Not My Favorite Cousin

Workout date: 10/10/16

My parents visited this weekend and there is one thing that I can count on every time they drop by: a trip to Maggiano's.  Jenn and I had our rehearsal dinner there 10 years ago and ever since then, my parents have expressed a desire to go back every time they are in town.  Jenn actually made the reservation before my mom had the opportunity to text me about having dinner there.  Life gets a little predictable as you get older.

Why am I telling you about Maggiano's?  Because family-style eating at an Italian restaurant is probably not high on the list of "successful ways people have gotten leaner".  It has become abundantly clear over the last 5 weeks that I can handle my diet from Monday through Friday, but once the weekend comes around, things go downhill.  It is very difficult to remain sociable while adhering to stricter eating standards.  I'm guessing the folks at Maggiano's would not have been pleased if I showed up with one of my smoothies and declined pasta and dessert.

With that in mind, I got ready to stand on the scale this morning with the expectation that I might have packed back on some of the 3.4 pounds I lost last week.

Original weigh-in:  213.2 pounds
Last week's weigh-in:  209.8 pounds
This week's weigh-in:  209.8 pounds

That's strange.  I'm beginning to wonder whether my scale has a finite amount of readings that it will display for me.  Apparently 213.2 and 209.8 are popular ones at the moment.  This upcoming week will be another toughie for me as I head out to Vegas from Wednesday through Sunday for the Fall Classic handicapping tournament at the Orleans.  I'm bringing my jump rope with me and dammit, it will be used!  (I should probably do some push-ups and sit-ups as well.)

October begins the 4th and final cycle of the benchmark WODs that we have been doing throughout the year and on Monday night, we bid adieu to Christine.

"Christine"
3 rounds
500 meter row
12 body-weight deadlifts (thank God I weighed myself this morning!)
21 box jumps (24"/20")

I knew that my bald partner-in-crime Chris D would be at the gym this evening because this is his favorite workout.  I should have known Bryan would be there too because that man loves him some box jumps.  You know what fellas?  Invite 17 of your closest friends.  Let's pack the house one more time on a Monday evening.  The 6:30 class last Monday had 21 people in it and we came very close to duplicating that with 20 attendees this evening.  With so many people in class, we needed to run Christine in two heats.

Coach Giulz got the class started by introducing us to her cousin, Katie.  Then she had us do an ice breaker where we went around saying our name and the name of our favorite cousin.  It was a bit awkward when Giulz and Katie both had to lie about being each other's favorite cousin, but we made it around the circle with a 90 percent honesty rate.  When the 20 of us returned from a 400 meter run, we paired off into 10 groups for the workout.  Chris did not partner up with me, probably so he could kick my ass while going in the same heat.  He joined Bryan to form a box-jumping supergroup, while I teamed up with Mike R to form an actuarial supergroup.  Both supergroups sounded equally intimidating.

After some additional warmup, we got ready to go with Mike leading things off for our group and Bryan leading things off for Team Box Jump.  They were working right next to each other, so Chris and I took turns cheering both of them on.  Mike did well on the rower, then methodically took care of his deadlifts.  While he wasn't rebounding on his box jumps, he moved through them about as quickly as you could without rebounding.  He was the first one back to his rower, although Ashley was right on his tail.

Mike was methodical in all respects during this workout.  When he sat on his rower to begin round two, he calmly leaned to his right, picked up his water bottle, took a swig, and then continued on.  He seemed very composed throughout this workout, a trait I can't attribute to myself (as you'll see in the photo later on).  Mike was off the rower just before Ashley, but she caught him on the deadlifts.  Both were impressive on the box jumps, although I could see from Mike's face that he was not enjoying this part of the workout anymore.  Ashley got back to her rower first to begin round three and I tried to motivate Mike by telling him to go catch her.  Mike calmly drank from his water bottle as I spewed encouragement.  Clearly I'm no Tony Robbins.

Ashley was back to her barbell first and all indications from the first two rounds were that this is where she was going to pull away.  And she did.  Mike gutted his way through three sets of four deadlifts (pretty sure he's not a big fan of deadlifts) before coming back to his box to wrap up his workout.  That last set of box jumps looked like agony for him, but he kept chipping away until his third round of 21 reps was complete.

The brutal final round of box jumps

Bryan was still working when Mike had finished up, so I went to cheer him on.  He definitely struggled on the deadlifts, eventually needing to drop from body weight to 30 pounds less than that in the last round.  I think Bryan is still getting used to certain elements of Crossfit and I'm sure it won't be long before he feels more comfortable with deadlifts.  (Note: He told me during the 400 meter run that he now has chest-to-bar pull-ups.  If an advanced move like that came quickly to him, so will deadlifts.)

Heat 1 was done and I added weight to the barbell because I weigh 210 pounds and Mike does not.  Other people were still setting up their barbells, so I figured I had time to pee.  Glad it was a quick pee, because when I came back out, most of the people in heat 2 were beginning to sit on their rowers.  I jogged over to mine and as I put my feet in the straps, Giulz clicked the remote to reset the clock.  We were going right now!

The first row was all about being controlled.  Don't get exhausted early on, but don't go super slow either.  My pace felt comfortable and I tried to use my legs as much as I could, something I've never been very good at while rowing.  I remembered doing this earlier in the year and struggling with my deadlift because I had used my arms so much on the row.  Didn't want that to happen again.  I wasn't moving back and forth as fast as Chris was on his rower, so I assumed that he was ahead of me.  In fact, I figured several people were ahead of me because my pace was about 1:50 the whole way.  I was pleasantly surprised to see I was the first one off of the rower.

Because of my bathroom break, I didn't get a chance to test out the deadlifts at 210 pounds.  However, I remembered from Friday that I was going to need to fire myself up if I was going to move that weight 12 times per round.  I went right into my first set and started moving through reps as quickly as I could.  Early on, the thought of trying to string all 12 crossed my mind.  Then I ignored that thought.  Stringing 12 reps at that weight would be pushing it and I definitely wouldn't be able to do it for all three rounds.  I made it to 8 reps before dropping my barbell.  That seemed alright to me. I didn't take a long break before taking care of the last 4 reps.  Yet when I turned to go to my box, I saw Chris was now ahead of me.  Bastard!  He must have strung all 12 of his.

I didn't think I could catch Chris on the box jumps because I had no plans of rebounding during them.    I was stepping down each time.  That was slower, but rebounding has sapped my legs in the past and I needed my legs for two more rounds of this workout.  This was the second surprise of the workout for me as I stayed fairly close to Chris while churning through my 21 reps.  I was only a few seconds behind him as I came back to my rower.  That was when I saw Chris meant business.  As he got ready to row for the second time, he took off his shirt, Crossfit Games-style.  I responded by...keeping my shirt on.

Giulz had been telling the first heat how important it was to push hard through the second round as many people share my affliction of letting the workout get away from them in the middle rounds.  I had completed the first round in about 3:45, so I was on a good pace.  I wasn't exactly sure what my best time was on this workout, but I thought it was over 13 minutes.  I couldn't let my pace drop off in the second round to something like 5 minutes.  That second row was going to suck, but I needed to keep it respectable and that was what I did, finishing in the 2:05-2:10 range.  That wasn't fast enough to keep pace with Chris and there seemed little chance of me making up ground on the deadlifts, so I accepted the fact that he was ahead of me for good and did my best to prevent the gap between us from growing out of control.

Chris getting a head start on the second round of deadlifts

I walked to my barbell, giving myself a chance to calm down from the second row.  I took a deep breath, then began my deadlifts.  They were much less pleasant in this round and I considered stopping after 6 reps.  I hate leaving myself an equal number on the back end though, so I hung on for 7 reps, leaving myself 5 to go.  As much as I didn't want to go into my resting squat in this workout, I did it.  I needed some recovery if I was going to string the last 5 reps.  After a short break, I got up and held on for 5 reps.

Pain setting in during round two

The box jumps were slower for everyone at the conclusion of round two and I was no exception.  I think I had a medium-sized set to begin, but I needed a moment after that.  From there on, I tried to do sets of four or five at a time.  I took a glance at the clock when I was about halfway done and it showed about 7:30 had elapsed.  That was very good for me.  By the time I wrapped up my box jumps, the clock was in the 8:05-8:10 range.  I had made a good push on round two, but I needed to hold on to that pace for one more round if I was going to break 13 minutes.

I didn't get off to a good start.  I felt like I was pulling strongly during that third row, but the monitor said otherwise.  My pace was in the 2:15-2:20 range and I couldn't seem to lower it even though Mike was yelling encouragement to me.  Chris was off of his rower as I passed 250 meters, meaning I was now about a minute behind him.  I knew at this point that I was going to have to make up time somewhere else and that was probably going to have to happen at the deadlift.  When I finished up on the rower, I got up and walked briskly to my barbell.  No time for a break.  I put my hands on it and started working towards 12 reps.  Tried to ignore the pain as best as I could, but that only got me to 7 reps.  I kept my break short, but I couldn't hold on for the final 5 reps when I went again.  Only got 3. Mike was telling me to get the last two reps, but I needed another short break first.  Took care of the last 2 reps and headed to my box.

