Walked In Those Shoes

Workout date: 8/15/17

There are very few things that come naturally to me.  I'm good with numbers.  I have a solid sense of direction.  I don't think sweating and losing one's hair count as natural skills, so numbers and sense of direction might actually be the entire list.  Damn, guess I won't be advancing on America's Got Talent.  Any other skills I've acquired in life have been the result of being an avid student.  I think I'm the type who has an easier time learning something if I jump into it and do it, but with Crossfit, I've probably learned more by watching others.  If I know someone is good with a particular movement, I'll sit off to the side and try to figure out what they're doing that I'm not.  Know who is really good at Crossfit movements?  Those folks who compete at the Crossfit Games.  I'm always glued to my laptop when Regionals and the Games are on because I want to try and learn from the best.  I get hours and hours of free lessons not just on form, but on strategy as well.  Strategy, you say?  Why yes.  Many times there is very little to separate the top athletes in the world.  When that is the case, a smart strategy can be the difference between winning and losing.

For instance, the penultimate event at this year's Crossfit Games involved overhead squats.  Athletes were only allowed to do a predetermined amount of reps in each section of their lane.  Once they hit the number allowed, they had to move forward to the next section before continuing on with their overhead squats.  In the first few heats, the athletes all came up with a common solution.  The barbell was already overhead, so they walked to the next section while continuing to hold it overhead.  This allowed them to go right into their overhead squats once they got to the designated station.  Pretty smart plan.  The only problem was this workout had 75 overhead squats (as well as some other things) in it.  By keeping their barbell overhead the entire time, they were using up their shoulder strength.  Athletes who used this strategy began to struggle as they got to the latter part of their journey down the arena floor.

(Poker detour)  They say the three most important things in poker are position, position, and position.  When you're "in position" at the poker table, you are acting last, getting to see what your opponent does first before coming to a decision on what your optimal move is.  That lesson applies at the Crossfit Games as well.  Athletes in later heats saw how worn down the competition was from holding the barbell overhead the entire time.  They figured out that their optimal move was not repeating that mistake.  There had to be a better way.  Once one of the athletes figured it out, the rest of them copied him.  So what was this "optimal" strategy?  One savvy athlete decided that he would drop the barbell from the overhead position down on to his back while walking from one section to the next.  When he got to the next section, he would do a "snatch balance" to begin his overhead squats.  A snatch balance is where you go from holding a barbell on your shoulders behind your head (like you were about to back squat) and then quickly drop your body underneath the barbell (like you had just hit the bottom of a squat snatch).  Standing up from the bottom of the snatch balance was the equivalent of doing an overhead squat.  This strategy was just as efficient (in terms of speed) as the strategy used in the early heats.  Except this plan didn't wear out your shoulders as much.  You will not be surprised to learn that the athletes in the later heats fared much better than those who went before them.  Position, position, position.

We wouldn't be doing any overhead squats at Dudes After Dark this week, but I was able to apply the lesson I learned from watching that Crossfit Games event.  Here's a look at Tuesday night's WOD:

Tuesday's WOD

5 rounds:

250 meter row

25 thrusters (45)

15 GHD hip extensions

I would be taking on this workout along with 6 classmates: Neil, The Prodigy, Esra, Bryan, Chris S, and Actuary Mike.  The two ladies were getting the worst of it in this workout.  When we row for calories, the men and women will have two different standards with the men having to finish a higher number of calories.  When rowing for meters, Crossfit becomes gender-blind.  At least they'd get a break on the barbell weight though...right?  Unfortunately no.  This WOD was tailored in the same fashion as Jackie, a famous Crossfit workout where men and women alike use 45 pounds (an empty men's barbell) for the RX thruster weight.

I knew I wouldn't be able to string 25 light thrusters for 5 straight rounds.  I might be able to do it for one round, but I really didn't see much sense in even doing that.  I was going to need to break up those thrusters.  Whenever I've done a workout like this in the past, I've put the barbell on the floor to take a break.  Not today.  I was going to pretend that I was a Crossfit Games athlete.  Any rest during the thrusters was going to take place with the empty barbell on my back.  There was absolutely no reason to ever put the barbell down.  If that weight became too much for me to bear, then it was a sign of mental weakness more than physical distress.

LC walked us through rowing and the light thrusters.  Everyone was clear on those.  The only part of this workout that required a more thorough explanation was the hip extensions.  These don't show up in WODs all that often.  Typically if we're on the GHD, we're doing sit-ups.  For the hip extension, you flipped your body over on the GHD machine.  Instead of facing the ceiling like you would when doing sit-ups, you'd now be facing the floor.  While keeping your shoulders pinched back, you would lower your upper body until you hit a point where you could no longer maintain your form.  Then you come back up.  Very simple movement, very painful movement, especially on your quads.

There were only 5 GHD machines for the seven of us, but this was a workout where it was unlikely that all of us would end up at those machines at the same time, even in round one.  It also helped that the hip extensions would be the fastest movement in this triplet.  There was a slight chance that I could end up in a situation where I would have to wait on a classmate, but my delay would likely be very short.  And if we got to the point where someone was waiting on my slow ass, I'd just come off of the machine and let my classmate do their reps.

