Monday August 25, 2008 - Woke Up Went Back to Bed....Knocked out a PR Fran

The weekend took it out of me. Saturday night or should I say Sunday morning I went to bed around 4:30 am after watching the USA Men's Basketball team win the gold medal! I got about 4 hrs of sleep because I can't really sleep in. I dragged through the rest of the day and once I got home was beat. I was too tired to cook so I went across the street to get some Chinese - Sinagpore Noodles. I know, how does this fit in the Zone. I basically slacked all weekend on the Zone and will be giving myself a funishment on Wednesday. Anyhow back to the Chinese, I went to bed after eating it and crashed. I woke up with my alarm and felt sick. I was sweating and had the chills and well basically had a stomach thing that left me on the floor of my bathroom. Nuff said, I didn't make the workout and called in sick to work and went back to bed and slept til about 10am. I woke up and felt better, probably because the Singapore Noodles were out of my system. Harold had emailed me and told me they did Fran! I was bummed, I missed the last Fran because my shoulder was still injured and I have not done a Fran in about 4-6 months when I knocked out a 4:19 at Gold's Gym with a rack and by myself.

Around noon I told myself I need to try and make the 5pm class. I started to get pumped up and psyched for Fran. I knew it would be hard to get a PR after the morning and weekend I had but you know the rule "GO HARD or GO HOME."

I got there at 5pm and knew a few people but not everyone. There was about 20 people so we had to do waves of people. I jumped in to the first one after the warmup and got pumped up for the WOD. The way I look at Fran is, it is only around 5 minutes long so bust it out and then you get to relax. Mike S was in the first heat as well. I was glad he was because I knew he would put up a good time and I could use the competition to fight through it.

SO Fran is
21 Thrusters 95#
21 Pullups
15 Thrusters
15 Pullups
9 Thrusters
9 Pullups

I focused in and then ...3..2..1..go! My plan was to not drop the bar and go at a fast steady pace, I mean it is only 95#. The thrusters felt good and I really felt like I was exploding and using my hips. Andrea was coaching me through and I tried to make slight corrections but nothing drastic and I was focused on knocking them out. I threw the bar down and jumped on the pullup bar. My hands have pretty much healed so grip was not an issue. I was worried about the pullups because I had never done Fran on a moving bar and the kip takes a little longer. I got an efficient kip down and then closed my eyes and knocked out 21 consecutive pullups.

Now the 15's are by far the worst and the best, because once you get done with the 15 thrusters you know you are half way and know you only have to pick up that bar one more time. I stuck to my plan and didn't drop the bar, I think I rested in the top position once but hammered them out. I think others started to realize my pace and I heard a lot more people cheering me on. To be honest with you all I heard was myself and Andrea counting them out for me. I had to break the pullups up to 2-3 sets but had limited rest 3 sec max each time.

I jumped on my nine thrusters and felt great! I always finish strong because I know I am there and it is no different than a race when you see the finish line. I knocked out my nine and grabbed the pull up bar. I ended up doing 4, 3, 2 and just let go of the bar and Andrea yelled time which Jerry responded with 4:09! 4:09! I was going for a 5-5:30 Fran! I beat my PR which was on a stationary bar and by myself (so may not have been so strict). 4:09! I was as happy as I could be and in much pain as I think I could be, my head was killing me.

I got up and helped others through the workout, there were some crazy efforts and times. People were very congratulatory to me for my time. Chriss was there and he previously had the record of 4:46 and came over and told me 'I killed it.' I would be lying if I said I didn't like the recognition but don't want to be cocky and want to be humble. Jerry mentioned it at the end of class which was nice.

Because I am who I am, I started thinking about next time. The plan is to not rest and try not to break up the pullups. It may be on a stationary bar next time, if that is the case I am definitely thinking sub 4 minutes. It is all about setting a PR so you can beat it next time!