I must have done two sets of four and one set of five to get to 13 reps, because I remember standing on the box with 8 reps remaining thinking "just two more sets of 4".  I really wanted to get at least one large set, but I know that didn't happen.  I couldn't handle more than 4-5 reps in a row at this point.  I was almost done, but my legs were definitely wobbly.  I did another set of 4, then stood on my box for a break.  While I was up there, I looked at the clock.  It was nearing 12:45.

How dare you suggest this isn't an athletic pose!

If I was breaking 13 minutes, I had to move.  I stepped down immediately and tried to do the four quickest box jumps I could.  When the fourth one was done, I looked up again.  Final time: 12:55.

Exhausted, but very happy to break 13 minutes.  It was also the rare box jump workout where I didn't trip at some point.  I couldn't hang with Chris (he finished in 11:39), but he's a body weight ninja and this workout favored lighter guys.  As one of the heavier guys in class, I think I did pretty well.

KOP's summer intern, Sarina, was back for one class with us as she was visiting for the weekend before heading back to college.  Sarina was a great addition to the KOP family and even though she is no longer technically the intern, she looked like she was still fulfilling that role.  Among the things she took care of tonight was the inputting of scores for the KOP blog.  Giulz had written all of them on the board.  Okay, maybe not all of them.  She asked if she had forgotten anyone and I told her she had forgotten her favorite cousin, Dave.  She then added me to the group and I let her know that my time was a PR.  Some time later, I checked my phone to make sure it was a PR and saw "Dave 12:50" in the January results.  Oops.  I went over to Sarina and asked if the results were already on the blog and she confirmed that they were.  I told her about my mistake and she shook her head.  She said she would fix it on the blog.  I mentioned that it was okay to use hashtags like #Davelied, #notaPR, and #notmyfavoritecousin to explain why the change was necessary.

(Note: When I got home, I looked at my Excel spreadsheet and did not see 12:50 for my January time.  After checking the January results on the KOP blog again, I realized I was looking at the results for the wrong Dave.  So this was my first time breaking 13 minutes and therefore was a PR.  Guess I lied twice.)

Double under update: Prior to class, I worked on double unders again.  I believe I did better in terms of taking smaller jumps.  And I got 68 in a row!  (Things start falling apart around 50 reps and it was all I could do to make it past 66, my old record.)  After class, I was determined to keep practicing.  I was tired and did lots of lousy sets, but I did have one where I strung 48 reps.  Just gotta keep practicing and I'll get to 75 in a row.

Tuesday preview: 25 minutes of light thrusters, burpees, and light sumo deadlift high pulls.  Sounds like a cardio/mental challenge to me.

No Intrinsic Motivation

Workout dates: 10/7/16 and 10/9/16

A few people had mentioned feeling sluggish before we took on the mile time trial at Endurance on Thursday.  I wasn't feeling drained when I showed up to the track, but 18 hours later, I began to empathize with my lethargic classmates.  I hadn't slept well all week long and I knew early on Friday morning that it was going to be difficult to summon up the energy I needed for the strength-focused WOD we would be taking on.  That WOD is called Crossfit Total.

Crossfit Total is a WOD where you get three attempts to find your 1RM back squat, 1RM shoulder press, and 1RM deadlift, with your score being the sum of your three maxes.  Chances were slim that I'd be passing my previous best score of 830 pounds, so I was looking at this workout as an opportunity to test two things:

1. Could I still back squat 300 pounds?  (My max is 330)
2. Could I finally deadlift 400 pounds?  (My max has been 385 forever)

Both of those things were not going to happen and there was a solid chance neither would happen, but I'd be happy if I could manage one of them, with my bias being towards the latter.

We were one short of this week's magic number of 11 at the Friday nooner.  I blame Aimee because she did not show up to coach this class like she normally does.  Coach Steph was filling in for her today.  Steph got us warmed up and then had us walk through each of the lifts before talking to us about how we should approach this WOD.  We were only supposed to make three true attempts at each lift, but the amount of warmup lifts you could take was unlimited.  Essentially, this is an honor system workout.  Once you say you're beginning your three attempts, it is on you to only use your next three lifts towards your score.  Steph let everyone know that the first of the three lifts should be a weight that we felt almost certain about getting.  That didn't mean we should go light, but it also shouldn't have been a weight where we might have to worry about failing with it three times.  The third lift should be a very difficult weight, possibly a PR attempt.  And should we manage a PR, Steph had the PR bell ready for us to ring.  It awaited us on the floor in the middle of the gym.

I took up residence at the far end of the gym, setting up my rack, bringing over my lifting shoes and belt, and assembling stacks of plates that I would need primarily for the back squat and the deadlift.  The back squat was the first lift we had to complete and I began warming up by doing 5 reps at 135.  Yes, we were only finding a 1RM for each lift, but I wanted to get loose and some extra reps with a lower weight was the way to do it.  I went to 185 next and did 3 reps.  No real problems there, but it felt heavier than 185 typically does.  The plan was to do 2 reps at 225 pounds, but I called an audible and did my first single rep at that weight.  I had reached the point where an extra rep wasn't going to help me (in terms of warming up) as much as it would hurt me (because I wasn't feeling very energetic).  The rep at 225 didn't feel all that smooth and part of me worried that the plan I had come up with for my three legit lifts (285-305-325) might have been too aggressive considering that I didn't feel 100%.  Despite feeling weaker than normal, I convinced myself that I would get that first lift at 285, so I rolled on with the plan.  I did one more practice rep at 255 (felt kinda similar to 225) before getting started with my three real attempts.

Although I prefer the front squat to the back squat, I believe going through 4 iterations of squat programs has led to improvement in my back squat form, especially when I only need to do 1 rep.  After putting 285 on the barbell, I stepped back from it, got my mind right, then tried to be aggressive as soon as my hands were on the barbell.  I removed it from the rack, remained patient as I got my feet where I wanted them and then tightened my core.  If I failed at this weight, it was purely going to be due to the fact that I didn't have it today.  I lowered into the squat and had my toughest challenge yet when I tried to rise up, but I never hit my sticking point.  I stood the weight up, placed it back on the rack, and felt mildly relieved that I had a score.

From there, I was playing with house money.  If I didn't get 305 or 325, I couldn't be too upset.  I would like to believe that I can still back squat more than 300 pounds, but today's results might not be representative of my true ability.  That being said, my mental approach as I took on 305 was that I was 100%.  Even if I wasn't, I was going to amp myself up so that the adrenaline in my body made me feel like I was 100%, at least for a few seconds.  The second back squat felt very heavy, especially when I reached the bottom.  I hit the sticking point and pressed my hips forward to try and get out of it.  It worked, but the problem was that I pressed forward so much that I began getting up on my toes. While I am sure it wasn't the prettiest lift, I kept it under control and placed 305 back on the rack.

The final lift was likely another example of not believing that I could get the lift based on how difficult the previous attempt was.  If 305 was that hard, how was I going to get 325?  In retrospect, maybe I should have just went with 315 instead.  Oh well.  The plan had worked to this point, so I stuck with it.  I tried to be as patient with that squat as I had with the first two, but the feedback I got afterwards makes me think I might have rushed it.  I got to the bottom of the squat and hit my sticking point while trying to stand up.  I ended up bouncing back down to the bottom about three times in an attempt to get some momentum, but I couldn't make it past that sticking point.  I reluctantly dumped the barbell.  Steph mentioned that it's always tough getting your speed right in the descent, that you don't want to crash down into the bottom, but that you also don't want to go too slow on the way down.  My gut tells me that I was likely guilty of the former.  Back squat final score: 305.

The express is 15 minutes shorter than a normal class and I had already used up most of the class on my back squats.  I decided to move faster on the shoulder press.  I did 5 reps at 65 pounds.  Then I did 3 reps at 95 pounds.  I moved on to a single for the last practice rep (at 115) before getting into my real reps.  It was awkward getting it started, but once I did, the weight was fine.  That's always the case with me when it comes to the shoulder press.  I am not good at getting that initial momentum with the barbell.  In the push press and push jerk, I can use my legs to generate that momentum.  That isn't allowed with the shoulder press, so I struggle.  My plan was to try 125-135-145 for my three lifts, with 145 clearly falling in the "would take a miracle" range.  After my lift at 125, I worried that I needed to move 135 into that range as well.  I can't remember the last time I struggled that much with 125 on the shoulder press, but it did not go up as smoothly as I would have liked.

I don't think that lift at 125 defeated me mentally, but there's always the possibility that it did.  If I've been guilty of letting a struggle in an earlier lift have an effect on my lifts going forward, then the unexpected difficulty at 125 may have marred my chances at 135.  Or I could just have weak shoulders.  I took 135 from the rack and that thing went nowhere.  I suppose it moved an inch or two off of my shoulders, but it was hardly noticeable.  Since it had barely moved, I gave the press a second shot while I still it had under control, but I couldn't get it moving with any force.  I placed the barbell back on the rack, a little bit angry with how that second attempt went.  After a few minutes, I used my third attempt on a shot at redemption with 135, but it went about as well as my previous attempt had.  While my sluggishness may have only had a minimal effect on my back squat, it had a huge effect here.  Shoulder press final score: 125.

