Day of Firsts

Went to my 6 AM Crossfit class, ready to woop Annie’s ass, Annie being one of the newer WoD’s named after a lady.  Annie is downward ladder of 50 double unders, followed by 50 sit ups, 40 double unders, 40 sit ups, 30 double unders, 30 sit ups, 20 double unders, 20 sit ups, 10 double unders, and 10 sit ups.

I was actually looking forward to this WoD when I read it the night before. 

What I completely missed with my small Asian eyes was the first part of the WoD which was an attempt to max box jump.  Which to me is like asking how high can a hippo fly?

I’ve been working all of my Metcons at the 20” box, so when I found out about doing box jumps today I was actually excited to try it.  I started by warming up at the 24” height.  I did 3-4 sets of 2, and then was thinking about increasing the height, but I said okay let me get two more connected good ones.

FUCK!

My right foot didn’t get far enough on the box, and I slipped, and my leg was used as a brake against the corner of the wood box.  Pictured below is the gash itself.

It caught me off guard; I didn’t think it was a big deal until I looked down at my leg.  I started limping, and Kevin who was working with someone on a personal saw it and rushed over to help me. 

He also helped me get it cleaned, and bandage it.  When I walked back out onto the gym floor, Ericka rushed over to see how I was doing; at this point I was still unsure if I should go to the hospital.  I kept limping around, I then had to re-tape it and decided you know what, I’m going to be even more pissed off if the doctor tells me I can’t workout for two weeks, so I decided the damage is done let’s finish this shit.

I went back to the box, and noticed that skin, and hair had been left on the box.  I should have taken a picture but I was so embarrassed that I just cleaned it up.  I flipped the box down to the 20” height, and did a couple of box jumps to test how my leg would handle it. 

It didn’t feel that bad, so I added two plates, and tried it again.  After a good couple of box jumps, I added a third, and it was not to be, my fear prevented me from jumping.  I would swing my arms, to start the motion, and stop midway through, I’m absolutely sure I could have gotten to the height, but my bodies natural defense made me stop, and I wasn’t strong enough to overcome it.

I was able to do Annie, and I finished with a time of 10:10, doing all single unders, but did double the amount (50 double = 100 single).  The sit-ups beat me up.  After the first 50, I had to use my hands to give a slight tug at the mid point of the sit-up, it’s that point in any lift that I call the point of no return; it’s the half inch which is the crux of the movement. 

Here is the unflattering video, I was going to do the jump rope facing the camera but decided I don’t want to watch my man boobs bounce up and down, so you can watch my large ass move up and down.

After the WoD I continued my plan, and did a bit of rowing.  I did an interval program which is preprogrammed to the C2 Concepts rower.  It was the first time I rowed on this machine, with the dampener at level 10.  I am going to work at it until level 10 is a walk in the park. 

While rowing, during one of the rest cycles, I was watching another personal session by another coach.  He was working with an older guy, who was pushing himself hard.  When he stood up, the coach yelled to Ericka to come help because he fainted.  He lied on the ground for a bit, as people rushed to call 911, when the guy doing the personal session said its okay. 

The man who fainted was lying on the ground, with his feet elevated on some plates.  He was clearly conscious, but exhausted.  My assumption was that he probably hadn’t eaten since the night before, and was suffering from low blood sugar.  This guy was not overweight, and probably someone in his youth that was fit. 

Hey guy, first you are tougher than me, I’ve never worked so hard I’ve fainted.  Second, check this link out by Clarence Bass on eating a snack before working out.  He’s a guy who collects social security now, and could probably benches more than my body weight.

So today was a day of firsts for me at Crossfit, during the warm-up I did 5 or 6 one off double unders, I sustained my first battle scar from Crossfit, I saw my first fainting spell at Crossfit, and I rowed with the dampener at 10 for the first time.  Not a bad way to start a Friday morning.