It's always hard for me to explain my trips to Vegas to people who aren't into handicapping. Among my circle of friends, that includes pretty much everyone. If I'm in Vegas for 5-6 days, they're thinking I was out there partying it up. If I don't come home with a check from the contest, they doubt how good of a handicapper I am. (Note: It's not unwarranted. When I don't cash in these tournaments, I doubt how good of a handicapper I am.) The truth is that I spend virtually all of the trip in my hotel room reading past performances and watching race replays. And in order to get any money in these contests, you have to beat 90% of the field. It's not as fun or easy as it sounds, although I imagine that if I ever won one of these tournaments, I would find it incredibly fun.
With all of that said, my experience at the Horse Player World Series put some things into perspective. When I got off the plane on Tuesday night and walked through McCarran Airport, I wasn't as jazzed up as I usually am about arriving in Vegas. I started thinking about how often I've made the trip recently and it shocked me. This was my 4th trip to Sin City in 8 months. That is way too much. I'm pretty sure professional athletes and porn stars don't visit Vegas that often. So I knew that I needed a break from the handicapping scene after this tournament unless fortune smiled on me. I had a lousy Day 1. On Day 2, I mounted a comeback. Heading into Day 3, I was in 123rd place out of 571 entries, with the top 60 getting paid. My first 2 plays finished in second place, which added a small amount to my score. Then I went cold for most of the rest of the day. I don't know exactly where I finished, but it was probably around 200th.
I wasn't completely bummed by my performance. I put myself into contention going into the final day. And as alarming as 4 trips to Vegas in 8 months sounds, those trips were all paid for as part of packages I won in qualifying tournaments. I often express in this blog how competitive I am in Crossfit. You can double that level of competitiveness when it comes to handicapping tournaments. I may lack confidence in Crossfit (and in life), but I fully believe that I can win every time I take part in these contests. While it hasn't happened yet, it feels like I'm moving in the right direction. It will come some day. For now though, I need to take a break from handicapping and recharge my batteries.
One thing that didn't help me while I was in Vegas was having bronchitis. There was one day (Wednesday) where I felt a little better, making me think that I only had a 24 hour bug or something. Then I felt awful from Thursday through the flight home on Sunday night. I was still feeling very congested when I came back to the gym on Monday night. I was hoping for a workout that wasn't complex. If it was light on cardio, even better. Instead I got the following:
Monday's WOD:
12 minute AMRAP
2 bar muscle-ups
4 hang power snatches (95/65)
8 box jumps (24"/20")
12 overhead squats (95/65)
A 12-minute workout wasn't too horrendous, but I wasn't thrilled to see bar muscle-ups programmed. I thought back to the WOD where I managed 9 of them and remembered how each rep knocked the wind out of me. Bronchitis was already limiting my ability to breathe, so I didn't need any help from bar muscle-ups. The hang power snatches didn't sound too bad. 8 box jumps per round was nice because that was an amount that I could reliably rebound through without needing a break. 12 overheads per round was a lot, but I tend to enjoy overhead squats more than most, so I thought I might be able to get through them alright.
Coach Giulz had a dozen athletes in her 6:30 class. Everyone needed space on the pull-up rig as well as room to operate with the barbell and to perform box jumps, so it was cramped quarters. Giulz let us know that we'd be running two heats in order to give everyone more space. The second heat would start 30 seconds after the first heat began. Giulz walked us through the various movements in the workout, using Keithie as her muse for the bar muscle-ups and the pull-up related scaling options. She then turned to LC to demonstrate box jumps and how the barbell movements should be done. Giulz pointed out that the hang power snatches could be performed quicker if you only went to the high hang (about waist level) rather than the low hang (just above the knee) while cycling through reps. You had to have a lot more power to only go from the high hang though. I almost always go to the low hang, but because there were only 4 hang power snatches per round (meaning only 3 transitions between reps), I decided to try and go from the high hang in this workout. Giulz also had some commentary on the overhead squats. She told the class "I will love you forever" if you hold on to the barbell through all 12 overheads each round. I was out to win her undying affection in this WOD.
I thought there was a chance that Bryan and I would be facing each other as we did bar muscle-ups in a workout again, but he decided to face-off with his wife during this workout.
Love Springs Eternal
I was towards the back of the gym, between JP and Caitlyn. JP and I were able to work next to each other because he was doing his bar muscle-ups on the high bar while I would be doing mine on the low bar. I still haven't figured out how to do them on the high bar yet. (Spoiler: It's mainly because I'm scared.) I started telling JP that I was going to tire out quickly in this workout, partially because I had bronchitis and partially because I don't have much of a gas tank. He claimed he was going to tire out quickly too, but I had seen him show much more stamina than me in workouts like this one. I would try and hang with him for as long as I could.
JP and I were both in heat one. Starting off with bar muscle-ups made me nervous. During the warmup, I had a bad attempt in which Giulz told me that I was swinging too far forward and not pushing myself away from the bar enough. I made the necessary corrections for my second attempt and did what was described as an "easy-looking" bar muscle-up. Doing it in the warmup was one thing. Doing it while the clock was ticking was another. I had anxiety that I'd start missing on my attempts and fall way behind everyone in class. In the bar muscle-up workout that I had done with Bryan, I got my first one and then missed a bunch of times. If that happened today, I wasn't going to complete much of the workout. I got 9 bar muscle-up in 10 minutes in that other workout. Today I'd have 12 minutes, but I'd also have a bunch of other stuff to do, so I set my goal for this WOD at 3 full rounds.