I received some feedback from Steph on that final attempt.  She pointed out that my elbows were not forward like they should have been.  The idea that it may have been a form issue rather than an energy issue gave me some hope that I might perform well on the deadlift.  Even though I tried to move through the shoulder press quickly, I was still behind the class with my lifts, as one of my classmates (Nick) was done already.  I stole a couple of his 45 pound plates as he was putting his equipment away.  All my practice lifts were going to be singles as I didn't have time or energy to spare.  I did reps at 225, 275, and 315 to get ready for the three real lifts at 365, 385, and 405.  My original plan was to do a fourth practice rep at 345 to bridge the gap from the warmup lifts to the real lifts, but I had reached the "screw it" phase of the proceedings.

As was the case with the back squat and the shoulder press, my first real lift was not as easy as it should have been.  My 3RM for the deadlift is 375 pounds, so getting one rep at 365 shouldn't have been a big problem, but I had to shimmy that barbell up my legs to reach full lockout position.  Once again, I was grateful just to have a score.  I moved up to 385 thinking that this was probably a weight that I could squeeze out before faltering at my attempt to break 400 on the final lift.  I was mistaken.  Just as my second shoulder press attempt barely came off of my body, my second deadlift attempt hardly left the floor.  I rolled my eyes and decided to take a few minutes to reset before giving it one more go.  In the meantime, everyone else was done and putting their equipment away, so I started putting away all of the plates I was no longer using.  Might as well be productive during my break from lifting.

I came back to a very clean area when I was ready for attempt #3.  It was my loaded barbell with nothing else nearby.  I tried to psyche myself up, knowing that if I could get the barbell moving, I could probably slowly stand up with it.  Alas, it was not meant to be.  I gave it all I had, but the barbell stubbornly clung to the floor.  Deadlift final score: 365.  Crossfit Total: 795.

After I had dismantled my barbell and put the weights away, I hung out for a little while with Rich A and Steph.  Rich was working on his toes-to-bar after putting up a very nice score of 900 pounds in the workout.  Steph was deciding whether she wanted to work out now or later.  We got into a discussion about how much of a factor mental strength is in a WOD like Crossfit Total.  Steph had an interesting observation when talking about how you need a lot more mental strength for the shoulder press and the deadlift than the back squat.  Why, you ask?  Because it requires intrinsic motivation to move the weight.  When you have 300 pounds on your back, you want to stand it up and get it off of you.  Having that much weight on your body provides all of the motivation that you need to complete the lift.  But with the shoulder press, you generally have a lighter weight that you'd feel comfortable holding on your collarbone if need be.   It can sit there and it's not much of an issue.  An even stronger example is the deadlift.  That weight is sitting on the floor.  If you don't lift it, your body isn't in any danger.  As a result, you need to independently summon up the energy to move the weight.

I wanted to summon up the energy to get in some double under practice.  Same routine as usual: try to get at least one big set, preferably of the 50 of more in a row variety.  As has become my habit, that one big set came about in my very first set.  I got the rope going and before I knew it, I was up to 20 reps.  I tried to remain calm as my count grew, but at around 35 reps I was beginning to feel a bit tired.  Right as I got to 40 reps, Rich said "very nice Dave".  I tried to use that compliment to create some additional positive energy to keep me going.  I passed 50 reps and I was now jumping wildly as the smaller jump was not going to work at this point.  My PR of 62 was on the horizon if I could keep it together a little bit longer.  61...62...63.  I ended up getting through 66 reps before I simply couldn't jump any more.  I was exhausted, but I made my way to the middle of the gym, picked up the PR bell and gave it a ring.  Definitely salvaged the workout for me.

Rich told me after the set that I was still jumping higher than I needed to, even early on in the set.  He described my jump as a jump with a knee lift (he even did an impression of what I was doing).  He felt that if I could take smaller jumps and eliminate the knee lift, it would keep me from getting so tired as I did larger sets of double unders.  So I need to go back to practicing the smaller jump.  I'll probably go back and forth between practicing the smaller jump and practicing getting huge sets.  After all, I'm only nine reps away from 75 in a row, which has become my intermediate goal for consecutive double unders.

I didn't work out on Saturday.  I desperately needed a rest day.  I thought working out during the presidential debate would be a better use of my time than watching that nonsense, so I went outside on Sunday night and practiced the smaller jump.  I still need a bigger jump to get the set started, but I did my best to take small hops from that point forward and actually got a set of 46 reps along the way.  After finishing up double under practice, I came inside to row.  The plan was to do intervals where I would row 1,000 meters with a pace under 4 minutes, get a minute rest, then take on another 1,000 meters at the same pace.  I wasn't sure how many intervals I could handle, but I could tell after the first 1,000 meters that it wouldn't be many.  I was feeling off again.  I got through a second round of 1,000 meters under 4 minutes, but I called it a night after that.  Wish I could have done more, but this felt like an instance where I needed to listen to what my body was telling me.

Monday preview: It's a benchmark day and we're taking on Christine for the final time in 2016.  Rowing, deadlifts, and box jumps await.

My 100 Meter Pace Is My Mile Pace

Workout date: 10/6/16

I had a lot of silly ideas about how much exercise I'd do on Thursday.  My legs were still a little beaten up, but I was definitely going to Endurance for the final mile time trial of the year.  I didn't realize the new Thursday 7:30 class was starting this week, so it was possible for me to go to Endurance at 5:30, chill for a while, then hit up the 7:30 WOD.  That was under consideration until I saw the crazy ass workout programmed for today.  It involved three five-minute rounds where you would do a bunch of calories on the rower, rounds of Cindy (pull-ups, push-ups, and air squats), and if you had any time remaining, as many power cleans (weights varied by round) as possible.  Between each round you got five minutes rest (huge red flag).  Your score was how many power cleans you completed.  Thoughts ran through my head about how I'd probably score zero on the later rounds.  When I saw that Rob C and Pam got a score of zero on their final round during the nooner, my fears were confirmed.  Screw that.  I wasn't interested in doing some workout where I'd go nuts for 5 minutes and receive a score of zero.

If I wanted to supplement Endurance, I could do a rowing workout at home or I could throw in some double under practice.  I was concerned that rowing might kill my legs too much in advance of the mile, so I only worked on my dubs.  The goal was to do a very large set, optimally one that exceeded 50 reps.  If I could get more than 62, I'd have a new PR.  I began my first set and immediately hooked a big one.  I tried to remain calm, but fatigue began to set in at about 40 reps again.  As I passed 50 reps, I started having thoughts that I might PR.  That would have to wait another day.  After 58 reps, the rope hit me.  It was nice that I reached my goal for the day on my first set though.  I tried some additional sets, but didn't put together any that exceeded 25 reps.  I brought my rope to the track with me in case I had any energy after Endurance.  (Spoiler: I did not.)

11 was a popular number this week as today's attendance at Endurance matched what we had at Dudes After Dark.  Most of the regulars were there, along with some old-school Endurance folks who hadn't been there for a while (says the guy who disappeared for 5 weeks) like Laura P, Justin R, and Luke.  We did two laps of Indian Runs and then Tim had us go through an assortment of drills.  We did a little stretching out along the fence before making the slow walk down to the starting line.

Coach Tim gave us some pointers before we began our four-lap journey.  He told us to stay as close to the inside as possible during the run.  Flounder took this to an extreme by lining up on the inside of the front row like he always does.  (That was a little mean, but he'll be happy that I mentioned him in the blog.  And he'll give me a bunch of shit the next time I see him.)  Tim also told us to kinda go hard on the first lap, but that we should also maintain our pace on the remaining laps.  And when we hit the final lap, we should really kick it in.  So to recap, we needed to stay on the inside while running fast, fast, fast, and very fast over the course of four laps.  Got it.

If you had asked me prior to the time trial who I would wager on to cross the finish line first, it would be Justin.  I've done time trials and 5K's with him and the guy can run.  He has that easy gliding along style like Laura A does.  Never looks like he's exerting a ton of energy, but he keeps moving away from everyone else.  Before class began, he admitted that the mile was better for him than any of the sprint work we do at Endurance because, as he put it, "my 100 meter pace is my mile pace".  If anyone might be able to catch him over the next 1,600 meters, it was probably going to be John M.  He had told me earlier in the week that he had a time in mind for the mile, but he wouldn't share it with me in advance.  My guess was that he wanted to break 6 minutes.

I was part of the back row as Tim sent us on our way.  Off to a slow start yet again as John, Joy, Laura, and Flounder went out to the front.  Luke was behind them and then came Justin.  I followed Justin through the first 100 meters or so before going around him.  It didn't feel like I was going incredibly fast, so I was surprised that I went by him.  I didn't have to worry about Justin hanging behind me for very long.  As we went into the second turn, Justin went right on by me.  Then he passed Luke.  He would later claim that he didn't accelerate much at the end of the first lap, but by the time he revisited the starting line, he was already in the process of passing the lead quartet.

