Mexico was beautiful. It's a damn shame that I was sick almost the entire time I was there. I'm sure none of the guests at the resort I was at enjoyed hearing me coughing and sneezing while they soaked up the sun. My cold had been lingering for a couple of weeks, but it hadn't been too problematic prior to our trip. That changed as soon as I got on the plane. Maybe my coughing and sneezing fit was triggered by altitude. Maybe it was Festivus withdrawal. Missing KOP's holiday party was the ultimate bummer. The best KOP event of the year has always taken place on the first Thursday night in December, but this year it ended up being scheduled two weeks later. That was one day too late for me.
The waiters at our resort were also licensed medical professionals. They informed me that if I kept drinking "Mexican water", my ailments would eventually go away. As any real Crossfitter would, I followed their directions as prescribed. Little did they know that my body was weak and wouldn't respond to the treatment. After three days of laying by the pool and not feeling any better, I decided to get up the morning of the 18th and jump rope. There weren't a lot of places where I could jump rope without looking out of place, so I trekked over to the tennis courts. The goals today: get to the second half of the Flight Simulator and hopefully sweat out my sickness.
As someone who used to watch anything that ESPN aired (how do you think I ended up doing Crossfit?), I am very familiar with the affect that heat has on tennis courts. I've watched plenty of Australian Open and US Open matches. I've seen tennis players retire from matches due to extreme heat and the announcers always explain how much hotter it is on the court than it is off the court. I got to experience that phenomenon when I went to take on the Flight Simulator. The temperature in Playa Del Carmen had been in the mid-80's since we arrived. It wasn't humid, so it felt very comfortable to me. Then I stood on the tennis court. I was only there for a few minutes before I noticed the sweat already trickling down my face.
I did a few sets of 10 reps to warm up. Those sets didn't feel too bad, so I set the timer on my phone to 25 minutes and got ready to start. The last time I attempted the Flight Simulator, it took me nearly a minute to get the first set of 5 out of the way because I kept hitting myself with the rope. Not sure whether that was nervousness or incompetence, but it was certainly aggravating. I didn't repeat that mistake this time around. Got the set of 5 immediately. Did 10 in a row after that. Took care of 15 in a row on the first try. Finished all 20 reps in the fourth set. It was time for a short break and as I caught a breather, I looked at the timer and saw that only 1:30 had elapsed. This was going much better than last time.
I failed on a few sets as I tried to complete 25 in a row, but it wasn't too long before that round was polished off. The round of 30 posed no problem as I completed it on the first try. The set of 35 was where I ran into difficulty. There were a handful of unsuccessful attempts before I finally held it together for 35 straight. It was on to the round of 40, the round that took me forever when I did this in my driveway. I took some extra time before my initial attempt at this round. It started off well and when I got to 20 reps, my mind drifted back to the troubles I had when I did this in October. Specifically, I thought about how I got to 39 reps twice and then failed, forcing me to do the entire set again. Hold it together, Dave. Don't go through all this effort and then screw it up. I made it to 30, then 35. As I closed in on 40, I'm sure I began jumping higher, worried that the rope was going to clip one of my feet. 38...39...40! I breathed a sigh of relief as the round that had given me so much trouble last time was now in my rear-view mirror. I needed a longer break after that set, which gave me another opportunity to check out the timer. Just over 7 minutes had gone by. With 18 minutes left and only one set between me and the midway point, I felt certain that I was going to reach the back half of this workout for the first time. Could I actually complete it?
I would soon learn how deceiving the setup of this workout is. I wasn't truly close to being halfway done. I had made it to the teeth of the workout and it was ready to chew me up and spit me out. Those long, exhausting, close-but-no-cigar sets that I tried to avoid during the round of 40 showed up in the round of 45. I had some smaller failures early on that weren't too tiring, but they put doubt in my mind about whether I could string 45 reps together. Then I got 19 reps and failed. The sweat was pouring off me now and I knew I needed to be 100% ready if I was going to finish this round, so I took a break before proceeding. The next set was promising, but after 34 reps, the rope hit me. A big expenditure of energy, but at least my confidence came back. I still had some big sets left in me. I'd prove that in my next attempt as I managed 41 in a row before coming up 4 reps short.
