Monday was the start of an insanely busy week for me. Normally the end of October is significant because I'm headed to the Breeders Cup, my favorite event on the horse racing calendar (Opening Day at Saratoga and the National Handicapping Championship are very exciting times for me as well). Due to a mix of factors, I won't be able to attend this year's Breeders Cup, which opened up my calendar to a host of other things. Here's a quick summary of things on tap this week:
- Breeders Cup: Just because I ain't going don't mean I ain't betting.
- World Series: The Mets are still playing baseball. My mind is blown.
- Getting Doctor Coach Sommelier VP Giulz from the airport: To quote #mckeithie, we miss her face. (Okay, he might have said butt, but he usually says face)
- Poker tournament: It's for charity. But it still has that authentic gambling feel to it.
- Wolverine: 120 pull-ups along with a host of other movements. Only 37 people have completed it. I'd like to be #38. Or whatever number I would be after all of the people who finish before me on Saturday write their names on the board.
Thank goodness that I got my Wolverine costume together last week or I'd really be running around like a maniac this week.
Because I don't want to be sore going into Wolverine and because I have that weird delay where my body doesn't feel the brunt of a workout until 48 hours later, my plan for the gym this week was to get through workouts on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, take a couple of days off on Thursday and Friday, then tackle Wolverine on Saturday. Maybe that's a little wimpy. Or maybe I'm doing right by my body for once. My body has seemed very appreciative of the extra rest days I have taken recently, even if it leaves me sitting home antsy about not going to the gym.
The workout on Monday was Jackie. I had completely forgotten about Jackie. During my first few months at KOP, I was atrocious at nearly everything I did. I would scale workouts like crazy and still struggle to get through them. The idea of doing a workout RX didn't seem like much of a realistic goal. I am the stubborn sort though, so I began looking at the different girl WODs online to see which one I might have a shot at performing RX. I landed on Jackie, which is:
- 1,000 meter row
- 50 thrusters at 45 pounds (empty men's barbell)
- 30 pull-ups
Now that might sound like an odd one for me to choose given what you know about me and my struggles with pull-ups. But early on in my Crossfit career, rowing and thrusters were two of the very few movements where I showed some competence. And all of these maniacs around me were telling me how easy kipping was, so it was only a matter of time before I was going to get up on the bar and knock out pull-ups like it was my job. (Spoiler: kipping is not that easy for everyone)
Despite thinking early on that this would be the workout where I would get my first RX, I had never actually done Jackie until Monday night. For whatever reason, I've never been available whenever this workout has been scheduled. I'm sure I would have at least taken it on while using a band for the pull-ups if I had the opportunity. That would have given me some idea of how tough this workout would be prior to Monday. Instead, I went into it with some highly optimistic/delusional thoughts with regards to how quickly I could finish it.
I should mention that the WOD was actually called "Jackie Plus", with the extra caveats being that there was a soft 10 minute time cap (if we weren't done with Jackie, we would make note of how far along we got, then finish Jackie and note the time) and that if we finished under the time cap, any time remaining would be used to complete burpee box jumps. Here were my optimistic thoughts regarding how long the workout would take:
- Row: 1,000 meters could be done in 4 minutes without much stress
- Thrusters: I was just using 115 pounds for these on Saturday! 45 pounds would be a breeze. Should knock out these 50 reps in 2 minutes
- Pull-ups: When we did sets of 10 on Saturday, I estimated that each set took about a minute to do. And we did 3 sets of 10 on Saturday, or the same 30 reps we were doing here. That meant 3 minutes of work.
- Burpee box jumps: 1 minute of pain
Looking at it like that made getting under the 10 minute time cap seem like a slam dunk. It was not.
We had a nice full class of 11 people, which once again meant some cramped quarters, but it wasn't too bad. I was working out in between Steph C and Matt B, with Raj and Erika also at the end of the gym I was stationed at, while Cline, Brian, Chris, Danielle, Julia, and Rachel were towards the other end. Because I was down at the far end with my back to almost everyone else, I couldn't do much in terms of play-by-play during this workout, but Cline filled in the gaps for me post-workout.
