"Only Slightly Dead"

It’s been an interesting week at Crossfit.

Monday was a hard fall after the Performance Intelligence seminar. But it was also a huge learning experience. It became very apparent that just listening to Dr. Bell for 7 hours wasn’t going to magically change anything – I would have to put in some effort.

So then came Tuesday night: Death By Pushups.

Confidence was good that night. The movement is not complicated, I understand the proper form, and no heavy lifting, just hard work. I followed my WGP and managed the workout just as I had planned. 11 reps…followed by an obscene number of situps that Carrie peer-pressured me into.

That brings us to Wednesday: NANCY (5 rounds for time of 400m run + 95lbs overhead squat, 15 reps).

I think that in the Crossfit world this would be considered a “metcon” workout (metabolic condition, i.e. serious pain).

I started out running down Dyer Street during the 1st 400m run at a good pace. I even chatted up JoDee a little during the uphill part. All part of the WGP – a relaxed, confident pace in a natural state. FTW.

Got through the first set of OHS, not perfect but OK. Stepped out of rep #15 and got ready to run. Uh…where’d my legs go?

Round 2 got me rattled. Legs felt like Jell-0. My 400m run was much closer to a jog-walk. Neal and Carrie were chasing each other back into the box from their 2nd (3rd?) run, just as I was starting mine.

I won’t describe the play-by-play. But at a certain point, Dr. Bell, WGPs and my “win” turned into vapor. I had nothing left. If my vision had not been blurred by the oxygen deprivation I would have snagged my car keys and headed for the door.

That last set of OHS’s were surreal. I couldn’t see anything or feel anything. Everyone else had already finished Nancy so I was center stage. Chase and Tyler were yelling “don’t drop that bar!”…I can remember losing my balance once and throwing the bar from the overhead position…but that’s about it. (I had never dropped a bar from that high before...I was a madman at this point.)

When it was done, I kinda just sat on the floor for a while; my arm was twitching and I was using the sweat covering my eyes to mask tears. Today’s CFDC blog was titled “Only Slightly Dead”. Quite right.

But even though I was the last guy to finish, I think that I can count last night was a win. The great thing about CFDC is that even when your WGP fails, there’s a Plan B to get you through it, the coaches and the rest of the 7PMers.

Since Monday was such a blow-out, I am thinking about skipping my rest day and going back tonight to try and redeem myself for a 4th WOD this week.