Serial Killers

Workout date: 11/22/16

When I got home after Grace on Monday night, I noticed how much my lungs were burning.  Then I spent a good portion of the evening coughing.  In Crossfit, there is a phenomenon known as "Fran Cough".  For those with the ability to do pull-ups and thrusters efficiently, Fran becomes a sprint workout much like Grace is.  Upon completion, most people experience the symptoms that I just described: burning lungs and a hard-to-control cough.  As someone who often gets things mixed up at the gym, it only seemed appropriate that I developed Fran Cough after doing Grace.

The cough had gone away by the time Dudes After Dark rolled around the next night.  LC had four people in her class: myself, Neil, Rob C, and Mariana.  It's always nice when you have an even number of people for a partner WOD and that was exactly what was in store for us.  Here's the layout for Tuesday night's WOD:

Tuesday WOD:
Partner WOD (no condition that partners must share the work equally)
80 thrusters (115/75)
80 pull-ups
80 squat cleans (115/75)
80 burpee box jump overs
80 calories on the assault bike

I first want to point out that my reading comprehension skills have taken a nose dive.  Or maybe I've developed some sort of visual allergy to the word "burpee".  Because when I read this workout on Monday night, I was actually excited about the box jump overs.  It wasn't until LC walked us through each element of the workout that I realized a burpee was involved.  That movement was now dead to me.  I'm not sure anything else in the workout was all that alluring either.  The thruster weight was moderate, but 40 reps at that weight (assuming we split the work equally) was a lot.  There is no need to go over my sucktitude when it comes to pull-ups.  (Note: Yes, sometimes I make up my own words, especially when the English language has failed to adequately describe my shortcomings.)  The squat cleans were now my new favorite element of the workout (foreshadowing: not for long!).  If I got through 55 squat cleans at 155 during JJ, I should be able to handle 40 squat cleans at 115, right?  I've already discussed how the burpees stained the box jump over segment.  Finally, there was the assault bike.  I tend to like the assault bike more than most, but at the end of a very long workout like this one, there was little chance that this bike ride would be pleasant.

With only four of us in class, you wouldn't think it would be difficult to form teams, but we didn't split up into pairs until right before the workout began.  The three guys all wanted to do the workout RX, so we all had reason to want to pair up with another guy.  That being said, I was more than happy to work out with Mariana as well.  I'm not entirely sure she wanted to work out with me though, especially once she found out that I wasn't good at pull-ups.  She claimed that she wasn't so good at pull-ups either and it might be better if she was paired up with someone who could do them more proficiently.  My counter-argument was that having a partner who sucked at pull-ups would give her more time to rest as I was almost certainly going to be doing singles for the majority of that segment. I doubt that was the most convincing of arguments, but Mariana and I did end up as partners while Neil and Rob formed the other team.

Because this was a longer workout, we didn't spend a lot of time on the warmup.  We got right into this beast.  Mariana and I decided to do 5 thrusters at a time.  She led things off for our team.  When it was my turn, I got through the first set of 5 without much struggle.  Three sets later, that was no longer the case.  I didn't have to break up the sets, but the last two reps of each set felt much harder than the first three.  I began hoping that Mariana would take more time during her sets so I'd get a break, but she kept on blitzing through her 5 reps before dropping her barbell and giving me the "your turn" look.  I did my best to keep up with her, but my pace definitely slowed down.  I was able to get through the final 4 sets without having to break up the reps, but those were some painful thrusters towards the end.

Now that I was nice and exhausted, it was time to do a ton of pull-ups.  This should go well!  Mariana  held up her end of our partnership by doing 5 pull-ups.  I wasn't going to be able to manage that, at least not at first.  I did 3 singles, then asked Mariana to continue on.  She was reliable in doing 4-5 reps at a time.  I gradually increased my reps per set.  Don't ask me why I remember this, but I completed a set that got us to 46 reps and I realized that I had done 22 reps at that point while Mariana had done 24.  That wasn't so bad.  When we reached 80 reps, the split was probably more along the lines of 45-35, but I didn't totally drop the ball when we got to the pull-up bar, despite the fact that I was hurting when I got there.

My primary focus now was to not screw over Mariana with a massive amount of extra reps.  However, when we got to the squat cleans, I did look over and take notice of where Neil and Rob were.  They had finished up at the pull-up bar right around the same time we did.  Though I wasn't interested in racing them, I did suddenly have the urge to keep up with them.  I felt like I was fading already and we weren't halfway through the workout.  If they pulled away from us, I'd feel like it was my fault.  Little did I know that my lack of endurance would be the reason we'd pull away from them rather than fall behind them.

I completed the last couple pull-ups for our team, so Mariana got us started on the squat cleans.  She had her 5 reps done before I was even set up at my barbell.  No break for the tired guy!  I slowly did 5 squat cleans.  I thought this might be the point where I'd catch my second wind.  Instead, each rep made me feel worse than before.  I was able to hang in there through 3 sets, but when it was my turn for the 4th set, I wasn't ready to go.  I desperately needed a longer break.  Mariana looked over and casually asked me if I'd like her to do another set.  Yes please!  Since she had just witnessed that her partner was in bad shape, I figured Mariana would take her time, but the squat cleans were not posing much of a challenge to her.  Five more reps were in the books and it was my turn to go.  I couldn't skip my turn again, so I started doing some squat cleans.  I did 3 before begging for mercy again.  By the time we got to 80 reps, Mariana had probably done close to 50 for our team.  I had done less of my share here than I had done on the pull-up bar, but Mariana's fast work with the barbell led to us establishing a decent-sized lead on our all-male counterparts.

I expected my downfall to continue at the burpee box jumps, but somehow things got better there.  Mariana did a set of 5, then I did a set of 5.  She did a set of 6, I did a set of 6.  There was a set of 8.  I think there was even a set of 10 along the way.  Whatever Mariana completed, I was determined to match.  She had already carried enough of the load for our team.  Even if I wasn't moving all that fast, the least I could do was provide Mariana some additional rest after doing all those extra pull-ups and squat cleans.  We got to 68 reps after a set that I had done and I let Mariana know she only needed to do 6 more reps.  She did her 6, I did my 6, and only the assault bike remained.

We didn't discuss how long we'd each stay on the assault bike.  I stood behind the bike as Mariana pedaled away.  When her pace began to slow, I told her that I'd jump on the bike.  She had completed about 10 calories.  I pedaled hard as soon as I got on the bike knowing that when I was tired, Mariana was there to take over.  In an individual workout, I'd worry about going this hard and running out of gas before I hit the number of calories required.  With a teammate, I had no such concerns.  I did about 12 calories before switching places.  Once I was off of the bike, I knelt on the floor.  I was just to the left of the bike as Mariana started pedaling.  Within seconds, I realized this was the place to be.  The front wheel acted like a fan and it was cooling me off as I tried to recover.  When Mariana was done, I insisted that she spend her break near the front wheel.  When Neil and Rob got to their bike, I shared the same advice.  Why not let your teammate accumulate calories and cool you off at the same time?

Mariana got off of the bike after her final sprint and I got on the bike to find that we needed 8 calories.  Maybe the fan was just what I needed.  Maybe the finish line was so near that my second wind finally kicked in.  I'm not sure what it was, but I did those last 8 calories faster than any 8 calories I've ever done on the assault bike.  Final time: 35:10.

That might not sound like a very good time, but it was in line with many of the other times that teams put up earlier in the day when they took on this workout.  Neil and Rob weren't too far behind us and we cheered them on as they finished up work on their assault bike.  And when we all had recovered, the four of us (and LC) convened to take a selfie.  After seeing the final product, Mariana would say that Neil and I looked like serial killers.  She may have a point.

Neil and I need to work on our selfie game

As was the case the day before, the WOD ended with me having a burning sensation in my lungs and I spent the night coughing my brains out.  Not sure if that is how fitness is supposed to work, but when I finally drifted off to dreamland, I rested with the knowledge that I gave it everything I had during this workout.

Wednesday preview: Before heading north for Thanksgiving, I make my way to the noon express class for a workout where I get done early.  That sounds more positive than it actually was.

