#wodup

A little over a month ago I challenged myself to improve my Fran time as much as possible in only 30 days. As the legend goes, Fran is the original CrossFit workout. It's also the most notorious. A cardiovascular onslaught secretly masked as a strength routine. The type of workout that makes grown men cry:

Fran 21-15-9 Thrusters @ 95 lbs Pullups Complete 21 thrusters (a front squat into a push press) followed by 21 pullups, then 15 of each, then 9 of each...as fast as possible.

I started the Challenge with a Fran time of 5:09. My goal was to improve my time by 30 seconds in 30 days. I created a comprehensive workout plan for myself that included some strength work along with heaps of interval training. Many times I worked out twice in one day, but on the weekends I completely rested. I had hoped to not miss a workout, but a couple weeks in I realized that I was overtraining and needed to back off a bit. That being said, I still feel like I put everything I had into my training, and I don't feel like I slacked off at all.

The equipment and supplements helped. During my initial benchmark I only wore a pair of gloves. Once my training began I decided to wear sleeves to protect my knees, and I took a steady supply of Extreme Endurance to minimize lactic acid buildup and day-after muscle soreness. Eventually I found that the high training volume was making it difficult to sleep well at night, so I started taking ZMA right before bed.

In the third week I PRed all of my lifts, and I was glad to see my strength improve. Plus, frequent running interval workouts drastically improved my ability to work harder, longer, while my cardio system is in overdrive. Unfortunately, I got sloppy with the form during one of my last running intervals, leading to a pulled gracilis muscle in my thigh which is causing some lingering knee pain.

I spent most of my fourth week resting, recovering, and mentally preparing for what was about to come. On the day of my final Fran test it was super hot and super humid, making it difficult to breathe. Still, I felt strong, although I was still too nervous to begin the workout. I have learned that it's very difficult for me to start the clock before a Fran workout. It's much better if someone does it for me, otherwise I'll procrastinate for a really long time. It's hard to subject yourself to that much imminent pain. Luckily someone started a clock for me, and when it beeped 3-2-1 I gripped the bar, cleaned it up, and got to work. This time I had Ryne, one of my coaches, cheering me on. His yelling really helped me push through at the very end when I got stuck on pullups. 

30 Days of Fran - Final Benchmark from Gil Hildebrand on Vimeo.

I ended up doing the second set of 15 thrusters unbroken, which was a huge mental block for me. That set is just so fatiguing, and I was stoked that I was able to complete it without dropping the bar. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do the subsequent pullups unbroken, saying goodbye to my goal of completing the whole workout unbroken. I still have a ways to go. 

All in all I completed Fran in 4:30, which is a 39 second PR, or 13% faster. I'm absolutely thrilled with my progress, as I really felt that I gave everything I could give to this Challenge. My thrusters improved considerably, with less knee buckling and more explosion into the push press. My pullup form still looks yucky, and despite practice I didn't feel confident enough in my butterfly pullup technique to use it.

You'll notice that the video is over 7 minutes long: that's because I decided not to edit out the few minutes immediately following Fran. If there's anything I've learned about this workout, it's that the real pain doesn't begin until the workout is done, and that it takes several times as long to recover as it does to complete it. After I stopped the video I sat down for a few more minutes. Then I stood up and got that watery feeling in the back of my throat. A telltale sign that something bad was imminent. I strolled outside and kneeled in the grass. Moments later it all came bubbling up, and the excessive amount of water I drank after completing Fran was vomitted into the grass. Yes, that's right, I threw up after doing Fran. It's not something I'm proud of, nor advocate, but it did leave me with the sense that I gave it my all.

What's next?

After the Challenge I took a solid week off. I love doing intensive Challenges like this, but I need some time to recover before I set a new goal. Until then I'm enjoying my box's normal class WODs, and I'm hoping to maintain all of the incredible cardio endurance I developed. I'm ending the summer feeling accomplished and contented.

30 Days of Fran - Day 23

Just one week left in my 30 day Fran challenge. My cardiovascular endurance has improved a great deal, and I feel much more grounded on the thrusters, but I'm still totally unsure whether I'll be able to complete Fran unbroken. If I do have to break up the workout, I know it'll impact my time significantly.

Last week demanded a lot of heavy strength work, as it was the end of my OMOB strength cycle. I decided to skip a couple of my cardio workouts to make sure I was retaining as much strength as possible.

30 Days of Fran - Day 15

By the end of the second week of my 30 Days of Fran challenge, I was  exhausted. High volume running, burpees, and thrusters took a toll on me.

Every Friday I perform a different variation of Fran, and last Friday was to be 5 rounds of 9 thrusters and 9 pullups. It’s the same number of reps as traditional Fran, but with a stronger focus on unbroken sets.

During warmup I just felt incredibly weak. I rowed a couple times and still didn’t feel powered up. Did a bar warmup, still not much energy. The next thing I knew, someone had started a clock for me, and I was on my way through the WOD. I remember the pullups—something I’m traditionally pretty good at—feeling like such a struggle. I completed the 4th set at 4:04, but I was exhausted and knew the last round was going to take me way longer than a minute to complete.

At that point I knew without a certainty that I was overtrained, and I called it quits instead of completing that last set. It wasn’t a complete surprise, given that after posting my Challenge here I received feedback from 3 different people who said the program demanded too much volume.

Going into it I knew I had the mental willpower to work that hard, the time to do it, and all the available equipment and supplements to help me recover as quickly as possible. But it turns out I still couldn’t completely keep up physically.

So I backed way off over the weekend. Saturday was a hardcore rest day, and it wasn’t until Sunday evening that I even attempted anything physical. A 10 min slow recovery Airdyne plus a few KB swings—not enough to break a sweat.

On Monday morning I did 15 minutes of Airdyne intervals at a tempo of 10 seconds on / 50 seconds off. I’ve done this same interval drill for months, but on Monday it felt so much easier. I still ended the workout breathing hard and drenched in sweat, but I felt like I could have easily kept going into a more intense workout. That’s the first time I’ve ever felt that way on the Airdyne.

Monday evening I suited up for heavy front squat singles. It’s by far my weakest lift, and just before the Challenge began I tested at a one-rep max of 195 lbs. I warmed up, then hit a single at that weight and still felt pretty strong, so I added 5 lbs and got that too. At that point I started wondering whether it was just the knee sleeves (which I hadn’t used previously) giving me a little more power. I took them off, added another 5 lbs (up to 205) and went again. Boom. My chest rolled forward slightly on the way back up, but I stood it up anyway. I made one last attempt at 210, and completed it with no problem!

At that point I called it quits. I didn’t want to fail a rep, and besides—a new 15 lb personal record is more than enough to celebrate. I’ve been struggling to improve my squat strength for a long time, and now I wonder if I’ve been doing it wrong. The frequent wallballs and moderate weight thrusters I’m doing are clearly helping. The next time I do a squat strength cycle I’ll be sure to program this in.

After resting for a while, I completed 3 rounds of 21 wallballs, 15 toes to bar, and 9 ring rows. I’ve done this WOD twice before, and both times left me gasping for air. This time around I completed each set unbroken, with minimal transition time. Best of all, my endurance felt way stronger than it ever has been. 

Needless to say, I am stoked. I’m going to take my training schedule day by day, and if I’m feeling too sore or exhausted for a particular workout I’ll just skip it.

30 Days of Fran - Day 11

30 Days of Fran - Day 5