Games Finale 2011 (for me anyway)

I am truly humbled.  I've been waiting for the chance to do Fran again, since I've gained some ground on pullups with bands, and I feel like RX'ing the weight is very doable now.  But today had a bit of a wake up call in store for me, as I truly battled through this one to get what I would describe as a meager result at best. 

CrossFit Games Open 11.6

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes of the following rep scheme:
Thruster, 3 reps (men: 100# / women: 65#)
3 Chest to bar Pull-ups
Thruster, 6 reps (men: 100# / women: 65#)
6 Chest to bar Pull-ups
Thruster, 9 reps (men: 100# / women: 65#)
9 Chest to bar Pull-ups
Thruster, 12 reps (men: 100# / women: 65#)
12 Chest to bar Pull-ups
Thruster, 15 reps (men: 100# / women: 65#)
15 Chest to bar Pull-ups
Thruster, 18 reps (men: 100# / women: 65#)
18 Chest to bar Pull-ups
Thruster, 21 reps (men: 100# / women: 65#)
21 Chest to bar Pull-ups…
This is a timed workout. If you complete the round of 21, go on to 24. If you complete 24, go on to 27, etc.

OK so it's seven minutes.  I'm treating this one like Fran because I am doing the pullups the same way I would do them in Fran.  My original Fran time is 8:08, and that was with ring rows subbed for pullups and light weight.  Now I know that the difference between 95 lbs and 100 lbs is more significant than people think.  After 30 reps that's an extra 150lbs of aggregate weight moved overhead...so I'm not being fair to say it's exactly the same, but I do feel like this is a valid test of my ability to improve my Fran time.  Completing the round of 15 on this WOD will be the same amount of reps as Fran, so I know where I need to get to if I think I stand a chance of improving next time I face the 21-15-9.  I was on a sole mission this time.  Most people did the WOD yesterday, and the official WOD (since today was a rest day on the CF Main Site) in the gym was more deadlifts.  I think we can agree I blew my load on those a couple days ago ;).  Anyway I got set up, got psyched up, and was as ready as I'll ever be...

3...2...1...Go!  The thrusters felt heavy, but I still felt solid in the first few rounds.  I was using both bands for the pullups, so I didn't really slow down until after the round of 6.  I think the explosiveness of the thrusters took away from my ability to cruise through more than a few pullups at a time.  But as the minutes left morphed into seconds left I was attacking the round of 12 as best I could.  I finished the thrusters and was really pulling from the depths of my soul on the pullups, but I was only able to get two at a time, then one at a time.  And inevitably my end came just after I hit eight reps into the set.

Could it have been the end-of-week shred on my shoulders?  Maybe.  I've certainly done more pullups than this in plenty of WODs before.  But likely time domain is the main issue here.  Anytime I've put up higher numbers of pullups it's been in far longer time domains than seven minutes.  In that respect this was a fantastic exercise to show me how far I still have to go to link a serious amount of pullups together.

Before any major regrets set in I had the pleasure of watching Sara do the games WOD just minutes after I finished.  She did chest-to-bar chinups and (in my opinion) crushed it by making the full round of 15 at the buzzer.  I was psyched for her, but also realized that she hit the goal I had set for myself.  If Sara, who is years into her Crossfit journey, hit 90 reps in seven minutes, all of a sudden I don't feel so terrible about my meager score of 56.

I'm learning every day, but I'm finding encouragement around every corner.  I'm psyched to work harder on making the most of my Fran time, but coming away from this WOD I realize that there are far more telling benchmarks than beating my 8:08 time.  At this point a tie would be nice.  We'll see soon enough ;).

Peace...