Noodle Armz No More

Workout date: 11/21/16

My weigh-in on Monday was an important one because it was coming right before Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, mainly because it is socially acceptable to eat the amount of food that I would like to consume on a daily basis.  At the beginning of this "weight-loss program", I accounted for the fact that I was probably going to put 5 pounds back on during Thanksgiving, so it was important that I do well the week before I gorged myself.  The past weekend was also one of the rare ones where I didn't have plans, so I was able to avoid alcohol and eating poorly.  Let's see what the scale says:

Original weigh-in:  213.2 pounds
Last week's weigh-in:  209.2 pounds
This week's weigh-in:  207.4 pounds

Hey now!  That's what I was hoping to see.  Now I could go into the holiday comfortable that I would not be over my original weigh-in when I stepped on the scale next Monday.  (Okay, there was still a chance I'd tip the scales beyond 213.2 after my turkey, mashed potatoes, and pie indulgence, but it would require an all-star performance on my part.)

Monday's WOD was another benchmark finale, one that I used to be very fond of, but now don't get all that psyched about.  We were taking on Grace (30 clean and jerks for time).  Why had Grace lost its luster for me?  Mainly because I think I'm nearing my ceiling in terms of how fast I could possibly do the workout.  For the longest time, I was trying to eclipse 3 minutes.  Then I got my time down to 2:38.  Earlier this year, I trimmed that to 2:35.  Could I go lower than that?  I suppose.  But I have a hard time believing that I could trim more than 5-10 seconds off of that time.  And Grace is a workout where you're going all out from start to finish.  Afterwards you feel like someone beat you up.  It's difficult to get too excited about the prospect of feeling like crap just to improve your best time by a few seconds.  There are so many other workouts where I could trim minutes off of my time if I got better at Crossfit.  That seems much more appealing.

With all of that said, I did show up to the gym on Monday night excited about the workout.  Not because I'd be doing Grace.  No, I was excited because there was a good chance that I'd be present for Cline's first RX attempt at Grace.  Cline has a much saner approach to Crossfit workouts than I do.  He progresses on to higher weights once he masters a workout at a lesser weight.  When I look at a workout, I tend to think about what the highest weight is that I could use which would pose a stern challenge, but not leave me in a spot where I couldn't finish the workout.  If the coach gives me a time domain for the WOD, I incorporate that as well.  With a mindset like that, you can see why I end up in the middle of the pity circle more often than most.  I am trying to incorporate the Cline model a bit more into my workout approach, but it takes more discipline than I typically exhibit.

Coach Giulz told the 6:30 class to get lined up for the warmup and I began to worry that Cline was not coming in for Grace.  However, he arrived on Dave Standard Time and joined the other 12 of us as we began warming up.  We did some typical stretches going up and down the gym before Giulz told us to grab a partner.  I probably should have tried to get Cline as my partner right from the start, but Actuary Mike had asked him to be partners before I made my way over to him.  I ended up being partners with Anvesh for the trust exercise we'd be doing next.  One person would sit on the floor with their arms extended out to their sides as the other person hopped over their arms and legs.  Then once that was complete, the person on the floor would form an arch for their partner to crawl under.  It was a fun game, but probably more of a time killer than anything because the WOD was so short.

We were then told to get our barbells so that we could warm up on the clean and jerk.  We did this part individually before Giulz told us to get back with our partner for the two heats of Grace that we'd be doing.  I looked for Anvesh, but he was now working with Phani.  I'd been ditched!  I started looking around, trying to figure out who Phani's jilted partner.  Christine was not part of our class, but she was paying attention and pointed me towards Erik.  Erik (like me) seemed a bit confused about why he no longer had a partner, but he was cool partnering up with me.

Erik asked me if I wanted to go first.  Typically I'm not much of a "go first if I can go second" kinda guy, but my mood that evening was one where I just wanted to get the workout done.  I agreed and put 135 pounds on my barbell.  Giulz made sure heat #1 was ready and we were off.  My game plan was the same as it had been on my last few Grace attempts: do one big set, then switch to singles the rest of the way.  I held on through 7 reps, before switching over to singles.  After my 14th rep, I heard Giulz yell "one minute in".  That sounds like a good pace.  I was nearly halfway done and only 60 seconds had passed.  I could set a new PR, right?

Not really.  Even at that point, I knew 2:35 wasn't happening.  I was trying to keep moving through each rep, but I didn't feel as though I had a lot of energy.  There was no motivation to try and find a higher gear.  I really just wanted the workout to be over with.  I picked stuff up and put stuff down.  Kept doing that until I reached 30 reps.  I looked up at that point and saw my time on the clock.  Final time: 2:39.

That wasn't bad all things considered.  I thought I'd end up closer to 2:50 because I could feel my pace slowing down and I wasn't feeling motivated.  I think the difference is that I'm getting used to moving on to the next rep in a workout with less rest than I used to take.  I don't actually notice that I'm taking less rest while I'm in the midst of the workout, but that's the only explanation for the times I've ended up with on some of my recent workouts.

I was even more surprised by my time when I counted for Erik during his heat.  He was using 115 pounds for the WOD and moved fluidly from rep to rep, although he didn't do a large set at the beginning like I had done.  He didn't take much of a break anywhere from rep #1 to rep #30, finishing Grace in a time of 3:14.  It gave me a greater appreciation for how I had done, not in terms of my raw time, but in terms of recognizing that I must have kept my breaks between reps to an absolute minimum.

The bummer in all of this was that I did not get to witness Cline's RX attempt.  I did get to see him afterwards and he told me his time was 3:59.  We're always told before doing Grace that we should try and keep our times under 5 minutes.  Cline took it under 4 minutes on his very first attempt using 135 pounds.  (My first RX Grace attempt: 5:38.)  Back in January, Cline had started a Facebook group called "Noodle Armz", where he led a group of us eager to improve our upper body strength.  It seems pretty clear that Cline has been successful in that pursuit.  He might need to call his next group "Gun Show".

He wasn't the only one taking on Grace using RX weight for the first time, as Jenna did so as well.  She was in heat two, so I got to root her on after Erik finished.  She probably didn't care about that suggested time of 5 minutes, but she pushed through the last few reps and stayed under that threshold by 10 seconds.

With Grace complete, we all had 20 minutes to find a 1RM clean and jerk.  My goal here was simple. I had done a jerk of 235 pounds.  I had done a squat clean of 235 pounds at Brawl In The Fall.  I just needed to put those pieces of the puzzle together.  I had been sitting at a PR of 225 pounds for a while.  Maybe today would be the day I could move past that mark.  I wanted to have plenty of time between attempts, plus I figured I might need several attempts at 235, so I started at 165.  That wasn't very difficult as exhibited by the fact that I power cleaned my barbell to get it up to my shoulders.  After I completed the jerk, Giulz asked me if I was going to squat clean going forward and I let her know I would.  I should have done that from the start, but this was probably another sign that I wasn't 100% into the class.

I moved on to 195 and handled the squat clean and the jerk.  Next up was 215, a weight where I needed to do everything right if I was going to complete the lift.  I did not do everything right.  When I went to squat clean 215, I didn't swing my elbows through fast enough and I couldn't stand up with the weight.  There's no jerk if you can't clean it first!  I was kinda frustrated since my goal was still 235, but at least I knew what the problem was.  I took a few minutes to gather myself before I tried again.  Got my elbows through the second time, but I still had to work to stand the weight up.  Once I was standing, I felt confident that I could jerk the weight.  I took my time and executed the jerk properly.  I'd be moving on to 235 for my next lift.

I probably knew from the lift at 215 that 235 was pretty ambitious.  225 might have made more sense, but I didn't want to tie my PR.  230 would have been a better choice for me, but I was stubborn because I had gotten 235 for the clean and jerk separately.  I should have been able to put them together.  That wasn't happening on this night.  I tried to squat clean 235 four separate times.  Each time I got underneath the barbell and each time I wasn't fast enough to get my elbows through.  No clean = no jerk.  Final score: 215.

Both parts of the workout were somehow disappointing and encouraging at the same time.  I didn't do as well as I thought I could, but both results were decent considering the fact that early on I knew I didn't have my A game.  Maybe my focus was on the Thanksgiving turkey already.  Before I'd get to enjoy that feast, there were three more workouts I needed to complete.

Tuesday preview: A partner WOD at Dudes After Dark.  More than a half hour of pain awaits, but my partner carries me through most of it.

Nine Months Away

Workout date: 11/19/16

In June, I earned my ticket to this year's National Handicapping Championship.  The rules state that you can win two entries into the contest, but because I had gotten my seat early this year, I didn't put a lot of pressure on myself to play a bunch of contests in pursuit of that second entry.  I had plenty of time.  (Wrong!)  Once fall came around, it dawned on me that time was running out to get my second entry.  I had missed most of the live contests offered during the year because of other commitments.  I thought a live tournament would offer me my best chance at victory as online tournaments tended to have much larger fields.  If I wanted to participate in the remaining live tournaments, November would be my best opportunity.  I marked November 12th and November 19th on my calendar as weekends where I could venture off to somewhat nearby locations to try and get my second seat for the NHC.

