Three point seventeen point seventeen is...a repeat.
Three point seventeen point seventeen is...three point seventeen point sixteen.
10 miles for time. 7 stops for pints. Make sure your judge marks down how many shots you had along the way as this will be used for tie-breaking purposes.
On Thursday night, Dave Castro announced the workout that most of the folks at KOP would be doing on Friday. He didn't announce what workout Cline and I would be doing, but if he had, it would have been something along the lines of what you read above. Last year, I participated in this run with Cline and Alison, but Alison's knees have been bothering her recently, preventing her from making a repeat appearance this year. My rookie attempt at this run was a lot tougher than I bargained for. I threw back way too many shots early on in the run and paid for it later on. My hips became so sore from all of the running that I had to gimp my way along for the last few legs. Alison and I stopped for a cheesesteak during the last leg to give me a break from hobbling. The pain didn't cease when I reached the final location. I spent the next couple of days trying to walk normally. It wasn't until 4 days later that I ended up doing workout 16.4.
This year's run went a lot better. I didn't get off to the best start though. The plan was for the run to begin at the Art Museum steps at 10:45. Looking at the SEPTA schedule, there was a train that would get me to 30th Street Station at 10:10. I opted for that train because the weather forecast said it would be chilly and I didn't want to spend an hour on the steps of the Art Museum. For some reason, I forgot that SEPTA is never on time. It began with a notice that the train was running 2 minutes late. It was closer to 10 minutes late when it arrived at Strafford Station to pick me up. It was over 20 minutes late when it got to 30th St. Now I needed to hustle to get to the start on time. As I weaved my way through the train station, I saw another guy dressed as though he was headed out for a run. He was also speeding his way towards the exit. After we both risked our lives getting down the icy stairs to the Schuylkill River Trail, we introduced ourselves to one another. My new friend's name was Bundy. Bundy and I would get some extra exercise in today as we had to run the full mile to the Art Museum. When we got there, the group was preparing to take a picture on the steps. Bundy and I ran over and checked ourselves in before sneaking into the back row of the picture. Made it just in the nick of time.
The first leg was the only leg that I recalled doing pain-free last year. It was a fun trek to City Tap House and we had this glorious sight awaiting us upon our arrival:
The never-ending line of Guinness
After a pint there, we headed to Franklin Field to do a lap around the track. Last year it took a lot of "persistence" to get on to the track, but eventually we found our way in. This year we didn't have the same luck. One of the best detours from last year's run would get skipped. It was alright as balance would be maintained in the universe later on in the run when I got to experience a detour I missed last year.
The next stop was Slainte. This second leg has more uphill portions on it than any other leg of the 10 mile loop. I was among the last people to reach this bar last year, although it was fun having a frisbee thrown my way as I made my way towards the second pit stop. This year I kept up with the group. My pace definitely slowed on the third leg as we headed to Fado, but I still maintained contact with the back half of the group. Fado was the sprint round of the pub run, as we had to make a detour to Jose Pistola's. Remember those shots I mentioned earlier? I had those at the "unofficial" stop of the pub run last year and this year's "unofficial" stop was at Jose Pistola's. With no Guinness available, I had a stout and a shot of Jamieson. The next stop would be at Paddy Whack's on South St. Last year we took an Uber to that location. This year...
...we took an Uber again. Didn't regret it one bit. It might have been the best part of the day for three reasons. The most obvious of those reasons was that it meant I didn't have to run. The second reason was because it led to the best exchange of the day. On the ride to South St., Cline noticed a gentleman walking along the sidewalk with a small dog zipped up in his jacket. And then this happened:
Cline: Your dog is awesome.
Guy with dog: Thank you!
Cline: You're very average. But the dog...the dog is awesome.
Guy with dog: <gives Cline a confused look, then turns and keeps walking>
The third reason why I didn't regret the Uber ride was because it was took us to the stop I had missed last year. Apparently on the run to Paddy Whack's, it is tradition to stop and grab an oversized slice of pizza at this place a few blocks away. I had no idea about this last year, but this year it was mentioned while we were at Jose Pistola's. I had definitely worked up an appetite, so I was ready for some pizza. When we were dropped off, there were a bunch of people from the run either in line or already enjoying their slice of pizza. I got a slice and a water, fueling myself for the second half of the run.