That attempt was not only tiring, it pissed me off. I was on the doorstep of the round of 50 and I blew it. My shirt was soaked, I was breathing heavily, and all that effort was for naught. It was time for a longer break. I knew the timer was ticking away, but I had to regroup. I dropped my rope and walked a lap around one side of the tennis court. The walk cost me time, but it was the right call because I had calmed down when I got back to my rope. My first set after the walk was only 10 reps, but it was basically a warmup set. I was tantalizingly close on the next set, but failed after 38 reps. After another break, I went after 45 reps again. Finally, I hung on for 45 in a row. It was a huge relief, but there was a good chance that was the end for me. I was exhausted. I looked at the timer and saw that I had spent 15 minutes getting that set of 45. There was only 3 minutes left to try and get the set of 50.
If I made that miracle happen, it would be the first time that I reached the back half of the Flight Simulator. I gave the set of 50 three tries, but I don't think there was any part of me that believed I could do it. I did sets of 13, 24, and 22 before the timer went off. It was an improvement from October, but I didn't get to the back half like I wanted to. I certainly did my best to sweat out my cold as I was drenched when I walked off the tennis court. Unfortunately, that pesky cold would linger on beyond this workout.
That was it as far as working out during my week in Mexico. Other than a lot of swimming, I didn't get any more exercise in until I got to Alabama. I dropped into Crossfit Huntsville during my trip to Alabama. The place was difficult to find. I plugged it into my GPS and the GPS brought me to a tennis and racquet club. I asked a group of guys if they knew where it was and got two replies. One gentleman said it was behind the dance studio up the road. Another guy told me it was right before the Midas. Not knowing the area, I assumed those directions lead to the same place. They did not. I came upon the dance studio, but there was no Midas around. I drove to the back and saw a big Crossfit Huntsville logo. That was good. The empty parking lot was not. I parked, walked to the door, and read the note on the door which informed me that Crossfit Huntsville had moved to a new address. I put the new address into the GPS, which told me I needed to continue further down the road. As I drew closer to the new address, I saw the Midas up ahead. I turned into the parking lot and didn't see signs for the gym until I drove around back. I finally found the place with a few minutes to spare.
I think it's natural to compare the box you're visiting to the one you call home, so here's a quick tale of the tape from my perspective:
- Coaches: The coaches were extremely welcoming to me and made me feel like a regular member of their community. Very KOP-like.
- Athletes: They weren't unfriendly, but no one introduced themselves to me. I said hello to several people and had a brief conversation with the lady working in front of me who enjoyed my "everything hurts and I'm dying" t-shirt. Maybe everyone was focused on their own workout. Or maybe the new guy creeped them out. I get it.
- Warmup: There was an extensive warmup that was Gordy-esque (lots of aerobics and stretching). The biggest difference from KOP that I noticed was that the coach did not spend time addressing the form of the athletes individually. At KOP, the coach will walk around and make sure that every athlete has proper form before we complete the warmup. To be fair, Crossfit Huntsville's facility is much bigger and accommodates larger class sizes (we had 24 people in class and we had plenty of room during a workout which required moving around to multiple stations). It would be difficult and extremely time-consuming to address every athlete's form. That being said, I'm not sure anyone's form was corrected until the workout began (when the coach could roam around and take a closer look at everyone). That could end badly, especially with newer athletes.
- Workout: Both parts of the workout were unique. I'll cover them below.
The workout began with a strength element: the squat clean. We were building up in weight, starting with multiple reps and building to a single rep. If this was programmed at KOP, it would tend to show up in a 5-5-3-3-1-1-1 format or something similar. The coach would probably tell us we had 20 minutes to complete that sequence. The format here was an EMOM, or as they wrote it, an "E2:30MOM". The sequence would be 3-2-1-1-1 and we had 2:30 to complete each segment of it. Definitely unique, but I kinda liked it. Kept me moving along through my progression of lifts and it gave me the proper amount of rest (at least it felt that way).
Choosing my weight for the first set was a little tricky. I didn't have my lifting shoes, my wrist wraps, or my weight belt with me, so I thought I'd probably need to go lighter than I might if I had all my gear. 135 sounded about right to me. About a minute before the "E2:30MOM" began, I tested out a squat clean with 135 and it felt easy. I jogged over and grabbed two 10 pound plates to add to my barbell. As I was sliding the second plate on, the timer buzzed and the strength portion of the workout began. The first rep with 155 let me know that I had chosen a more appropriate weight. It wasn't too heavy for me, but it was challenging. After completing those three reps, I had over a minute and a half before the next set. I took off the 10 pound plates and dropped them off as I retrieved 25 pound replacements.