I must have used pencil when I marked off those dates on my calendar, because when Danielle asked me if I would be her partner for Brawl In The Fall on November 12th, I said yes.  Later on, KOP would announce that they were holding a handstand push-up clinic on November 19th.  I desperately needed help with my handstand push-ups.  Fine, erasing the contest on the 19th as well.  Guess I'd have to earn that second seat online.  If anyone tells you I have a gambling problem, inform them that they're correct, but that my Crossfit addiction may be even worse.

At least I was semi-rewarded for putting off my gambling pursuits.  I had no intention of hitting up the Saturday morning WOD prior to the handstand push-up clinic, but after I saw it posted, I couldn't resist.  It was one of those "time extended" workouts that have been part of the Open the last few years.  If you finished a round under the time limit, your time limit would be extended and you got to attempt another round.  Each successive round would have more reps, so you'd have to fit more work into the same window of time while your body became more and more fatigued.  That doesn't sound like a ton of fun when you're doing movements at the gym that you don't enjoy, but I'm kinda partial to rope climbs and front squats.

Saturday WOD:

• 2:00 time cap to complete 2 rope climbs (15') and 2 front squats (185/125)
• If you complete the round under the time cap, you get an additional two minutes, but must add 2 more front squats to the work required (so 4 front squats in round two, 6 in round three, etc.).
• You must wait until the two minutes have elapsed in the round you just completed before starting work in the next round.

With the handstand push-up clinic at 11am (and due to my general laziness on the weekend), it made sense to attend the 10am class.  Many others had the same idea.  Twelve of us were there for fun with Coach Keithie, and a class that size meant potential problems in terms of the rope climbs.  As you may know from reading this blog, KOP only has 4 usable ropes for climbing, so setting up this workout for a dozen people would be tough.  Luckily, not everyone was interested in climbing the rope (there are scaling options which involve smaller ropes tied to either the pull-up rig or the rig by the rings), so we ended up with a small enough number where we could stagger the start and be okay.

Keithie got us warmed up and explained the details of the workout.  Based on my reading of the WOD on the KOP blog, I thought our score was how many minutes we successfully completed in the workout.  That left me a little freaked out when I looked at the 9am scores and saw numbers like 26 and 30 listed.  How the heck could someone do this workout for a half-hour?  Keithie explained that our scores would reflect how many front squats we completed.  So a score of 30 meant you completed five full rounds (2+4+6+8+10=30).  That sounded much more reasonable.  In fact, it even helped set up my goal for the day, which was to reach round six.

Keithie walked us through the movements and let us know that we could do our front squats from a rack or from the floor.  I could clean 185 pounds, but that was going to get old quick.  And in later rounds, I would almost certainly have to split up my reps, which meant multiple cleans in a round.  There was no reason to be a hero with that much weight on the barbell, so I laid claim to a rack.  The rack I got was near the front of the gym and my hope was that I could go back and forth between that and the solitary rope in the middle of the gym for this workout.  That dream was snuffed out when Steph C, Alona, and a guy who was dropping in for class all said they were using that rope.  (Alona would later use the ropes at the far end of the gym as I would have to do.)  With my barbell at the front of the gym and the available ropes at the far end of the gym, I'd be getting some extra cardio in during this workout.  I wasn't terribly concerned about the extra ground I'd be covering.  As Keithie explained how long the initial rounds should take, he called me out and said he'd expect me to finish the first round in about 40 seconds.  That meant I would have a minute and twenty seconds for my mid-round commute, at least in the early rounds.

As we got ready to go, we worked out a system where we would run two heats, with the second heat staggered to start one minute after the first heat.  Mariana and I made up the second group of rope climbers at the far end of the gym, while Alona and Cline were part of the first group.  There was the possibility that all three ropes could still be in use after a minute of a given round, but most athletes trimmed the rope climb segment from two climbs per round to one climb if they began to struggle.  The first group got started while Mariana and I patiently awaited our turn to go.  After a minute passed, we were able to begin as there was no traffic on the ropes.  Everyone in the first heat was on their front squats by that point.  I wasn't focused on climbing quickly as much as I was focused on climbing efficiently because I knew I didn't need to go fast in the early rounds.  Two minutes seemed like plenty of time, but I knew I'd need some energy stored in reserve for the later rounds.  When I came down from my second climb, I calmly walked across the gym to my barbell.  I took my time getting it off the rack, did two quick front squats, placed the barbell back on the rack, and looked at the clock.  45 seconds had elapsed.  Considering the extra distance I was covering, that seemed right on pace with Keithie's prognostication.

Because I got back to the ropes in less than a minute, I got to watch the first heat begin again.  I wanted to see if there was a noticeable decline in their speed while climbing the rope in round two, but there didn't appear to be.  That was good.  Sometimes I underestimate how much the early rounds will take out of me.  This was a little bit of confirmation that I should be alright for round two.  When it was time for the second group to go, I made two fast ascents before walking to my barbell and completing 4 front squats.  I got through the four reps okay, but I could tell it was beginning to get heavier than I thought it would this early.  The clock showed that I completed round two in about 50 seconds.

Round three was where this WOD officially got spicy.  The rope climbs still weren't too bad, but when I came back over to my rack for the front squats, I began to struggle.  I got through 4 reps before needing to work really hard to hold on to the final two reps.  Keithie came over to me and impressed upon me that I needed to keep my elbows up.  A big reason I was struggling was due to the fact that my elbows were not as high as they should have been and, as a result, I was tipping forward during the squat.  This round took about a minute, but suddenly I was feeling like my remaining rest time might not be enough.  Worst of all, doubt had been introduced into my mind.  Getting 6 front squats was so hard that I began to wonder whether I could manage 8, even if I broke them up.

During the first three rounds, I watched heat 1 while they did their rope climbs.  Beginning in round four, I had no interest in how they were doing.  My goal was to finish the next two rounds and I had to focus on recovering and staying positive.  The clock hit 7 minutes, which meant Mariana and I could start round four.  The rope climbs were definitely a bit slower, but I made sure that my form was solid during each ascent.  I came down and speed-walked to my rack.  The rope climbs were slower and my squats were certainly going to be slower, so I couldn't take my time traversing the gym.  The plan was to go 4 and 4 on the front squats.  I got through the first set of 4 and placed the barbell back on the rack.  Now it was all about keeping my rest to a minimum.  I looked at the clock and saw it had passed a minute.  I couldn't spend too much time resting.  I grabbed the barbell and pushed through 4 more reps.  I'd only get about 35 seconds of rest this time around, but I only had one more round to complete to reach my goal.

I took my time walking back to the rope, trying to recover while knowing that I'd probably have to begin round five as soon as I got back to that end of the gym.  I looked back towards the clock when I got to the rope and saw I had a few seconds before I had to climb again.  Having gotten better about climbing the rope even when I'm exhausted, I was able to finish the two climbs in about the same amount of time as it took me in the prior round.  When I got to my rack, I took some extra time before going into my first set.  Those sets of 4 were not fun in the last round and now I was going to have to do two sets of 5 in about a minute if I was planning on extending my time in this workout.  The front squats felt the same almost every round: the first two reps weren't too bad, the next two weren't too good, and anything beyond that was done with shaky "dear God, get this thing off of me" form.  I was able to stand up my 5th rep and I dumped the barbell on the rack like it was scalding hot.    I wanted no part of another 5 reps, but that's all I had left to reach my goal.  I looked at the clock and saw I had 30 seconds left.  I didn't want to start the next set until I had recovered more, but there was no time for that.  I was down to 20 seconds and I had to go now to complete round five.  I stepped back from my rack with the barbell and told myself to just keep moving.  One, two...shaky number three, shaky number four...and a final rep with some loud grunting to get me through the pain.  Goal achieved!  

Two seconds later, round 6 began.  I was at the wrong end of the gym.  I was breathing very heavily. And there was no part of me that believed that finishing round 6 was remotely possible.  With that in mind, I took my time getting back to my rope.  After my first climb, I took a few seconds extra compared to what I had been taking before going up for the second climb.  There was no urgency as I walked back down to my rack.  Not a lot of urgency before I put the barbell back on my body.  This set was going to be it as far as this workout went.  I wanted to dump the barbell after 4 reps, but I made myself hold on for one more.  With 5 reps done in round 6, I put the barbell on the rack and watched the clock as the last 10 seconds or so ticked away.  Final score: 35 front squats (5 rounds plus 5 reps).

