I'll Pretend I Didn't See That

Workout date: 8/13/17

The Brawl In The Burbs was less than two weeks away and team Run The Giulz had only practiced one event.  There were two more events that we hadn't tested out yet.  There was no need to try the fourth event (5 minutes of tire flips) because we all had experience with the tire.  We would simply need good communication when doing that event.  We were probably well behind other teams in terms of practice, so we decided that we should head to the annex on Sunday morning and do a dry run of the two events we hadn't attempted.  It would be me, Kris, Raj, and some guy that looked vaguely familiar to all of us.  Who was this gentleman decked out in flashy workout gear?  I knew I had seen him somewhere before, but I just couldn't place...

Wait a minute, that's Cline's entrance music!  He had been on an improv comedy sabbatical, but here he was, ready to participate in a couple of Sunday morning WODs with his teammates.  It was the first time all four of us had been able to coordinate our schedules and work on Brawl events together.  Today we would be taking on "Mall Walker" first, with "#2chainz" as an encore.  Here's how those events were structured:

"Mall Walker"
1RM Snatch - 1 Male/1 Female
1RM Clean and Jerk - 1 Male/1 Female
Time cap: 12 minutes
*Athletes may not switch lifts once they begin attempts

"#2chainz"
6 minute AMRAP:
5 pull-ups
10 hang clean and jerks (75/55)
6 minute AMRAP:
5 squat snatches (75/55)
10 KB swings (53/35)
*Male athletes will start on one AMRAP, female athletes will start on the other
**One athlete completes a full round before tagging in their partner
***At the end of 6 minutes, athletes will immediately switch AMRAPs

Our team had a strategy dilemma that most other teams probably didn't have to consider.  Kris and I were going to do the snatch, while Cline and Raj would take care of the clean and jerk.  Raj was so strong that her best clean and jerk was about the same as Cline's.  My top snatch was also around the same mark, so it seemed like it might be advantageous for Raj to join me and Cline on the men's barbell, at least for the beginning of the event.  If Kris and Raj shared a barbell, they would have to spend a lot of time changing plates.  If Raj used our barbell, we wouldn't have to switch out plates much at all.  With Kris having her own barbell, she could get to her 1RM snatch quicker, at which point Raj could have that barbell to herself for the last few minutes of the event.  We weren't sure whether we were allowed to have 3 people on one barbell, but it was something that was worth thinking about.

For the purposes of practice though, Kris and Raj were going to share a barbell while Cline and I had our own.  We also ditched the 12 minute clock we would have to deal with at the competition.  We were just spending some time figuring out what our respective best snatches/clean and jerks were.  Cline and I decided to start with 95 pounds on the barbell, then go to 115 and add 10 pound increments from there.  95 was light.  So was 115.  Cline had an interesting technique with his clean.  With the weight this light, I figured he would be power cleaning everything, but he was actually muscle cleaning the barbell.  As he was transitioning the barbell from the floor to his shoulders, he wasn't making any contact with his body.  It was pure brute strength.

Cline kept muscle cleaning at 125 pounds, easily handling the jerk afterwards.  I got ready for a run of the mill snatch at 125, but it didn't go as planned.  I got a bit aggressive with my pull, so when I caught it in a squat, I was tipping backwards.  I did every thing I could to right the ship, but there was no saving this lift.  I had to bail the barbell behind me.  A big reason that I took on the snatch was because I had hit 180 recently, but here I was missing at 125.  Cline was not impressed, reacting with a response of "I'll pretend I didn't see that".  It was a bit embarrassing missing that lift, but I didn't need too much time before stepping back up and hitting it on my next attempt.

Cline and I both hit our next three lifts, ranging from 135 to 155 pounds.  I made him stop for a minute before we went up to 165 pounds.  There was something very strange about our barbell.  I guess it could have been my imagination, but our barbell seemed thicker than normal.  Faby was lifting behind us and I asked him to come over and look at the barbell we were using.  He told us that we were actually using a thicker barbell that is primarily used for deadlifting.  He advised us to switch out this thick barbell for a regular one because this one was not meant for Olympic lifts.  No one knows Olympic lifts at our gym like Faby, so we stripped off the plates, got a new barbell, and loaded that one up with 165 pounds.

I might have been better off sticking with the thick barbell.  The new barbell didn't throw Cline off, but I had all sorts of problems with it.  Attempt #1 at 165: fail.  Attempt #2 at 165: fail.  Cline let me have three shots at 165 before he was going to step in and do his next clean and jerk.  Everyone in the annex was telling me that I had been moving too slowly (echoes of Jenna!), so I tried to move faster on the third attempt.  I don't know how much faster I actually moved, but the third time was the charm as I finally snatched 165 successfully.

