Hero WOD “Kevin”

I coached from 6 to 8, took Luke for a walk to celebrate National Dog Day, and attended the well-attended 9:30 session led by the always delightful and often yippy Coach Deborah.

Metcon (Time)

Hero WOD “Kevin”

3 RFT
32 deadlifts (185)
32 hanging hip touches, alternating arms
800-meter running farmer’s carry with dumbbells (15)

Hero workouts are always justifiably difficult. What surprised me, though, we how wrong I was in regard to what I thought was going to be the easiest (running with dumbbells) and hardest (hanging hip touches) activities. You guessed it, hanging hip touches were easy and running with dumbbells was hard. Very, very hard.

While the deadlifts weren’t overly challenging given the relatively light weight, the volume was high, you know, 4 reps shy of 100. I completed the 1st round in reps of 16 (as I told myself to get half of the reps out of the way), 8, & 8, the 2nd round in reps of 5, 5, 5, 5, 7, & 5, and the last round in reps of 5, 5, 5, 7, 7, & 3. I grunted loudly. As always, I offer no apologies.

I completed the first 2 rounds of hanging hip touches unbroken. Yay! I had every intention of doing so the last round unbroken as well, but my hands had become very sweaty and I slipped off of the bar after completing the 6th and then once again after completing the 22nd rep. Dammit.

Thirty pounds felt very heavy today, and the weight felt increasingly heavy the 2nd and then final rounds. I ran while holding the dumbbells, and didn’t stop the 1st round. I did, however, rest for about 5 seconds after running 200 and then another 400 meters during the 2nd round.

I told myself that I could rest every 100 meters if necessary during the last round. That’s 100 meters. Good. Keep going. Remember that the faster you run the sooner you’ll be able to put down the dumbbells. (Note that I don’t end a sentence with a preposition even when talking to myself.) Two hundred meters. Keep going. Make it three hundred meters. Oh, look, there’s Liz. You don’t want to stop when anyone is looking. Keep going. Four hundred meters. Rest. And I did, shaking out my arms and counting to 5. Pick up the dumbbells. That’s 500 hundred meters. Six hundred meters. Keep going. Don’t put down the dumbbells. Okay, you’ve made it 700 hundred meters. Keep going. Just 100 meters left. Pick up the pace. Done! 

While my internal monologue was focused on keeping grasp of the dumbbells, I was loudly grunting even as I ran. It helps! I occasionally held the dumbbells overhead but never rested them on my shoulders.

Time = 25:22

While difficult, yesterday’s workout was even more challenging than “Kevin,” and may become a benchmark WOD at CrossFit Surmount.