That was rough.  I laid on the floor for a minute before cheering on several other people who had scaled the workout, but were putting me to shame by continuing on through the longer, later rounds.  Mariana made it through a solid chunk of round 8.  Brian S nearly finished round 10!  That means he was still working 8 minutes after I had thrown in the towel.

Once the 10am class was complete, people began congregating for the handstand push-up clinic.  There was a very large turnout for the clinic, but there were also 6 coaches on hand to help everyone out.  We were lined up based on our ability (I found myself in the middle of the spectrum) and then we did some warmup, most of which involved rolling around on the floor in the hollow rock and Superman positions.  (Poor Michal was stuck rolling through my sweat over and over again.)  We were then divided into three groups:

• The beginner group: practicing kicking up on to the wall and doing handstand holds
• The intermediate group: practicing kipping handstand push-ups with and without abmats
• The advanced group: practicing handstand walks

Giulz and Jill A were in charge of the intermediate group, which consisted of myself, Cline, Actuary Mike, Mariana, and a handful of others.  We split into two mini-groups, with Giulz monitoring one group and Jill keeping an eye on the second group.  After a little while, the groups would switch coaches.  Mariana and I were part of the original group being coached by Giulz.  Giulz made sure that we could all kick up on to the wall, then broke down the various aspects of the upside-down kip we'd be practicing.  This is where I struggle the most.  In Crossfit, it can be difficult remembering all of the tiny details that lead to completing a movement properly.  But when you're hanging upside-down and blood is rushing to your head, remembering what you need to do becomes that much harder.  Giulz had us test out our kip with two abmats.  I can manage a strict push-up with two abmats, so I didn't think I'd have too much difficulty with this depth.  You're not covering that much distance to press out of the bottom.  I think I messed up my initial attempt, but then I was able to easily do the next few attempts.  Mariana wasn't having any problems either.

Giulz wanted us to ditch one of our two abmats for the next round of attempts.  This was where I got nervous.  One of my goals for 2016 was to get a strict handstand push-up with 1 abmat and I managed to get two of them earlier this year.  But 1 abmat typically is where I fail.  And since I don't practice the upside-down kip very often, I didn't expect my results to change.  I attempted 1 abmat before Mariana did and Giulz talked me through the steps for getting my body in the correct position for the kip.  Then I went for it.  And somehow, I did everything right.  I was both shocked and excited.  Part of me also thought it might have been a fluke occurrence, so I was holding off on celebrating until I did it a second time.  Mariana went next and she made it look easy.  The conga line came back to us again and Giulz walked me through everything as she had done on my first attempt.  The first success was no fluke as I kipped and fully pressed out for the second straight time.  I was giddy once I was right-side up again.  Giulz told me I was going to try it without an abmat on my next attempt.  Mariana got her second in a row with 1 abmat on her next turn.

If I was stressed about using only 1 abmat, you can imagine how nervous I was trying to do the real deal.  Perhaps my memory is shaky, but I thought I had done one real kipping handstand push-up during a personal training session with Aimee.  Now I'm almost certain that I did that handstand push-up with some form of abmat assistance.  Because my first attempt without the abmats was pretty terrible.  Giulz got me set up the same way she had when I had the 1 abmat, but I didn't come close to pressing out completely.  I came off of the wall and asked Giulz how long it took her to go from kipping with 1 abmat to kipping without any.

Giulz: "About nine months."

Crap.  That euphoric feeling from a few minutes ago went away quickly.  After going from 2 abmats to 1 abmat in less than 10 minutes, I was hoping for an answer like "a couple weeks" or "a month or so".  A really hopeful part of me thought that I might accidentally get one during this clinic.  But 9 months?  I had no shot of getting one today.

Do you know who did?  Mariana.  I was unsuccessful in persuading her to switch from 1 abmat to no abmats when she went up for her next attempt, but after she made that look easy for a 3rd straight time, Giulz ordered her to go without the abmat for the rest of the clinic.  I don't think she found success on her first attempt, but it wasn't long before Mariana managed to press out a legit handstand push-up.  A little while later, she did a second one.  Guess not everyone needs 9 months.  (I probably will need 18 months to keep balance in the universe.)

We switched coaches and I spent most of my time with Jill trying to get my hand and head placement correct as I held my handstand.  Jill noticed that my hands and head were too linear.  They needed to form more of a triangle if I was going to find success without any abmats.  Unfortunately, I think I reached the point of information overload as I couldn't get into this triangle position despite trying over and over again.  And if I wasn't in the right setup, I had no chance at completing the handstand push-up.  This was going to require lots and lots of practice.  Yet another thing I'd have to add to my list.

Monday preview: The ladies of KOP show Grace absolutely no mercy.  And at long last, Cline takes her on RX.

Your Core Is Weak

Workout date: 11/18/16

I didn't have the opportunity to do Annie (50-40-30-20-10 of double unders and sit-ups) when she visited KOP back in May.  And I was busy pouting about how much my body was betraying me during August.  That meant prior to Friday, the last time I had done Annie was in February.  I actually brought Annie home with me the last two times that we got together.  According to my spreadsheets, the last time we rendezvoused at the gym was in May 2015.  Given that this has been a benchmark WOD at KOP for the past two years, I was surprised to see that my Annie attempt on Friday would be the first one that I had made at the gym in 18 months.

I had high expectations for this round with Annie.  I've put in a lot of practice on my double unders the last few months.  This was the workout where I figured it would pay off the most.  There are only 150 double unders in the WOD, which is a low amount compared to some of the workouts we do at the gym.  The workout also had manageable sets, starting with 50 in round one and decreasing by 10 each round after that.  My consistency with double unders left me unable to crack 10 minutes for this WOD until I somehow did it in February.  I didn't feel like I was moving very fast during that attempt, so if I could clean up my double unders this time around, I thought I would be able to make a big dent in my February time of 9:31.  The goal wasn't to finish in under 9 minutes.  It was to finish in less than 8 minutes.

I couldn't resist making a second appearance at the nooner for the week.  There were 9 of us in class with Coach Aimee.  There was no Double Under Poker as part of the warmup, but she did want us to test out our double under prowess prior to beginning the workout.  If we were worried about getting stuck along the way, Aimee suggested a scale of double under attempts so that everyone was at least working on their double unders even if they weren't completing 150 of them.  Aimee recommended doing attempts for 90-60-30-20-10 (time in seconds) instead of doing 50-40-30-20-10 reps for the five rounds.  No one was escaping the 150 sit-ups that we had to do.

The majority of the class was doing the scaled version, even Mike Sim.  Wait what?  Mike didn't raise his hand when Aimee asked who was doing the RX version of the workout, then he said to her he'd be scaling.  That left me confused because I was pretty certain that he did double unders better than I did.  Turns out he was joking.  (It's possible that I only pick up sarcasm at night.)  Mike and I were the only ones going RX and my hope was that my newly honed double under skills would allow me to beat him in a WOD, something that I'm not sure I've ever done before.

Aimee started the clock and stage fright set in immediately.  I hit myself with the rope before completing a rep.  Next attempt: 1 rep before hitting myself with the rope.  Same deal on my next attempt.  Three sets had netted me 2 reps.  This was definitely not the pace I needed to break 8 minutes.  Meanwhile, Mike's rope hadn't stopped whistling since the WOD began.  I stopped for a couple seconds to get my head right.  Everyone always tells me that I need to be calm to be successful with double unders, yet here I was, pissed off less than 15 seconds into this workout.  I calmed myself and twirled the rope again.  48 consecutive reps later and I was moving on to the sit-ups.  Why couldn't I have just begun with a set like that?

I made the decision not to use DBs to anchor my feet because I feel like they become a nuisance after a while in this workout.  I was going to butterfly my feet instead.  Aimee told us to make sure we hit both hands to the floor when we laid backwards on the sit-up and to come all the way up at the top to complete each rep.  If I'm being totally honest, I think I've only hit my shoulders to the floor while doing the sit-up portion of Annie in the past, but I wanted to be totally legit during this attempt.  I made sure to let the backs of my hands slap the floor during each rep.  I didn't go incredibly fast during the set of 50, but I made sure my pace was consistent the whole way.