The buzzer went off letting us know the second 2:30 window had begun. This time I had my barbell ready. It felt like I chose the correct weight again as two reps at 185 pounds wasn't easy, but I got through it. Maybe I didn't need my gear after all. I planned on going 215-225-235 for my singles. With almost two minutes until my next "set", I went over and picked up some 15 pound plates and added them to my barbell. I had some time to relax before the next lift. The buzzer let me know when it was time to lift again. Based on how well the sets at 155 and 185 went, I didn't think 215 would be awful, but it was. I caught it properly, but it took all the strength I had to stand it up. Scratch 235 from my future attempts. In fact, I dialed back my next attempt too, deciding that it would be 220 rather than 225.
After adding 5 pounds to my barbell, I spent the rest of my break convincing myself that the difficulty that I had with 215 was a fluke. I could get 220 on the next lift and 225 on my final lift. Then I stepped up to my barbell and proved that was all a lie. I caught my first attempt in the bottom, but try as I might, I could not stand up with it. It felt like I was on my toes, so I lectured myself to stay in my heels on my next attempt. With a 2:30 window for 1 rep, there was plenty of time for multiple attempts with breaks in between. When I felt ready again, I took another shot at 220. Caught it in the bottom, couldn't stand up with it. This time I noticed that my knees were crashing inwards as I tried to rise. I knew what my mistakes were on the first two attempts. Could I fix them on the third attempt? Nope. For the third straight time, I caught the barbell like I should in the bottom of my squat, but I couldn't muster the strength to stand up with it.
About 20 seconds later, the buzzer sounded. I had officially failed on round 4 of the "E2:30MOM". I removed the 5 pounds I had added for the previous set and set my mind to doing a second squat clean at 215. I waited until a minute had passed on the clock before I approached the barbell. You would have thought 220 was still on the barbell as I caught it and failed to get upright for the fourth straight time. I was less than pleased. I decided I would wait for a full minute again and then give 215 one last go. My stubbornness paid off when I grunted my way through a successful final attempt at 215.
I'm not sure the wrist wraps or the weight belt would have made much of a difference for me, but I definitely noticed how important my lifting shoes are. I've always thought they were important because they helped keep my heels down during lifts. However, I now think the more important service they provide is stopping my knees from buckling inward. That is a problem I haven't had to deal with for a long time, but as soon as I tried to go heavy without my lifters, the problem resurfaced. I doubt that I'll start traveling with lifting shoes, but I might decide to go lighter on my lifts should I not have them with me.
There was still an 18 minute AMRAP remaining in the workout and it included something I had never seen before. There was an RX+ option, something that I had at least seen a variation of at another box. There was also a Masters RX, which I wasn't sure whether I qualified for or not. What I had never seen before was an RX workout written in a way where you could choose one of two movements and either one would be considered RX. And I needed that second option! Here are the particulars:
Christmas Eve WOD:
18 minute AMRAP (RX in bold)
3 squat cleans at 165/115 (RX+: 205/135, Masters RX: 135/85)
36 double unders (RX+: 12 triple unders)
6 burpee chest-to-bar pull-ups (RX+: burpee bar muscle-ups, Masters RX: burpee pull-ups)
12 handstand push-ups or 3 wall walks (RX+: 30 ft handstand walk, Masters RX: 12 handstand push-ups using a 2"/4" rise or 2 wall walks)
Got all that? Trust me, I had to revisit it a few times myself before I figured out how it all worked. Even when it was all said and done, I had to check with the coach to make sure I completed the workout RX. The squat cleans would be tough, but I didn't need to string them, so they were certainly manageable. You know how much double under practice I've done this year. The burpee chest-to-bar pull-ups worked for me because I couldn't string chest-to-bar pull-ups and in this format, no one would be allowed to. The funky part of this movement was that after doing the burpee, we had to start in a dead hang for the chest-to-bar pull-up. You couldn't run up to the bar and generate your swing that way. Tough, but doable. Finally, there was the option. I couldn't do handstand push-ups, so having the option of doing wall walks instead allowed me to remain RX. Wall walks were no fun, but I could push through three of them.
I had to move my barbell to the left side of the gym so that the right side could be used by the folks who were doing handstand walks. I could do my squat cleans, my double unders, and my wall walks over on that side, but none of the higher pull-up bars were available. I'd need to sneak back over to the right side of the gym to take care of that segment of the workout. Despite all of the moving around I'd need to do in this WOD, I wasn't overly concerned about being in anyone's way. (Crazy, given that 24 of us were doing this at the same time!)
