I thought it was a misprint. Forty-two rounds it read on the whiteboard. That's FORTY-TWO ROUNDS, people. But it wasn't, and the mission for Saturday was laid out in black and white.
8-Calorie row
10 SDHP 75/55lb
18 sec ring support
15-box jumps
10 wall balls 20/12lb to ten ft target
10 ab wheel rollouts
Each exercise counts as one round, so the WOD was seven rounds of the above. There are days when I walk in ready to spit nails I'm so ready for it. Other days, I have to psych myself into it. Today, I needed all the game I could muster. As I mentioned, I love strength training. However, I need metabolic conditioning. This kind of workout builds my capacity for endurance. It's a work in progress and this kind of WOD takes the piss out of me. Heading into it, I would have picked the box jumps as the toughest part of the round, but in fact, it turned out that the wall balls were the worst. By far. But I'll be kind … the wall ball is sort of fun and on the last rep you can let it drop thudding to the floor. On to the ab wheels, which ARE fun. I like these – I think the motion is interesting. I used to fear these when I first started because it was so hard to bring that wheel back. It just hung out there, enjoying the view while I tried to figure out how to make it come back. It's easier these days. When I'm feeling in fine form, I can stretch out pretty far and then roll it back. I usually position myself so I can roll the wheel to the yellow marks on the matt and then back. I like that little game and it makes me feel like each roll of the wheel meets my criteria for a good effort. I play little games in my head like this. The plan for me is to get the most value out of the rep that I can. Good form, full range of motion, and strong control. I could spend the next year just working on that.
I was exhausted by round five. My ring dips started suffering because of my huffing and puffing for air and I could only hold for mere seconds at a time. I just kept going for the whole 30 seconds, holding and resting. The box jumps are next and I'm glad I have my springy shoes on. I have a funny little double hop when I land and then square up for the next jump. I begrudge it a little bit because it wastes a smidgeon of time between jumps. When you are doing 105 box jumps, these little things become a big waste of time. I'm doing GREAT on the sumo deadlifts. I have a pace going that lets me bang off my set and rest between rounds. In fact, I'm trying to maintain a sustainable pace throughout the whole WOD. In high school, I ran track and field. One of my strong events was distance running. The key to distance running is to pick a good pace and stick to it, so energy reserves hold out until the end. These met con WODs benefit from the same strategy. Pick a pace that isn't too slow and isn't too fast. Too slow and you get little done, too fast and you burn out quickly.
With Coach nipping at my heels every round, I finished round seven and lay on the matt, astounded that a mere 25 minutes can lay me out so completely. I'm always amazed at how effective Crossfit is at pushing my body to the limit. Then I'm equally amazed at what my body and mind is capable of.
I'm glad it wasn't a misprint. I needed this today.
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