While Justin was in the midst of putting the rest of us to shame, I was working on reeling in the people in front of me.  I didn't get my splits at the end of class, but I know I was around 1:35 at the end of the first lap.  It didn't seem like the people in front of me were slowing all that much, so I was going to have to earn it if I was going to catch up with them.  At some point during that second lap, I was able to catch Luke.  My next target was Flounder.

We were halfway done and my time was in the neighborhood of 3:15.  That was a faster pace than we had run in the mile time trial that I participated in during the summer.  It would have been awesome to get a breather during the third lap so I could finish strongly.  That is what I typically do in a workout.  I drop off in the middle and then give it everything I have left at the end.  I needed to break that habit.  As I began lap #3, I decided that I was going to push hard a lap early and hope for the best on the last lap.  When we hit the back straightaway, I went past Flounder.  As I went by, I prayed that he didn't pick up his pace in an attempt to stay in front of me.  This third lap was tough enough already.  I didn't need to battle him in order to get by.  Luckily, he let me go.  Having passed Flounder, I set my sights on John and Laura.  They were running together as Joy had gotten away from them a little bit.  I kept on trying to accelerate, but I wasn't making much progress.  When I hit 1,200 meters, Tim said my time was 5:09.

That third lap of approximately 1:54 might not sound very fast, but that was usually the lap where I'd throw in a lap of over two minutes.  And I was excited to know that I had a chance to break 7 minutes if I could hang in there for one more lap.  Everyone in front of me at that point had clearly found a little extra in reserve as they hit the final lap, so I gave up on trying to catch them.  My main focus was running fast enough to break 7 minutes.  My secondary focus was not letting anybody pass me on the last lap.  No one went by on the first half of the final lap.  As I hit the final turn, I looked to the inside of the track.  That was where the shadows of the runners could be found.  Was Flounder or Luke right behind me?  Was Maggie going to show off her sprint speed again and go flying by me?  I looked to the infield and saw only my own shadow.  I think that means there will be 6 more weeks of Endurance.

As I came into the final straightaway, I wanted to get up on my toes and sprint.  I just couldn't.  I was pumping my arms and running fast, but I was too tired to do a full sprint.  I didn't hear anyone coming up on me and those who had finished were yelling my name and no one else's.  It seemed like I was in the clear.  I hit the finish line and Tim told me I ran 6:54.  Yes!  I broke seven minutes!  It's not all that fast, but it was a goal of mine.  After being 6 seconds on the wrong side of that threshold in my earlier mile time trial, I had now finished 6 seconds to the good.  Symmetry is a beautiful thing.

When I completed the run, I took a few steps before sitting down on the track in lane 3.  I wasn't close enough to the finish line that I had to worry about anyone running over me.  I got to see Mike Santivasci and Flounder come down the stretch together, with Mike winning that battle by two seconds.  They would be followed by Luke, Jen, and Alona.  Wait, where was Maggie?  I hadn't realized it, but I dodged a bullet with her.  I didn't see her shadow on the turn and I hadn't heard her steps or her breathing during that last 100 meter stretch, but I later learned that she was flying on her last lap.  I crossed the finish line only three seconds before she did.  I am very glad that she wasn't close enough to force me to sprint at the end because I highly doubt I would have been able to hold her off.

Tim had us walk 100 meters and then slowly jog 200 meters to get us back to the starting line that we use for most of the workouts.  He let us know that we only had 400 meters left.  Those 400 meters would be done in four 100 meter sprints.  At the end of the sprints, we'd have to do some body weight movement.  Station 1 was 20 push-ups, station 2 was 20 jumping jacks, station 3 was 20 alternating lunges, and station 4 was 20 mountain climbers.  That wasn't all because every ice cream sundae needs a cherry on top.  Once we completed the 20 mountain climbers, we had to hold a plank for as long as possible.  It all sounded terrible.

We lined up for one last lap of pain.  We headed off for our first sprint and Maggie shot ahead of everyone.  I'm not sure if a split second of excessive competitiveness ran through my mind as we ran down the track, but as I watched her pull away from us, something in my head said "at least make her work for it".  I got up on my toes and kicked it into high gear.  Did I catch her?  Of course not.  She has some afterburners that the manufacturer forgot to install on my model.  I was at least able to make it close.

I dropped to the track to do my push-ups.  I'm not sure if you've ever tried to do push-ups after doing an all-out sprint, but let me tell you they are damn near impossible.  I did two then had to stop.  I was breathing so hard that I decided to start doing the rest from my knees.  Even with that help, I was either the last or second-to-last person to hit the second run.  Know who can do push-ups after a sprint?  Luke.  I had done those two push-ups before he had done any, yet he was gone before I got to 12.  He was the first one off to the jumping jacks.

My performance for the rest of the lap was pretty pathetic.  Those push-ups were the end for me.  I wasn't able to come close to duplicating that first sprint in any of the three remaining ones.  The exercises weren't bad, but I certainly didn't sprint through those either.  After completing the mountain climbers, I went into my final plank.  Flounder would tell me that my ass was up during this plank and maybe it was, but I was all about zoning out and trying to maintain this hold for as long as I could.  Tim told us to try and hold it for a minute.  I think most people made it that long, but I couldn't tell because I decided to close my eyes fairly early on.  Alona started a few seconds before me, a fact I knew because Tim would alert her as to how long she had held the plank and then let me know where I was soon after.  Alona hit a minute, I hit a minute.  She got to 1:30, I got to 1:30.  We were the only two still going.  The rest of the class was telling us to keep holding the plank.  Alona got to 2:00, I got to 2:00.  This was much better than I was expecting, but I knew I wasn't going to make it much longer.  Tim mentioned closing in on 2:30, but I think I gave out before I hit that checkpoint.  When I looked over, Alona was no longer planking either, so she probably came down at around the same time as me.  Just shy of 2:30?  Let's unofficially say I tied my plank PR.

Luke asked me if I wanted to do a cool down lap with him and I jumped in, but not before peer pressuring John into coming along with us.  I asked John to finally reveal what time he was going after in the mile and he told me it was 6:15.  He seemed a bit disappointed about running 6:35 in the time trial, but I think many people showed up today and expressed that they were feeling a little sluggish.  On a day when he's feeling completely fresh, I imagine John would come very close to 6:15.

Friday preview: Back squat + shoulder press + deadlift = Crossfit Total.  Can I still back squat over 300 pounds?  And could this be the day I finally deadlift 400 pounds?

L.E.D.

Workout date: 10/5/16

Last week's workouts were heavily focused on the legs.  That theme didn't seem to have changed much when this week rolled around.  There was lots of squatting on Monday, then there was the painful combo of the assault bike and box jumps on Tuesday.  When I looked on Tuesday night at what the WOD would be for Wednesday, I saw the following:

Wednesday's WOD:
21-15-9-6-3
Dumbbell (DB) thrusters (55/35)
*Complete a 400 meter run after every round of dumbbell thrusters

Making matters worse was the fact that I had a meeting on Wednesday night, so I'd have to attend the nooner.  That wasn't much of a rest period for my legs.  They weren't in pain or anything when I made my way to the gym for this workout, but I could tell they weren't fully recovered from the assault bike.  With that in mind, I knew Wednesday would end up becoming an LED.

What's an LED?  For starters, it's an acronym that I just made up.  It stands for Low Expectation Day.  The Wednesday WOD was one of those run-heavy workouts where you perform some movement that destroys your legs before you head out the door for a quarter-mile jog.  Sometimes you can make it through the first run or two at a decent speed, but eventually your stride shortens and your pace slows considerably (unless you're a really good runner to begin with).  With the assault bike/box jump combo having already performed the function of leaving my legs at less than 100%, I knew I'd be shuffling along slowly after each set of DB thrusters.  And since the majority of this workout takes place on the run, I had very low expectations about the time I would put up.

There were 7 of us at the noon express.  The group consisted of 5 ladies (Pam, Seba, Miranda, Mariana, and Nicole M) and two guys making the quick turnaround from Dudes After Dark (Rob C and myself).  Our coach was Gordy and I'm pretty certain this was the first time that I've gotten to attend one of his classes.  I've partnered with Gordy at Competitor's Class (where he's had to carry our team multiple times), but I've never seen him coach.  He put us through a series of drills to get us stretched out before asking us to grab some DBs to practice thrusters.  He had us do sets of 3 thrusters, with the guys using 25 pound DBs and the ladies using 15 pound DBs.  He then told us to grab the DBs we were going to use for the workout.  This is typically the point where a coach would tell us to try out some reps on our own and get ready for the WOD to begin.  Gordy did things a little differently.  The group warmup would continue.  To give us a taste of what awaited us in the workout, he had us do a set of 3 thrusters, then had us jog a lap around the gym.  We did 3 rounds of that.  It was interesting that we didn't have any time to do some warmup on our own, but if I'm being honest, that's probably time I spend chatting more than warming up.  Forcing me to keep warming up with the group might be good for me (no self-discipline!).

