Max Speed

Workout date: 2/8/17

Fun with DBs would continue for a second straight night at KOP.  There's no guarantee that we'll be doing DB thrusters in an Open workout this year.  Another popular theory is that we will be using DBs for snatches instead.  The workout programmed for Wednesday had 5 different stations, with the last one being DB snatches.  Was Wednesday's WOD more practice for things we might see in the Open?  My guess would be no.  The choice of 50 pound DBs for the guys and 35 pound DBs for the ladies is one that we don't see often.  So when it showed up as the RX weights for yesterday's workout, it didn't seem coincidental.  On Wednesday, we were going heavier than 50/35 for the DB snatches, an indication that this was not Open prep.  Here's the full workout:

Wednesday's WOD:
3 rounds
Calories on the assault bike (15/12)
250 meter row
30 box jumps (24"/20")
15 push-ups
10 DB snatches (5 left arm and 5 right arm at 70/55)

When I looked at this WOD, I was convinced that I knew where the real work needed to be done.  There were small doses of the assault bike, the row, push-ups, and DB snatches in each round.  30 box jumps per round was not a small dose.  That station followed the bike and the row, so to me it looked like this workout was designed to take the zip out of your legs and then force you to do a bunch of box jumps.  If I could consistently rebound through those 30 reps without taking a lot of breaks, I thought I could put up one of the better times of the day.

Coach Jenna had eight people in her 7:30 class.  We would be sharing the gym again as the Barbell Club concluded their eight-week program.  We had the front of the gym this week.  We actually had a bit more than half of the gym because the turnout for the Barbell Club was less than it had been the week before.  That was mildly helpful, but once again we were doing a workout that required a lot of room when only half of the gym was available.  As a result, the eight of us worked as 4 pairs.  We'd be sharing an assault bike, a rower, and a box.  We didn't need to share DBs because we only needed one each, allowing us to split a pair.  The push-ups didn't require any equipment, so we were good there.  To try and avoid traffic amongst partners, Jenna recommended that the second athlete in each pair should start 2 minutes after the first athlete began.

There were 4 guys and 4 ladies in class, so we formed two male and two female pairings.  The three other males in class were Kevin S and two guys who I had never seen at KOP before.  Their names were Max and Connor.  They were both very strong dudes who looked like they could probably handle this cardio-heavy workout.  There was no doubt that they would be using a 70 pound DB for the snatches.  Kevin and Connor paired up, leaving Max to work with me.  We got our assault bike and rower on the settings we wanted and then figured out who would go first.  Neither of us was keen on taking the lead, but Max eventually said he would show the way.  I had high expectations for this workout, but I wasn't confident that I could maintain the two-minute head start I'd have if I went first.  The last thing I wanted to do was have my partner waiting on the bike, the rower, or the box if he was killing this workout.  That would be completely unfair to him.  Turns out it almost happened anyway even though I went second.

Looking at the whiteboard, it appeared that any time under 20 minutes was a solid one with the best times of the day falling in the 16-17 minute range.  My goal for this workout was to wind up close to 18 minutes.  It was ambitious, but if I showed some toughness on the box jumps, I felt like it was attainable.  I also felt confident that if I moved at that pace, I'd never have to worry about being in Max's way.  Max got started along with the other 3 people who were leading off their teams.  I suspected that 15 calories on the assault bike while fresh wasn't going to take long.  I took a peek at Max's monitor and saw he was up to 12 calories very quickly.  I got back to the rower and turned it on so that Max could begin his row immediately after he was done on the bike.  As he started his row, I sat on the bike.  It would still be over a minute until I would begin my workout, but there was no point in standing around.  Max would move on to the box jumps before I got my first crack at the assault bike.

I don't know if I was as quick as Max on that initial bike ride, but I ratcheted up 15 calories in a short amount of time.  The row was all about recovery in my mind.  I mentioned how the bike and the row seemed like they were meant to tire your legs out before the box jumps.  I didn't think you'd be saving much time on this short row by going hard, so I completed it using a relaxed pace.  It wasn't a slow pace, just one that wasn't going to have me huffing and puffing when I got to the box jumps.

I've developed a bad habit of failing on my second box jump.  It is the first box jump you do after rebounding and I think I'm not gauging the rebound properly.  Sure enough, I tripped on my second box jump of round one.  After that, I got into a pretty good rhythm as I bounced off and on the box.  I had one other trip along the way, but other than that, I kept up a decent speed without taking many breaks.  As I moved through my 30 box jumps, I saw that Max was headed back to the assault bike.  Uh oh.  He was going really fast!  I needed to keep pushing so that I didn't cause a bottleneck on our equipment.

With the 30 box jumps done, I hit the floor to begin my push-ups.  I was able to do a set of 10 before needing a break.  I completed the last 5 push-ups and made the short walk to my DB.  I began with my right arm and found the snatches to be more difficult than I thought they would be.  My fifth and final rep was noticeably shaky, a bad sign since I consider my right arm to be stronger than the left one.  Max had already begun his box jumps, so I couldn't take much of a break during the switch from my right arm to my left arm.  I held on for all 5 DB snatches with my left arm and looked up at the clock.  First round time: about 5 minutes.

