Head Almost Popped Off

Workout date: 12/30/16

Last year, Cline had a goal of completing 200 WODs.  He made it with plenty of time to spare.  With 199 in the bag, he decided that WOD #200 would be Crossfit Total and that he would do it at December's Open Gym (first Sunday of the month).  Luke and I joined him for the workout and it was a really good time.  Cline set five PRs over the course of the day.  I didn't do quite that well, but I did manage the heaviest back squat I had done since I stopped doing back squat programs at Open Strength (315 pounds).

Fast forward a year and Cline had become more ambitious.  His goal was 210 WODs for 2016.  In the last month or so, I had asked him whether he was going to reach 210 and he seemed to have his doubts.  He must have kicked it into high gear as the year came to a close because he made an announcement that he was once again doing Crossfit Total as the workout that would see him reach his goal.  Open Gym had already taken place earlier in the month, but there was a special mid-day Open Strength session being held on the 30th.  That was just as good as Open Gym (after all, this was a completely strength-based workout).  I told Cline I was interested and we agreed to take on Crossfit Total together.  Just as a reminder, here's how Crossfit Total works:

"Crossfit Total"
Total score from:
1RM back squat
1RM shoulder press
1RM deadlift
*You may only make 3 attempts at each lift.  Unlimited practice is allowed.  Very much an honor system type of workout.

While Cline got warmed up at the far end of the gym, I set up a rack for us to use near the front of the gym.  I got to KOP about 20 minutes before he did and I think I was antsy to get going.  I picked out a barbell and began to bring over some plates.  Cline joined me at the front of the gym, as did a third person.  Brian S was using the rack next to the one I had picked out and he looked like he might be working on back squats too.  I'm not sure Brian had concrete plans for Open Strength, so when we asked him if he was interested in getting in on the Crossfit Total fun, it didn't take long for him to say yes.  Perfect.  We had a trio working together just as we did last year.

Normally I feel confident that I've remembered all of the numbers from a workout correctly, but I can't say that with this WOD.  All of the warmup weights and all of the attempts that the three of us used are listed here to the best of my memory, but it's possible they are a little off.  I know that we started our back squat warmup with 135 pounds on the barbell and I believe we moved on to 185 from there.  After warming up with 185, we needed to discuss what our three attempts would be.  Cline told me that his PR was 245 on the back squat, but I wasn't certain what his exact plans were for the three lifts.  They might have changed after he did his first real attempt.  My plan was based directly off of what I had done last year during this workout.  I went 295-315-335 then and I was going 295-315-335 now.  Why?  It was mainly a test to see if I could handle 315 again.  If I could, I'd take on 335 to see if I could increase my PR by 5 pounds.  If there was a 20 pound difference between my 2nd and 3rd lifts, might as well have the same jump from the 1st lift to the 2nd lift, so 295 would be my first true attempt.  What was Brian using?  Ummm...he might have needed a refresher on the rules of Crossfit Total.  (I'll explain after the Cline back squat recap.)

I think Cline used 205 for his last warmup before going with 225 as his first true attempt.  To my eye, it didn't look like he had any difficulty with it, but Cline seemed to feel differently.  I thought his plan was to start with 225 and 245 for his first two lifts, with a PR attempt on the third lift.  Instead, Cline was going with 235 for his second lift and 245 on his third lift.  The second attempt looked easy again.  His third attempt had a little hitch in the bottom, but he wasn't stuck for long.  Cline's back squat score would be 245, matching what he did last year.  I'm convinced he could have handled 255-260.  Later on in the day, Cline was upset about his back squat performance and we had this exchange:

Cline: I didn't PR my back squat.
Me: You didn't attempt to PR your back squat.
Cline: Fair enough.

(He totally could have PR'd his back squat.)

After 185, I went to 225 for my next warmup weight.  Then I went to 255 and 275.  Brian kept stepping up to the barbell after me, successfully squatting the same weight.  I got so caught up in these warmup lifts that I didn't remember that my next lift at 295 counted until I was walking up to the barbell.  Time to get serious!  I really did not want to mess up that first attempt because that would have screwed up my plans.  So it was a relief when I handled 295 without getting stuck along the way.  Brian went up and did 295 as well.  I added 20 pounds to the barbell and spent a few minutes relaxing before the next lift.  Cline was done with his three attempts, so I got curious about Brian's plans for his lifts.  I probably should have asked earlier, but I was being chatty with Cline.  When I asked Brian what his three lifts would be, his response was "what do you mean?"  Uh oh.  He didn't know that he only got three attempts towards his score.  Not to worry, Brian's best back squat was more than mine, so he could use 315 as his first attempt and go from there.