There was no chance that I would be using 55 pounds for my DB thrusters.  Personally, I find DB thrusters to be much more difficult than thrusters with a barbell.  When using a barbell, you can lay it on your collarbone as you perform the front squat, then use the force of coming out of the squat to propel the barbell off of your body before pressing it out.  That is much harder to accomplish with DBs.  You have two pieces of equipment instead of one and the DBs don't rest on your frame as easily as the barbell does.  The result is that you tend not to pop the DBs off of your body with the same force and you have to use your arms more to get the weight overhead.  I remembered struggling through a cash out with 35 pound DBs a while back, but I thought I could go a little heavier here.  Hence, I picked up a pair of 40 pound DBs.

During the small sets of three that made up the last segment of our warmup, I was able to move through the thrusters quickly.  That didn't give me much insight on how I'd do on longer sets.  I could see my arms wearing out as I tried to do more reps and I didn't want to get to a point where I was doing super small sets later in the workout.  So my mindset was similar to what it was when I did the 50 back squat workout last week: I'd go for a bigger set to begin (but not one that would completely wipe me out) and then plan out my strategy from there.

Gordy started the clock and we all began our first set of dumbbell thrusters.  I was quick at the beginning, but it didn't take long before the reps started to feel unpleasant.  That didn't mean it was too tough to keep going.  Rather it was one of those deals where I was going to have to suck it up and hold on through a few more reps than my body wanted to.  After my 9th rep, I placed my DBs on the floor.  At the time, that felt like the right place to break things up.  In retrospect, maybe I could have gotten 11 and finished the first round in two sets.  As it was, I went with three sets instead, deciding that a nice progression of 9-7-5 for round one wouldn't be too bad.  I didn't take too much of a break in between these sets, but based on the procession of people who headed out the door before me, I'm guessing I was one of the few who broke up the first round this much.

Out on the run, Miranda was leading the way, although she was doing 200 meter runs and would end up finishing well ahead of the class.  Pam was next.  She's currently training for the NYC marathon, so some DB thrusters weren't going to be enough to affect her running.  She was striding along without any look of distress on her face.  I was following Mariana and Nicole, but I wasn't making up much ground on them.  Seba and Rob would round out our group.

Back inside the gym, I picked up my DBs and started round two.  The goal here was simple: complete 9 reps.  That would leave me only 6 to complete the round.  It would also give me the mental strength to complete all 9 reps in the third round.  Again, these didn't feel so great after 5-6 reps, but I was able to push through until I hit 9.  After a small break, I picked up the DBs and completed my last 6.  Our order on the run didn't change.  Pam was pulling further ahead of the group running 400 meters each round.  Mariana was pulling away from me and Nicole.  Nicole was ahead of me, but stopped a few times to walk.  When I caught up to her on the way back in, I did my best to encourage her to keep running and make it back to the gym.  She got back inside before I did.

Once we got to round three, I knew there would be no more breaks.  I picked up my DBs and pushed through 9 more thrusters.  That round didn't feel quite as painful as the sets of nine that I did in the first two rounds.  Maybe my body was getting used to doing 9 reps in a row.  From here on out, this workout was all about the running.  I made it out the door before Nicole this time, but didn't put much distance on her during the run.  It was still a slow plod for me.  Pam was way ahead and Mariana was leaving me in the dust.

There was a quick pit stop into the gym to do 6 more thrusters, then it was off to run again.  Pam was on her final run and would eventually lap me in her quest to stay under 15 minutes for the workout (she did).  On my way back, I saw Mariana as she began her last run.  The distance from me to Nicole was about the same as it had been last round.  As I came into the gym, I jogged over to my DBs, picked them up immediately, did 3 quick thrusters, then headed right back out again.  It was time to pump my arms, put my head down, and milk whatever energy was left in my legs.  I did pick up the pace on that last run, especially the last 150 meters or so.  Didn't get up on my toes like I do when sprinting at Endurance, but I was pretty tuckered out when I came flying through the door at the end.  Final time: 18:19.

After I recovered, Pam told me that the cash out was 30 strict pull-ups.  Certain that this was some sort of cruel joke, I let her know that I'd be done in a month.  It wasn't until Gordy announced that this was an informal cash out that I realized that Pam had been serious.  30 strict pull-ups sounded like it would take forever, especially since we had just finished a fairly long workout.  But Gordy pointed out correctly that we had been doing a push motion in the WOD and that this was a pull motion instead.  Our arms should be relatively fresh for this cash out.  Being an informal cash out, there was no time cap and no one abused that more than me.  The plan was to do 15 sets of 2 reps with a break in between each set to shake out my arms.  I got through 11 sets before failing on the second rep of set #12.  So the last 8 reps were just singles.  It took quite a while, but I managed to get through it.

Later at home, I tried once again to get a huge set of double unders.  After a few attempts, I was able to put together a set of 53 in a row.  I'm still tiring out too quickly, but it's encouraging that I'm finding the ability to put together large sets once again.

Thursday preview: The last mile time trial of the year at Endurance.

The Cline Prophecy

Workout date: 10/4/16

I showed up to Dudes After Dark with some extra energy that I needed to burn off.  I got to the gym about 10 minutes early, said hi to a few people, and then I got out my jump rope.  Maybe it's in my head, but I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to a breakthrough with my double unders.  There was a cleared out area where the exercise/assault bikes typically are (you'll find out where they were moved soon enough), so I stood over there and got ready to go.  I did one set.  It wasn't the longest set I've ever done.  It might not have even had the best form (John M told me that I wasn't breathing during the set).  So why am I telling you about it?  Because I had that solid whistling sound during my set.  It's the sound I hear while watching someone who is actually good at double unders.  Now don't get me wrong, I don't suddenly think I'm good with a jump rope.  But I do think that my speed has gotten better and that has been my main focus recently with regards to double unders.  I just have to remember that pesky breathing thing.  (Note: I got 27 consecutive double unders during this set.)

We didn't have 21 people there, but for the second straight night, an attendance record was broken.  (All attendance records are made up in my head, but just go with it.)  Dudes After Dark was packed with 11 dudes this evening.  Gone are the days when a group of 4 would seem like a big class.  This is what a big class looks like now:

Dudes representing!

There were so many dudes in class that we had to run two heats of the workout!  Even with two heats, not everyone would get to use an assault bike (we only have 5), but we had one person who was okay with using a regular exercise bike.  I bet his legs were very happy with that decision.

The Tuesday WOD was a leg test.  Could you handle the first part of the workout and not kill yourself on the second part?  And then could you repeat that trick over the course of four rounds?  Here is what we were facing:

Tuesday's WOD:

4 rounds

3 minute AMRAP

20 calories on the assault bike

15 box jumps (24"/20")

10 power snatches (135/95)

*Between rounds, rest for 3 minutes

3 minutes of rest between rounds?  Uh oh.  As Coach Rachel would tell us prior to the workout, this one was going to be spicy.  The assault bike was going to drain your legs.  Then you had to find a way to grind through the box jumps without tripping over your box.  If you had any energy or time left, you'd continue on to the power snatches.  Then you'd get to relive this misery 3 more times.

Rachel led us through progressions for the power snatches before telling us to choose someone about our height for the assault bike.  I was over near Cline, John, and Chris D.  I could have gone with any of them, but I chose Chris because he and I were involved in an "oh, so all bald guys look alike" situation prior to class.  If we were being mistaken for one another, then we must be close to the same height.  I called dibs on one of the assault bikes that were lined up in the middle of the gym and Chris secured us a 24" box.  We did a few calories on the assault bike and then 5 jumps each on our box.  All that was left to do was figure out how much weight we wanted for our barbells.

Chris and I didn't have to use the same barbell and at first I didn't think we would.  He was originally going to use 95 pounds while I toyed with the idea of using 115.  Chris then said he could probably do 115.  I told him we should get 25 and 10 pound plates for our barbell.  That way we could start with 115 and we could strip it down to 95 if he didn't feel comfortable with it.  We loaded our barbell to 115 and I did a practice rep.  Wow, that felt heavy.  I knew I was going to be very fatigued when I got to this segment of each round, so if this felt heavy now, it was going to feel like it was attached to the floor during the workout.  I let Chris attempt a rep and he felt the same way.  We agreed to drop down to 105.  Each of us tested that out and felt much better about the weight.

As we got ready, we were all joking around about how many times we were going to trip over the box in this workout.  Then Cline said something shocking to me.  He believed that this would be the workout where I was not going to trip over my box.  What kind of odds would you get on that in Vegas?  100-1?  1,000-1?  Cline knew my track record when it came to box jumps, so he couldn't possibly be serious.  Yet I got the sense he was being serious with his prediction.

