Fall Hours

Workout date: 9/13/17

Did Steph talk to Jenna between the time Dudes After Dark ended and Wednesday afternoon?  Let's examine the evidence.  Steph had asked us for the theme of our create-it-yourself calendars and I indicated that mine would include 12 different flavors of ice cream.  Because that treat should be celebrated all year long!  (Take note, Frosty Falls!)  On Wednesday afternoon, I got a text from Jenna asking if I was coming to her 7:30 class.  Before I could respond, she added that we could go get ice cream from Frosty Falls afterwards if I came to that class.  I had already planned on going to her 7:30 class, but an invitation to post-WOD ice cream sealed the deal.  There was nothing that would keep me away from that 7:30 class.  Not Fran.  Not even a messed-up version of Fran.

I got to the gym about 5 minutes before class and the first person I saw was Neil.  Still giddy about the fact that I was getting ice cream later on, I happily asked Neil if he was interested in joining me and Jenna at Frosty Falls post-workout.  His initial reaction was confusion.  Then he explained to me why he looked so puzzled.  The last time he went by Frosty Falls, he saw a sign that said "Fall Hours".  Apparently the owners of the ice cream shop that we run by everyday had declared that summer was over.

Quick rant: First of all, the autumnal equinox was not until September 22nd, so they were being premature in announcing that fall had begun.  Secondly, it was still 75 degrees outside.  That ain't fall weather.  And last but not least (and I can't stress this strongly enough)...ice cream is not seasonal!  If you can't handle getting an ice cream cone when the leaves start dropping from the trees, then you shouldn't be allowed to have it ever.

Clearly I take ice cream very seriously, something Neil probably saw in my eyes when he told me about "Fall Hours" at Frosty Falls.  He wasn't sure they would be open after class.  His doubts were justified.  Coach Jenna had us run 400 meters to start class and I got to see with my own eyes that Frosty Falls was not open.  I had come to class for no reason.  I mean, I guess you could say that I came for fitness, but that's a terrible reason when compared to ice cream.

How could this night get any worse?  If you included Fran in your answer, then you were correct.  Fran is a 21-15-9 rep scheme of thrusters and pull-ups.  Tonight's WOD?  A 21-15-9 rep scheme of thrusters and pull-ups.  Except these were not your garden variety thrusters.  These were worse.  I told Neil that they should officially call this workout "Shitty Fran".

"Shitty Fran"
21-15-9
DB squat clean thrusters (50/35)
Pull-ups

Back in May we had done a workout with DB squat cleans and pull-ups.  It was terrible.  The DBs are much lower to the ground, so you have to really get yourself into an awkward stance to make the DB squat clean happen.  In this WOD, you didn't just have to squat clean the DBs, you had to do a thruster with them.  And unlike regular Fran, you couldn't string the thrusters by keeping the weight on your body.  With the DB squat clean thrusters, you would have to tap the DBs against the floor at the end of each rep.  Add in that DBs are much less stable than a barbell is and that this workout used more weight than regular Fran (2 x 50 = 100, regular Fran uses a 95 pound barbell) and it's not hard to see why this deserves to be called "Shitty Fran".

In that May workout, I used 45 pound DBs.  I knew I had struggled with them, but I wanted to at least try them out during the warmup to see if 45 squat clean thrusters were feasible with them.  After trying out a few reps, I knew that I needed to go lighter.  I dropped down to 35 pound DBs.  Brian S would go with the same weight, while Erik used 30 pound DBs.  Neil was the only one in our class that didn't need to scale.

The WOD got underway and I discovered that the DB squat clean thrusters weren't as bad as I expected them to be.  Probably a sign that I chose the proper weight for this workout.  I went 9-7-5 in the round of 21 and then headed to the pull-up rig.  When I got to my bar, I started with a set of 3.  Then I switched to back-to-back sets of doubles.  I would do 2 reps, drop to the floor, then jump right back up for another set of 2.  I did that three times, bringing me up to 15 reps.  From there, I completed the round with 6 quick singles.

For the round of 15, I went with three equal sets of 5 reps on the DB squat clean thrusters.  I might have been able to do more if the movement wasn't so darn awkward.  I'd get through 3-4 reps before my form started to waver.  I refused to stop until I completed 5 reps, even if the last rep or two was on the ugly side.  Over at the pull-up rig, I did sets of quick singles with large breaks in between.  The number of singles I did in each set went 4-4-4-3.

Brian was finishing off his workout when I came back to the DBs for the final round, but Neil and Erik were still working.  I knew I couldn't hang on for 9 consecutive squat clean thrusters, so I would have to split those reps into two sets.  I had gotten into a rhythm of making it through 5 reps in a set, so I went 5-4 in the last round.  I got to the pull-up rig ahead of Erik but behind Neil.  I wanted to try and get 9 singles without a break in the hopes of catching Neil, but I was out of breath after 6 pull-ups.  As I jumped up to do my 7th rep, I saw Neil finish.  Probably would have caught him if I didn't take that break.  Oh well.  I took care of the last 3 pull-ups and laid on the floor to recover.  Final time: 13:31.

There were still 10 minutes left in class, so Jenna recommended that we do a cash-out.  It would be a partner cash-out featuring the ski erg.  Each team needed to accumulate 50 calories on the erg.  While one partner skied, the other partner held a plank.  Brian and Neil were one team with Erik and I making up the second squad.  Erik agreed with me that doing 25 calories at a time was a bit aggressive, so we both decided that we would do two rounds on the erg.  The first would be 15 calories in length and the second would be a mere 10.  Erik went first, so I got comfortable in my plank.  Eventually he tagged me in for 15 calories, then he did his last 10.  I began sprinting through my final 10 calories with Neil still working next to me.  I didn't catch him in the WOD, but here...here, I also did not catch him.  Damn you, Neil!  I had 3 pull-ups left in the workout when he finished and I had 3 calories left in the cash-out when he was done on the erg.  I'm pretty sure that if we had wrapped up the evening with an ice cream eating contest at Frosty Falls, I would have finished 3 scoops behind Neil.  Looks like I was saved by "Fall Hours"!

Jenna felt bad about not delivering on her ice cream promise, so she offered to go for beers at the Bridgeport Brew Pub as a substitute.  Beer sounded nice, but the more pressing issue was that I was starving.  As long as we were getting food, I was in.  Jenna said that worked for her, so we went across the street where I gobbled down an order of steak frites (so fancy!) while Jenna told me about her upcoming trip to Mexico to celebrate her anniversary.

Thursday preview: We're testing our 1RM snatch for the 237th time this summer.  I do a cash-out and manage to stay under the time cap.  I begin my own personal Endurance class.