When I got to my rope again, I saw that Mike was already motoring through his set of 40.  I got over my yips by completing the 40 double unders in two sets, the first being 18 reps and the second being 22 reps.  I still felt like I had a shot at catching Mike.  That changed about halfway through the set of 40 sit-ups.  When I wrote about doing Wolverine this year, I mentioned how I was much slower on the sit-ups than I was last year.  At that time, I figured that I just forgot how terrible doing 600 sit-ups was.  I didn't get through 70 sit-ups during Annie before I experienced problems again.  Not good.  I didn't need to stop, but my pace slowed noticeably.  Every time I had done this WOD in the past, I embraced the sit-ups and feared the double unders.  Now the tables had turned.  I couldn't wait for the sit-ups to be over so I could jump rope again.

For the round of 30 double unders, I needed two sets again (19 and 11 reps).  After a rough start, I was now moving through the double unders as quickly as I had hoped.  The problem was with the sit-ups.  The slower pace I used on the back half of the round of 40 was needed to get through the entire round of 30.  Mike was tearing through his round of 20 sit-ups as I wrapped up my third set of sit-ups.  When I got up to jump rope again, Mike began his final round.  I rushed to get started and ended up getting no reps on my first attempt.  No point in rushing to catch Mike now, dummy!  I calmed myself for a second and then started again.  Got all 20.  I began the round of 20 sit-ups at a slow pace for the third consecutive round.  As I did the first few sit-ups, I made a decision.  I was going to sprint through the final round of 10 sit-ups, so why not experience that in advance?  With 10 sit-ups down, I began doing the last 10 sit-ups of this round as fast as I could.  My breathing wasn't going to be calm when I got back to my rope, but with only 10 double unders left, I decided it was worth a shot based on the time I saw on the clock.

That gamble paid off.  I was able to get all 10 double unders on my first attempt.  I dropped to the floor and did the last 10 sit-ups as fast as I had done them to end the previous round.  Final time: 9:04.

That was disappointing to say the least.  Once I began struggling with my sit-ups, I knew 8 minutes wasn't going to happen.  And a big reason why I made that early push at the end was because Mike was yelling to me that I could finish under 9 minutes if I moved fast.  It was close, but I couldn't quite move fast enough to hit that mark.  Overall, the double under improvement was there, but my sit-up woes counterbalanced it.  I turned my weakness in this workout into a strength, but while that was happening, my strength morphed into a weakness.  Such is Crossfit.

The cash out was something that has been programmed as the main WOD on other days: finding a 3RM back squat.  Given that we had just done a workout, I wasn't expecting a stellar result here.  My PR is 300 pounds, but I haven't done a lot of back squats recently, so I thought the number was realistically closer to the 275-285 range.  After doing Annie, my hope was to get 265 and then take a crack at 285.  Mike asked me if I wanted to share a rack with him and I accepted his offer.

We each did a warmup set at 135 before starting our real sets at 185.  Neither of us had difficulty at 185 or 205.  Mike had told me in advance that he wasn't going to go very heavy on the back squats, so even though he didn't have any problems with his third set at 225, he decided not to continue on after that.  I made it through 225 as well.  This was the set where I had to start getting focused.  The barbell was beginning to get heavy and I needed to keep proper form or else I might fail.  That meant getting my breathing right, not letting my knees bow in, and staying in my heels.

On the set of three at 245, I came up on my toes as I stood up from the second rep.  I didn't feel like I was in trouble, but I did angrily shake my head before I did the third rep.  I couldn't afford to be doing that crap as I added more weight to the barbell.  I finished up that set, then added on 20 more pounds.  This was probably going to be my last successful set, so I had to get everything right.  I took the barbell from the rack, took my time as I went through each rep, and got through the set at 265.  I had time for one more set at 285, but even if that didn't go my way, I was happy about taking care of 265.

Some of the other folks in class began putting their weights away as I got ready for the attempt at 285.  The set at 265 let me know I could go a little heavier, but that might have meant 275, rather than 285.  I made the larger jump just because I felt like I had reached my goal and I was now playing with house money.  Why not go big?  I removed the barbell from the rack and immediately noticed that it didn't feel as heavy as I expected it to.  That was a good sign.  It was also nice getting through the first rep without a major struggle.  The next two reps didn't go as smoothly as that first one, but I avoided getting stuck along the way.  Annie may have been a disappointment, but a better than expected 3 rep back squat of 285 salvaged the day.  (I actually think I had a shot at 295 if there was more time left in class.)

After class had ended, I spoke with Aimee about my sit-up problems.  And she gave me a very blunt assessment.  "Your core is weak", she told me.  It's possible that I winced when she said it, because she immediately followed that line with some softer words explaining what I could do to strengthen my core.  A strong core is necessary for so much of what we do at the gym that I need to get on that.  Gonna have to use some of that double under practice time to focus on my squishy middle instead.

Saturday preview: A Dave-friendly WOD of rope climbs and front squats followed by a handstand push-up clinic.  I learn that I can kip upside-down as long as I have a ton of people watching and receive very explicit instructions.

Look At Me, Neil!

Workout date: 11/17/16

The workout programmed for Thursday night was one of those that made me think to myself, "I guess I should go, but I ain't gonna be able to do a lot of that stuff."  On cardio-focused days, you can slow your pace down when you get tired.  On strength days, you can use less weight when you're not feeling powerful enough to handle all that is asked for in the WOD.  But on skill days, you either have the skills or you don't.  Yes, you can substitute a scale instead, but with a lot of the skill work, the scale tends to be a completely different movement from what you were meant to do.  For example, if you're meant to do handstand push-ups and you do seated dumbbell presses for your scale, then technically you're training the same muscles.  However, you're not upside-down pressing out your body weight.  Instead, you're comfortably sitting upright pressing out much lighter DBs.  Same idea when you substitute ring rows for pull-ups: the stimulus for the two exercises is similar, but the two movements feel worlds apart from one another.

The Thursday WOD had two movements that had no chance at doing: handstand walks and ring muscle-ups.  To give myself a smidge of credit, I will say that I have walked on my hands across one mat at the gym.  It only happened one time and it almost certainly was an accident.  It did happen though.  I haven't accidentally done anything that has resembled a ring muscle-up.  Although through the magic of Ryan Samson's photography, I would change that before the workout even began.

First things first, here's a description of Thursday's WOD:

3 rounds:

30 ft handstand walk

10 clean and jerks (155/105)

followed by

2 rounds:

400 meter run

7 ring muscle-ups

I guess I should have been happy that I could do the clean and jerks and the running.  3 rounds of clean and jerks at 155 was the equivalent of doing a heavy version of Grace.  I figured that would take me about 5-6 minutes.  Because I would be tired from the first part of the workout, I thought the runs would take me about 5 minutes total.  That left the two scales I would have to do.  My initial guess was that we would be doing either "wall walks" or handstand holds (typically 30 seconds worth) as a scale for the handstand walk.  The wall walks (where you start in a plank, then walk your body backwards up the wall, before walking back down) would take longer than 30 seconds, assuming we'd have to do 3-5 of them per round.  At 5 per round, that could take 1.5-2 minutes.  As for the muscle-ups, we'd likely do either jumping muscle-ups or dips plus pull-ups.  If it was the latter, we usually did double the reps, so I'd have to do 14 dips and 14 pull-ups per round.  That could take 3-4 minutes.  My crude mental math left me in the 20-25 minute range for this workout, which seemed to be a problem as most of the earlier times for the day hovered around 15 minutes.

Where had I gone wrong?  Turns out that I didn't get either of the scales right.  Coach Giulz told us that if we didn't have handstand walks, she'd like us to try "wall walk ins" as a scale.  I had never done this before and they were much harder than they appeared.  For the wall walk in, you flip upside-down in the same manner you would for a handstand hold.  The difference is that you plant your hands much further from the wall as you kick up.  There is an uneasy initial feeling that you are too far from the wall as you go upside-down, but eventually your feet meet the wall.  From there, you try to walk on your hands towards the wall.  Each time I did one of these, I took 3-4 steps on my hands before coming back down.  It was quicker than a wall walk, but also more taxing on your shoulders.  We were going to do 5 of these per round.

As for the ring muscle-up scale, Giulz wanted us to work on transitions.  I've done these before and they can be very quick, but it is also easy to be lazy, do a crappy one, and count that as a rep.  What I had learned from past experience was that I needed to use my legs and hips more and not simply rely on my arms.  For the transition, you hold on to rings that are not very high off the ground and lay underneath them with your feet propping your body up.  The remaining description of the movement isn't going to be the greatest, but here it goes.  From there, you do a mini-hop with your feet to imitate the kipping movement you would do if you were way above the ground.  As you send your feet down, you pull the rings towards your body and quickly rotate over the rings.  Then you press out of the dip like you would at the top of a real muscle-up.  This scale would definitely be faster than doing jumping muscle-ups, but it was on me to perform quality reps.

