After working Wednesday night I had a very challenging time dragging myself out of bed on Thursday am. So, I decided that I'd do a rare thing and hit a Thursday night class to get in the wod that Jerry schemed up. Jerry has been really great lately at throwing together these nasty little metcons. I mean, they've been short, but they've HURT like nobody's freakin' business. Thursday's wod was another of that sort of variety. It was short, but it was designed to put you in the hurt locker. It was
450m row
30 24" box jumps
15 push press or push jerks
360m row
24 box jumps
12 push press or push jerks
270m row
18 box jumps
9 push press or push jerks
The weight for this was 85 for the women. Jerry had said that he didn't care how we got the bar overhead, just that we got it overhead. So, depending on your strength level, you could push press, or jerk the weight. Now, Melissa goaded me just a smidge and said that I was strong enough to push press 85lbs and it would be a faster cycle rate if I pressed it instead of jerked it. Then she also added, "and I think you'd be the only female today who push pressed it instead of jerked it." Well crap, gauntlet and all that. So I decided to go for it.
I'm not going to lie. Hansen, dear Jesus, Hansen wrecked me. My abs hurt so badly. But not where you would expect. Not in the middle, but down the sides. Trying to engage my core to get stuff overhead was excruciating. The row sucked even more than normal too because, well you engage your core in a row too. Hansen was god awful and I never want to see that wod again.
I managed to move relatively well through the first sets of things, and I was on my last round going at a nice clip until I hit the 9 jerks. No more 85lb bars left! :( Oh. I'm not mad about it, I mean stuff happens, but it would have nice to have been able to finish without waiting and see what my time was. As it stood, my time was 14:34. Still one of the faster times on the day, but that includes about :45 of rest time waiting for a bar. But, like I said, stuff happens, but it was still a nasty little thing.
After that wod I was feeling a little wooooooo! I hurt everywhere and when I crawled home I nearly cried when I saw that Jerry had already posted the wod for Friday. I was hoping for something with minimal abs. No rowing, no overhead work. Certainly no kipping. What I got was Murph. My initial reaction? Oh F! I think in fact I even wrote that on the CFOT Facebook page. I was not feeling confident about doing Murph on Friday AT ALL! Kipping and trying to maintain a tight core on push-ups with abs that won't even let me sit up without assistance? Oh hell!
But you know, I took off Monday and Tuesday this week because I was cranky and didn't want to work out and you know, it bit me in the butt. If I wanted to get my time in this week I had to go. So, go I went. And I will not lie, the first half was miserable. I was almost crying on the pull-up bar. I adjusted my kip so that I wasn't opening my hips as much and was therefore not putting as much stretch on my abs. I was DYING. I'm not kidding. I really was. I was thinking through about the first ten round or so, that there was no way I was going to PR. Yeah my run was a decent 10:00 even, but I wasn't feeling like I was flying through. But I hit round 16 and realized if I stayed my pace and could get out the door before 50:00 I might have a fighting chance. So I basically booked it. I mean, I struggle with push-ups, that's the one thing that has kept me from breaking 60:00 on Murph for two years. I can lift tons of stuff, but don't you dare ask me to do push-ups. No idea why, but it is what it is. And when I said I booked it, I mean it. Even in round 18 and 19 I was getting sets of 6 unbroken. That for me is UNHEARD of. My push-ups usually go to 2's after about round 4. This was certainly a switch.
As I hit round 19, I started thinking that if I could get out the door before 47:00 I would give myself an even better fighting chance to break 60:00 and PR. A 13 minute mile pace? I could almost walk that. I literally busted through round 19 and on round 20, I did my chins and my push-ups and started to head towards the door. Jerry was cheering me on to get to the run, but I said I still had squats left. So, to save myself some time, I stood directly in front of the clock to gauge myself, and also while squatting, began to put my clothes on. Yeah, I wish I had a photo of that because it was probably hilarious. I know that Sean C. caught me doing it, but hey it worked. I was ready and out the door by 45:55. Well, sort of ready, I only had 1 arm through! :P
The last mile run was probably one of the most inspired mile runs I have ever done in my life. I'm not a big self talker. I don't yell at myself or talk to myself while I workout, but that day I did. I told my body that of all days, this day was not the day to quit, and it was going to keep going. Despite the rain, despite the head wind by the river, it was NOT going to quit. As I hit the hill I bargained with myself.... if I made it back, I would get a big fru fru venti coffee to reward myself. Not the small ones I usually make myself get since they're full of sugar and crap. No, I promised a big one. Apparently that worked because as I hit the trail behind the offices and hotels down by the river, the stride opened up and I was bookin. I hit the second to last corner and refused to walk, I was wheezing, I was talking to myself, and I'm sure I looked about half crazed to anyway walking by at that hour, but I would not quit. I was sore, I hurt, and for all accounts should not have gone to the box, but I was there and GD I wanted sub 60:00.
When I hit the last corner I felt like I wasn't going to make it. I'm a horrible judge of time when I'm running without a watch and I felt like I had passed the 10 minute mark 4 minutes ago. But regardless, I pushed myself down the final slope to the double doors AND.....
There it was. 55:57. A sub 60:00 Murph. After that brutal hero wod Hansen and a night wod the night before, it finally came. A sub 60:00 Murph. Over the course of my now 2+ years with CF, I've had a lot of PR's in the box, but I'm always known for my strength work. I'm never known as someone who is fast or strong on bodyweight exercises. I've always been one of the last to finish all of those sorts of wods, especially Murph. I'm proud of all of my PR's, but there was something very satisfying about finally doing this. I think that my sub 60:00 Murph may actually overtake my first pull-up as my proudest CF moment. I think I probably fought harder for my sub 60:00 Murph than I did for my first pull-up or any of my strength PR's. It was a happy day in Katie land to be sure, and you can bet your ass that I celebrated with my big fru fru coffee. Starbucks Pumpkin Spice to be precise. I do believe I earned it! >:) I will take it as a sign that there are more good things coming with regards to my metcon and bodyweight work. Let's hope. Let's hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment