Notre Dame

Workout of the Day:

Cascading AMRAP @ Notre Dame

5 minutes downstairs bear crawl

4 minutes walking lunges

3 minutes air squats

2 minutes Rocky situps

1 minute pushups

I was hoping for a nice sunrise this morning at Notre Dame, but Mother Nature wasn’t having any of it. The day dawned to gray skies and a chilly wind. Didzis, my friend and classmate who has been starting to train with me as well, agreed to get up early and come film the workout. Really appreciated this.

The routine was hardest at the front. 5 minutes of crawling downstairs and running back up isn’t a ridiculous task, but it’s on the edge. I used a staircase adjacent to Notre Dame, consisting of 25 steps leading down to the Seine River, and was able to get up and down 8 times in the allotted time-- 200 stairs of crawling. Immediately I transitioned to the walking lunges and felt right away that my hamstrings were fatigued from last night’s single leg deadlifts (I’ve gotten more sore as the day has worn on… entire posterior chain is feeling it). I walked for 4 minutes straight, my legs getting heavier by the step, and finished with 135 total. The air squats started fine, but by the end of the first minute it felt like all the blood in my body was in my legs. I had to split a few times and wound up totaling 119 at the end of 3 minutes. Didzis then set the camera on the ledge of the stairs and held my legs as I bent back over the river for the situps (reminded me of Rocky IV in the barn). These felt similar to GHD’s, just without the ground below. I kept my eyes closed and tried not to think about the icy water below, finishing 47 in 2 minutes. The last minute was pushups, which have started to get better lately. I was pretty tired by this point and my chest was sore from the weighted dips last night, but I still managed to get 45 before time expired.

In all, I totaled 546 repetitions in the 15-minute span and felt pretty good afterwards. This WOD wasn't too taxing on the lungs beyond the first element, and most of the challenge was in muscular endurance. Overall I'm satisfied.

As I said, my legs have gotten increasingly tight as the day has worn on, so I’m glad we did this workout in the morning before the soreness had time to set in. Been resting all day, hoping that will be enough to be ready for tomorrow.