I had only two partners in class: Neil and Julie Foucher.  Giulz had us practice getting upside down for the wall walk ins and Neil was having some initial trouble.  (Julie was not getting upside down due to a condition hinted at by her Pregosaurus t-shirt.)  I heard him collapse against the wall a few times as he tried to do a handstand hold.  He must have been looking down at the floor as he tried to go upside down (you should be looking back through your arms) because I heard Giulz tell him, "look at me, Neil", as he came down from a failed attempt.  When I came back down from the wall, I decided to joke around with him about this advice.  I yelled out "LOOK AT ME, NEIL!", not realizing he was in the midst of another attempt.  Right as he went to plant his hands, he started laughing and crashed into the wall.  Oops!  I almost injured the poor guy by making him laugh as he was about to go upside down.  Always make sure your classmates aren't in the middle of doing something if you're going to crack jokes!

From there, we went over to the rings to practice transitions.  And surprisingly, I was pretty good at them.  I guess I had learned my lesson from scaled muscle-up WODs of the past.  I was quickly rotating over the rings and pressing out without too much of a problem.  Giulz and Samson told me that how I looked at the top of these practice transitions is exactly how I would look when I got my first real ring muscle-up.  That was all well and good, except my feet were about six inches off of the ground.  Samson had been taking photos and assured me that he could eliminate the floor from the photos he was taking.  He laid flat on the floor and aimed his camera my way.  I told him that if I was selling this as a muscle-up, I was going all out.  The result is below:

Just me, being a jackass, per usual

Amazing photo, right?  Samson does some excellent work.  You can't tell that the rings I'm using are very low to the floor.  And it looks like I got my first muscle-up because I started celebrating like a maniac at the top of the rep.  The people in the front of the gym wanted to know what was going on because they heard some idiot yelling and could see that Giulz and Samson were cracking up.  I let them know I was faking my first muscle-up.  Samson posted the picture on our gym's Facebook page, which led to a lot of people asking me if I had gotten my first muscle-up.  (Note: They were asking with that "seriously, you got a muscle up?" tone which is equal parts astonishment, skepticism, congratulations, and depression all mixed together.)  I re-assured them that I had not.

With the fun and games out of the way, it was time to get to the workout.  Giulz set the clock and we got started on round one.  As I moved through the wall walk ins, I noticed how much shoulder strength it required.  It crossed my mind that I might not be able to do 15 of these even if I didn't have those 20 clean and jerks sprinkled in between sets.  I did 3 of them without much hesitation before slowing down and taking a small break before the 4th walk in and again before the 5th walk in.  I was behind Neil and Julie right from the start.

I thought the effort needed on the wall walk ins would be detrimental to my success on the clean and jerks, but that really wasn't the case.  Doing a couple of the clean and jerks seemed to loosen my shoulders.  After doing 5 reps, I paused for a break, but my shoulders were feeling better.  I was winded from the work I had done up to this point, but I had some renewed hope that I could get through 2 more rounds of wall walk ins.

When I got back to the wall, I did 2 walk ins before needing a break.  I could tell this wasn't going to be something I could rush through.  If I tried to get upside down before I was ready, I was simply going to fall over and need to start again.  So I waited and then did the next walk in once my arms felt better.  I was losing time here, but I felt like I'd make some of it up when I got back to the barbell.  I didn't pay much attention to the clock because it felt like I was going slow and I didn't want to become frustrated in the middle of the workout.  After a second set of 5 wall walk ins were complete, I did 10 semi-fast single reps of the clean and jerk.  The jerk, in particular, was beginning to feel heavy because I was struggling to fully lock out the rep as I sent my body under the barbell.  I didn't fail on any of the reps, but I was starting to become concerned.

My third round of wall walk ins was similar to my second round, although I had one rep where I became very shaky as I tried to walk towards the wall, so I had to speed up my "steps" before coming back down on to my feet.  I was able to go 2-1-1-1 again and when the third round was complete, I felt relief as I was almost certainly done with the most difficult part of the workout.  As I began my last set of clean and jerks, Neil headed out the door for his first run.  Not long afterwards, Julie followed him out the door.  I doubted that I'd be moving very fast on the run, so I accepted that I would be the last one done in this workout.

After wrapping up my 30th clean and jerk, I went out for my first jog.  None of us were moving all that fast at this point.  Neil was way ahead of us, while Julie had a decent-sized lead on me.  Neil would be out for his second run before I got back into the gym for my first set of transitions.  While I wanted to do my transitions quickly, I didn't want to sacrifice my form as I completed them.  They weren't as good as the ones I did in the warmup (amazing how much better I am when I'm fresh!), but they weren't sloppy either.  With 7 transitions in the books, I headed out the door intent on making up some ground on Julie.  I didn't catch her on the run, but I was only a few seconds behind her as we came back to the rings.  Neil had long since finished.  I told myself that I wasn't allowed to take any breaks between reps.  Transitions don't really take that much out of you and I only had 7 reps remaining.  So I started knocking them out one after another.  The competitive side of me was happy to catch Julie at the tail end of the workout.  And it was also happy that I kept my time reasonable when early on I didn't think it would be.  Final time: 17:53.

My biggest takeaway from this workout was that I should practice wall walk ins more.  They certainly build up your shoulder strength and they make you get comfortable with something that feels rather uncomfortable at first.  With enough practice, maybe the day will come when I can walk across the length of two mats at the gym on my hands.

Friday preview: The final test day for Annie arrives and I am eager to put my double under practice to the test.  I completed Annie in under 10 minutes for the first time back in February.  With better double under form, could I trim that time all the way down to less than 8 minutes?

Filthy Rich

Workout date: 11/16/16

Jenn does a lot of charity work through her company and even though the event we were going to on Wednesday night wasn't being sponsored by Aberdeen, we were attending it along with a group of her co-workers.  With evening plans on the calendar, I had to head to the Wednesday nooner if I was going to get a workout in.  On tap was a partner WOD that had a bit of a Fight Gone Bad vibe to it:

Wednesday's WOD
Partner workout:
8 total rounds (4 per partner)
20 calorie row
10 sumo deadlift high pulls (75/55)
15 front squats (75/55)

Just as Fight Gone Bad feels like a prolonged sprint with breaks built in, this WOD had the same setup.  I knew that I'd have to move fast through my rounds and that I shouldn't expect too much of a break between rounds.  The sumo deadlift high pull weight was the same as in Fight Gone Bad, so I knew how those would feel.  We don't do front squats in that workout, but this seemed like a very light weight to me and I figured I'd be able to move through 15 reps pretty quickly.  I was also feeling better about my rowing form after my performance in the final workout of the Brawl, so 20 calories per round wasn't worrying me.  This WOD felt like one that I should do very well at.

Coach Gordy had eight people in his class.  The even number meant no one had to play siamese twin during the workout (I'm not a big fan of being the siamese twin).  Some of the teams were easy to figure out.  Joe M and Tim H were definitely going to partner up.  John McHugh and I were certainly going to be a team.  That left Rich and the three ladies in class.  When Seba and Meredith agreed to work together, the final pairing of Rich and Karen was set.

Gordy put us through our warmup and then explained that we should aim to be consistent with our rounds in this workout.  You didn't want to have a blazing first round and then see your time drop off in the later rounds.  (Maybe Fight Gone Bad wasn't a good analogy, as I always put up a strong score in round one and then see it plummet in rounds two and three.)  Gordy suggested that we keep track of our individual times per round so that we could see how consistent we were during the WOD.

Despite hearing these directions from Gordy, I had it in my head that this wasn't a workout where you could pace yourself.  I interpreted Gordy's directions like they were Coach Tim's directions at Endurance.  Translation: Go fast, continue to go fast, stay at that fast pace, then finish fast.

As I scanned the earlier times on the board, Gordy told me about the 9:30 class, where two teams were neck and neck as they did the final round and began racing each other to the finish.  Say what?  I can't believe Crossfitters would be ultra competitive and not simply focus on their own performance.  I'm glad I'm not like that.

Most teams had finished in over 20 minutes, which worked out to a pace of 2:30 per round.  There were a couple incredibly fast teams that finished in the 16-17 minute range, or just over 2:00 per round.  As much as I wanted to believe John and I could go that fast, it seemed like a bit of a stretch.  So I went with 19 minutes as my pre-WOD goal for the two of us.