Our next stop was Paddy Whack's and it sucked. They ran out of beers for our group, the service was terrible, and all of their taps seemed to be dispensing nothing but foam. From there we made our way to the Irish Memorial to pay our respects. I only stopped once along the way to the Irish Memorial after having to walk much of the way there last year. We then hit up Plough and the Stars, the busiest location during the pub run. After a couple pints there, we headed north to Bourbon & Branch. This was the leg where things really fell apart for me last year, but I was only experiencing a little bit of pain as I jogged there this year. With another Guinness in my liver, I left with the group as the last leg of the run began. This year's finish line was St. Stephen's Green. I didn't have to walk most of the way. No need for a cheesesteak (probably because I had pizza). I even encouraged a lady during the last half-mile who looked like she was going through the same sort of pain I had gone through in 2016. We got to St. Stephen's Green together, where I sat with Bundy and had one last pint before grabbing an Uber home.
I was only mildly hungover on Saturday and while I was sore, it wasn't going to take the entire weekend to recover. I probably could have done 17.4 on Sunday, but I figured there was no harm in giving my body an extra day of rest and doing it on Monday night. There was also the bonus of doing the workout with Jenna, the captain of Team Black. The Ninjas would take down this beast together!
Ninja powers...activate! (Maggie says hi)
What was 17.4? Well the St. Paddy's Day Pub Run wasn't the only repeat of the weekend. 17.4 was a repeat of 16.4.
Open Workout 17.4
AMRAP in 13 minutes
55 deadlifts (225/155)
55 wall balls (20#/14# to 10'/9')
55 calories on the rower
55 handstand push-ups
I didn't enjoy this workout last year. I didn't enjoy it when I tried it again in early January. Both of those attempts ended with me on the rower, although it probably didn't matter whether I got off the rower or not because I had nothing in the way of handstand push-ups. Things were different this time around. I could do handstand push-ups and if I could simply manage one after completing the row, I would vault myself over thousands of people in the worldwide standings. The same thing had been true in 17.2 where a single bar muscle-up would have done the same thing. I failed to capitalize on that opportunity. Could I make amends on 17.4?
Before I could think about handstand push-ups, I had to find a way to complete the first three segments of this workout in under 13 minutes, a feat I had failed to accomplish twice already. The deadlifts were the biggest obstacle for me. I've never fared well when having to do large volumes of deadlifts in a workout. 55 deadlifts qualified as "large volume" and that was without addressing the fact that 225 pounds was not light weight. I did feel like I learned something watching the Open announcement on Thursday night though. Brooke Wells was one of the two athletes competing and during the second event of last year's Crossfit Games, she deadlifted 415 pounds. For this workout, she had a mere 155 pounds on her barbell. I was thinking that she might be able to do all 55 reps unbroken. Maybe she would go 30 and 25 if she needed a break. What she actually did surprised me. She did 11 sets of 5 reps at a time. The light bulb went on. In my two attempts at this workout, I had led off with a big set of deadlifts to begin. Maybe if I did smaller sets right from the start, I wouldn't get crippled by the deadlifts.
Maggie was judging for Jenna and Jill A was judging for me. The clock was set and we got started on 17.4. I picked up my barbell and did 5 reps. Jenna kept on going, but I was sticking to my new strategy. 5 reps, rest. 5 reps, rest. The hope was to get through my 11 sets in under 3:30. I had five sets done at about 1:30. Perfect. Just needed to keep this up for six more sets.
I made it through two more sets. As I began my eighth set, I made it through two reps and then had to drop the barbell. Jill encouraged me to just do singles and that's what I did until I reached 40 reps. I took a break before the stubborn side of me attempted to do another set of five. I held on for three reps. With 43 reps down, it was going to be singles the rest of the way. Jenna moved on to the wall balls when I had 3 reps to go. I took a peek at the clock and saw that it was at 3:40. Might have dropped an F-bomb after seeing I was behind schedule. I did 3 more singles and got to my wall ball.
The plan for the wall balls was to go 15-13-11-9-7. Perfectly sensible rep scheme for someone who wasn't tired. I was tired though. My plan for the deadlifts was better than what I had gone with in the past, but it still drained me. Instead of leading off with a set of 15 wall balls, I got through 6. I needed to do better than that. I also needed to try and keep my breaks short if I was going to take a bunch of them on the way to 55 reps. I think I did a decent job of that. After that set of 6, I went 7-8-6-6-8-7-7 to get to 55 reps. I headed to my rower before Jenna, although she would join me shortly.
