Marguerita redux

I should’ve paid attention to the tell tale signs…

This past Friday I worked out with the 11:45 athletes, including Jeff. We were to establish 1RM for jerk. I felt incredibly weak, and was only able to jerk a mere 155#, well below previous 1RM. Gah! I thought, “Well at least I’ll be able to redeem myself during the metcon.”

4-8-12-16-12-8-4
SDHPs (95)
BS

Sumo dead-lift high pulls and back squats at 95#? No problem. My goal was to complete in unbroken reps, something I could — and should be able to easily — do. The rounds of 4 and 8 went well. During the round of 12 SDHPs I lost focus and stopped after the 8th rep. I said out loud, “That was only 8. What just happened?” I completed the remaining 4 reps. After completing just 8 BSs, I stopped to shake out my legs. Huh? Why was I feeling so weak and lethargic? I completed the round of 16 SDHPs in reps of 4, and shook out my legs 2 or 3 times during the round of 16 BS. I was only able to complete 4 SDHPs at a time. On one hand, the reps were good, i.e., hands were above clavicle and body was at full extension. On the other hand, WTF? Only 4 at a time? My time was a disappointing 7:50.

And then it hit me: a cold. Dammit. I began sneezing, my nose began running, and my head felt like it was going to explode. I coached the 3, 4, 5:15 and 6:30 session, and then went to sleep.

I suffered through the cold the entire weekend, and wasn’t able to watch CrossFit Surmount athletes compete at the NCFit Open. Dammit. Everyone did a stellar job, and I received frequent updates and (often realtime) recordings. Congratulations to you all!

I didn’t exercise Saturday or Sunday, and I only did the metcon today. I’m feeling better, but I’m still rather weak.

I decided to give “Marguerita” another try.

Benchmark “Marguerita“
50 reps for time OR 22-minute AMRAP
Burpee/Pushup/Jumping Jack/Sit-up/Handstand

I knew better what to expect, and I only 1 goal: to go all out and unbroken. I used 10 poker chips this time, and moved a poker chip after completing 5 reps.

To save time, I jumped back to plank for pushup, i.e., I didn’t step back with 1 foot at a time. I also jumped feet to hands after pushups, and immediately completed jumping jack.

I positioned myself far enough away from the wall that I could do a freestanding handstand. If a foot did lightly touch the wall, I would remove the foot and hold a freestanding handstand for a count of 1.

I glanced at the clock when I had completed 25 reps: 8:06. I knew I could easily beat my previous time of 20:01.

I always record my workouts, and I’m glad I did so today. As I was completing the last 5 reps I had this thought: What if I miscounted? What if I only did 4 instead of 5 reps during some of the rounds? I then decided to do an extra 5 rounds just in case. I have since reviewed the recoding and I had completed 50 rounds in 16:09 (and 55 rounds in 17:23).