John was very eager to lead things off for us and I was more than happy to let him get us started.  I tend to prefer going second anyways, but I also thought it would help me to see John do the first round and feed off of his intensity.  He didn't disappoint.  He was very fast off of the rower.  He didn't take a break during the 10 sumo deadlift high pulls.  And he gritted his teeth while moving through 15 front squats.  He yelled to me that he was done and I began my first round. 

In a lot of workouts, I approach the row as something that I want to complete quickly, but not at the expense of losing my calm.  I don't want my breathing to be rapid when I come off of the rower.  For this workout (at least early on), I decided to throw caution to the wind.  There was one word that kept popping into my head and that word was sprint.  You don't pace during a sprint.  You go as hard as you can.  So I tried to do my best imitation of John and rowed with gusto.  My breathing was definitely rapid, but I tried to control it as best as I could as I moved to my barbell.  I was a little off kilter as I began my sumo deadlift high pulls, but I didn't slow down as I raced through 10 reps.  I dropped the barbell to change my stance and to give myself a second of rest before moving into the front squats.  As I started those, I saw Rich get to his barbell.  It dawned on me that I'd be racing Rich every time it was my turn to work.  John had given me a lead in this first round, but could I maintain that lead in the later rounds?  Better make the best of the lead that I had.  I strung together my 15 front squats and told John to go.  Time after two rounds: 3:30.

As I stood next to the rower cheering my teammate on, I tried my best to get back to calm.  Except I was a long way from calm.  We had gone very fast during our first two rounds and it was going to be tough maintaining the consistency that Gordy had asked of us prior to the workout.  I was torn between wanting John to go fast (he's my teammate!) and wanting John to go slow (let me rest!).  John finished his second round and I got started on my second row.  The monitor let me know that I was not moving as fast as I had during round one.  I couldn't tell how much slower I was going because I was looking at the calories/hr rate rather than the clock.  I got to the barbell and began my sumo deadlift high pulls.  I kept up my speed there, but I saw Rich get to his barbell before I finished my set.  He was gaining on me.  I had to keep moving through the front squats, even though they were beginning to burn.  I mentioned how I was dropping my barbell as I transitioned from the sumo deadlift high pulls to the front squats.  Rich simply flicked his wrists at the top of his final sumo deadlift high pull, moving his hand position in a blink, allowing him to go right into his front squats.  I felt like I was racing the Terminator.  He looked like he was marching along while I was sprinting for my life, yet he was clearly reeling me in.  I finished my second round before him, but not by much.  Time after four rounds: 8:00.

We were still on pace for 16 minutes, the pace those super fast teams had done earlier in the day, but we knew there was no chance that we'd keep that pace.  John didn't struggle on the rower, but his pace on the barbell began to slow.  When it was my turn to go, I continued to try and row fast.  The monitor didn't seem to appreciate my efforts.  I was straining, yet I wasn't generating calories any faster.  I got off the rower and walked to my barbell, only to see Rich walking to his barbell at the same time.  He didn't catch me on the sumo deadlift high pulls, but he passed me on the transition.  I dropped my barbell and it bounced away from me, which is always frustrating.  Rich did another wrist flick and moved on to his front squats.  It was insane watching how fast he was moving without any sign of distress on his face.  Meanwhile, I needed to pause as I went through my front squats.  Never dropped my barbell, but I had to do some reps and then take a break while holding it in my front rack.  I went 3, 4, 4, and 4.  Rich went 15, 0, 0, and 0.  He got Karen started on her final round while John waited for me to be done.  Once I completed the 15th front squat, he got to work on his final row.  Time after six rounds: 13:08.

Those last two rounds took more than 5 minutes, so 19 minutes was no longer a cinch as we hit the home stretch.  John was working hard and his fourth round was similar to his third round.  The row went smoothly.  He grinded through the sumo deadlift high pulls.  He chipped away at his front squats.  He completed his work for the day and I began round #8.  In all previous rounds, I had gotten a head start on Rich during the row.  Not this time.  Karen finished her last round almost simultaneously with John.  I was doomed.  There was no way I was keeping up with Rich for an entire round.

That might have been a blessing in disguise.  Or maybe I got wiser in that last round.  I was much more controlled during that final row.  I knew I wanted to get through all of the barbell reps without pausing, so I focused on keeping calm as I rowed.  I don't think that it cost me much in terms of time on the row, but it certainly helped me the rest of the way.  Rich was already on his front squats when I got to my barbell.  I did my 10 sumo deadlift high pulls and dropped the barbell, except I didn't have to chase after it this time as I prevented it from bouncing away.  I got the barbell up to my shoulders and began the front squats.  They burned.  There is no other way to describe it.  However, it was mind over matter time.  I grimaced and kept moving.  Soon enough, I had the 15 reps done.  Final time: 18:05.

I was really happy with our final time, especially since I knew it meant that I had gone pretty fast in that last round.  I was worried about staying under 19 minutes after round six, but we almost got it under 18 minutes in the end.  We had captured the time elapsed after every round on our whiteboard, so I didn't know until the end of the workout how consistent we had been.  Turns out we weren't very consistent.  Each of us went too fast out of the gates and paid for it, most notably in round three.  Our individual round times are below:

John's times are on the left, my times are on the right

If I did this workout again, I'd heed Gordy's advice a little more and I'd try to learn from my final round, where I eased up a bit on the row so that I had some energy in reserve for the barbell.  I'd also try and channel the spirit of Rich, whose performance in this WOD was straight filthy.  He was like a smiling assassin as he moved through this workout.  Impressive, impressive stuff.  I have a long way to go in terms of improving my cardio.

Thursday preview: My first muscle-up!  (No, not really.  Only through the magical lens of Ryan Samson.)

I Get To Say I Told You So

Workout date: 11/15/16

Monday was my only real rest day after the Brawl because I played in my annual football game (sponsored by the Dirty6Vegas fantasy football league) up in Albany on Sunday.  Driving to and from Albany wasn't the ideal way to get my back to feel better (it was a little sore after the competition), but I made sure to indulge in an epsom salt bath once I made it back home.  That helped out.  While I might not have worked out on Monday, I did jump on the scale as has become my ritual every Monday morning.  I had mixed feelings as to whether my weight would be lower as I stepped on the scale.  On one hand, I had done a lot of exercising over the weekend with the Brawl and the football game.  On the other hand, any time I have to spend a lot of time on the road, I end up eating terribly because fast food is really my only option if I'm going to get to my destination at a semi-decent hour. Throw in the fact that hanging out with my buddies from home means lots of beer consumption and I could envision the scale telling me I had gained weight this week.  The verdict?

Original weigh-in:  213.2 pounds
Last week's weigh-in:  209.4 pounds
This week's weigh-in:  209.2 pounds

That's not too bad.  I had nothing planned for the upcoming weekend, so I figured the next weigh-in would be more telling of how things were truly going on the weight loss front.

It was Tuesday, so that meant another edition of Dudes After Dark!  Or not.  This was the rare occasion when I would be skipping that class.  Giulz had set up a happy hour at Taphouse 23 to celebrate Josh M's new job.  The plan was to head over there at 6:30, so I showed up to the gym for 5:30 class instead.  That meant no LC this evening, but it did give me a chance to have class with Keithie.  I definitely miss attending Coach Keithie's classes, but nowadays he only coaches a class or two during the week.  My best chance at seeing Keithie is on Saturday mornings when he coaches all of the classes, but Saturday has become a regular rest day for me.  Guess I'd better enjoy this class with him since it could be a while before I had him as a coach again!

Tuesday's WOD was a KOP-created strength workout (at least I'm assuming that's the case based on it's name).  It is called the Lyons Press Medley.  I've done this WOD once before, but I couldn't find it in any of my spreadsheets, so I had no idea what my scores were last time.  Here's how the Lyons Press Medley works:

"Lyons Press Medley"
3 shoulder presses
3 push presses
3 push jerks

*You must continue on from one movement to the next without putting the barbell down.  So once you have completed the shoulder presses, you move on to the push presses, and from there to the push jerks.
**Should you fail at any point in the sequence, you don't get credit for any part of the round.  So if you fail on the push jerks, you don't get credit for completing the shoulder presses and push presses at that weight.
***Once you fail on the shoulder presses at a given weight, you trim your sets down to just push presses and push jerks.  Once the push presses go, your remaining sets are simply push jerks.
****You record a score for each of the three lifts.

I'm all out of asterisks, so that's as many details as I can give on this workout.

