Exercise tourette's syndrome, 500 row pb, lying down for time

Pic of me just post 500m row

Catching up on the weekend of training...

Saturday mornings I train a triathlon group at PISE from 830-930am, which unfortunately conflicts with Sat am classes at the zone. I usually can get down there for 10am, which is the second class, and help run that plus run the "Intro to CrossFit" session at 11. This Saturday, it was the "post" part of the Kelly workout challenge, so I figured I'd catch up on the row + pullup/burpee workout from the day before... I hadn't done a 500m in a while so thought that would be a good one to hit up.

I warmed up for about 15 min while cheering on my friends and was ready to try out a shortened stroke rowing technique I'd seen on youtube a while back. Basically for a short distance like the 500, if you're fit enough, you can do away with the "length" part of the rowing stroke and just hammer away at 40-50 strokes per minute. Note the disclaimer - if you're fit enough! I've seen a lot of "fly - and - dies" using this technique so you still have to control your energy output.

Anyways........ my previous personal best was 1:28.5, not too shabby but I knew I could do better. I got myself amped up, blocked the front and back of the erg with some weight plates, then 3,2,1 GO I hammered off the start. I was hitting 1:18 and 1:19 splits early on, a good sign. I eased off a little but kept the splits at <1:25>

I end up either just yelling with exertion, or better yet, swearing at the bar/exercise/whatever I'm doing. I figure it's got something to do with pent up emotions, but fortunately in CrossFit we let each other do all sorts of crazy things, so it just helps me fit in better ;) In my Saturday row, the yelling started at the end of each stroke from that 250m mark and got progressively louder and louder. I tried to suppress it but just couldn't. It felt like I wasn't pulling hard at all but I was still sitting 1:31-1:33 towards the end.

With 10m left, my "exercise tourette's" kicked in even more and I let out a very loud "F**K YOU!" to the rower and sailed into the finish.... 1:25.9. Everyone had a good laugh as apparently they had stopped to watch me when the yelling started mid-race. I apologized for my obscenity, which drew even more laughs. Good times overall though, a nice PB and incredible lung burn that lasted a good 30 min.

My recovery period took a bit too long and I had to run the intro (which also went long as the guy who did the baseline tapped out at the pushups and laid down for 28.5 min - I timed him in true crossfit fashion haha). I headed home disappointed that I didn't do the remainder of the workout (50 chest to bar pullups followed by 50 burpees).

Fortunately, later that day Michelle and I finished test driving cars and i felt inspired to do the rest of the wod.... well, actually I had just intended on doing the pullups when I first showed up. Quick 10 minute warm up, chalked up, hit the bar for the pullups, looking to put in a decent time. These were chest-to-bar pullups, so just like it sounds, my chest had to physically contact the pullup bar on each rep, which demands a much stronger pull and can be tricky to coordinate. Didn't start well with my arms still fatigued from the row experience early in the day but paced well through the middle and finished the pullups at 3:30 ish. With michelle urging me on, I got right into the burpees, ending up finishing the whole deal at 6:38, a 1:12 improvement over my last time and just :01 better than my buddy TeeJ!

Also trained Sunday night LAAATE (get 'em in when you can!), so here's a summary of the weekend's workouts:

Saturday 1030am: 500m row, damper at 6.5, 1:25.9 (PB by 2.6 sec!!!)

Saturday 6:30pm: OPT pullup and burpee wod: 50 ctb pullups, 50 burpees - 6:38 (PB by 1:12!!)

Sunday 9:45pm: Squat Snatches - 3x65, 3x75, 3x95, 2x115, 2x125, 1x135, 1x145 miss, 1x150 miss, 2 x 125

Front Squats - 3 x 135, 3x185, 1x205, 1x215, 1x235 (belt), 3x190, 3x190

All in all, not a bad weekend, til next time!

Cam