Monday's Workout

Here's a handy tip. If, in the past twelve days, you've:

• Worked out just once;
• Slept an average of five hours a night;
• Spent most of your waking hours planted on your ass;
• Driven over 1600 miles; and
• Ingested copious amounts of barbecue, offal and some ice cream to compensate;

THINK TWICE BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO SWING THE 70-POUND KETTLEBELL IN A WOD -- especially one that includes the term "AMRAP" in the instructions.

Our workout today at CrossFit Palo Alto:

5 rounds of:

• AMRAP in 3 minutes of 3 strict chin-ups, 6 burpees and 9 overhead kettlebell swings
• 1 minute rest

Heaving around a 70-pound kettlebell seemed like a super-swell idea throughout my first round of swings. Unfortunately, I was done with that initial round ONE MINUTE INTO THE WORKOUT. That left 14 full minutes of desperation and regret.

Kyle and I matched each other rep-for-rep during the first couple of three-minute rounds, but by the middle of this workout, I had fallen significantly behind. After a while, I wasn't able to chuck the heavy kettlebell over my head more than a few times before flinging it to the floor and catching my breath.

HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? I WAS WEARING MY NEW CHRIS SPEALLER SHIRT, FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!

The silver lining: The chin-ups and burpees seemed easy by comparison.

Result: 9 rounds + 16 reps as RXed. My goal was ten rounds, but I missed it by two kettlebell swings. Maybe I should've laid off that big ass plate of meat yesterday.