We started the row and I was certain Cline would be the first one off the rower. My goal was to have a nice strong row to begin the workout. I didn't want to be huffing and puffing when I was done, but something slightly under 4 minutes would be great. It went even better than that. I have mentioned that my form has improved on the rower, most notably that I'm using my legs more effectively. I finished my first 500 in the 1:43-1:44 range, which meant I was under 3:30 pace for the 1,000 meters. And that was without killing myself on the rower. Good start! I did slow down a little on the second half of the row, but I was somewhere between 3:30 and 3:35 as I got ready to do thrusters. Matt jumped off of his rower at around the same time.
For the thrusters, I wanted to make sure I didn't tax my arms by needlessly holding the barbell in front of my body when it could rest on my body. This is always easier to do when there is some weight on the bar, so my thought was to be methodical, not rushed, as I did these. What I did not factor in was how much of an effect the row would have on my ability to do thrusters. We recently had a workout where we went from a row into thrusters and it was difficult, but again, there was weight on the bar. I thought with an empty bar I could grit my teeth and hang on through 50 reps. I was wrong. I made it to the teens before I had to start fighting. I managed to hold on until I completed 25 reps and then I put the bar down. I kept my break small and went back into more thrusters. It was quickly apparent that I was not going to get the last 25 in a row, so I took another break at 35 reps, before holding on for the final 15 reps. Cline later told me I was the first one to get to the pull-up bar. A quick look at the clock told me 7:15 had elapsed. It was going to be tough finishing under the 10 minute cap.
My breathing was rapid when I got to the pull-up bar, but I took a second to calm myself before jumping to the high bar and stringing 3 reps. Then I strung two sets of 2 reps. Then I did 3 quick singles. Another glance at the clock let me know I was 8:15 into the workout. I had little doubt that I was going to fall short of beating the 10 minute cap. I did 3 more sets of two reps before going into singles. Some of those singles were meant to be sets of two reps, but I didn't have the energy to get the second rep. As the clock neared 10 minutes, I wanted to make sure I got 20 reps in. I heard Keith tell Rachel to get over to the burpee box jumps right before the time cap hit, so I knew she had finished. I knocked out my 20th rep at about the same time. With 10 minutes elapsed, I had 10 more reps to do. I had hit the point where they were all going to be slow singles. I may have been the first one to the pull-up bar, but one by one, other folks in the class were finishing as I kept chipping away at my last 10 reps. Eventually I got the 30th rep done. Final time: 11:41.
Our cash-out was tabata burpee box jumps. Not much to say about this other than I was tired and there was no way I could do more than 4 in 20 seconds. As is usually my pattern, I started out well and finished well, with the middle not so good. I went 4-4-3-3-3-3-4-4 for the 8 rounds to finish with 28 reps.
With everything complete, I had some time to talk with Cline and Rachel. Cline had earlier brought up the topic of the "pity circle", a term I have coined on this blog. He wasn't the first one to let me know that this term probably isn't the best way to describe the folks cheering me on at the end of the workout. After all, in those rare circumstances when I'm done and cheering someone else on, it's not like I am pitying them. I tried to explain it is more about how the person still working feels in that moment, but he had a point. So there will be no more talk of the "pity circle", nor of the "shapeless support crowd" (there really isn't a good replacement for "pity circle", so I either have to use it or completely let it go).
That led to a conversation about not giving myself enough credit and being unable to take compliments. Cline talked about how he used to date girls like that. And that made me realize why guys like Cline won't date me anymore. (I'm kidding! I just had Chipotle with Cline the other night. We went Dutch.) In all seriousness, I'm sure it is a drag to hear someone be all Debbie Downer all the time and I try my best not to fall into that routine. That being said, I wrote the following about one of my weaknesses in my very first blog post:
- Confidence - I have very low self-esteem. Again, I am blessed to be working out with so many good-hearted folks that see me in a different light than I see myself, but it is difficult to bring out the best in yourself when you lack confidence.
It is also difficult to have 35 years of one experience and then suddenly change your perspective based on 2.5 years of a completely different experience. I am slowly trying to become the person who accepts compliments without immediately saying something self-depricating, but it is hard not to fall back into your default mode. Like pull-ups and double unders, it is one more thing that doesn't quite feel natural to me yet, but I'm working on it.
Tuesday preview: 6x6 back squat day! Followed up by some push press, GHD, and double under work.
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