I needed a break after all of those attempts at 165.  I spent my break talking with KOP's Olympic lifting power couple: Michal and Faby.  Neither had much to say in terms of fixing my form.  They simply repeated the advice I've been given time and time again: you need more speed.  When it was my turn to snatch again, all I thought about was speed.  Go fast!  Have faith that you'll execute the lift properly even though you're moving quicker!  I walked up to the 175 pound barbell and didn't waste time getting into the lift.  Usually the barbell makes distinct contact with my hip crease, but during this lift, it felt like the barbell just grazed my mid-section.  On most heavy snatches, I'll catch the barbell in a squat, take my time, then stand up.  Not this time.  Everything happened so quick that I didn't have time to think.  The barbell was over my head as I hit the bottom of my squat, but I bounced right up with it.  I'm sure this is exactly what a good snatch looks like, but it felt completely foreign to me.  It was my best lift of the day by far.  I wish I could have bottled everything I did there for future use.

I took two more lifts after that.  My first attempt at 185 pounds was close, but I'm sure I let the barbell get away from me in my new role as a speed demon.  Whenever I dump the barbell in front of me on a snatch attempt, it's because I was too slow or because I didn't keep the barbell close to my body.  I was committed to more speed on that lift, so it's likely my mistake was not keeping the barbell close.  I took one last attempt at 185 and this one was better.  Not sure I got as much speed as I did on the lift at 175, but I was able to catch it in the bottom.  I took a few seconds to sit there and get comfortable.  Then I stood up and tied my PR.

Kris, Raj, and Cline were done with their lifts and I was not interested in going any higher than 185.  I had attempted 13 snatches already.  If I kept going, I wasn't going to have any energy for #2chainz.  I've never been a big fan of tying your PR, but there was no point in putting a curveball into our progression just so I could try and get 190 pounds.  I honestly believed my one previous successful snatch at 185 pounds was a fluke.  That last lift let me know that wasn't the case.

The four of us got set up for WOD #2.  Cline and I were going to start on the pull-ups and the hang clean and jerks while Kris and Raj would begin with the squat snatches and the KB swings.  At the Brawl, there would be a tag-in/tag-out station, but we were ignoring that formality.  We would high-five our way in and out, but our partners were simply standing right next to the equipment.  Cline suggested that I begin for our team.  We talked in advance about how we would handle the transition from AMRAP #1 to AMRAP #2.  We agreed that if one of us was on the hang clean and jerks when 6 minutes elapsed, that person should continue on with the squat snatches since they already had the barbell in their hands.

How did it go?  Not too bad actually:

• On the pull-ups, I went 3-2, 3-2, 2-1-1-1, then 5 quick singles in my four rounds.  There was nothing in the way of a real break when I came off of the pull-up bar.  It was more an issue of grip strength (or lack thereof) that dictated when I came down from the pull-up bar.  I was happy that I didn't slow us up here as I figured this was going to be my weak spot in this event.
• Whenever I've done lifts from the hang position, it has always been from the low hang (barbell drops to knee level).  I've never gone from the high hang (near the hips), mainly because I hadn't been strong enough to cycle the barbell from that position.  75 pounds wasn't very heavy though and while in the midst of trying to move our barbell quickly, I discovered I could go from the high hang rather than the low hang.  That meant I moved through my 10 reps much quicker.  I never put the barbell down during my 4 sets.  Cline was 3 hang clean and jerks into his fourth round when the clock got to 6 minutes.  That meant Cline would be first on the...
• Squat snatches: Later on, Cline would point out that it would have been better for him to tag out at the 6 minute mark.  He had done almost a full round of the 1st AMRAP and now he was being forced to continue on through a full round of the 2nd AMRAP.  We were allowed to power snatch the barbell and then go into a squat, which was how Cline was attacking this movement.  He was a little shaky each time he tried to hit depth on his squat.  Michal was behind him, silently critiquing his depth while taking a break between her lifts.  I could see her shaking her head and mouthing the word "lower" each time he went into a squat.  On a later round, she would stand to the side of him mouthing the word "nope".  I was not going to be the one to no-rep him while we were practicing.  When it was my turn to go, I tried to sprint through my reps, but I was very unsteady.  I had just completed a bunch of much heavier squat snatches, yet I was still pulling with the same force, causing me to wobble all over as I hurried to complete 5 reps.  That was not ideal.  I made a mental note to move slower at the Brawl.  We each completed 3 rounds here with Cline getting 2 reps into round 4.
• KB swings: Both of us strung all 10 of our reps here during the three rounds we completed.  That shouldn't have been all that difficult, but my shoulders were fried.  I was lucky to hold on to the KB during these rounds.

All of that worked out to a score of 7+8 on AMRAP #1 and 6+2 on AMRAP #2 for the boys, resulting in a total of 13+10.  The girls kept their own score (which I didn't catch before we left for the day).  I felt good about our performance in both of the events we practiced.  We just needed to get better at that Polpetta workout.  We had 13 days to work out the kinks on that one.

Monday preview: Another benchmark day!  Had our 2RM hang squat cleans improved in the last 3 months?  And could we finish Annie in less than 7 minutes?