break. In order to get the teams closer together, Tim was having me hand off to John. He would spend the next lap closing the gap on Jen as Alona and I got some extra rest.
Jen would hand off the baton to Joy with a much smaller lead than she had before a fresh John subbed in for our team. John handed off to Alona. Coming to Endurance after JJ may not have been the best idea as John looked ill after trying to chase down Jen. Tim let us know that Joy was going to hand her baton to me when she got back. John was going to run with me without a baton, while Jen would take the baton from Alona. I checked with John to make sure he was alright and he confirmed that he was. Once he said he was okay to run, I expected him to smoke me on my final lap. The extra break had helped me, but John is simply a faster 400 meter runner than I am. When we took off on that last lap and I wasn't able to hear him, I knew that he wasn't feeling as well as he had let on. All of us finished off our final 400 meters and got a break.
Now that we had 5 people, we could finish Endurance the way Tim had intended: with Endless Relays. John was at the starting line with Joy, but he would be leading us off. He would pass the baton to me, I would pass it to Alona, Alona would pass it to Jen, Jen would pass it to Joy, and Joy would get it back to John. There's not much to write about with this part of the workout. Sprinting 100 meters four times with a good minute or so break in between each run was not horrible. Our handoffs were shaky at first, but we began to get the hang of it as the relay went on. Once Joy finished up lap #5, Endurance was officially over for 2016. Here's a shot of the gang that showed up for the finale:
A little evening bling
I headed to my car, dried off, threw on a new shirt, and made a quick stop at Wawa before driving over to KOP. I knew I wouldn't make the 6:30 class, so I had plenty of time to kill before the 7:30 class. When I got inside the gym, the 6:30 class was still getting ready to begin JJ, my new favorite Hero WOD. Forget what JJ is? No worries, here's what's involved:
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 Squat Cleans (185/125)
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Paralette Handstand Push-Ups (7" deficit for men/4" deficit for women)
Alternate between exercises (so 1 squat clean, then 10 handstand push-ups, then 2 squat cleans, and so on...)
I'm not entirely sure why I liked this workout so much the first time that I did it back in July. It was a long workout. Squat cleans tend not to be pleasant and this workout required 55 of them. My handstand push-ups can be hit or miss, and if they were a miss, you had to do seated dumbbell presses, another movement that I'm not fond of. I was hanging out with Shawna, who had done JJ as part of the 5:30 class. While talking with her, I discovered two things:
- Shawna had gotten a 5 minute PR today. She claimed that the huge PR was due to the fact that it was extremely hot the day when this workout was programmed in July. While I tend to be sympathetic to the "it was too damn hot this summer" argument, it does not explain a 5 minute PR. She simply crushed this workout.
- I think I like this workout because I get to take about 75 breaks during it.
Now I know what you're thinking...a hero WOD is probably not meant to have 75 breaks in it. But hear me out. It is difficult to string a lot of squat cleans together. It might not even be the most efficient way of doing this workout. So if you're doing singles on the squat cleans, you're getting tiny breaks along the way because you need to reset before each rep. You're also getting breaks because you have to walk back and forth between your barbell and the wall where you're doing the handstand push-ups. Can't string all of the handstand push-ups? You're getting more breaks. All of these breaks aren't so horrible as long as you can keep them brief (at least that's what I told myself going into this workout).
Because I was so early for the 7:30 class, I got to watch the 6:30 class do this workout from start to finish. And it was a bit scary. Ashley, Michal, and Nick are some of the better athletes at our gym, yet each of them was still working beyond the 40 minute mark. I wasn't feeling sore or tired from Endurance, but it began to dawn on me that the earlier workout might have more effect on me than I had accounted for. What if I got stuck in the later rounds, with 35-40 minutes elapsed on the clock? How craptacular would that be, especially since my 2 classmates would probably be waiting on me to finish? I began to wonder whether JJ would still be my favorite hero WOD come 8:30pm.