Our coach got us started and I moved through my squat cleans one at a time. No point in stringing these. They felt heavy, which was not a great sign given that I had just started the WOD. After the squat cleans, I moved to my jump rope. The first round here was a downer as well. Hit myself with the rope before getting a rep a few times. The sets I did manage ended up being in the 5-10 rep range. Didn't take me forever, but it took longer than I would have liked. I dropped my rope and walked over to the other side of the pull-up rig. There I began my burpee chest-to-bar pull-ups. The burpees sucked as they always do, but I kept moving the whole time. The chest-to-bar pull-ups were surprisingly not so bad. The dead hang stipulation didn't affect me as much as I thought it might. I finished up there and walked back across the gym to the wall and began the wall walks. These are simply tedious energy-sappers. I finished my third wall walk and looked at the clock. Right about 4 minutes.
I knew my pace was likely to slow down, so my goal became 4 full rounds. One more round in 4 minutes, the last two in 5 minutes each...that plan made sense to me. At least it did before I began round two. Those squat cleans? They were brutal on my second trip through the rotation. I almost failed on the second rep, which caused me to stop and take a break. I knew I had spent much more time on the cleans in this round than I had my first time through. My double unders improved though, as I had a set of 24 to begin. I took a good 10 seconds before my next set and got the remaining 12 reps. The burpee chest-to-bar pull-ups were probably slower, although that station and the next just felt like a slog that I had to push through. It was hard to tell how fast I was moving. I came over to the wall walks and needed a break between each rep to catch my breath. I was hurting and starting to worry about how fast I could do two more rounds. Perhaps I should have been worried about how fast I did this round. At the end of round two, the clock showed that more than 9 minutes had elapsed. I was behind the pace I needed for four rounds.
Crap. So much for four rounds. My only shot was if I somehow pulled it together in round three, but past experience has told me that my third round is usually my slowest. I might have brought some anger from my second round performance over to the barbell. I took care of the three squat cleans with little pause in between reps. Then I went to my jump rope, got 25 reps in a row, and followed that with a set of 11. Suddenly I was in the midst of my best third round ever. The burpee chest-to-bar pull-ups were painful and my pace slowed there. The wall walks were not great, but the key for me was trying to limit the length of my breaks between walks. As I came down from the last wall walk, I peeked at the clock. Time after three rounds: 13:40.
Glass half full: I did my third round in about 4:30, more than 30 seconds faster than round two. Glass half empty: I needed to go faster than that to complete round four before time was up. At least I knew it was possible. I attacked the squat cleans, confident that I could move through them like I had in round three. I picked up my jump rope and told myself to remain calm. Then I pulled off 36 in a row. YES!!! Four rounds might really happen. The burpee chest-to-bar pull-ups destroyed me, but I kept reminding myself that I only had to do six of them. I speed-walked over to the wall with about a minute remaining. I came down from the first walk and wanted a breather. "45 seconds!", yelled the coach. Don't fall short. You worked too hard to fall short of four rounds. I walked backwards up the wall and came back down. "30 seconds!" Gotta go! I slowly trudged backwards on my hands as my feet ascended the wall. I touched my nose to the wall and then walked myself back down as I heard "15 seconds!" I had made it through four rounds, but I felt like the cherry on top would be getting one rep into the fifth round. I hurried over to my barbell, did a squat clean, and stood up with it as the last few seconds ticked away. Final score: 4+1.
It may not have been pretty, but I was really happy with how I turned things around in the final two rounds. I laid on the floor for a while, gave my score to the coach, and then put my equipment away. Before taking off, I purchased a t-shirt and snapped some photos of this huge facility. Would definitely go back if I needed a place to work out in northern Alabama.
Left side of the gym (where I did my squat cleans, double unders, and wall walks)
Right side of the gym (where I did the E2:30MOM and the burpee chest-to-bar pull-ups)
Pull-up and ring rigs in the middle of the gym
What the KOP leaderboard would look like on steroids
My double under obsession continued on Christmas morning as I went out on my mother-in-law's back patio and tried once again to string 100 in a row. The weather was perfect. In the South, they would consider it freezing, but the slightly chilly temperature was right up my alley. With less than a week until the year ended, I was hoping to complete one more of my 2016 goals, but the best I could do was 73 in a row. This tiny bit of exercise made me feel slightly less guilty about the huge amounts of food I would consume later in the day.
Tuesday preview: I'm back at KOP! A Tuesday weigh-in tells me that a mix of tequila and Southern cooking is not the recipe for losing weight. I attempt the hero WOD Nate for the very first time.
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