Do Over

The open workouts couldn't have come at a worse time this year.

Just as 14.1 came out, I was working my way through a nasty upper respiratory infection. And, as you might expect, just as I finally started to shake it off, Wonder Dad picked it up. *sigh* And he didn't just pick it up, this bug slammed him even harder than it did me and has kept him struggling for air for almost a full MONTH.

Not fair!

The two of us have wheezed our way through all of the open WODs so far. But as we muddled through and recorded our scores, such as they were, we promised ourselves that we would revisit them once we started feeling better.

This week has FINALLY seen us both on the rebound from this awful bug and ready to re-tackle some of these WODs. We decided to start with 14.3 - the deadlift & box jump beast.

WOD 14.3 looks like this for women:

Complete as many reps as possible in 8 minutes of:

Round 1

95-lb. deadlifts, 10 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

Round 2

135-lb. deadlifts, 15 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

Round 3

155-lb. deadlifts, 20 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

Round 4

185-lb. deadlifts, 25 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

Round 5

205-lb. deadlifts, 30 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

Round 6

225-lb. deadlifts, 35 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

The first time we attempted it, I made it to the 4th round and managed to get 13 deadlifts at 185#s (for a socre of 108). And, despite the fact that I had to hit my inhaler 2x during the WOD, I felt pretty good about it afterward.

But as OK as I felt about it, I knew. I just KNEW I could do better. This WOD was just DESIGNED for someone like me! Since I am ... how do you say it ... a bit vertically challenged ... deadlifts are one of my all time favorite exercises. My body type actually works FOR ME with deadlifts (unlike so many exercises where I dream of being long and lean just to make it "fair"). Box jumps are not exactly my favorite, but the standard for this WOD allows you to actually do step ups, if you wish.

So I was really looking forward to the do-over on this WOD to see just how hard I could push it!

And I gotta tell ya ... I was FLOATING ON AIR (as well as gasping for it) by the time we finished our re-do of 14.3!

This time I made it all the way to the 5th round (where I did 2 deadlifts before running out of time)!!! That means I did a full 132 reps this time! WHOOP!

And sure, I'm super sore in the aftermath of this effort. My ham strings feel so tight you could bounce quarters off of them. And even sitting is not comfortable. But I am SO BEYOND happy with this effort!

I have struggled to feel like I am getting any stronger since dropping a bunch of weight last fall (more on that coming soon). I get frustrated when I feel like I'm only treading water in my workouts. And having to scale workouts that I would normally be able to solider though has been a blow to my pride, I'll admit and my motivation.

But I knew that losing the weight had to be the priority. And I just hoped and prayed that once I got to where I needed to be that I would be able to rebuild at least some of my strength.

With this WOD (& a few more for the past month or two), I am beginning to see that happen. And despite the totally chest thumping improvement in my performance in this specific WOD, what really has me floating on air is the feeling that the OLD me is coming back ... or at least the parts of the "old Me" that I want to bring into this "new body" I'm wearing. THAT makes me feel good! Like I can take on the world!

So Bring it Baby! This chick is ready!