I felt like I had made good time in round one and the clock told me that I completed it about a minute faster than I needed to for a final time of 18 minutes (6 minutes per round).  Yet Max was catching up to me.  That was disconcerting.  I got on the bike and found my second turn on it to be much harder than my initial ride had been.  Pedaling evenly on the assault bike doesn't seem to generate calories as much as quick bursts followed by breaks do, so that was the strategy now that I was too tired to pedal hard for all 15 calories.  I'd go hard for about 4 calories, then slow down for 5-10 seconds to recover before pushing once again.  I was relieved when the monitor informed me I had 15 calories completed.  The row was going to provide some much needed recovery.  The second row was slower than the first, but not by much.  It was all about preparing for the box jumps.

As I got off the rower and walked to the box, Max was heading to the assault bike to begin his third round.  That told me I had somewhere between 90 and 120 seconds to do these 30 box jumps.  That sounds like plenty of time as I sit here writing about the experience.  In that moment when I was sweating and panicky, it didn't sound like nearly enough time.  I was trying to do sets of 5 or 6 at a time, but I had a trip or two in there along the way.  I had about 10-12 box jumps left when Max moved to the rower.  He was breathing down my neck.  I had to push now and make sure I wasn't in his way when he completed his final row.  I completed jump #30, took a glance to my left to make sure Max was still on the rower, and felt a bit of relief that there was no longer any chance I'd slow up my partner's workout.

The price for pushing through those box jumps was that I was really tired when I got to the push-ups. I thought about doing three sets of 5, but then I remembered how nice it is to have less reps in that final set.  I held on through 6 reps in the first set and 5 in the second set, leaving myself only 4 push-ups in the last set.  I walked over to my DB and tried to manage all 5 reps with my right arm, but I had to break it up into a set of 3 and a set of 2.  I was definitely doing something wrong because these DB snatches were much harder than they should have been.  I took my time setting up on the first rep with my left arm.  As I completed the rep, I figured out what I was doing wrong.  I had been a little loosey goosey as I pulled the DB up, letting it float away from me.  When I took my time and focused on that first rep, I could feel how close I kept the DB to my body.  I also felt how much easier it was to get overhead.  Even though my left arm was my "weak arm", I held on through all 5 reps on this side after needing to break up the reps using my right arm.  Amazing how much good form helps.

I had no one trailing me as I began round three.  I looked at the clock and saw that it was beyond 11:30, so my second round was much slower than the first.  I'd need to go as fast in this round as I had in the second round to finish in 18 minutes.  Based on how tired I already was, that seemed unlikely.  My problems on the assault bike did not help matters.  I didn't begin my third ride with one of those quick bursts I mentioned earlier.  I was hoping for a couple of easy calories before I pushed it.  I must have pedaled for 10 seconds and not a single calorie had registered.  I couldn't spend all night on the bike, so I began a quick burst.  Still nothing.  My eyes stopped focusing on the number of calories and moved to the timer at the top of the monitor.  That wasn't moving either.  Somehow the monitor had frozen and this work I was doing was wasted effort.  I stopped pedaling and pushed buttons until the monitor reset.  When it came back on, I pedaled slowly just to make sure the timer would begin ticking upwards.  Once it did, I started pedaling much harder.

I got through the bike and the row, only to be faced with 30 more box jumps.  I don't think I had any tripping issues in the final round.  I had some fatigue issues, needing more breaks along the way to 30.  Maybe that gave me a little more energy on the push-ups.  Screw dividing them up into nice tidy sets.  I was going for as many as I could get right off the bat.  As many as I could get meant 9.  I shook out my arms while I rested, then tried to get the last 6.  Best I could do was 4 before my arms gave out.  I shook them out once again and finished off the last 2 push-ups.

I had gone into this workout thinking the box jumps would be the toughest part, but the push-ups were worse than the box jumps.  And topping the push-ups were the DB snatches.  I thought I'd be able to handle 5 in a row on each arm from start to finish.  Not so much.  In this last round, I had to break up the reps for both my right arm and my left arm.  I went 3 and 2 on each arm before I could say I was done with the workout.  Final time: 19:48.

That wasn't as fast as I was hoping to go, but considering that I underestimated how tough the push-ups and DB snatches would be, the final time was in the neighborhood of where I wanted it to be.  Max and Connor finished one second apart, registering the two fastest times of the day at 14:38 and 14:39, respectively.  That also made me feel better about my performance.  I was being chased by the fastest guy in the gym all day long.  Really glad he didn't catch me!  (And by catch me, I mean lap me.)

Friday preview: An Open workout from 5 years ago is on the docket.  Afterwards I spend some time on this year's obsession.