I was nervous about the lift at 315, but the lift at 295 had given me some extra confidence.  It would be a shame if my back squat had gotten worse in the last year and failure at this weight would seem to indicate that was the case.  I needed to get 315 on one of the next two attempts, preferably the first one.  I took the barbell from the rack, got my feet set, took in a deep breath, and went for it.  When I bounced out of the bottom, I didn't immediately stall out, which was a good sign.  It was a slow rise to the top, but I would say that for the second straight lift I avoided hitting a sticking point.  I was excited!  335 probably wasn't going to happen, but the pressure was off now that I had found success at 315.  My shadow, Brian, moved in after me and got 315 as well.

It would be a good 3-5 minutes before I'd be ready for that attempt at 335, so I struck up a conversation with Jill A while I rested.  She was there snatching and asked what we were up to.  When I told her it was Crossfit Total, she half-jokingly asked about the number of attempts we were taking.  Coach Jill knew we weren't supposed to take more than three.  I let her know that I had done a lot of practice sets to warm up.  Honestly, I didn't feel guilty at all about taking a bunch of practice reps because I had announced from the start what my three attempts would be.  If I completed 295 and then said "yeah, that was my first rep", that would be shady.  It would be pretty sad if I felt the need to cheat at Crossfit Total during a sparsely-attended Open Strength.

It was time to step up and take on 335.  I got up to the barbell, ready to bring as much intensity as I could to the lift.  Then I felt the barbell roll up some of the skin on my upper back as I stepped away from the rack.  Taking on 335 while feeling uncomfortable wasn't the best plan, so I immediately returned the barbell to the rack.  I didn't consider that an attempt and neither did anyone else.  Still didn't seem like a good omen.  I laughed it off and started my whole routine over.  Got psyched up, brought intensity to the lift as soon as I removed the barbell from the rack, and this time there was no skin pinching.  Feet were set.  Breathing was set.  I dropped into the bottom of the squat.  As I made my way up, it felt like I had gotten past my usual sticking point.  And then things came to a grinding halt.  I mean, it still felt like I was moving upwards ever so slightly, but this was basically a new sticking point for me.  I kept fighting to save the lift.  My body was shaking and my head felt like it was about to pop off.  As the seconds ticked by, I feared that one of the coaches would tell me to bail the barbell.  No, keep fighting, you're almost there!  The fight was worth it.  I got beyond the sticking point and stood up with 335.  I had a new PR!  Not only that, I got a tremendous compliment from Coach Steph, who was impressed at how I stayed in my heels for the entire lift, even during the struggle.  She remarked that I had come a long way from my old back squat form.

My three attempts were over, but Brian still had two to go.  Up to this point, he had duplicated all of my efforts.  That would change at 335 pounds.  He failed on his first attempt at 335 (second true attempt).  He was allowed one more try at 335, but that didn't work out either.  Brian might not have gotten the back squat that he wanted, but he was about to show off for us on the shoulder press.

Cline's goal for the shoulder press was 120 or 125.  If the stars were aligned for me, I'd be taking on 150 for my third attempt.  Brian said he could handle 185.  Not that he was hoping for 185.  He could handle 185!  He would definitely be going last again.  We did some warmup with just the barbell (45 pounds) before moving up to 75 pounds.  We all did 95 pounds, but that would be Cline's last warmup rep.  His first attempt at 105 was successful.  Brian and I did another warmup at 115.  Cline used that same weight for his second attempt.  He started to press it out, but then he got stuck and had to put it back on the rack.  115 had been my last warmup, so 125 would be my first real attempt.  I always have difficulty getting the barbell moving in the shoulder press, but once I got this one moving, I knew I could press it out.  Brian took another warmup at 125.  We removed 10 pounds so that Cline could have a final shot at 115, but the result would be the same.  He'd end up with 105 for the shoulder press.  245 on the back squat and 105 on the shoulder press matched his exact scores from a year ago.

My second attempt would be at 140 and it was the ugliest successful attempt you'll ever see.  Getting the barbell moving was a struggle again.  I somehow got it moving with the left side of my body, so I pressed it out almost completely with my left arm while my right arm trailed behind.  Once the left arm was done working, the right arm kicked in and I got the barbell pressed out overhead.  Counts in Crossfit, I guess.  Brian was up next and decided he didn't want the same 140 pounds I used.  He told me to put 175 pounds on instead.  Wow.  That was a huge jump.  His confidence was rewarded when he pressed that 175 over his head.

I was hoping for a miracle like I had gotten on the back squat.  My third shoulder press at 150 was very unlikely.  Then again, so was that back squat at 335 pounds.  Lightning didn't strike twice though as that final barbell barely moved off of my shoulders.  I had matched my shoulder press of 140 pounds from last year, so I was still 20 pounds ahead of my 2015 pace.  I was done with the shoulder press thankfully.  And as a bonus, I got to see what kind of sick weight Brian was going to throw around.  His next attempt was 185 and I fully expected him to get it.  Something went wrong though and he wasn't able to press it out.  He took a break for a minute or so, then gave 185 another try.  Just when it looked like he might get stuck again, he fought the barbell and pressed it out.  It was time to move on to the deadlift.