As I walked to my rower, I glanced at the clock again. It was reaching 8:20 as I sat down to begin my row. The good news was that I was about a minute and a half ahead of my pace from my last two attempts. The bad news was that I couldn't muster much energy on the rower. Jill kept reminding me to use my legs since I wouldn't need them for the handstand push-ups, but my legs didn't have much left to give. I thought the 55 calorie row would take about 3:30 to complete, but my monitor showed me that I had been rowing for slightly more than two minutes when I got to 28 calories. I started to become concerned that I wasn't going to finish the row before time was called. Part of me wanted to look back and peek at the clock, but the more sensible side of me said that I needed to just focus on the remaining row. I had less than 5 calories left when I heard that there was one minute remaining. I was definitely going to get off of the rower. My tiebreaker time was going to suck, but that wouldn't matter if I got one handstand push-up.
Officially I had 46 seconds left when I finished the row. By the time I kicked up on to the wall, there was probably about 35 seconds left. I took my time getting my hands comfortable. I slowly lowered on to my head. I wasn't going to hurry. Even if I only got 1 handstand push-up, it would be huge. Better to focus on that one rep. I drew my knees down and told myself to explode up with everything I had. I drove my feet upward and...went nowhere. I barely rose off of the mat. I moved so little that I didn't bother coming off of the wall to set up again. I was basically still in my setup. I refocused and drove upwards. This time I came off of the mat, but as I tried to press out, my body slid to the left. I couldn't control it. I slid off the wall and looked at the clock. 12 seconds left. I tried to rush and get upside-down for one last attempt, but my arms buckled and I landed on my head. It was 17.2 all over again. I had put myself into position to jump up the leaderboard, both worldwide and in the KOP competition. But when I need to pull off a tough movement in the clutch, I never seem able to do it. Final score: 165.
After time was called, I angrily punched the wall that I couldn't do a handstand push-up on. I went and sat by myself for a bit. Then I noticed that Jenna was still on her rower not looking very happy. I went to check on her, trying to see whether she was feeling sick or mad. It was the latter. Her goal was to finish the row, but she ended up 5 calories short, just as she had a year ago. We both seemed convinced that we were angrier than the other, but it probably was a tie.
I didn't enjoy this workout last year. I didn't enjoy it when I tried it again in early January. Both of those attempts ended with me on the rower, although it probably didn't matter whether I got off the rower or not because I had nothing in the way of handstand push-ups. Things were different this time around. I could do handstand push-ups and if I could simply manage one after completing the row, I would vault myself over thousands of people in the worldwide standings. The same thing had been true in 17.2 where a single bar muscle-up would have done the same thing. I failed to capitalize on that opportunity. Could I make amends on 17.4?
Before I could think about handstand push-ups, I had to find a way to complete the first three segments of this workout in under 13 minutes, a feat I had failed to accomplish twice already. The deadlifts were the biggest obstacle for me. I've never fared well when having to do large volumes of deadlifts in a workout. 55 deadlifts qualified as "large volume" and that was without addressing the fact that 225 pounds was not light weight. I did feel like I learned something watching the Open announcement on Thursday night though. Brooke Wells was one of the two athletes competing and during the second event of last year's Crossfit Games, she deadlifted 415 pounds. For this workout, she had a mere 155 pounds on her barbell. I was thinking that she might be able to do all 55 reps unbroken. Maybe she would go 30 and 25 if she needed a break. What she actually did surprised me. She did 11 sets of 5 reps at a time. The light bulb went on. In my two attempts at this workout, I had led off with a big set of deadlifts to begin. Maybe if I did smaller sets right from the start, I wouldn't get crippled by the deadlifts.
Maggie was judging for Jenna and Jill A was judging for me. The clock was set and we got started on 17.4. I picked up my barbell and did 5 reps. Jenna kept on going, but I was sticking to my new strategy. 5 reps, rest. 5 reps, rest. The hope was to get through my 11 sets in under 3:30. I had five sets done at about 1:30. Perfect. Just needed to keep this up for six more sets.
I made it through two more sets. As I began my eighth set, I made it through two reps and then had to drop the barbell. Jill encouraged me to just do singles and that's what I did until I reached 40 reps. I took a break before the stubborn side of me attempted to do another set of five. I held on for three reps. With 43 reps down, it was going to be singles the rest of the way. Jenna moved on to the wall balls when I had 3 reps to go. I took a peek at the clock and saw that it was at 3:40. Might have dropped an F-bomb after seeing I was behind schedule. I did 3 more singles and got to my wall ball.
The plan for the wall balls was to go 15-13-11-9-7. Perfectly sensible rep scheme for someone who wasn't tired. I was tired though. My plan for the deadlifts was better than what I had gone with in the past, but it still drained me. Instead of leading off with a set of 15 wall balls, I got through 6. I needed to do better than that. I also needed to try and keep my breaks short if I was going to take a bunch of them on the way to 55 reps. I think I did a decent job of that. After that set of 6, I went 7-8-6-6-8-7-7 to get to 55 reps. I headed to my rower before Jenna, although she would join me shortly.
