I may still only be a beginner, but I’m pretty sure it’s never a good sign when a workout has the word ‘death’ in it.
Even more so when it’s not just one ‘death’, but two - Death by Clean and Jerk, followed by Death by Burpees. (Is it wrong that when I originally read the WOD, my first thought was ‘death by chocolate’? Not a good start).
Not sure what ‘Death by…’ entails? No, neither was I. So let me explain…
The ‘Death by’ protocol requires 1 rep in the first minute. You then rest for the remainder of that minute. In minute 2, you complete 2 reps, and again rest for the remainder of that minute. Minute 3, do 3 reps, and so on and so forth. Continue until you can no longer complete the required number of reps within the minute. You can use as many sets within the minute to complete the reps. As soon as you fail the Clean and Jerk immediately start 1 Burpee in the next minute, then 2 in the next, following the same format before. Your time is the time it takes to do the whole lot.
The recommended weight for the Clean and Jerk was 60 for men and 40 for women (!) so my weight was scaled. The first few minutes were great, 1, 2, 3 and then 4 reps per minute still gave plenty enough time to rest, but beyond that it started to get tough, with my body getting more tired with less time to recover. After making it to 10, it was on to Burpees (which shockingly I’d never done before!) finally finishing on 22 minutes.
As well as CrossFit, I’m also training for my first half marathon, Nike’s Run To The Beat, which takes place at the end of next month.
I’ve only ever run 10k races before, so have been slowly upping my mileage. This weekend I managed to get a hilly 20k in the bag, and by the end I still felt like I had a bit of endurance left, though my legs were saying no!
Whether or not I’ve got a slightly increased fitness thanks to CrossFit remains to be seen, but something certainly seems to be working!
I also caught up with Cecilia Morrison this week (look out for her interview online soon). She’s the European champion in her age group at the 1500m and 5000m as well as the world record holder at both distances (6:04.59 for the 1500m and 22:19.99 for 5000m). She’s 72 years of age and after speaking to her I noticed the following quote on CrossFit Bath’s website…
“Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind it doesn’t matter” – Satchel Paige
Good words! Until next week…
