Eleven days away from the gym and so much to cover. Let's start with the part of my blog that Cline will be relieved is coming to an end. Way back near Labor Day, I decided that I would change my diet in an attempt to lose weight. Each Monday morning, I would weigh myself and report the results here. I also proclaimed that the last weigh-in would be on the Monday prior to the NHC. Despite some back pain, I hobbled on to my scale on January 23rd to see how things wound up. Here are the final results:
Original weigh-in: 213.2 pounds
Last week's weigh-in: 206.0 pounds
Final weigh-in: 207.0 pounds
Well, it wasn't exactly the 23 pounds of weight loss I was hoping for, but dropping 6 pounds isn't so bad. I must admit that I don't understand how my meal choices affect my weight because I cut way back on the things that I've always been told were bad for me (fast food, ice cream, beer, soda, etc.) and didn't see a lot of benefit. I didn't completely cut these things out of my diet. I consumed them about 25% as much (guesstimate) as I normally would. The strangest part is that whenever I had a week where I indulged in these bad things more than I should have, I ended up with a lower number on the scale. It seems to me that if you want dramatic weight loss, you have to commit to eating in a way that you're likely to abandon once the time frame you have set for the diet has come to its conclusion.
My plan going forward isn't to revert back to my old ways. I'll continue to add more vegetables to my meals. I'll try to find something else to eat when the urge for fast food arises. I'll try not to indulge in alcohol as much, even when I really could use a drink. (Note: With the Open coming up, I'll be drinking on Friday nights. There's no way around it.) I won't continue to weigh myself every week, but with any luck, I'll drop below 200 pounds by summertime.
I headed out to Vegas on the 25th, brimming with enthusiasm. I had qualified for the NHC early this year. Prior to 2016, I had finished high enough in handicapping tournaments to qualify for major tournaments like the NHC, but I had never finished 1st in a qualifier. This year, I finished on top in 4 different tournaments. I felt like my strategies were solid. I put in a ton of prep work and was as prepared as ever for the marquee event in the handicapping world. I even got to place a bet on myself.
A $100 souvenir
Having only procured one seat in the National Handicapping Championship, I played the Last Chance tournament on Thursday to try and earn a second seat. I've come very close in this tournament the last two years. This year, I got off to a slow start, but I hit a longshot late in the day that moved me up the leaderboard. I needed to finish in the top 13 to get a second seat and I was in the top 50 with one pick left. My horse was going off at 15-1 and if he won, I'd accumulate enough points to crack the top 10. Unfortunately, he broke very slowly out of the gate, was more than 5 lengths behind going into the first turn and never truly threatened in the race. It wasn't a bad performance by me, but for the 3rd straight year, it was not good enough.
Friday was Day 1 of the NHC and I landed on the right horse (at 6-1 odds) in the first mandatory race of the day. I didn't have my sights on being the leader at the end of Day 1 with my strategy, but if I stuck with it, I felt confident that I would be in the mix. After a series of missed picks, I got antsy and diverted from my strategy. I had two horses marked as plays late in the day, but I got caught up in their plummeting odds. They didn't look like good value. By the time the gates opened, their odds had floated back up (6-1 and 7-1, respectively). I felt like an idiot as each of them rolled home to decisive victories. Instead of being in contention at the end of Day 1, I had left myself with a lot of work to do on Day 2 for the fourth year in a row.
I wasn't interested in inching my way up the leaderboard, only to fall short of the mark required to qualify for Day 3. I had to find some longshots and fire away at them, even if it meant a score of zero on Day 2. It didn't end up that badly, but all I could manage were a couple of second-place finishes. The gentleman who went on to win was only $7 ahead of me after Day 1 and he used the same strategy as me on Day 2. His ability to find quality longshots was better than mine though. He hit a 50-1 shot, along with four other winners at double-digit odds. The title he won the next afternoon was certainly well earned. I would have to wait another year for my chance at becoming the national champion.
One good thing that happened in Vegas was that my back pain went away. Didn't even realize it at first. I had gotten used to hobbling around each morning. Then one day, I got up and was going about my business before it dawned on me that I was upright and not in pain. It seemed like taking a week and a half away from the gym was just what the doctor ordered. I got home on the redeye Tuesday morning and looked forward to participating in my favorite WOD at Dudes After Dark. She goes by the name of Nancy.
"Nancy"
5 rounds
400 meter run
15 overhead squats (95/65)
I had taken on Nancy in mid-December at Open Gym because I was unaware that it would be a benchmark workout in January. It was my best performance on this workout. I completed it in 15:35, but it felt like there was still room for improvement. My goal of completing Nancy in under 15 minutes didn't feel far-fetched. However, I didn't think that achievement would take place on this night. No cardio in 11 days plus a redeye flight home didn't add up to a peak performance. I simply wanted to get a good workout in and do my best to keep my time in the 16:00-16:30 range.
LC was coaching Dudes After Dark, only a few minutes after crushing Nancy herself. She completed the workout in 13:38, which meant she'd be adding her name to the gym leaderboard for the 14th time. (Note: There are only 36 workouts/lifts on the gym leaderboard, so she's up there for 40% of the items listed. Insane.) Her class this night would be 100% dude, with 7 guys in attendance: myself, Samson, Neil, Cline, Rob C, Actuary Mike, and Noel. I believe this was Samson's first time taking part in Dudes After Dark, although he has certainly hung around to photograph the class in the past. Nancy seemed like a workout that he would be very good at because, like me, he seems to have an abnormal appreciation for overhead squats. I was surprised when he told me that he had scaled the workout in the past because Aimee didn't think 95 pounds was the best weight for him to use. Aimee wasn't around for this class, so Samson would be taking his chances with 95 pounds and going RX. Neil was also using the RX weight for this workout, but he wasn't looking forward to it as much as Samson was. Neil had seen me do this workout by myself in December and it did not look appealing to him at all.