As I walked to my rower, I glanced at the clock again. It was reaching 8:20 as I sat down to begin my row. The good news was that I was about a minute and a half ahead of my pace from my last two attempts. The bad news was that I couldn't muster much energy on the rower. Jill kept reminding me to use my legs since I wouldn't need them for the handstand push-ups, but my legs didn't have much left to give. I thought the 55 calorie row would take about 3:30 to complete, but my monitor showed me that I had been rowing for slightly more than two minutes when I got to 28 calories. I started to become concerned that I wasn't going to finish the row before time was called. Part of me wanted to look back and peek at the clock, but the more sensible side of me said that I needed to just focus on the remaining row. I had less than 5 calories left when I heard that there was one minute remaining. I was definitely going to get off of the rower. My tiebreaker time was going to suck, but that wouldn't matter if I got one handstand push-up.
Officially I had 46 seconds left when I finished the row. By the time I kicked up on to the wall, there was probably about 35 seconds left. I took my time getting my hands comfortable. I slowly lowered on to my head. I wasn't going to hurry. Even if I only got 1 handstand push-up, it would be huge. Better to focus on that one rep. I drew my knees down and told myself to explode up with everything I had. I drove my feet upward and...went nowhere. I barely rose off of the mat. I moved so little that I didn't bother coming off of the wall to set up again. I was basically still in my setup. I refocused and drove upwards. This time I came off of the mat, but as I tried to press out, my body slid to the left. I couldn't control it. I slid off the wall and looked at the clock. 12 seconds left. I tried to rush and get upside-down for one last attempt, but my arms buckled and I landed on my head. It was 17.2 all over again. I had put myself into position to jump up the leaderboard, both worldwide and in the KOP competition. But when I need to pull off a tough movement in the clutch, I never seem able to do it. Final score: 165.
After time was called, I angrily punched the wall that I couldn't do a handstand push-up on. I went and sat by myself for a bit. Then I noticed that Jenna was still on her rower not looking very happy. I went to check on her, trying to see whether she was feeling sick or mad. It was the latter. Her goal was to finish the row, but she ended up 5 calories short, just as she had a year ago. We both seemed convinced that we were angrier than the other, but it probably was a tie.
Two angry ninjas trying to figure out how it all went wrong
It was nearly 7:30 and scores had to be submitted online by 8pm, but there was still one person who hadn't done the workout. That was Kris. She asked me if I would judge for her. After saying yes, she handed me the paper towel that would serve as her official scoresheet. She had made sections for the deadlifts, the wall balls, and the row. I asked her what we would do if she finished the row, but she didn't seem concerned about attempting handstand push-ups.
With no time to waste, Kris got started on 17.4. She wasn't using my conservative strategy. Kris held on for 20 straight deadlifts to begin her workout. After the first 20, she switched to sets of 5. Towards the end of the deadlifts, she switched to singles. It was a light weight for her as demonstrated by how quickly she motored through those single reps. When she got to 53, she did a deadlift and then held on for #55 as well.
55 deadlifts? That's it? I can do these all day.
Kris did a set of 10 wall balls at the beginning and at the end of her round of 55, with a bunch of sets of 5 reps in between. She had about 4 and a half minutes remaining as she headed to the rower. I tried to calculate how many calories per minute she was doing and it looked like she was getting about 13 calories per minute early on. With 2 minutes to go, she had 26 calories left. With 1 minute to go, she had 13 calories left. She had been very consistent through the first 42 calories, but she needed to pick up the pace if she wanted to be certain of completing the row before time was up. Kris didn't disappoint. As Esra, Raj, Jenna and I yelled at her to keep pulling as hard as she could, Kris ramped up her intensity. Her monitor clicked to 55 calories with only 10 seconds remaining in the workout. That exciting final surge makes her the week 4 MVP in my book. Kris's final score: 165.
We made sure that Kris was feeling okay afterwards, as her face was as purple as the team that she represents. Once she seemed alright, I went back to dwelling on my failure at the end of 17.4. It was still bugging me that I couldn't get one handstand push-up when I needed it. I went back down to where the mats were and tried again. I did three in a row. I'm not sure if that helped me deal with my earlier failure or not. All I know is that the next phase of my Crossfit evolution will be learning how to do these difficult movements when I'm exhausted.
Tuesday preview: I haven't even attempted a bar muscle-up since I failed to do one at the end of my 17.2 re-do. Tuesday's workout calls for 30 of them. That seems like overkill.
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