“McGhee”

I attended the 9:30 am session led by Coach James. I very much like his coaching style and approach, and am very pleased that he’s joined the CrossFit Surmount coaching team!

Hero WOD “McGhee”
AMRAP 30
5 dead-lifts (275)
13 pushups
9 box jumps (24)

Coach Emily, who also completed the workout as prescribed, stationed herself by the garage door in 7303 and I set up my barbell and box behind her.

This is the first time I’ve coached and completed this WOD. It was as challenging as I thought it was going to be, and I did better than I expected I would.

I’m not even going to attempt to compose this blog chronologically. Have fun!

I determined that I would work continuously, and complete 5 dead-lifts one after the other. I can’t say “unbroken” as I dropped each and every rep as soon as I stood to full extension.

I was the loudest I’ve ever been, particularly whilst completing last 2 or 3 dead-lifts of each round. As always, I offer no apologies. (Coach Emily, I do believe that this was the first time that I heard you make sounds, albeit much more pleasant and softer than the sound emanating from me.)

Okay, here’s what transpired. I completed the first 5 dead-lifts and felt fine doing so. I was happy that 275# didn’t feel as heavy as I imagined it would.

I’m getting stronger.

I completed 13 unbroken pushups, ensuring that thighs and face cheek touched the floor each and every rep. I did, however, complete the first round quite slowly, as I wanted the ensure that I didn’t wear myself out too quickly. That was a smart move on my part, I do believe.

Nine unbroken box jumps, and by that I mean full extension at the top, rebound at the bottom, and a jump right back up to the top of the box.

Throughout the 30 minutes I did miss 2 box jumps; one time not jumping high enough and the other time not fully extending at the top of the box. No “dammit” today, as I was happy that I only missed 2 reps.

As the workout progressed I set a goal to complete the first 10 minutes of pushup unbroken. I did that, so I set a goal to complete the next 10 minutes of pushups unbroken as well. Done. I then set a goal to complete unbroken pushups the entire 30 minutes. Uhm, and I did. As the workout progressed I picked up the tempo of pushups, making sure that I squeezed my ass and kept my abs tight.

And all pushups were done strict, i.e., feet together and hands just outside of shoulders. How the hell did that happen?

At one point James said, “Good, Paul.” And I said, “Thank you.” Ha!

I had completed 9 rounds + 5 dead-lifts at the hallway mark. I had this thought, “Be happy with 15 rounds.” Uhm, just 15? I then thought, “Complete at least 17 rounds.”

Whilst completing the 18th, yes 18th, round I thought, “At least this is the last time I’ll have to do dead-lifts!” Uhm, I completed the round and there was still 90 seconds remaining on the clock. Dammit. Yup, dammit.

I loudly completed 5 more dead-lifts, 13 pushups, and managed to complete 3 box jumps, fully extending my hips at the top of the box as the clock beeped.

That’s a negative split, as I completed more reps than second half of the workout. Yup, I did that.

Total = 18 rounds + 21 reps
95 dead-lifts, moving 26,125# or a little more than 13 tons. 
247 pushups
165 box jumps