Since we'd be doing plenty of running, LC had us warm up with a tour of the 400 meter course. When we got back, we warmed up our shoulders using PVC pipes and then practiced overhead squats with them. From there, it was on each of the athletes to figure out how much weight they could handle for this workout. 75 overhead squats was a lot, especially for those that weren't fans of the movement. Mike, Cline, and Noel decided to scale the weight, while Rob went RX with Samson, Neil, and myself.
LC sent us outside for our first round of running and I knew I needed to go fast. The biggest mistake I made in December was not moving fast enough during this initial run. The overhead squats would eventually take their toll and limit how fast I could run in later rounds, but I had no excuse for limiting myself on this first 400 meters. Part of the problem in December was that I was doing this by myself and couldn't pace off of others. That wouldn't be a problem this time around. Cline, Mike, and Samson were going to ensure a legitimate pace on the first run, so I stayed with them the whole way. (Okay, Cline may have gotten away from us a bit at the end of the run. He's fast.) Having company helped as a check of the clock let me know I had run 10-15 seconds faster than I had during the first run in December.
Running was definitely the difficult part for me when doing Nancy. The overhead squats were the part of the workout where I felt comfortable. I picked up my barbell and moved through 15 reps without putting the barbell down. That was the plan for all 5 rounds. As I got tired, I'd need more pauses while working my way through the 15 reps, but something would be very wrong if I had to put the barbell down. I moved quickly enough through the overhead squats that I was the first one back out the door, although Samson was right on my tail.
As we were heading outbound on the second 400 meter run, I was passed by the trio that had led the field on run #1. I wasn't concerned about them getting ahead of me as long as I stayed close to them. They were better runners and I was better with the overhead squats. I'd make up time when we got back inside the gym. At least that's what a completely healthy version of Dave would do. As we passed the annex and began to gear down on that second run, I noticed some tightness in my back. There wasn't a lot of pain just yet, but it was concerning to me that this had happened so early in the workout. I had 60 more overhead squats and three-quarters of a mile still to run. It was not a good time for my back to act up again.
I walked to my barbell once I re-entered the gym, trying to buy a little time to stretch out my back before I got into the overhead squats again. I got my barbell overhead and completed all 15 squats. That was the good news. The bad news was that the pain in my back was getting worse. I headed out the door at the same time as several others, but I was in no shape to run. I began jogging along with my hands on my back. The clock had shown 5:40 when I had completed my second round, so theoretically I was still on pace for 15 minutes when I began the third run. I hadn't even made it 40 meters into that third run before I knew that all hopes for a decent time were gone. The guys in front of me left me in their wake. The guys behind me would eventually go by as I feebly trotted along. I'm not sure if I had fallen back to last at this point, but it would happen soon enough.
When I got back inside, I picked up my barbell like I was doing a deadlift and then dropped it. I was contemplating whether it was worthwhile to finish the remainder of this workout. I was in a lot of pain and the overhead squats might make things worse. The thing was, I was feeling more pain during the run than I was with the 95 pound barbell over my head. I decided that I was going to finish the workout even though my time was going to be awful. I got the barbell overhead and for the third consecutive round, I did all 15 reps without dropping the barbell.
The fourth run was miserable. Most people were already headed back from their fourth run as I shuffled along at the beginning of mine. At one point, I had to stop and walk for a bit. Mike would lap me as I slowly made the return trip to the gym. I was in a lot of pain now, but I was sticking with my decision to finish. I did 2 overhead squats before dropping my barbell. It was a bad sign that the overheads had now become really unpleasant. I talked myself into ignoring the pain and I managed to hold on for 9 reps in a row before dropping the barbell a 2nd time. After a short break, I picked the barbell back up and took care of my remaining 4 reps. Just one more round to go.
As I headed out for my final run, Mike was kind enough to join me (he was done with his workout) in an attempt to get me to run faster. I was doing that jog with my hands on my back again. I let Mike know that I appreciated the encouragement, but there was no way I could pick up the pace. That may not have been 100% true. I didn't come close to running like I had in the first two rounds, but having someone to run with almost certainly helped me jog a bit faster than I would have if I was by myself. With only 15 overhead squats remaining, I was determined to complete the final set unbroken. I did 8 very fast reps before needing to pause. I kept the barbell above me until I was ready to keep moving. I think I needed one more pause along the way, but I held on until that 15th rep was completed. Final time: 20:36.
That was over 5 minutes slower than my time from a month ago. Was it a reasonable comparison? No. I have no doubt that if I am healthy when this comes up in April, I will get back to a time in the low-15 minute range. I'm not sure whether it was the best idea to fight through this WOD, but having been gone for 11 days, I felt like I needed this workout. Maybe a good night's rest in a bed would have me in better shape for the next day's WOD.
Wednesday preview: I really despise EMOMs. Having no room to work makes them even worse. At least my back doesn't act up again.
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