11.6 preview

The CF Sectionals Open is winding down. It is time to turn our attention to the last WOD - 11.6. I gave this an early run. I wanted to see how it felt. I have a lot of thoughts. Reasons I can do better, and thoughts I can share.

Hopefully my little run through will help me later on and also help everyone else when they do this for real:

WOD 11.6:
7minutes - AMRAP - increasing ladder
3 Thrusters (100#)
3 Pullups (Chest to Bar)
6,6
9,9
12,12
etc,etc


Initial thoughts. My spring allergies and asthma is in full gear. I have not gotten back on my inhalers, etc. I hate taking medicine. But this brief spring period would be a good time. Because you will every bit of your lung capacity for this one, as I found out. Also - since this is so short. I should have warmed up more aggressively. My heart rate was low when I started, and the initial wave of exertion crushed me.

Last preparation tip. Stretch out more. My hips were tight and my squats felt slow. You want to be able to get some speed out of the bottom. I had little. Maybe that was residual soreness from doing 11.5 two days earlier.

OK - On to the WOD.

The first round was easy. Squat cleaned the first thrusters. Any time I dropped the bar later, I did that too. The weight is not heavy, so why waste time getting it to your shoulders.

6s were harder. I was already getting a little tired. I did not drop the bar, but rested briefly after 3 reps. Pulliups were 3 and 3. 1 minute passed during the pullups.

9s were harder still. I partitioned thrusters after 5. Pullups were in sets of 3. The C2B are very taxing and I was slowing down. The clock kept moving even when I did not. I wasted more time between pullups than thrusters.

12's - I hardy remember them. I dropped the bar after 6 thrusters. Melissa was watching me, and yelling, but I was slow to react. Have to be very aggressive. This wod goes quickly, so don't hold back. I did 3s on pullups. 5 minutes passed somewhere in this round.

15s. I did 6, 5, 4. Got through the thrusters. Did 2s on the pullups because I was toast. I got 7. Time expired. Total of 82 reps.

I was surprised at how quickly 7 minutes went by. I could have pushed harder. I did not collapse when I was done. Clearly I did not push hard enough. I need to get past the 15s and beyond. Cannot wait to do this for real.

Keep in mind that my Fran (which is 90 reps) is about 5. But the C2B pullups change the game and also there are more transitions here. I was not near the pullup bar. That will save time.I had 9 transitions between the bar and pullups. Even 2 seconds each adds up.

Best of luck to the whole CFOT team. I am really enjoying this experience, although I am very disappointed in my results. Next year I will be more ready. Clearly you cannot have gaps in your skills - I do. And you can not bank on your best exercise showing up - hspu - because they did not. 2012 is going to be better for me. Just you watch.