Murph

Well, I went in this morning at 10:45 expecting to totally bomb Murph since I didn't get to sleep until after 2 a.m. The Rangers game was delayed due to rain and didn't start until 9:30 last night. Then we had to stand there and watch the fireworks (the cops and security wouldn't let us cross the street to get to the far parking lots until the fireworks were over). I did not like being delayed--it was late enough when the game ended, and then the display was another 20 minutes. Anyway, I had originally intended to do the 9 a.m. Murph heat, but since we got back so late, we did the 11.

I had two goals going into this second go at this hero WOD (AQAP: 1 mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, and 1 mile run): 1) complete it rx'd (not with a vest but all movements as prescribed) and 2) finish within an hour. Felt pretty good on the first mile, and as I ran, I visualized my strategy for the push-ups because they are my weakest movement. Finished the first mile in 8:15--about the pace I had wanted to run it in. I did the first five Cindy rounds with my shirt, but after that fifth round, the shirt had to come off, so I rolled shirtless. Actually, and maybe this is purely mental, I felt a lot lighter on everything, especially the pull-ups, without the shirt (haha)! Maybe I'll go shirtless more often now? Anyway, I started out doing 5 pushes, few seconds rest, then the remaining 5. After about six rounds, I did 4 pushes, rest, 2, rest, 2, rest, 2. The pulls and squats were the easiest, so I made up time on those. I didn't go to my knees at all!!! I had noticed in the Regionals pics that athletes were doing a sort of flop and then pushing themselves up, so I emulated this approach to the push-ups. I made sure to lock out my elbows at the top, let myself plop down onto my chest (and stomach), and pushed up--it made this movement a lot more doable. Not to say it was easy, though!! But I'm happy I didn't let myself go to knee push-ups. It took me about 37 minutes to do all 20 rounds of Cindy, and then it was time for my last mile. I think I spent the majority of the first 800 trying to get my breathing under control! Once I hit Dyer on the second 800, I tried to sprint...haha, my legs didn't want to move much faster. But I finished in 56 minutes and 15 seconds--almost six minutes off my old time. Woohoo!! When I get to the point where I can finish this WOD in 45 minutes, I'll wear a weight vest, as it's supposed to be done. But until then...I'm going to keep working on push-ups and making myself run hard despite fatigue. My last mile took me about 11 minutes!!! I was so tempted to walk during that first leg, but I figured if I slowed down that much, I wouldn't be able to get myself going again, plus I wouldn't have beat my old time. Love this WOD and feel honored to suffer through it for an American hero. This event was also a donation drive for the NSWF (http://www.nswfoundation.org/), so it felt great to be a part of it.

Okay, nap time before the big UFC heavyweight champion title fight!!! Should be good, although lately, title fights have been going to decision (boooo).