CrossFit last night was difficult and yet very satisfying. The first part of the workout was a 15 minute segment called "Work Your Weakness". In reality, just about everything at CF except for the power lifts is a weakness for me. I was going to do burpees - 5 reps every minute for the 15 minutes, but the coach suggested that we do a more strength-oriented movement. Given how many parts of my body were already tired and sore, I struggled for a while to pick something that was a weakness but that wouldn't hurt too much to perform. I finally settled on power cleans - 2 per minute at 155# - just under 85% of my current 1-rep max of 185#.
These lifts went OK, although I did fail on one rep as I was working on form, and a change in one part of the lift caused me to "forget" another part. I did an extra rep there to make up for the failure.
The main workout looked fairly innocuous, but it is exactly the kind of workout where I typically struggle:
5 rounds, as quickly as possible:
Run 200 meters
20 box jumps
20 ball slams
This is not a strength based workout. It is a lung burner though.
My first round took about 4:00. Times on the board from earlier classes showed times from about 13:00 to just over 20:00. If the first round took 4:00, I figured I was heading to the slowest workout of the day. There were three people in the class from the latest On-Ramp class - the newbies in our gym. My wife was one of those three. By the end of the second round, two of the three were ahead of me. Yeah, they were using a different height box and different weight slam ball, but I was at the back of the class.
But, by pacing things well, I found that I didn't really slow down. In the fourth round, I missed a box jump attempt and almost face planted, but I managed to remain upright. Overall, I was very pleased by my pacing on the 100 box jumps, which was the toughest part of the workout for me.
In the end, I managed to finish ahead of two people, in a time of 19:05. I know that I shouldn't compare my results to others, but it's a natural thing to do. Of the people who finished behind me, one was a new member who is older than I am. The other person who finished behind me is pregnant and I'm sure she didn't go all out.
I'm pretty tired today. I've been averaging six workouts a week for the past month or so, and it's starting to take its toll. My son and I are going to see Henry Rollins speak tonight, so that creates a natural rest day for me. This weekend, I have some work to do around the house to get ready for winter and the potential storm next week. I still have about 1.5 cords of firewood to stack. So, I'll probably be active, but I won't be in the gym.
I hope to get in an easy run or hike at least once this weekend. And I'm hoping to get out fly fishing at least once this weekend. But overall, I'm hoping that my body feels a bit more recovered by the time I get to the gym on Monday night.
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