Cline and I sat next to one another on the assault bikes as we would be partner #1 for our respective teams.  Because the work periods and the rest periods were the same length (3 minutes), it made for a smooth transition between heats.  Partner #1 worked, partner #2 rested, and vice versa.  Rachel told us to get ready and soon we were pedaling away.  That first round of 20 calories wasn't too traumatizing.  Cline was closest to me, so I could see that he got off his bike before me, but I wasn't too far behind him.  In fact, he hadn't started his box jumps when I came over to my box.  I could see that he was hesitating, trying to talk himself into jumping despite how his legs must have felt.  I didn't see his first jump, but he later told me that he lost his balance during it and wasn't able to stay on the box.  I decided to go right into the box jumps, even if it meant I would trip and fall, mainly because I was totally expecting to trip and fall.  But I didn't.  Rachel had told us during the warmup not to walk away from our boxes between reps and I was doing a decent job of resisting that urge as well.  I made it through 15 box jumps without tripping.  There was over a minute to go when I got to the power snatches.

The power snatches were a bit strange.  At that point in the round, you're feeling tired and throwing a barbell over your head doesn't seem very appealing.  On the other hand, it was a bit of a reprieve from all of the leg work up to that point and you could quickly throw it up over your head, then let it drop.  I stupidly tried to string a couple of these during my first round before realizing it was a waste of energy.  As I drew closer to finishing my 10th snatch, I began to wonder what I would do if I finished all of my snatches before 3 minutes was up.  The next heat was already sitting on the bikes waiting to go.  I guess I could run down to an empty bike to try and get a few calories.  I was beginning my 9th snatch as Rachel yelled out "10 seconds".  No sense in worrying about getting back to the bike now.  I completed my last snatch with a couple of seconds to spare.  Not gonna complain about a little extra rest.  First round score: 45.

During the rest period, I tried to walk around to keep my legs loose while also cheering on Chris and John (who was partnered up with Cline).  Three minutes goes by fast.  It went by fast when I was trying to finish off my round and it went by fast when I was trying to recover.  With under 30 seconds remaining, I got on the bike and prepared for round two.

The second round on the bike was much tougher than the first round.  While I did pedal pretty strongly during the first round, I was mainly focused on keeping my breathing under control.  That combo didn't work in round two.  I tried to keep my breathing calm, but I didn't have enough energy in my legs to churn out calories quickly.  I was going to have to push much harder to finish off these 20 calories.  It took over a minute, but I got my 20 calories done.  I moved over to my box and got right into them like I had during round one.  Cline was ahead of me off the bike, but I think I passed him again on the box jumps.  Right back up.  Right back up.  I kept repeating that to myself as I made my way through 15 more reps without a trip.  Could Cline's prophecy be legit?  Perhaps I needed to ask Cline what his thoughts were on the Powerball numbers this week.  Somehow I was moving through the box jumps with speed, yet I wasn't screwing up along the way.

There were less than 45 seconds left in the round when I got to the snatches.  I knew I wasn't going to get through all 10, but I tried to finish off as many as I could.  Each time I dropped the barbell, it would bounce and roll away diagonally.  I didn't bother straightening it out.  I would walk up to it no matter which direction it was facing and perform the next lift.  I made it through 6 reps before the round was up.  Second round score: 41.

Some time lying on the floor was required during the second rest period.  I didn't spend a lot of time there as I was worried about my legs tightening up.  I got up, walked over to my water bottle, finished what was left in it, then grabbed some paper towels to dry off.  When I looked up at the clock again, it told me that I only had 30 seconds left in my break.  Time to get back on the bike.

Round three was the most painful on the bike.  I hadn't convinced myself to go all out on the bike and then take my chances with the rest of the round.  It took me over a minute again to finish the 20 calories.  Over at the box jumps, I continued to tell myself to jump right back up, doing my best not to step back from it.  In round two, I had 11 jumps done when Rachel told us there was a minute left. This time, I only had 9 done.  I have no idea how much time remained when I got to my barbell, but I had finished 45 box jumps without tripping.  We were on the verge of a miracle.  I wrapped up the round by snatching my barbell as fast as I could.  I got 5 reps in before round three ended.  Third round score: 40.

I know I have a bad habit of saving the big push for the last round, but I was genuinely worried about having no legs in the later rounds of this WOD if I went crazy on the bike early on.  When I got to round four, those concerns went away.  I put my head down and pedaled as hard as I could, hoping that I was close to 20 calories when I began to run out of juice.  As I started to fatigue, I looked at the monitor and saw 12 calories.  Crap.  That was not as close as I had hoped to be.  I pedaled much slower until I got to 16 calories, then put in one last burst to get to 20.  For the first time all night, I got off the bike before Cline.

My legs were burning when I got to the box jumps, but I didn't want to overthink it.  Got right into it with two quick reps.  On the third jump, the inevitable happened: I tripped and fell.  Cline's prophecy was so close to coming true and then I blew it.  Round four was a complete role reversal as Cline was behind me coming off the bike, then went right on by me on the box jumps.  I needed some time to get my head straight before finishing off my remaining 13 jumps.  As was the case in round three, I had 6 box jumps left when we got our one minute warning.  I guess I went a little faster on the snatches when I got to them as I managed to scratch out an extra rep before my workout was done.  Fourth round score: 41.  Final score: 167.

That was definitely spicy, but I was happy that I didn't mess up my shins as much as I thought I would.  I should probably spend some more time on the assault bike.  It seems to be universally hated by the members of KOP, which typically means it is a piece of equipment that will yield results.  Just a matter of working through the pain.

Wednesday preview: Dumbbell thrusters and 400 meter runs during a midweek visit to the nooner.

Overcrowded Overheads

Workout date: 10/3/16

You may remember that week 4 of my "journey to weigh less than I did on Labor Day" began with a chicken biscuit.  I was feeling highly discouraged about weighing exactly the same amount as I did three weeks ago when I started cutting out all of my favorite comfort foods.  If I wasn't being rewarded for my efforts on the scale, then I was simply going to have to reward myself with a trip to Chick-Fil-A for three weeks of sacrifice.  Plus, it's called comfort food because you eat it at times like this.

While I indulged in some fried poultry goodness on Monday morning, I didn't scrap my diet entirely. I was very good the rest of the week until I got to Friday night.  I was going to the Mets-Phillies game and meeting up with some friends for a tailgate.  I had a few beers and a small bag of Doritos while we hung out in the parking lot.  That was until the pizzas arrived.  Inside the ballpark, I tagged along on a trip to procure soft serve ice cream.  Mine would be a vanilla-chocolate twist in a waffle cone, covered in rainbow sprinkles.  I had barely finished consuming that when one of the guys came back from a trip to Federal Donuts and insisted I have one.  I did.  Devoted blog reader Rich was sitting next to me and asked "aren't you on a diet?"  Apparently I wasn't on Friday night.

One of my best friends visited from Albany over the weekend along with his wife.  When they visit, we like to go to the store, load up on food, and then enjoy being lazy for the rest of the weekend.  While we were at the store, he grabbed a small bucket of cookies that he had to have.  Later that night, he told me I had to help him out with them.  So I had a few cookies.  And at breakfast the next morning, I had an English muffin.

Out of the four weeks that I have spent trying to lose weight, this was clearly the week where I fell off the wagon.  I woke up Monday morning dreading getting on the scale.  This past week had been eerily similar to my first week when I gained 0.6 pounds.  Only I had indulged quite a bit more this week than I had during that one.  Time to face the consequences:

Original weigh-in: 213.2 pounds
Last week's weigh-in: 213.2 pounds
This week's weigh-in: 209.8 pounds

I officially have no idea how nutrition works.  Now I know what you must be thinking.  As a superstitious gambler, I must have hopped off that scale and got week 5 started right by scarfing down a chicken biscuit.  I did not (although if my weight goes up next week, I may reconsider).  I'm going to continue to try and cut out my comfort foods while pushing myself at the gym.  I tend to think that (and not Federal Donuts) is what will help me move closer to my goal weight of 190.

Let's move on to something that I do understand: overhead squats!  Both the WOD and the cash out had overhead squats in it, so you knew I was psyched to hit the gym on Monday night.  Here's what was programmed to start off the week:

Monday's WOD:
5RM overhead squat

Cash out:
7 minute AMRAP
7 overhead squats (50% of 5RM weight)
7 chest-to-bar pull-ups
7 burpees over the barbell

Guess who else was excited about all of those overhead squats?  EVERY SINGLE MEMBER OF OUR GYM!  Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but this class would be the biggest one that I think I've been a part of since I started at KOP (not counting special events like Friends and Family WODs).  21 people showed up for this workout and that would have an effect on how I did.  And while I may not have performed as well as I would have liked, there were a lot of positive takeaways.

Aimee typically coaches the Monday 6:30 and she was there for the beginning of the workout, but Giulz would take the reins for the majority of the WOD.  She got us situated and then we worked through some overhead squat progressions.  We had to form three separate lines for the warmup just to ensure everyone had enough room.  Then when we went over to do progressions for chest-to-bar pull-ups, we had to divide ourselves into two groups.  I often describe classes with 15 people in them as overcrowded, but this was taking things to another level.  We were simply going to have to make the best of it during this WOD, even if space was lacking.

The overhead squats were meant to be taken from the rack as we were working towards finding a 5RM.  Congestion alert: there were only 8 racks along the pull-up rig.  Add in two more portable racks that we have and you still only had 10 available for 21 athletes.  That meant putting 2-3 people at a rack.  I ended up joining Matt B and Ryan A at one of the portable rigs to do my overheads.  My goal was 185 pounds, although there was some guesswork involved in getting to that number.  My 10RM was 165.  I had done 14 reps at 155 while trying to establish a 15RM earlier in the year.  185 felt like a weight I should be able to do 5 reps of, but it's been five months since I've done large sets of overhead squats.  My preliminary sets would give me a better idea of whether 185 was feasible.

The three of us began with some preliminary sets at 45 (empty barbell) and 95 pounds.  We were supposed to do 5 working sets and my plan was to go 115-135-155-175-185.  I asked Matt what he was planning on using and he thought he might get to the 155-165 range.  His estimate was formulated the same way mine was, as he had gotten 14 reps at 135 during a 15RM attempt.  He was using that as his springboard to a 5RM number.  As for Ryan, he told us that his 3RM was 235, so he was hoping to get 245 for his 5RM.  It took a second, but then it hit me that he wanted to do more for his 5RM tonight than he had done for three reps ever.  How could that be?  "I did that like a year ago", Ryan explained.  Ahhh...now I got it.

Matt and I did our first set at 115.  I went first and the weight didn't feel troublesome at this stage.  Matt was having a little difficulty breaking parallel, something that Giulz pointed out to him when she watched his set.  He was rocking forward a bit as he squatted, causing him to come up on to his toes.  His speed down was good, but as he began tilting, he would throw on the brakes, preventing him from breaking parallel.  Ryan and I would give him feedback on his depth on his remaining sets.

To get to 245, Ryan was going to have to make bigger jumps in weight than Matt and I were making, so he bumped it up to 155 for his next set.  It still looked like Ryan was using the PVC pipe we had used during the warmup.  Easy looking reps to say the least.

Matt and I moved up to 135 for our next set.  I remained steady through my five reps, giving me some confidence that I might get up to 185.  Matt continued to struggle with depth, although he was much closer to hitting parallel on this set than he had been at 115.  Matt decided to work on his form the rest of the way rather than increasing the weight, as he wanted to get a set done where he was below parallel.  Ryan went up to 185 and continued to appear unfazed by how much weight he had over his head.  He completed three reps and dropped the barbell to the floor when he was done.

I moved up to 155 for my third set and I had a bit of a hiccup here.  When doing larger sets of overhead squats, the most important aspect is balance.  If you start getting shaky or lose your balance, you can lose the barbell even though you didn't feel like you were in trouble in terms of how heavy the weight was.  At 155, the weight was starting to become noticeably heavier, but once I had it jerked overhead, it was just a matter of moving through the reps fluidly.  I did that during the first 3 reps, but as I went to stand up from rep #4, I felt my body leaning forward.  I stood up, then took a step forward.  It's never ideal to take a break while holding 155 pounds overhead, but I needed to get my balance reset before I could try the last rep.  Once I felt comfortable, I did the 5th rep before placing the barbell back on the rack.  Confidence can be fleeting and that was certainly the case at this point as I had gone from feeling good about getting 185 to growing concerned that I might not get 175.

Matt used 135 again for his next set, but he continued to have depth issues.  After this set, he decided that he was done with this portion of the workout and would wait for the cash out.  Ryan moved up to 215.  He jerked the weight overhead and did two reps.  It was right at this moment that Giulz was passing by and she said "looking good Ryan" as he got ready for his 3rd rep.  He went down into that 3rd rep, stood up, then unexpectedly dumped the barbell.  I immediately gave Giulz crap for messing Ryan up (obviously she didn't).  Ryan didn't look like he was having any trouble, but as I said before, a set of overheads can fall apart in an instant.

It was my turn again and I moved up to 175.  There was definitely some anxiety as I approached the barbell.  I took it off the rack and got ready to jerk it overhead.  I hadn't had any problems with the jerk so far, but I was approaching the territory where a lackadaisical jerk could result in my barbell on the floor.  For some reason, my form with jerks has been very good recently and I had no trouble getting 175 over my head.  I made sure my feet were where I wanted them and that I felt steady before trying to move through my squats.  I got through all five reps without a mistake like I had in the previous set.  Confidence was back.  I was excited to see how 185 would go.

Sadly, I would never find out.  Ryan was getting ready to do 215 again when Giulz announced there was 1 minute left in this part of the workout and that we should be completing our last set.  There was not going to be time for me to attempt 185.  While I was a bit bummed about that, 175 was officially a new 5RM PR for me, so I couldn't be down about how I did.  It was time to root on Ryan.  He removed 215 from the rack and jerked it overhead.  Then he took a few more seconds than he did last time around before starting his squats.  I was watching his squat depth more than anything else and I noticed on the first squat that his knees were a little shaky.  He stood up, then returned to the bottom of his squat a second time.  I noticed the shakiness again.  He completed the second rep, then as he had done in his previous set, he dropped the barbell without warning.  I wasn't looking at his wrists during the two reps that he did, but my suspicion was that he might have lost control of the barbell in his wrists.  When this happens, your wrists start shaking and then the rest of your body begins to follow suit.  Ryan confirmed that was the case and that he probably should have worn his wrist wraps.  I wish there was a brand of wrist wraps that allowed me to overhead squat as much as Ryan, but they must still be in development.

It was time to get ready for the cash out.  Since I felt like I could have gotten more than the 175 I did during the 5RM portion of the WOD, I used 90 pounds as my 50% figure for the cash out.  Giulz went through the gym and told groups of us which portion of the cash out we would begin on.  She was staggering the start in an attempt to prevent congestion, especially at the pull-up rig.  That may have worked at the beginning, but eventually there was no helping the fact that 21 people were running around trying to sprint through a cash out.

I was part of the group starting on the burpees and I moved through them pretty quickly.  When doing a burpee over the barbell, you don't have to jump up and clap to complete the rep.  That means you don't have to extend all the way up, so you can stay low and bunny hop over the barbell, leaving you close to the ground for the next rep.  I did 7 of those, then moved on to the overhead squats.  That first set felt very easy and I moved on to the pull-up rig.  Not wanting to take up too much room, I tried to do my chest-to-bar pull-ups on the high bar.  I made it through 4 reps before failing on #5.  There was no point in being stuck on the high bar.  I moved down to an open low bar where I finished my last 3 reps, only kicking one person in the process.

The burpees were slower for my second round, but I still got through them okay.  The overhead squats were definitely trickier the second time around as my wild kips on the chest-to-bar pull-ups hit my core and the burpees had an effect on my legs.  Those 7 reps were more painful, but it wasn't like I had to break up the set or anything.  It was time to return to the pull-up rig.  There were high bars available, but vacancies on the low bars were limited.  One opened up and I jumped on it, getting a few reps in.  That was when Danielle came over.  I was using her bar and I could see she was kinda looking around to see if others were open.  I waved her over and told her to take her bar back.  I would find another one.

A couple spots further down the gym, another bar was open.  I did a rep there before someone got on the bar right in front of me.  With my exaggerated kip, I was concerned that I would kick them.  I still had my lifters on and I'm sure receiving a kick from me wouldn't feel so good.  As I attempted my next chest-to-bar, I tried to spread my legs so that when I kicked my feet, they would hopefully flail out to the sides of the person in front of me.  No such luck.  After kicking a second person, I came off the bar and went to find a new spot to finish off my remaining reps.  I traveled towards the front of the gym, where another spot opened up.  I quickly got on the bar and did two reps.  With one to go, I had someone get on the bar in front of me.  I completed my last rep.  And I kicked a third person.  Maybe I could kick all 20 of my classmates before 7 minutes was up!

I sped over to my barbell to do the burpees and then I got into my overhead squats.  Time was winding down as I had spent a lot of it during my nomadic round of assault on the pull-up rig.  The overheads were painful again, but I knew this was my last round with them, so I gritted my teeth and kept moving through them until all 7 were complete.  I searched for a low bar, found one, and did my first chest-to-bar.  As I got ready to do the second rep, a fourth victim lined up in front of me.  Sure enough, I did my kip, hit another classmate with my foot, and missed hitting my chest to the bar.  This was pointless.  There were about 30 seconds remaining in the cash out when I decided to stop.  Final score: 2+15.  There was not enough room for the entire class to do the cash out at the same time.  Oh, and my chest-to-bar pull-up form is terrible.  See below:

A picture is worth a thousand words

Samson took this photo during the workout.  While I think it is hilarious, it is also highly enlightening.  Here are the many things that ran through my head after seeing this photo:

• That guy in the blue is TJ.  TJ is using proper form.  That is the way you are supposed to do a chest-to-bar pull-up.  His chest is hitting the bar.
• That guy in the red is me.  I am not using proper form.  While TJ is vertical, I am horizontal.  TJ's form allows him to press away from the bar at the top, giving him the opportunity to string reps.  My form ensures that I will be one and done.  Also, this is a chest-to-bar pull-up.  Unless I failed anatomy, that is not my chest hitting the bar.
• Congestion isn't solely to blame for the fact that I was kicking classmates.  Look how close my feet are to the next bar.  Now imagine someone swinging on that bar trying to do pull-ups.  I am effectively taking up two spots on my own due to my wild kip.
• While this is atrocious chest-to-bar form, this photo does give me hope when it comes to bar muscle-ups.  Rachel was trying to get me to raise my hips to the bar by using a band.  I'm not using a band here, but my hips are pretty close to touching the bar nonetheless.
• There are two bar muscle-up adjustments that I clearly need to make.  First, I need to push away more on my swing.  My lower ribs are hitting the bar rather than my hips.  Your body can't pivot at the ribs.  It can pivot at the hips.  If I hit the middle of my body, it will be possible to fold my body over the top of it.  I can't fold over the top third of my body.  Also, my arms are bent prematurely.  I need to be more patient before bending them.  Attempting to get a bar muscle-up with my current form is the equivalent of a T-rex trying to do a somersault.

