I came home from St. Lucia with one day of down time before my buddy's wedding on Saturday afternoon. I'm not even going to pretend that I did any exercise while I was on vacation. I went through my normal routine of bringing my jump rope with me because it's easy enough to pack and surely I'd find the time to work on double unders while I was in paradise. Or not. My jump rope never left the large ziploc bag that I carry it around in. Instead I ate and drank a lot, went on a couple of fun tours, and had my second successful run playing charity poker in the last 6 weeks.
We got home at 3am on Friday morning because every trip through the Miami airport is a nightmare and the disorganized spectacle that greeted us in Philly wasn't much better. Our Uber driver home decided to have a horror movie playing in the back of the car for his customers. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it because I was ready to fall asleep. After a good night's rest, I drove to NE Philly to get my tux for Saturday's festivities and then came home feeling like I really needed to get a workout in. So I signed up for Coach Keithie's 6:30 class that evening.
I had only been in St. Lucia for a week, but rumor had it that I was on vacation the last two weeks. I was getting my fair share of ribbing during the warmup because I had supposedly been away this long. I laughed and remarked how stories at KOP can balloon out of control, but in retrospect, I can understand why it might have seemed like I was away longer than I was even when I had been in class a week earlier. The trip to St. Lucia made me forget that I hadn't been in class all that much the week before I hit the beach. When someone who goes to the gym 4-5 times per week only shows up twice in 2 weeks, it probably gives the impression that they have been away longer than they were. In fact, you might be under the impression that I was in St. Lucia for a month based on how far behind I am on this blog.
In most 6:30 classes, I would have been able to avoid this ribbing by fading into the background of a very large class, but there were only four of us in attendance for the Thursday WOD. It was me, Conn, Alicia-Marie, and Neil. Here's the workout this quartet would be doing:
Thursday's WOD:
3 rounds:
15 calories on the assault bike
12 lateral burpees over the barbell
9 unbroken clean and jerks (135/95)
That last piece was the most interesting part of this workout. It was very Flight Simulator-esque. You didn't want to choose a barbell weight that was too heavy and have to go through a bunch of extra clean and jerks. You also didn't want to move right into the clean and jerks after doing those burpees because you would almost certainly be too tired to complete 9 unbroken reps. This was definitely a "know your body/limits" kind of workout. I was at a bit of a disadvantage because I had missed a benchmark workout (Gwen) that was programmed earlier in the year which would have given me some guidance on how tough it would be to string together 9 clean and jerks at 135 pounds. Gwen is a workout completely focused on big sets of unbroken clean and jerks. You choose a weight and then you have to perform a set of 15 unbroken clean and jerks. Your next set is 12 reps long, with the final set a merciful 9 reps. You get to take as much rest as you want between sets, as long as you don't run beyond the 60 minutes scheduled for class. I missed my chance at Gwen in both January and April. Had I been there for either of those classes, I'd have a much better sense of whether 135 was feasible for this WOD.
But what if there was an easier way to figure it out? There really is no substitute for good ol' peer pressure. As we got warmed up, Neil came over to me and said "you're using 135, right?" Ummm...of course I am! I vaguely remembered doing a cash-out with Matt B where we had to do 15 clean and jerks at 135 pounds as fast as we could and we both strung all of the reps. So even if I was a bit tired when I got to the clean and jerks, I figured I'd still be able to fight my way through 9 reps. Let's go with 135! (Note: "Vaguely remember" = "Misremembered". We strung 10 clean and jerks in that cash-out, not 15. So my margin for error was much less than I believed it to be.)
During the warmup, Keithie explained the importance of efficiently moving directly from the clean into the jerk. This was a technique he had drilled into my head some time ago, so I was used to doing it. It wasn't that we couldn't do the clean, pause, and then do the jerk, but the likelihood of holding on through 9 reps would start to dwindle the more often we deliberately separated the two movements. There wasn't a whole lot to go over in terms of warmup on the assault bike and the burpees. My plan was to try and go hard initially on the assault bike because momentum on the bike can buy you some extra calories when you start to slow down. Pacing on the bike was not the way to go. I was going to intentionally move slowly on the burpees, using it somewhat as recovery before having to do the clean and jerks. I tend to be insanely slow on burpees anyways, so it really wasn't going to be much different than normal for me.