Giulz had us start our warmup while the 6:30 class continued to work on finishing JJ. She came up to me and told me to grab a med ball (20 pounds) and do 3 rounds of 12 calories on the assault bike and 10 med ball cleans. My two classmates were Julie Foucher and Esra. I was between the two of them on the assault bikes. Julie was off her assault bike before me during round one. Both Julie and Esra were off their bikes before me during round two. What the heck? I wasn't exactly dogging it on the warmup. How were they going faster than me? Julie was curious as well and asked me how many calories I was doing per round. When I told her 12, she replied that she thought we were only supposed to do 7. I got Giulz's attention and she confirmed that we were both correct: she told the girls to do 7 calories per round and told me to do 12. So wrong! Julie felt bad for me and did 12 on the last round. Or she may have been proving that she can do anything that I can. Either explanation could be valid.
We went through some squat clean progressions as Ashley, Michal, and Nick put the finishing touches on their workouts. Once those were done, Giulz asked us to start adding weight to our barbells and to decide what we'd do for the handstand push-ups. My plan was to use the same format that I had used three months earlier: 155 pounds for the squat cleans, 2 abmats for strict handstand push-ups (since I have no kip). Giulz asked me what my time was back in July and I said "27-28 minutes, I think". Why guess when you can look it up on your phone? Giulz clicked the link on the KOP blog that showed our results from July to reveal that my time was actually 26:02. Uh oh. I was going to have to hustle to beat that time.
One thing I knew I'd be doing differently this time around was that I was only going to do singles on the squat cleans. When I did this in July, I would string together sets of two or three reps, but I felt like I could keep the same pace (or move faster) simply by dropping the barbell after each rep and keeping my break in the extremely short to non-existent range. Releasing the barbell would also save my arms, which I kinda needed for the handstand push-ups.
The three of us were ready to go, so Giulz started the clock and sent us on our way. Round 1 was easy for me just as it was in July. I did a quick squat clean, headed to the wall, and made it through all 10 handstand push-ups without coming off the wall. Quick and easy. I had spoken with Samson before the WOD and he had joked about how good you feel when the first three rounds go by in 2 minutes. I wasn't quite that fast, but I was close. I did 2 quick squat cleans, then made the decision that I was not going to break up the handstand push-ups unless I lost my balance or my arms gave way. Neither happened. I came back to the barbell and did 3 fast singles with hardly a break in between reps. Back at the wall, I grinded through 8 more handstand push-ups. I looked at the clock and saw that I completed the first three rounds a few seconds shy of 2:30. That was all well and good, but I had now reached the point in the workout where things were going to get tougher.
Moving that fast through three rounds meant that my heart rate was up and my breathing was rapid. Before I got into round four, I tried to calm myself. I remembered that the worst part of JJ was how hard those squat cleans became on your core. Eventually each rep felt like a punch to the stomach. The remaining seven rounds were going to come down to how well I could control my breathing and how quickly I could recover on the squat cleans. I decided to begin round four by doing two sets of two fast squat cleans. This round was going to be slower because I added in a real break, but I talked myself into keeping it relatively short. After the second squat clean, I walked away from the barbell, then I walked back to it, blew out the air from my lungs, and got into the second set of two quick singles. I had to talk myself into getting upside-down again for the handstand push-ups. As you get tired, the thought of kicking up onto the wall becomes less appealing. But I kicked up and held on through all 7 reps.
For round five, I did a set of two quick singles followed by a set of three. I went with the smaller set first because I was trying to get right into the squat cleans after coming off of the wall, but I hadn't had a real break. The break between the set of two and the set of three was longer, with the rest helping me get through the bigger set. In my head, I thought to myself that the upcoming set of 6 handstand push-ups would be my last challenge on the wall. I was convinced I could push through the 5-4-3-2-1 sequence on the back end of this workout. 6 was only one more than 5, so why couldn't I handle this set unbroken as well? I slowed down after 4 in a row, but I was determined to get the last two reps. Halfway through the workout and I hadn't come down from the wall for any reason, whether it be a bad kick-up or simply fatigue. I was doing well.
