358 – WODing at Work

Christmas falling in the middle of the week this week complicated my workout plans a little. But being unable to make it to class is not an excuse for doing nothing, so today I decided to improvise.

The workout on CrossFit Dedication‘s site was called “Merry 25,” and it was basically half of the benchmark “Filthy 50” WOD. The gym at my work is nicely equipped, but I still had to make a couple substitutions. I replaced the wallballs with thrusters, and since the only jump rope I could find was too short and heavy to even try double unders, I figured I’d do a boatload of singles instead.

I got my equipment laid out, set up the stopwatch app on my phone, and got to it. As has become the trend for most of my CrossFit workouts to date, the first few exercises went well, and I thought I might just breeze through it. I banged out the push press and back extensions in no time at all, before running to the hallway for the walking lunges. I was surprised at how easy those felt, given that I usually hate lunges. I guess I’m getting a little stronger, after all.

Back in the weight room, I… er… jumped right into the jumping pull-ups, completing them unbroken before turning to do box jumps. After my first ten, I finally ran out of breath and had to stop for a second. The jumping pull ups had revved the motor, and now the box jumps were pushing it toward red line, but I was managing.

I turned back to the pull up bar for knees-to-elbows, but had to break them up into 10-5-5-5, just because they hurt my shoulders a little. I was happy to move on to kettlebell swings, but was shocked at how little juice I had once I started. I had only done 10 when I found myself sucking air, and had to break up that set as well.

It got a little ugly on the the thrusters. I had chosen 20 pound dumbbells, thinking that was conservative, but not realizing that it was also twice the weight of the wallball I was replacing. I thought that set would never end, and I kissed my impressive completion time goodbye.

Oh yeah, and then burpees. I had almost forgotten them, reaching for my jump rope before seeing the paper and remembering. I did ten good ones and felt okay, but had to stop after eight more. Then I did two more. Or did I? Did I only tell myself I would do two more? I couldn’t remember three seconds ago, so I did seven more just to be sure I was getting at least the required reps.

Double unders were out of the question for the aforementioned reasons, so I picked up the rope and told myself I’d do 75 singles. Oddly enough, the singles came easily, and I was banging them out unbroken, something I can’t always do when I’m just warming up. I lost count as I clicked past 50, and decided to just keep going until I messed up. I think that was somewhere in the 70s, but whatever it was, it was good enough for me.

I walked over and stopped the stopwatch on my phone, finishing my adapted WOD in 15:40. Not too bad, for having to improvise! It’s not quite as good as being in the class for it, but it’ll do in a pinch.