Saturday night Jeff and I watched the 3-hour film “Cloud Atlas”. Quite simply mesmerizing. As Jeff spent Sunday afternoon with his mother I, uhm, watched the film a second time. Yup, now I feel compelled to read the book.
As I suggested to Surmounties, I took it somewhat easy Sunday morning.
AFAP
50 wall ball shots, 20# & 10′ target
50 slam balls, 30#
50/leg mountain climbers
50 Abmat sit-ups
50 Abmat back extensions
50 KB Russian KB swings, 52#
I completed in sets of 10, 20, & 20 in a time of 11:03.
Why did I take it easy yesterday? Because I knew “Murph” was today!
Hero WOD “Murph”
Run 1 mile
100 pull-ups
200 pushups
300 air squats
Run 1 mile
I attended the 7am session led by Coach Jeff. It was a full house today; thus, I didn’t get to use the Speal bar and instead used one of the highest bars for pull-ups. And that’s okay! I need to work on my jumping skills anyhow.
Running, as I’ve mentioned time and time again, is always a pleasure. I ran the first mile in a rather slow 6:45. The course at CFS is challenging, as it’s a 200m up and back on mostly gravel surface — and with a rather steep incline at the start.
I had decided to complete pull-ups in 5 sets of 10 and 10 sets of 5, and that’s exactly what I did. I’m also confident that each rep was with full range of motion.
As an added challenge I completed hand release pushups. I completed in 5 sets of 10 reps and the remaining pushups in sets of 5 reps. This worked rather well, as I didn’t really have to struggle for any reps.
I completed air squats in sets of no less than 10 and no more than 25. My glutes and hamstrings are still sore from Friday’s WOD, and I know this impeded my performance.
When I began to run the last mile I could barely feel my legs. I had to look down at my feet to make sure that they were actually moving.
It is very difficult for me to not coach. I found myself providing direction and support even while working out. I was most concerned about the Boot Campers who attended, including Evelyn, Thom, and Nick, as well as a visitor, Oliver, and new member Liz and her husband, Carl. “Murph” is a difficult WOD for any CrossFitter, let alone a newbie. Nice work, all!
I am, however, pleased with my performance nonetheless, and I don’t think and/or feel that my observing others slowed me down that much if at all. I danced, I sang, and joked. The following exchange took place when “I’m Sexy (and I Know It)” began to play.
Jeff: This is Paul’s song.
Steve B.: They wrote it for me.
Paul: Yes, Steve, they wrote it for you to sing to me.
I completed in a time of 42:56, a PR by a couple of minutes. Having completed this WOD 5 times at a variety of locations and in a variety of manners, i.e., partitioning, I state unequivocally that completing it as a 1-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 pushups, 300 air squats, and another 1-mile run is much more difficult than partitioning the reps, e.g., doing pull-ups, pushups, and air squats in sets of 5, 10, & 15 reps, respectively — or any other combination. This is not to say that doing 600 bodyweight reps is any order isn’t exceedingly difficult to begin with. Apples and oranges, people. Pay attention. I very much wanted to do a few pushups and/or air squats while doing pull-ups, and I wanted to do just about anything but 5 more pushups while completing pushups.
I coached the 8:30 Boot Camp, and had an absolutely wonderful time doing so! Trevor, Wendy, Mike, Sabrina, Liz, Alyson, Felicia, and Eli enjoyed quite the workout.
I coached the 10 WOD and once again there was a very full house, including Boot Campers Fernando and John. Uhm, John did “Murph” as prescribed. Again, nice work, all! Shout outs also go to Camelia for doing her first hero WOD, Ashlee and Lauren for doing unassisted pushups, but especially Ashlee for doing unassisted hand release pushups!
I’m modest and I’m awesome. I’m modest about being awesome and awesome at being modest. (This is an inside joke.)
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