I needed a small break before round 6 because the plan was to break the squat cleans into two sets of three. The rounds were definitely slower, but that was to be expected. Back at the wall, I kicked up and had my first panicky moment of the workout. As you know, I have some issues with perspiration. I tried to dry my hands off as I was going through this workout, but it was only a matter of time before the mat I was using for handstand push-ups became slick with sweat. As I kicked up, my right hand slid to the side. I thought for a second about coming down, wiping the offending area, and then continuing on. But hey, I was upside-down already. Why not try to get these 5 reps in? I felt awkward with this very wide posture, but I was able to complete the 5 reps. As I returned to my feet, I looked up at the clock. During rounds four and five, I allowed myself to wonder whether I could get through six rounds in under 10 minutes. As I got ready to start round 7, the time showing still began with a 9. Just four more rounds to go. I was crushing it, but the hard part was still ahead.
For the final four rounds, I was going to have multiple breaks during the squat cleans. My time per round had gone from about 50 seconds during the first three rounds to over two minutes per round during rounds four through six. Part of that was fatigue, part of that was the increasing ratio of squat cleans to handstand push-ups, and part of that was the additional break. With multiple breaks, my time per round was going to increase even more. Still, I didn't want it creeping up in the four minutes per round range. If that happened, I'd end up at the 26 minute mark again like I had in July. That would be tremendously disappointing given how well I had done up to this point in terms of keeping my breaks short and stringing all of my handstand push-ups. I had to keep the pedal to the metal.
One thing I knew I'd be doing differently this time around was that I was only going to do singles on the squat cleans. When I did this in July, I would string together sets of two or three reps, but I felt like I could keep the same pace (or move faster) simply by dropping the barbell after each rep and keeping my break in the extremely short to non-existent range. Releasing the barbell would also save my arms, which I kinda needed for the handstand push-ups.
The three of us were ready to go, so Giulz started the clock and sent us on our way. Round 1 was easy for me just as it was in July. I did a quick squat clean, headed to the wall, and made it through all 10 handstand push-ups without coming off the wall. Quick and easy. I had spoken with Samson before the WOD and he had joked about how good you feel when the first three rounds go by in 2 minutes. I wasn't quite that fast, but I was close. I did 2 quick squat cleans, then made the decision that I was not going to break up the handstand push-ups unless I lost my balance or my arms gave way. Neither happened. I came back to the barbell and did 3 fast singles with hardly a break in between reps. Back at the wall, I grinded through 8 more handstand push-ups. I looked at the clock and saw that I completed the first three rounds a few seconds shy of 2:30. That was all well and good, but I had now reached the point in the workout where things were going to get tougher.
Moving that fast through three rounds meant that my heart rate was up and my breathing was rapid. Before I got into round four, I tried to calm myself. I remembered that the worst part of JJ was how hard those squat cleans became on your core. Eventually each rep felt like a punch to the stomach. The remaining seven rounds were going to come down to how well I could control my breathing and how quickly I could recover on the squat cleans. I decided to begin round four by doing two sets of two fast squat cleans. This round was going to be slower because I added in a real break, but I talked myself into keeping it relatively short. After the second squat clean, I walked away from the barbell, then I walked back to it, blew out the air from my lungs, and got into the second set of two quick singles. I had to talk myself into getting upside-down again for the handstand push-ups. As you get tired, the thought of kicking up onto the wall becomes less appealing. But I kicked up and held on through all 7 reps.
For round five, I did a set of two quick singles followed by a set of three. I went with the smaller set first because I was trying to get right into the squat cleans after coming off of the wall, but I hadn't had a real break. The break between the set of two and the set of three was longer, with the rest helping me get through the bigger set. In my head, I thought to myself that the upcoming set of 6 handstand push-ups would be my last challenge on the wall. I was convinced I could push through the 5-4-3-2-1 sequence on the back end of this workout. 6 was only one more than 5, so why couldn't I handle this set unbroken as well? I slowed down after 4 in a row, but I was determined to get the last two reps. Halfway through the workout and I hadn't come down from the wall for any reason, whether it be a bad kick-up or simply fatigue. I was doing well.