Giulz started heat one and I attempted my first bar muscle-up. It did not go well. That was not the start I needed to boost my confidence. I took a few seconds to regroup before trying again. My second attempt was a success, although it was nothing like the easy one I did in the warmup. I came back down and took my time before making my next attempt. Meanwhile, most of the first heat had moved on to the power snatches. JP must have missed on an attempt as well because he was still at the pull-up rig with me. Right as I was about to go again, he did his second bar muscle-up. I swung on the low bar and got my second in a row. Two outta three wasn't bad.
I went right into the hang power snatches and using that quick transition from the high hang, I was able to catch up with JP. Then I rebounded on and off of my box for 8 quick jumps, which moved me ahead of JP. I got my barbell overhead to begin the squats, thinking I was going to continue to blaze through all of the non-bar muscle-up components of this workout. I was surprised to find that the overhead squats were much tougher than anticipated. I guess those box jumps were thrown in there to work your legs and make the overheads more difficult. Not wanting to lose Giulz's eternal love in round one, I stubbornly held on through all 12 reps. Somehow I had completed my first round before the reigning king had.
A decent breather was required before attempting the bar muscle-ups again, but having JP in front of me was motivation enough to keep me moving. I did my first bar muscle-up, then he did his. I made sure to complete #2 for he got his second one. Couldn't let that lead go to waste already. I was quick on my hang power snatches, bounded through 8 more box jumps, and held on through all 12 overhead squats again. I had increased my lead on JP! Better yet, the clock informed me that I had 7 and a half minutes remaining to complete round three. Unless I completely fell apart on the bar muscle-ups, I was reaching my goal.
That decent breather turned into a long breather before the start of round three. I wasn't intentionally waiting for JP to push me along, but as soon as I saw him drop his barbell to complete round two, I got on the bar for my first muscle-up. For the second round in a row, we alternated bar muscle-ups. That wasn't too bad for me because I had been going faster on the other parts of the workout. I kept pushing through the snatches and the box jumps, but I had to pause at the overhead squats. Somehow this had become the toughest part of this workout, something I never thought I'd say. I got the barbell overhead and began my set, but I wasn't too far into it before JP began his overheads. My lead was shrinking. I finished off that third round before JP, but I sensed there was little chance that I'd still be ahead of him at the end of 12 minutes.
Huffing and puffing, I stood hunched over at the pull-up rig, trying to persuade myself to start round four. JP didn't need any persuading. He took a couple seconds after finishing his overhead squats, but he was on the bar performing his first muscle-up before I was. We alternated for the third round in a row, but this time JP was the first one on to the snatches. I was gasping for air as he got to his barbell. I no longer had any faith that I could keep up with JP. I had little faith that I could perform a bar muscle-up, despite having gotten my last seven in a row. JP was moving on to the box jumps when I finally went after my second bar muscle-up of round four. It was very ugly, but it was a success. Time to try and catch the king again.
Not exactly poetry in motion...
...but it turned out okay in the end
The hang power snatches weren't a problem for the fourth round in a row, but the fact that I was hyperventilating at this point played a factor when I got to the box jumps. I made it through 5 in a row before needing to stop on top of my box. Aimee was doing a personal training session over by the rings and encouraged me to get moving again. I got through the final three jumps of the round, but I was dreading my beloved overheads. Since I was determined to hold on for all 12 squats, I didn't pick up the barbell right away. JP had moved on to begin round five as I got ready for the last portion of round four. Another look at the clock let me know that I had plenty of time to complete this round as long as I held on for all 12 reps. I got the barbell overhead and slowly began my set. I think I did about three at a time before needing to stop and reset at the top. I wasn't going to let go of that barbell though. With about 35 seconds remaining, I completed my 4th set of 12 consecutive overhead squats.
I could have run over and tried to get 2 quick bar muscle-ups. If I did them fast enough, maybe I could have gotten the snatches done. Or even some additional box jumps. That was wishful thinking. I decided to conserve my energy and make sure that I did one final bar muscle-up correctly. I spent about 25 seconds recovering before I took one last swing on the bar. This attempt was probably as ugly as the one captured in the photos above, but I tugged my body over the bar and then pressed out at the top. When I dropped to the floor, there was only three seconds left, so that would be all for me. Final score: 4+1.
JP made it all the way to the start of his overhead squats in round five, so I definitely fell off his pace at the end. That was a little disappointing because there aren't very many workouts where I have a chance to beat him. That being said...this was a workout with bar muscle-ups and I was ahead of the king for three rounds! That is insane. There's no way you could have ever convinced me that was possible. I was taking away nothing but positives from this workout. Except for the fact that it ended with me coughing up a lot of mucus in the men's room. Could have done without that.
After the workout was over, Josh tried to convince me to go through that GHD/pull-up/push-up rotation with him, even though he had Giulz as his partner this week. I declined, but he talked me into doing the strict pull-ups at least. He wanted three sets of 5 in a row from me. I had done that once in my life, so I told him I would try and get one set that way, but the remaining 10 strict pull-ups might need to be broken up into smaller sets. I guess I was just in the zone on Monday night because I matched my best set ever when I did 5 in a row. Then I did another 5 in a row. And you know I wasn't going to be denied that third set after completing the first two. I'm thinking the week off did me a world of good.
I did a little bit of double under practice with Actuary Mike to conclude my night. Mike had never done more than 6 in a row before Monday night. He did at least 26 in a row while we were practicing (perhaps it was everyone's night on Monday!). I think he might have done a set of more than 30 as well, but I'm not 100% certain. I did three sets ranging between 22 reps and 38 reps before deciding I had enough for the evening.
Tuesday preview: What do you get the guy who hates pull-ups? NOT 105 PULL-UPS! The time cap is in full effect at Dudes After Dark.
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