We moved through our deadlifts at a much faster pace than we did the back squats or the shoulder presses.  One after another, we stepped up to the barbell lying on the floor and did a practice rep.  Our max weight range for the deadlift was much more compact than was the case for the other two lifts, so we didn't have to change out the weights as often.  We each did 225.  We each did 275.  We each did 315.  I think Cline used 345 for his first attempt and he had no problems with it.  Brian and I used 345 for our final warmup.  With George Michael blaring in the background, Cline got 365 on his second attempt.  Brian and I both got it on our first attempt.  Cline would go for a PR of 375 on his final attempt.  His last deadlift reminded me of his last back squat in that I'd bet money he could have handled about 10 pounds more.  375 pounds was 20 more than he used for the deadlift last year, meaning he had gotten a 20 pound PR for Crossfit Total with a score of 725.

I was focused on my next lift at 385.  Some days I could lift 385, many days I could not.  The only certainty was that I couldn't seem to lift more than 385.  I'd been stuck at that number for my deadlift for more than 2 years.  Things seemed to be going my way though, so I was oddly optimistic as I walked up to the barbell.  It was incredibly heavy, but I brought it up to my waist.  This really was my day!  Brian went after me, but he wasn't able to lift 385.  We each had one attempt left and it didn't make sense to load weight on and then take it off again, so I waited for Brian to try 385 again before I did my last lift.  He got it on the second try, ending the day with a Crossfit Total of 885.

So many things had gone right for me today that it made me wonder whether this would be the day that I finally deadlifted 405.  On the second-to-last day of the year, could I cross off one more item from my list of 2016 goals?  I tried to bring as much energy as I could to my last attempt.  The barbell came off the ground.  John McHugh would later tell me that I got the barbell up my shin.  All I had to do was keep it moving.  Sadly I could not.  The fight worked on the back squat, but it didn't work here on the deadlift.  It was still a 30 pound PR for my Crossfit Total, finishing with a score of 860.

Even though I had used up all of my attempts for Crossfit Total, I wasn't willing to give up on deadlifting 405 just yet.  I could still hit my goal outside of the workout.  So I gave 405 two more attempts.  Neither of them were as good as the first attempt, although I did have the barbell moving on the second attempt.  I'd have to remain in deadlift purgatory until 2017.

Last year, I did Fran after we had completed Crossfit Total and that was the plan again this year.  We hadn't done Fran at all in 2016 and I wanted to see if I could improve on my time of 9:51.  A couple days before Open Strength, Aimee released the benchmark workouts for 2017 and Fran was listed among them.  In fact, it was scheduled for some time in January.  No point in doing Fran now when it could show up next week.  I decided to substitute in the KOP Baseline workout instead.  It had been over a year since I had done that one as well.  Here's what's included in that workout:

"Baseline"
500 meter row
40 air squats
30 sit-ups
20 push-ups
10 pull-ups

My best time on this?  6:55.  My original time on this was 8:49, but I needed to do jumping pull-ups from a box at the end.  I didn't know what a good time would be for me now, but if I did my pull-ups semi-competently, I thought it could be significantly lower than 6:55.  Only one way to find out!

When I had fully recovered from Crossfit Total, I got a rower out and prepared to run through this short WOD.  I set the monitor so that it would count down from 500 meters and began to row.  This wasn't like the rows that began other workouts.  I wasn't trying to calmly get through it.  I needed to move fast.  I finished up somewhere in the 1:45-1:50 range and moved on to the air squats.  I didn't move through those as fast as I've done in the past, but I kept a nice steady pace through all 40 reps.  I dropped to the floor and began the sit-ups.  This was the one part of the workout where I felt like I moved faster than I had in the past.  I knew I'd need to break up the push-ups to keep my arms fresh enough for the pull-ups.  Did a set of 8, then two sets of 6.  I got off the floor and headed to the pull-up bar.  If I wanted a fast time, I couldn't fall apart here.  I didn't.  It wasn't like I strung 10 butterfly pull-ups to stop the clock, but I did do 10 quick singles without a break.  Final time: 5:25.

Back on my first day at KOP, I did the baseline workout with a guy named John.  John mentioned that he did triathlons as a hobby.  He smoked me that night, finishing in a time of 6:02.  Nearly four years later, I had finally beaten John.  There was still a friends and family WOD scheduled for New Year's Eve, but the back squat and baseline PR's made this feel like the rewarding end to a difficult year.

New Year's Eve preview: I get adopted!