I needed a small break before round 6 because the plan was to break the squat cleans into two sets of three. The rounds were definitely slower, but that was to be expected. Back at the wall, I kicked up and had my first panicky moment of the workout. As you know, I have some issues with perspiration. I tried to dry my hands off as I was going through this workout, but it was only a matter of time before the mat I was using for handstand push-ups became slick with sweat. As I kicked up, my right hand slid to the side. I thought for a second about coming down, wiping the offending area, and then continuing on. But hey, I was upside-down already. Why not try to get these 5 reps in? I felt awkward with this very wide posture, but I was able to complete the 5 reps. As I returned to my feet, I looked up at the clock. During rounds four and five, I allowed myself to wonder whether I could get through six rounds in under 10 minutes. As I got ready to start round 7, the time showing still began with a 9. Just four more rounds to go. I was crushing it, but the hard part was still ahead.
For the final four rounds, I was going to have multiple breaks during the squat cleans. My time per round had gone from about 50 seconds during the first three rounds to over two minutes per round during rounds four through six. Part of that was fatigue, part of that was the increasing ratio of squat cleans to handstand push-ups, and part of that was the additional break. With multiple breaks, my time per round was going to increase even more. Still, I didn't want it creeping up in the four minutes per round range. If that happened, I'd end up at the 26 minute mark again like I had in July. That would be tremendously disappointing given how well I had done up to this point in terms of keeping my breaks short and stringing all of my handstand push-ups. I had to keep the pedal to the metal.
The look of determination!
(Also the look of desperation, consternation, and constipation)
For round 7, I went 2-2-3 on my sets of squat clean singles. The set of four handstand push-ups were not a problem. With 27 squat cleans remaining and only 6 handstand push-ups, I told myself that I had to treat the small handstand push-up sets as my break between squat cleans. I couldn't do the handstand push-ups, take a break, and then go into the squat cleans. That was too much time and I didn't want to ruin what had been a spectacular workout for me so far. In round 8, I went 2-3-3 on the squat cleans. I turned around and did my 3 handstand push-ups. The clock was now around 15:45. The last two rounds had averaged out to about 3 minutes per round. This was the only moment in the workout where I felt disappointed. I had toyed with the notion that I might break 20 minutes when I saw where I was after six rounds. Oh well. I decided right then and there that I was not going to look at the clock again until I had finished off round ten.
That first set in round 9 was miserable. I was sticking to my guns in not taking an extra break after the handstand push-ups, but I was so tired that I came close to missing on my third squat clean. I left it out in front of me and struggled to stand up with it. Perhaps taking a break before the squat cleans would have been just as well because I needed my longest break yet after that set. The other two sets of three singles went a lot better. I did need to get my bearings before going upside-down again, but once I did, I zipped through my 2 handstand push-ups. Only 1 round left.
As much as I wanted to rip through 10 squat cleans one after another in a mad sprint to the finish, I had that idea vetoed by my body. With breaks, I was once again able to get through a couple sets of three fast singles, leaving me with 4 squat cleans to go. I could have broken those into sets of two and two, but I knew that if I could handle 3 singles, I'd find a way to tack on that last one with the finish line so near. That is exactly what happened. And when I dropped my barbell the final time, I raced over and got upside-down without any concerns about my stability. No time to waste. I completed the last handstand push-up and looked at the clock while upside-down. Final time: 22:13.
Maybe there was something to Shawna's logic that cooler temps had helped her get through this workout better than she had in July. I guess I need the temperature to drop even further as I could only manage a three-quarter Shawna, besting my July time by 3:49. In all seriousness, I was very pleased with how well I was able to keep plugging along. I made sure my breaks were smaller than usual and my body complied by recovering better than it normally does. This was probably my best workout of the year, maybe the best one since I had a PR of about 6 minutes on Kelly last year. And I was able to do it after completing an Endurance workout.
JJ is definitely still my favorite hero WOD.
Saturday preview: Somehow I get talked into doing Wolverine again. Is Wolverine about completing 60 clean and jerks, 120 pull-ups, 600 sit-ups, and 3,600 meters of running? No, it's about the costume. You won't be unable to see it after you see it, so think carefully about how much you want to read the next post!
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