Deth

With today’s high being above the forecast already by noon and the sun being fully shining, we just had to take out the sled to play with it after not getting the chance to use it with the recent rainy period. I have been wanting to do it, but wanted to wait until it cooled off a little. I knew it would be tough.

Starting with the first four hundred meter sled pull, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. My legs just did not seem to want to go, yet I continued, just putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward.

When I got back up the patio, the bar was awaiting me for a nice big set of thirty squat cleans. For this set, i used a hundred and fifteen pounds. While they felt good and looked good, they’re just so incredibly draining for my legs. The weight was too light, so I caught myself in the throat a time or two, but it was the appropriate weight for this set. Not bad for not having done them in quite a while. Only one miss out of thirty, I’ll take it!

After that is back to the sled for another four hundred meters., Again it was tough, but it was a matter of putting one foot in front of the other and just keep moving. It’s harder to get the sled started than it is to keep it moving.

Once I got back, it was time to get back to the squat cleans. This time it was only twenty reps, but the weight was increased to a hundred and thirty-five pounds. I kept it to sets of five and these felt a lot better. I could “Feel” the weight more, so I had better control of it.

You guessed it. I was back at the sled pulls after that for another four hundred meters. This actually felt the best this round. I felt as if I was moving better and was having a better mental toughness.

Once again, I was back at those hang cleans when I got back. This time it was only ten reps and I increased the weight to a hundred and forty-five pounds. I considered going unbroken or at least attempting to do so on this set but realized that would have been a poor decision, so I stuck with sets of five. Maybe I should have made the jump to a hundred and fifty-five pounds, but I still think it was the right choice to be a little more conservative with how rough this has been.

I had one final four hundred meter sled pull after those ten cleans. That was the toughest of the day for me. It was a fight to keep moving, but I did manage to keep moving. I kept thinking that this program was called summer grind for a reason.

I didn’t quite make the goal time, but I was happy as hell with how I did, consider how I just wanted to quit pretty much through the entire workout. It seemed to me that it felt like it was a lot tougher than I expected, but then I realized it was about of mile of pulling the sled. For some reason, I had it in my mind that was only three quarters. I guess I had forgotten about that last sled pull.

It was one of those WODs where I kept my heart rate very high for a long time. Usually, there’s a movement where I am slower, so I recover a bit, but this wasn’t one of them. It did feel great to play with the mental toughness side of things.