Yesterday was anything but a rest day, as I joined both the 7 am and 6:30 pm endurance athletes for hill repeats, completing 8, 200m intervals both sessions. Uhm, that’s 2 miles of hill repeats. Uhm, that’s also 2 miles of walking/jogging/running downhill. Uhm, that’s a hell of a lot of fun! I love hill repeats, I truly do. The fastest uphill was :42 and the fastest downhill was :32. Why is it that athletes always run their fastest intervals when I’m running with them? (I know the answer. ‘Tis a rhetorical question.)
I worked out at 9:30 this morning hoping against hope that Coach Jennifer would attend the session so that I could, you know, crush her like a bug. Sadly, she did not.
Having watched athletes from the 3 earlier sessions complete this workout, I was kinda sorta dreading it. While difficult, the workout wasn’t as challenging as I thought it was going to be.
Expect the worst? Why the hell not!
10 hang cleans (95)
20 deadlifts (95)
8 HC
20 lateral bar hops
6 HC
10 hand release burpees
That’s 120 hang FULL SQUAT cleans, 200 deadlifts, 200 lateral bar hops, and 50 hand release burpees. I knew it would be unrealistic to set goal to complete hang cleans unbroken, but I thought it would be realistic to complete deadlifts, lateral bar hops, and hand release burpees unbroken. Too may hang cleans led to tightness in lower back and I was only able to complete first round of deadlifts in unbroken reps. WTF? I was, however, able to complete lateral bar hops and burpees unbroken.
Whilst completing the 8 reps HC of the first round I thought, “Just tap out.” I just wasn’t feeling it. I continued nonetheless.
As I began the second round I inexplicably and almost unknowingly began doing hang cleans one at a time. Deadlift the bar and stand to full extension, lower bar to power position. complete full squat clean, drop bar, and repeat. I also mistakenly completed 14 instead of 10 HCs — thinking that I had to do 20. Dammit. It was at that moment that I told myself that I had to string HCs together, i.e., return the bar to mid-thigh instead of dropping to the floor. I heard an occasional “Good job, Paul.” from Deborah. I could hardly hear her over my own grunting.
To the best of my recollection, I didn’t swear once. I do recall saying “Jennifer can suck my b@lls.”
I felt better as the workout progressed and I began to enjoy the workout by the third round.
The lateral bar hops were always a welcome relief but went by very quickly. The hand release burpees were also a welcome relief but also went by far too quickly.
Time = 23:44
To ensure accuracy, I weighed the sandbags prior to attempting plank hold. It appears that one of the 45# sandbags weighs 54#. Ha! Kevin was kind enough to not only place the sandbags on my back but to also do the math.
Weight = 156#
I was surprised by how easy it was to hold the plank. I may attempt 175# next week.
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