The four of us hopped on our bikes and Keithie started the clock. I pumped my arms and legs, watching the calories accumulate on my monitor. I didn't feel like I was going all out, but the number on my monitor was zipping towards 15 very quickly. As soon as it hit 15, I hopped off my bike and walked over to my barbell. I tried to calm myself down as I did my first burpee. Then I did a second. And a third and a fourth. I was the only one doing burpees still. It seemed weird to me that Neil and Conn weren't done yet. Later on, I'd found out that they thought it was weird that I was done so quickly. Neil told me he saw me get to the burpees and thought "he knows it's 15 calories, right?" As I moved through my burpees, I started to have my doubts as to whether I really had completed 15 calories on the bike.
I was on my 5th burpee when the rest of the gang started to filter over to begin their burpees. Because I was so slow on this section of the workout, they began to catch up to me. After hopping over my barbell for the 12th time, I took a break to catch my breath. I needed to feel certain I could get all 9 clean and jerks on the first try. By the time I was ready to go, Conn and Neil were moving towards their barbell to start their clean and jerks. The first round went well for me. I made it through 8 reps before I started to feel the burn, but I had enough left to get through the last rep. Conn and Neil made it through their first set unblemished, so the three of us walked over to our bikes in unison.
The first thing that I did when I got back to my bike was check to make sure I really did 15 calories in round one. It was better than that. I was still moving at a decent speed right before I hopped off my bike, so momentum brought the total up to 17 calories. I was relieved to know that I hadn't blacked out during that initial round and gotten off the bike early. Unfortunately, I couldn't come close to replicating that performance in round two. I was trying to get the handlebars and the pedals moving rapidly, but I wasn't racking up the calories at the rate I was about 4 minutes ago. And once I realized that my assault odometer wasn't ticking upwards very quickly, I stopped pushing as hard and settled into a steady pace instead. (Yes, it took one round for me to revert to tactics that I knew did not work.) I wouldn't have a head start on the burpees this time around. The three guys got off their bikes at about the same time.
Just because I went slower on the bike didn't mean I was going to pick up the pace on my burpees. If anything, I might have gone even slower during round two. This workout was already taking its toll on my legs and my lungs. I knew the burpees were simply busy work, so there was no point in speeding up there. The real road block in this workout was the unbroken clean and jerk section, so I had to do my best to get through the burpees in a timely fashion without using up the energy I needed for the barbell. Conn was the first one done with the burpees and he didn't need a long break before he completed his clean and jerks. I was a little bit behind Neil and that gap grew when I took a slightly longer break than him. He did all 9 of his clean and jerks unbroken. I made it through 6 before I started to grow worried that I might not complete the entire set, but I held on through the last 3 reps.
There wasn't a lot of difference between rounds two and three for me. I could only manage a slow steady pace on the bike. I crawled through my 12 burpees, managing a tiny hop over the barbell after each completed rep. Then I took a decent-sized break before going after the clean and jerks. Conn was done already. While I tried to get my breath back, I watched Neil finish his last 9 clean and jerks. I still didn't feel completely ready for my final set, but then I heard Faby yell "come on, you can finish under 14 minutes". I hadn't been paying a lot of attention to the clock, but there was something about hearing that I could beat a certain time that drove me back to my barbell. I took one last deep breath and got to work. As was the case in round #2, I got through 6 reps before my arms started to quiver during the jerk. It was time to turn to my best friend when it comes to barbell movements. That would be anger. I started to think about how mad I would be if I put the barbell down before I completed the 3 remaining reps. A little extra rage helped straighten out my arms during those last 3 jerks. Final time: 14:05.
Apparently rage supplies power, but not speed. I didn't sneak under the 14 minute threshold like I wanted to, but it would have been so much worse had I fallen short of 9 reps on that last set and had to start all over again. I imagine I would have needed about 2 minutes of rest before I could start again. Even then, there would be no guarantees I could get through all 9 had a failed on the prior set. So thank you, anger. Once again, you helped me in my time of need.