I stuck around after class to work on my double unders.  For a long time, I've been focusing on making my jump more efficient.  I've decided to change course and focus on really whipping the rope with a lot of speed.  Fast, but controlled.  It's something that I need to stay focused on during a set because it is easy to get lazy and let your rope speed slow down without noticing it.  That's when the rope hits you and you have to start all over again.

It's been a while since I've gotten a huge set and I really wanted at least one before I took off for the night.  My first set was 9 reps long so that wasn't going to do it for me.  However, my second set qualified.  I rattled off 58 in a row before running out of steam.  That was a bit of a miracle because I felt myself tiring at about 40, but somehow I held on until the rope hit me while I attempting the 59th rep.  I took a break before trying some additional sets, but I couldn't put together another set like that one.  I might not reach my goal of 100 consecutive double unders by the end of the year, but I feel like 75 in a row may be possible.

Tuesday preview: Lots of work on the assault bike followed by box jumps.  I can only imagine how many times I'm going to crash into my box.

Threesome For The Kids

Workout date: 9/30/16

As I get closer to the end of the week, there ends up being a greater likelihood that I will wake up sore.  Because I've stopped going to Competitor's Class (and the gym in general on weekends), I've settled into a routine where I work out Monday-Friday and rest up on Saturday and Sunday.  Most Crossfit coaches would likely tell you that it would be better to set up your schedule so that you work out for 3 days, take a rest day, exercise 2 more days, and have your week capped off by 1 last rest day.  That would be great if my schedule worked out that way, but typically it does not.  So I do the best I can and get 5 workouts in whenever time permits.

Oddly enough, I didn't wake up Friday morning feeling sore.  I felt good despite having put in four tough workouts in a row.  The workouts at the gym had a heavy focus on the legs this week, but I wasn't achy as I got ready to head to KOP for the Friday nooner.  If anything, there was this excited energy coursing through my body, which was weird because I knew I'd be doing burpees imminently. I'd also be doing some front squats and holding a plate over my head.  Here's the format of the Friday WOD.  It was a fundraiser workout for Steve's Club, a fitness program for at-risk youth.

Beat The Streets WOD:
Partner WOD
15 minute AMRAP
12 front squats (135/95)
12 burpees
*While one partner is working, the other must hold a plate (45/25) over their head
**Partners must divide the work equally

There were 7 of us at the Friday nooner, an unfortunate number for a partner workout.  Coach Aimee asked us if we had picked out our partners ahead of time.  No one had, but there were some very obvious pairings if you looked around.  Denise and Erika were going to work out together.  Tim H and Joe were bound to be a team.  And you knew that I was going to choose John M to push me through another workout.  That left Meredith without a partner...for the moment.  Tim realized Meredith was going to be on her own, so he kindly offered a solution.  He asked Aimee if it was alright if they had a threesome.  After some snickering, Aimee's response was along the lines of "if you guys want to have a threesome, be my guest".  There was more snickering, but I felt that Tim's intentions needed to be seen in the proper light.  Because this was a charity WOD, I assured Aimee that the threesome was "for the kids".  And hence, Tim, Meredith, and Joe's team name was born.  Or conceived.  (There are going to be a lot of threesome jokes in this blog.)

Hell, let's just get all of the best threesome moments out of the way right now:

• Aimee explained that Tim and Joe would be working as siamese twins (going through their reps at the same time) and that Meredith would be the "other partner" in the threesome.  Me: "Oh Meredith, you never want to be the 'other partner' in the threesome."
• Tim and Joe set up their barbells so that Meredith was in between them.  They began having difficulty communicating with one another, so I suggested that they stand next to each other rather than have Meredith in the middle.  Joe: "We can't do that.  We might accidentally touch one another.  And we can't cross swords."
• Meredith: "I feel like I'm on a teeter totter.  One is going up while the other is going down.  It's a weird sensation."
• Tim (post workout): "It was tough.  I'd be going fast and he'd be going slow.  Or I'd be going slow and he'd be going fast.  We never finished at the same time."

There were probably even more gems like that during the WOD, but there was a workout that needed to be completed and I had to focus my attention (most of it anyways) on that.

John and I had to decide what weights we wanted to use for the front squat and the plate hold.  John had pushed me through Endurance the day before and I was returning the favor today by telling him to push less.  Seem backwards?  Well, you need to know two things about John that I know from working out with him frequently:

1. John is as stubborn as I am about pushing the envelope and using as heavy a weight as possible for workouts.
2. John is in the process of recovering from a shoulder injury.

The plate hold seemed like something that could easily aggravate John's shoulder.  Before he even suggested a weight, I asked him if he wanted to go with 25 pounds.  John admitted that he was thinking about using the full RX weight of 45 pounds, but he was okay with using 25 pounds instead. I thought that was a nice concession, but Aimee would come over and tell John that he might want to use a 10 pound plate.  So prior to the start of the workout, we grabbed a 10 pound plate to have as a standby in case the 25 pound plate became too painful to hold.

As for the front squat, I wasn't sure whether John would have difficulty holding a barbell in the front rack position over and over again, so I asked him whether he was okay with 115 pounds.  Perhaps this was a situation where I was being overly cautious, but this was a workout where you just had to go a little faster if you chose a weight that was too light.  Not a bad problem for me as I need cardio more than I need strength right now.  John had no problems with using 115 pounds, so we were all set to go.

Since we had to split up the work equally, we decided that we would each do 6 reps before switching with our partners.  John wanted to go first, so he would lead with 6 front squats before I did 6.  Same situation with the burpees.  We were both going to hold the 25 pound plate for the overhead hold.  The morning scores tended to fall in the 7-9 round range.  I thought that we might be able to flirt with 10 rounds if our chosen weights were a little light and if we kept moving.  However, I knew 15 minutes was a long time for this type of workout and that a late fade was possible.

I told John after the WOD that this could be the shortest blog ever because it would be tough to describe the workout without being insanely repetitive.  "He did 6, then I did 6.  Then he did 6 before I did 6.  Etc."  With that in mind, here is a quick recap of how John and I did:

• Early on, we were holding to that 10 round pace.  We completed the first round in just under 90 seconds.  Because I was expecting some fade, I revised my goal for us from 10 rounds down to 9, but I was pleasantly surprised when we held this pace through 4 rounds.
• My first weak mental moment came towards the end of round three.  I wasn't tired, but I was breathing heavily already and I knew we were only a third of the way through the workout, assuming we would complete 9 rounds.  It was at this point that I told myself to dig deep like I had done during the Endurance workout.
• Neither John nor I struggled with the front squats.  Typically we'd get through 4 quick reps and then maybe go a little slower on the last two reps, but we never had to drop the barbell.
• I'm sure the speed with which we did the burpees slowed down over time, but at no point did I have to crawl through burpees.  It was 6 per round and I was determined to keep us on that 9-10 full round pace.
• Our pace likely went from a little under 90 seconds to a little over 90 seconds in rounds one through four, but once we got to round five, our pace got closer to two minutes per round.
• After a slow round five, I suggested to John that he switch to the 10 pound plate to hold overhead.  He looked like he was struggling with the plate hold.  It wasn't just him.  Without a doubt, the plate hold was the most painful aspect of this WOD and I'm glad I used 25 pounds rather than attempting 45 pounds.
• There was less than a minute left when we finished round 8, so we emptied the tank to try and complete round 9.  We each got through the front squats and John got through 3 burpees before the clock struck 15.  Final score: 8+15.

Aimee pointed out that the two sweatiest guys had teamed up for this workout and a quick glance at the section of the gym we used during the WOD would confirm this statement.  There was so much sweat in the area where I had done my burpees that I ended up moving to a different area for the last few rounds to keep my hands from sliding when I hit the ground.  John had worked out in the same vicinity as me, but he wasn't worried about my perspiration.  As he put it: "You're married, you're a nice guy, I'm sure you don't have any diseases I need to worry about."  Yup, that's my kind of compliment.

Monday preview: Weigh-in #4.  And the biggest class that I've been a part of (not counting special events).