I was getting some extra cardio in this one because my rower and barbell were at the far end of the gym.  The GHD machines are close to the lobby, so I would need to span the length of the gym whenever I left the thrusters and whenever I returned to my rower.  We were set up so that we'd be facing the back of the gym, which meant that I would not be able to see anyone behind me while I did my thrusters.  Neil was directly behind me in the lineup and I was going to do my best to stay with him.  I'd find out how well I was doing with that goal each time I put my barbell down and turned around.

My outlook for this workout went like this:

• Rowing: Short rows every round.  No need to attack this part of the WOD.  Use this as recovery after the hip extensions.  A fast 250 meters could be done in 45 seconds.  A recovery 250 meters could be done in about 60 seconds.  There wasn't a lot to be gained from going fast and you would almost certainly pay for it on the thrusters if you did.
• Thrusters: Don't put the barbell down!  Break up the 25 reps each round into reasonable sets.
• Hip extensions: Try and string all 15 each round without stopping for a break.  They weren't going to feel good, but taking a rest here was going to bloat my final time.  These hip extensions were like burpees in a way.  They're gonna suck, but no reason to stop.  Just keep moving even if you're not moving all that fast.

In the early rounds, I kept pace with Neil.  He was faster than me on the rower, but I was staying with him on the thrusters and I was a little quicker on the hip extensions.  Each time I came off of the GHD machine, I would jog back over to my rower because Neil was already at his, strapping in for his next 250 meters.  For my first two rounds, I split my 25 thrusters into sets of 15 and 10.  When I needed a break, I moved the barbell to my back and shook out my legs.  Then I'd pop it back over my head again and continue on with the thrusters.  At the GHD machine, I strung all 15 reps during rounds one and two.

Fatigue began to set in during the third row, but I worked hard to prevent Neil from getting too far ahead of me.  My legs were hurting from both the row and the GHD machine, which helps explain why I could only manage a set of 5 thrusters to kick off round three.  After a short break, I did another 5.  This was a bad plan.  Five sets of five thrusters per round was going to take way too long.  I needed to do bigger sets.  After shaking out my legs some more, I did a set of 8 and then a set of 7 to complete round three.  At the GHD machine, I strung 15 more hip extensions.  They were painful, but I had gotten in a rhythm where my heels were digging into the back of the machine, helping me propel back down into the next rep.  As much as I wanted to break those up, I knew I could withstand the pain for 15 reps each round.

By the time round 4 started, Neil was starting to pull away from me.  He was keeping his time on the rower consistent, while my pace got slower from round to round.  I did improve on the thrusters, going 10-10-5 this time.  I was somewhat worried that I was about to back into Neil because he sounded like he was much closer to me than he was at the beginning of the workout.  I was walking back and forth to stretch out my legs between sets and it seemed like I might be going back more than forth.  (Neil would later assure me that I wasn't moonwalking into him during the thrusters.)  When I got to the GHD machine, I wasn't so eager to put my feet in and start my hip extensions.  I took some time to catch my breath before taking care of 15 consecutive reps.

Neil was well into his row when I came back to start the final round.  I wasn't catching him, but I could keep it respectable.  My row took about a minute.  On my thrusters, I went 10-10-5 again.  And over at the GHD machine, I made it sure it was a clean sweep with 15 more unbroken hip extentions.  Final time: 22:08.

I ended up 54 seconds behind Neil, but I thought I had a fairly respectable showing in this workout.  I wouldn't be surprised if most of that gap came on the rower.  I think the Crossfit Games strategy helped me stay with him on the thrusters.  At the very least, it trimmed a lot of unnecessary rest time from my workout.  If only I could do that everyday.

As I wandered towards the front of the gym, I saw Esra chipping away at her thrusters.  I parked myself on her rower and tried to encourage her to the finish line.  "Almost home", I told her.  Not sure why I tend to use "almost home" rather than "almost done" when cheering people on, but I know I say it a lot.  I did not get the response from Esra that I was expecting.  She turned to her right and shot a death glare in my direction.  What did I do?  Esra let me know that she was not "almost home" because she still had another full round after she completed the one she was on.  Ouch.  I've definitely walked in those shoes before.  I'd guess I wear that brand of footwear at least once per month, if not more.  My immediate reaction was to shut up.  I didn't want to make the experience any worse for her.  I stayed pretty quiet as Esra completed round four.  Once round five began, I started cheerleading again.  I tried to encourage nice hard pulls on the rower.  At the barbell, she did 5 sets of 5 thrusters, with her form looking better in this round than it had in round 4.  She kept the momentum going on the GHD machine and soon she was done.  It's never a wonderful feeling when you're the last one working, but Esra seemed to handle the situation better than I do on most nights.

Wednesday preview: Bryan loves Mary.  I'm decidedly lukewarm on her.  I may need an IV to get through summertime workouts at KOP.