Monday preview: My first shot at a really psychotic benchmark workout programmed for the first time this year. I develop a really healthy appreciation for how difficult Bull is based on how long it takes me to complete the mini-version.
We got home at 3am on Friday morning because every trip through the Miami airport is a nightmare and the disorganized spectacle that greeted us in Philly wasn't much better. Our Uber driver home decided to have a horror movie playing in the back of the car for his customers. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it because I was ready to fall asleep. After a good night's rest, I drove to NE Philly to get my tux for Saturday's festivities and then came home feeling like I really needed to get a workout in. So I signed up for Coach Keithie's 6:30 class that evening.
I had only been in St. Lucia for a week, but rumor had it that I was on vacation the last two weeks. I was getting my fair share of ribbing during the warmup because I had supposedly been away this long. I laughed and remarked how stories at KOP can balloon out of control, but in retrospect, I can understand why it might have seemed like I was away longer than I was even when I had been in class a week earlier. The trip to St. Lucia made me forget that I hadn't been in class all that much the week before I hit the beach. When someone who goes to the gym 4-5 times per week only shows up twice in 2 weeks, it probably gives the impression that they have been away longer than they were. In fact, you might be under the impression that I was in St. Lucia for a month based on how far behind I am on this blog.
In most 6:30 classes, I would have been able to avoid this ribbing by fading into the background of a very large class, but there were only four of us in attendance for the Thursday WOD. It was me, Conn, Alicia-Marie, and Neil. Here's the workout this quartet would be doing:
Thursday's WOD:
3 rounds:
15 calories on the assault bike
12 lateral burpees over the barbell
9 unbroken clean and jerks (135/95)
That last piece was the most interesting part of this workout. It was very Flight Simulator-esque. You didn't want to choose a barbell weight that was too heavy and have to go through a bunch of extra clean and jerks. You also didn't want to move right into the clean and jerks after doing those burpees because you would almost certainly be too tired to complete 9 unbroken reps. This was definitely a "know your body/limits" kind of workout. I was at a bit of a disadvantage because I had missed a benchmark workout (Gwen) that was programmed earlier in the year which would have given me some guidance on how tough it would be to string together 9 clean and jerks at 135 pounds. Gwen is a workout completely focused on big sets of unbroken clean and jerks. You choose a weight and then you have to perform a set of 15 unbroken clean and jerks. Your next set is 12 reps long, with the final set a merciful 9 reps. You get to take as much rest as you want between sets, as long as you don't run beyond the 60 minutes scheduled for class. I missed my chance at Gwen in both January and April. Had I been there for either of those classes, I'd have a much better sense of whether 135 was feasible for this WOD.
But what if there was an easier way to figure it out? There really is no substitute for good ol' peer pressure. As we got warmed up, Neil came over to me and said "you're using 135, right?" Ummm...of course I am! I vaguely remembered doing a cash-out with Matt B where we had to do 15 clean and jerks at 135 pounds as fast as we could and we both strung all of the reps. So even if I was a bit tired when I got to the clean and jerks, I figured I'd still be able to fight my way through 9 reps. Let's go with 135! (Note: "Vaguely remember" = "Misremembered". We strung 10 clean and jerks in that cash-out, not 15. So my margin for error was much less than I believed it to be.)
During the warmup, Keithie explained the importance of efficiently moving directly from the clean into the jerk. This was a technique he had drilled into my head some time ago, so I was used to doing it. It wasn't that we couldn't do the clean, pause, and then do the jerk, but the likelihood of holding on through 9 reps would start to dwindle the more often we deliberately separated the two movements. There wasn't a whole lot to go over in terms of warmup on the assault bike and the burpees. My plan was to try and go hard initially on the assault bike because momentum on the bike can buy you some extra calories when you start to slow down. Pacing on the bike was not the way to go. I was going to intentionally move slowly on the burpees, using it somewhat as recovery before having to do the clean and jerks. I tend to be insanely slow on burpees anyways, so it really wasn't going to be much different than normal for me.
