Thanks for the WOD

Today's workout is courtesy of one of my handful of readers, The Wigan Crossfitter.

He did this workout yesterday, and I thought it would fit in well for my cardio work today. Having run a 5k over the weekend, I wanted to do something different today; something that involved more than only running. This fit the bill perfectly:

WOD:

400m run

50 squats

400m run

25 burpees

400m run

50 squats

400m run

25 burpees

Having never done this one before, I wasn't sure how to pace myself. I figured I'd run the 400m splits in 2:00 and see how that went. I ran the first split and it was pretty easy. I ripped off the first 25 squats, and it started getting a bit harder. I gathered my breath, finished the next 25 squats, and started running again. It was at this point that I realized this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought. My quads were burning as I ran the next 400m split. As usual, the burpees left me gasping for breath, but at least my quads had loosened up for the next run. Anyway, I was dripping with sweat, panting and breathless at the end of the workout. I finished with a time of 19:13, rested a bit, and did some Tabata style ab work.

I have to admit that I was eyeing Wigan's time as I was pacing myself. It's nice to have something to shoot for when you've never done a WOD before. It helps keep you focused and doesn't let you take it slow.

Although Crossfit is scalable and you really compete with yourself, there is an element of competing with others that is inherent in CF. People post their times on the main CF site and affiliate sites. While this may serve as a benchmark for a new workout as it did for me today, it also gives us something to shoot for, and lets us measure our progress against others. I don't like the "for my age" analogy, because I refuse to use it as an excuse for slacking or not giving my all. Age is just a number. That being said, I do get a sense of satisfaction out of being in the top of my age group or smoking some people that are the age of my oldest son. The reality is that it does take us old farts more time to recover, and our testosterone levels do decrease with age....so I do take some satisfaction from my work, without making excuses for a poor showing. Anyway, a special thanks to Wigan for posting the WOD and for giving me a target to shoot for.


One other thought...I'll be satisfied when I can do a WOD like this without taking brief pauses to catch my breath in the middle of sets. Of course, I'll likely try to go faster then...but If I can do this without stopping, I'll be very happy with my metabolic conditioning.