3 in 1

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – In the morning

7k trail run

WOD 2 – In the afternoon

Done in immediate succession:

a) 250 meter car push (1400 kg)

b) 21/15/9 pullup w/ 42/30/18 double under

c) 5 x 75 meter L shuttle to object (1 shuttle = 2 x 75 m)

I got a great night of rest last night, including a dream about running. I can’t remember who I was racing/chasing/escaping but I know for certain that I woke up wanting to stride my legs out. So I headed back to the park just before 8:00 and did 2 loops of the 3.5 km trail that runs around it. Almost immediately my lower back tightened up, making the duration of the run pretty damn difficult—I think the long plane flight may have conspired against my lower spine. I had to stop a few times to try and get the thing loose and I wasn’t able to maintain the pace I started with (maybe a bit ambitious anyways), but I still managed to complete the track in 26 minutes. Felt great afterwards.

This afternoon we were at Niels’s grandmothers place to celebrate her birthday. What a place! I spent Christmas there in December but the snow covered much of what is a seriously beautiful property. The gardens were in bloom, the weather was gorgeous, and the place was full of cool toys to play with, not the least fun of which was Niels’s ’68 Land Cruiser. 1400 kg of iron, rubber, and pure badass, this thing had a chopped top and a bed perfect for a modified prowler push. We had to change out the front right tire to get her rolling again, but after that it was ready to go.

With Marika steering and the two dogs navigating I got the thing rolling fast out the gate. I was literally running the first 75 meters or so. Unfortunately the grade tilted up a bit after that and my legs suddenly felt the real weight of that tank. I managed to push it the entire winding driveway without stopping, but my legs were jello afterwards.

I pretty much stumbled the 100 meters or so to the cross beam where I had the jump rope and pullup station set up. Using a 2 x 6 for a bar, the pullups were tough. Took me 4 sets to get 21, 4 to get 15, and 4 to get 9. The grip was just brutal towards the end. The double unders, though, posed no problem. In my head I expected to be crushing the shuttle runs at the end, but my dead legs and heavy arms dictated otherwise. I pushed as hard as I could have, but there just wasn’t much left in the tank. Not to mention, 5 x 150 meters is kind of a lot anyways.

Finishing strong was a battle, but I didn’t quit and stopped the clock at 12:30. If someone had asked me how much time I thought had elapsed, I would’ve guessed close to 20 minutes. This felt like soooo much longer than it actually was and I felt equal parts out of breath and muscle fatigue. Turned out to be one of the more balanced, effective, and diverse WODs I’ve ever done. The secret here was combining multiple simple ideas that target different things: Strength/endurance in the car push, stamina/skill in the couplet, and speed/agility in the shuttle. Done deal.