The four of us hopped on our bikes and Keithie started the clock. I pumped my arms and legs, watching the calories accumulate on my monitor. I didn't feel like I was going all out, but the number on my monitor was zipping towards 15 very quickly. As soon as it hit 15, I hopped off my bike and walked over to my barbell. I tried to calm myself down as I did my first burpee. Then I did a second. And a third and a fourth. I was the only one doing burpees still. It seemed weird to me that Neil and Conn weren't done yet. Later on, I'd found out that they thought it was weird that I was done so quickly. Neil told me he saw me get to the burpees and thought "he knows it's 15 calories, right?" As I moved through my burpees, I started to have my doubts as to whether I really had completed 15 calories on the bike.
I was on my 5th burpee when the rest of the gang started to filter over to begin their burpees. Because I was so slow on this section of the workout, they began to catch up to me. After hopping over my barbell for the 12th time, I took a break to catch my breath. I needed to feel certain I could get all 9 clean and jerks on the first try. By the time I was ready to go, Conn and Neil were moving towards their barbell to start their clean and jerks. The first round went well for me. I made it through 8 reps before I started to feel the burn, but I had enough left to get through the last rep. Conn and Neil made it through their first set unblemished, so the three of us walked over to our bikes in unison.
The first thing that I did when I got back to my bike was check to make sure I really did 15 calories in round one. It was better than that. I was still moving at a decent speed right before I hopped off my bike, so momentum brought the total up to 17 calories. I was relieved to know that I hadn't blacked out during that initial round and gotten off the bike early. Unfortunately, I couldn't come close to replicating that performance in round two. I was trying to get the handlebars and the pedals moving rapidly, but I wasn't racking up the calories at the rate I was about 4 minutes ago. And once I realized that my assault odometer wasn't ticking upwards very quickly, I stopped pushing as hard and settled into a steady pace instead. (Yes, it took one round for me to revert to tactics that I knew did not work.) I wouldn't have a head start on the burpees this time around. The three guys got off their bikes at about the same time.
Just because I went slower on the bike didn't mean I was going to pick up the pace on my burpees. If anything, I might have gone even slower during round two. This workout was already taking its toll on my legs and my lungs. I knew the burpees were simply busy work, so there was no point in speeding up there. The real road block in this workout was the unbroken clean and jerk section, so I had to do my best to get through the burpees in a timely fashion without using up the energy I needed for the barbell. Conn was the first one done with the burpees and he didn't need a long break before he completed his clean and jerks. I was a little bit behind Neil and that gap grew when I took a slightly longer break than him. He did all 9 of his clean and jerks unbroken. I made it through 6 before I started to grow worried that I might not complete the entire set, but I held on through the last 3 reps.
There wasn't a lot of difference between rounds two and three for me. I could only manage a slow steady pace on the bike. I crawled through my 12 burpees, managing a tiny hop over the barbell after each completed rep. Then I took a decent-sized break before going after the clean and jerks. Conn was done already. While I tried to get my breath back, I watched Neil finish his last 9 clean and jerks. I still didn't feel completely ready for my final set, but then I heard Faby yell "come on, you can finish under 14 minutes". I hadn't been paying a lot of attention to the clock, but there was something about hearing that I could beat a certain time that drove me back to my barbell. I took one last deep breath and got to work. As was the case in round #2, I got through 6 reps before my arms started to quiver during the jerk. It was time to turn to my best friend when it comes to barbell movements. That would be anger. I started to think about how mad I would be if I put the barbell down before I completed the 3 remaining reps. A little extra rage helped straighten out my arms during those last 3 jerks. Final time: 14:05.
Apparently rage supplies power, but not speed. I didn't sneak under the 14 minute threshold like I wanted to, but it would have been so much worse had I fallen short of 9 reps on that last set and had to start all over again. I imagine I would have needed about 2 minutes of rest before I could start again. Even then, there would be no guarantees I could get through all 9 had a failed on the prior set. So thank you, anger. Once again, you helped me in my time of need.
Monday preview: My first shot at a really psychotic benchmark workout programmed for the first time this year. I develop a really healthy appreciation for how difficult Bull is based on how long it takes me to complete the mini-version.
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