I knew from the start that there would be a large gap between my shoulder press and push press numbers because I suck at the shoulder press.  The shoulder press is one of the few movements at the gym where I struggle yet seem to have no desire to put in the effort to fix my deficiency.  I'm not sure why that is.  Maybe fixing my double unders and pull-ups seems more interesting than standing upright and raising a barbell over my head repeatedly without using my legs.  At some point, I will need to devote time to fixing this weakness of mine.  For now though, I was going to try and put up a semi-decent score for the shoulder press before focusing on big numbers with the push press and the push jerk.

With 10 of us in class and 8 racks along the pull-up rig, I figured there was a good chance that I'd be splitting a rack with someone.  That changed when Giulz, Maggie, and Josh M pulled out the portable racks.  The three of them wanted the experience of doing this WOD on the "magic platform" (the wooden floor in the gym where the lifters practice their Olympic lifts).  Giulz and Maggie shared a rack, while Josh had his own.  Josh and I were originally discussing sharing a rack, but I wasn't interested in working on the platform while Josh definitely wanted to.  No biggie.  There were now enough open racks along the pull-up rig that I could work on my own.

I spent most of the WOD talking with Tia, who was taking her lifts from the rack to my left.  She became a good resource for me to stay on schedule, as I tried to do my lifts right after she went.  I have a bad tendency of falling behind schedule during WODs like this one where we essentially have the entire class to do as many sets as we'd like.  Then I get to the end of class and have to rush through the tougher lifts.  That doesn't end well very often.  So I got my chatting in with Tia, but after she went to work, I made sure that I followed suit.

I did a quick warmup set of the medley with just the barbell before I threw on some 25 pound plates for a total of 95 pounds.  I didn't expect this to be much of a problem and it wasn't.  If I had any faith in my ability to shoulder press, I would have gone to 115 for my next set as that was a reasonable increase in weight.  Instead, I jumped straight to 125.  Why did I go higher if I lacked faith?  Because I expected 125 to be the highest weight that I could complete the 3 shoulder presses with.  And if I was going to go big on the push presses and the push jerks, there was no point in wasting a lot of energy on sets at lighter weights.  I would be happy getting 125, failing on the next set, and moving on to the lifts where I could use my legs.

I removed 125 from the rack and slowly got the first rep over my head.  I wasn't very fast on returning the barbell to my shoulders, but I made sure not to stop when I got there.  The first rep is always the most difficult because you have no momentum to work with, whereas the second and third reps tended to not be so bad because you already had the barbell moving.  I pressed out reps two and three, moved through the push presses and push jerks, and placed the barbell back on the rack.  I got my number.  Anything beyond 125 was gravy.

Keithie had watched this set and told me that I needed to move faster on the shoulder press, especially that first rep.  Much like a deadlift, the key with the shoulder press was to get the barbell moving.  The faster I had it moving, the easier the reps were going to be for me.  I added 10 pounds to the barbell for an attempt at 135.  My 3RM for the shoulder press was 135 and typically I won't attempt to tie a PR.  But going to 130 seemed like a waste and 140 was out of the question since I didn't really believe that I could get 135.  When it was time to go, I took the barbell from the rack and got right into the first rep.  I expected to fail right then and there, but somehow I was able to press it over my head.  Wow!  If I got the first rep, then getting all three was definitely a possibility.  Reps two and three were difficult, but I squeezed each of them out.  I was so excited about tying my PR that I had to take a moment before continuing on with the push presses and push jerks.

Technically, I was supposed to continue on with another set of shoulder presses, push presses, and push jerks.  If I failed, then my score for the shoulder press would be 135.  But I was very fortunate to get through 135 and I knew 140 wasn't happening.  Why even bother with that?  I was moving on to the push press/push jerk sets.  Rather than adding 5 pounds to my barbell, I put on 30, moving me up to 165 pounds.  Yes, that was another large jump, but I didn't want this to become a workout where I did a ton of volume and then failed at the higher weights.  This next set felt weird because I had to remind myself that I could use my legs right from the beginning, but once I got going, it was fine.  I felt comfortable going up to 185 on my next set.

While I wasn't thinking of it this way at the time, I was treating the push press the same way I treated the shoulder press.  Getting a score of 185 would make me happy and I didn't expect success beyond that weight, even though my PR was 10 pounds higher.  (Note: I actually didn't know what my 3RM push press was as I did this WOD.  I looked it up later and saw it was 195.)  The set at 185 wasn't as bad as I expected it to be.  The push presses were hard, but I definitely had the sense I could handle a bit more.  The push jerks were not so bad as I generally feel comfortable with those and I hadn't reached a weight that worried me yet.  Sweet!  I hit my number again.  If I went heavier, it was my second bonus of the day.

I moved up to 195 expecting to fail during the set of push presses.  This wasn't like the shoulder press where the first rep would give me a solid idea of whether I could get all three.  There was just as much chance of me failing on the third rep as there was of failing on the first rep.  I needed to be totally focused to get through this set.  The first push press went well, but the second rep introduced some doubt into my mind.  I pressed it out, but I wasn't certain I had another press out in me for rep three.  I dipped, drove, and got the barbell mostly over my head.  I thought I might get stuck here and have to bail, but I kept the barbell moving.  I locked out rep #3.  Another tied PR.  Another giant sense of relief and happiness.  I still had three push jerks to finish the set, but with all of the positive energy in my body at that point, there was no doubt I'd get through those.

With the shoulder press, I moved on when I felt like there was no shot I could go any higher.  With the push press, I toyed with the idea that I could get 5 more pounds.  I'm sure I was seduced by the idea of writing 200 next to my name on the board.  (Be honest: 200 sounds much cooler than 195, right?)  I added the 2.5 pound plates to my barbell and took it from the rack.  And as I stood there, I realized that the weight felt much heavier than it had in my last set.  Conserve your energy for the push jerks, Dave!  Without attempting a rep, I put the barbell back on the rack.  200 wasn't happening.  195 was plenty.  I was moving on to the push jerks.

My first set of push jerks was at 205.  The weight was now heavy enough that I was concerned about failing.  I also needed to remind myself that I couldn't split jerk the weight, something I would typically do when I was trying to get this much weight overhead.  The first rep of the set was all about building the belief that I could push jerk the weight.  Once I got that one overhead, I knew I could do the last two reps without resorting to a split jerk.  The other difficulty at this point was bringing this much weight back down to my shoulders "gently" between reps.  The reality of the situation is that you end up using your frame to catch the weight as it crashes back down on you.  Not the greatest feeling in the world, but it's a temporary pain.  I made it through the set at 205 and added 10 more pounds for the next set.

215 was going to be tough, but I was still feeling relatively confident at this point.  I grabbed my barbell, dipped, drove upwards, and...failed.  Had I run out of juice?  It felt like I didn't pop the barbell off of my body as well as I had done in earlier sets.  Keithie called me over and explained that I didn't keep my elbows up as I went to do the rep.  As I dipped, my body leaned forward and the barbell started to slide away from me.  That was why I couldn't pop it up like I had done with my lighter sets.  I took a few minutes to recover before coming back to the barbell.  My entire focus was on keeping my elbows up.  I dipped, drove upwards, and...the barbell was overhead.  It worked!  As the barbell came crashing down on my body for rep #2, I remained focused on my elbow positioning.  I got rep #2, then followed it with rep #3.  I have no idea what my 3RM is for push jerks, but for the sake of consistency, I'm going to imagine that I tied it with this set at 215.

I could have dropped the barbell to the floor and asked for help returning it to the rack, but I decided to let it crash on to my body one more time, before walking it into the rack.  Except I missed the right side of the rack.  Keithie had to rush over and grab the side of the barbell that missed as the other side began to catapult off of the rack.  I'm not sure how much more proof you need to believe that I'm lopsided, but you can add this incident to the already long list of evidence.  Once the barbell was safely back in the rack, Keithie congratulated me on the set at 215 and told me that he enjoyed seeing that for two reasons:

1. He always likes seeing people do lifts with proper form
2. "Because now I get to say I told you so"

Gotta love Keithie.

I decided that a set at 225 was worth a shot, even though I couldn't remember ever doing a push jerk with that much weight.  Once again, my main focus was on keeping my elbows up.  It felt very heavy, but somehow I got the first rep overhead.  The second rep was not as successful.  I tapped out at that point.  Maybe a 3RM push jerk of 225 is in my future, but it wasn't happening after all of the lifting that I did in this hour.  215 would end up as my push jerk score.

Wednesday preview: A partner WOD with John McHugh at the Wednesday nooner!  You know it's going to be intense.  But there's no level of intensity that would make us move as fast as Rich did in this workout.