Traffic Coach

Workout date: 8/8/17

Going to Chipotle after a late night workout used to be a common occurrence at KOP.  I'm not sure when or why that tradition slowly went away, but it is pretty rare that we go out and get something to eat after a WOD nowadays.  The last couple of times that I have done it has been with Jenna after Wednesday night classes.  In those instances, it was just me and her.  The last time I could remember a group going out was when I convinced everyone to go to the Chipotle near my house so that I could use some coupons that were expiring.  That was when I learned the useful lesson that Chipotle coupons could be used anywhere, even if they had one location's name written on them.

The group outing to Chipotle would be revived on Tuesday because it was LC's birthday.  She had noticed that her birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, so she planned a Chipotle outing post-Dudes After Dark.  Making this occasion even more exciting was the fact that it was LC's 30th birthday!  Fine...that wasn't entirely true.  A week ago, we reminded Actuary Mike that it would be LC's birthday next Tuesday and he got all excited because he thought it was her 30th.  LC was (wait for it) in the lobby at the time, but we made her come out to the gym to hear why Mike was so excited.  LC is several years away from turning the big 3-0, so she was not pleased to hear that people thought her twenties were coming to a close.

(I continued to have fun with LC's fake 30th birthday by grabbing a "Happy 30th Birthday" card for everyone to sign.  I didn't want to traumatize the old lady too much though, so I included a $30 gift card for Shady Maple inside.  She deserved something nice for putting up with all of the jokes about her advanced age.)

There were eight of us ready for Dudes After Dark and burritos.  Except we had no coach as of 7:30.  The birthday girl was nowhere to be found.  We gave Rachel the nickname LC (Lobby Coach) because she always seemed to be in the lobby when our class was meant to begin, but we were considering changing it to TC (Traffic Coach) when we received a text message saying that she was stuck in traffic and would be about 5 minutes late for Dudes After Dark.  We would have to give her grief about that when she arrived, but in the meantime, we'd kill some time with a slow 400 meter run.

That would just be the start of the running that we would be doing on this evening.  Tonight's WOD was Helen, one of our 2017 benchmark workouts:

"Helen"
3 rounds:
400 meter run
21 KB swings (53/35)
12 pull-ups

I've done this workout many times at KOP and I've gradually improved my time from performance to performance.  When I did this in May, I set a PR, but I had a tough time conceiving of a way that I could do this workout any faster.  I've always wanted to complete Helen in under 12 minutes, but that time of 12:35 looked like my ceiling.  I knew I wasn't going to top it this evening because it was another brutally muggy night within the gym doors.  We'd get a bit of relief due to the fact that a large portion of this workout was outside, but it wasn't exactly an arctic blast once you stepped outside the side doors.  I was hoping for something in the 13-14 minute range on this attempt.

Let's go with a recap that will be much quicker than my performance in this workout:

• Round 1 - Pretty solid start to this WOD.  To no one's surprise, Cline was out on the lead on the run.  I was in the pack of athletes that wasn't very far behind him.  When I got back into the gym, I held on to the KB for 21 swings.  Back in May, I strung all 21 KB swings in all three rounds and that was the plan again for today.  I would need to improve on my pull-ups if I wanted to threaten 12:35.  I wound up doing 6 sets of two before heading back out the door.
• Round 2 - I knew the run wouldn't feel great this time around, but I had faith that I could get through it a reasonable pace.  Michal (making a guest appearance in a Crossfit WOD because it was her boo's birthday) was starting to open a lead on the rest of us, but I was still hanging tough with Cline, Kevin H, Neil, and Bryan.  Things began to fall apart when I came back into the gym.  I tried to focus on my breathing as I worked on my second round of KB swings, but there was nothing I could do to keep myself from hyperventilating.  After 12 reps, I put the KB down to try and get my breath back.  That break allowed the pack to get away from me.  I completed the remaining 9 reps on my next set, but everyone else I had been running with was already plugging away at the pull-ups.  I was in no shape to try and do doubles on the pull-up bar again, so I worked my way through 12 singles.
• Round 3 - Michal, Kevin, Bryan, and Neil were long gone.  I was relatively close to Cline, but he increased his advantage over me on the run.  I was having so much trouble with the KB swings and the pull-ups that I decided that it was better to push my limits on the run rather than try and save some energy for the end of the WOD.  When I got back inside the gym, I took a few seconds before picking up my KB, but once I began swinging it I had the same difficulty breathing that I had in the last round.  I went 12 and 9 on the KB swings again, then headed to the pull-up rig for my final 12 pull-ups.  I had only completed a few singles when Cline finished up.  I was pretty miserable at this point, but I told myself that there wasn't much more to go.  When my 12th pull-up was done, I dropped to the floor and laid there for a while.  Final time: 14:54.

That was much worse than my time back in May and as much as I would like to attribute that extra two and a half minutes to the humidity, I think it is obvious that I regressed in the three months since that attempt .  I'm not sure if any of that was mental.  After all, I had convinced myself that 12:35 was the best I could ever do on Helen.  Whatever caused this relapse, I'd like to get it turned around so that when I do this in November, I'll be sub-13:00 again.

There was a cash-out after Helen and it was one of my favorites.  The format of the cash-out did change from February and May though.  We would be doing 60 pistols, but for some reason we were not doing them for time like we did earlier in the year.  That may have been a blessing in disguise.  I was fatigued from doing Helen, but I was determined to put up my best time for 60 pistols even if I wouldn't get to write it down on the whiteboard.  I moved quickly through the first 30 pistols before noticing some cramping in my right leg.  I think I tried to compensate for my cramping leg because it wasn't long before my right hip became sore.  I would do an easy pistol on my left leg, then have to grit my teeth as I did the pistol on my right leg.  I slowed down, taking breaks to shake out my legs after getting to 40 reps and again when I got to 50 reps.  I made my way through the final 10 pistols, completing my 60 reps in about 4 minutes unofficially.

My Helen time sucked and my pistols were painful.  I just wanted to be out of the gym at that point.  I got my wish as a bunch of us (even some folks who didn't take part in Dudes After Dark) packed up our gear and headed to Chipotle to celebrate LC's birthday.  Having a burrito with classmates was a nice way to cap off a tough night at the gym.

Wednesday preview: The 1RM snatch returns!  Neil talks me into using the RX weight for the cash-out.  The BBC's eight-week summer program comes to a close.