Got Motivated To Break Out The Sled

I slept ok last night. My brain woke up around 2:00 AM, but I was able to eventually fall back to sleep after almost giving up on the prospect of getting a little more shuteye.

While I drank my coffee on this cooler, less humid morning and was feeling pretty good. I was eager to get out into the garage and do a WOD. I was thinking I’d do something a little more intense later in the day, so I took that a little lighter. Just air squats and hang power cleans are what that workout involved. The 30-pound dumbbell cleans were more curls than anything else, but that is the nature of using the dumbbells.

The air squats I took a little slower today, like I have been to feel things out with my hip. Yesterday I was tossing the heavy sandbag over my shoulder, so I wanted to see how it felt.

Music For the WOD was Beyond Creation

While I was scrolling on social media, I noticed a post that really inspired me to push a little harder, so I was starting to think about what I might want to do. Running isn’t my thing because of the visual aspect of it. Too many ignorant drivers around here and poorly maintained sidewalks/dips in the road. Many years ago I stepped in air on a dip sprinting, and that ended with me flying through the air, tearing up my hands and knees when I landed. A couple of years ago I almost landed on my ass when acorns rolled out from under my feet.

I had read that the boro wants to put a trial around town, which would be a few blocks from our house if it ever goes through. That might give me someplace I can walk to with no traffic crossing to worry about while running. Around here pedestrians are second-rate.

I wanted to do something different. Something unpleasant. I wanted to do a workout that was so awful I wished I had never started. I noticed the barrel guys were not around. They block the alley for hours at a time almost every day, so I thought I would take out the sled. I have been wanting to break that out. Back during Molly’s vacation, I got changed and put my shoes on, and by the time I got out the door, they pulled their truck up.

This morning it was not humid at all. The sunshine was bright, and there was barely the slightest breeze. It felt great outside.

I looked for a WOD under the dirty work series and found one that was just pull the sled a mile or push it 800 meters. I went with pushing it, figuring that would work my hip a little more. This morning I went with 90 pounds on it. There were more breaks than necessary, and rather than run like I usually try to do, I kept it to a fast walk except for the last 100 meters or so.

That last part left me tasting metal and having the fun Fran cough for a good while. Sadly, my chest strap didn’t work, and the nature of pushing my watch didn’t really pick up my heart rate. I don’t think my max was 100 bpm. It was more like people would cringe if they saw it if they didn’t know I regularly push it at times.

The sled pushes really got me breathing heavy and just pouring and dripping sweat. It doesn’t take much for me to get sweaty, but this was absurd. That continued for a good while after I was done with the workout too.

After I was done, I put the plates away and watched my girlfriend do it with just the sled. That made me happy!

My takeaways from this workout are:

1. I need to use the sled more. I love it but hate it. I love to hate it, but it is so rewarding.
2. I should have gone with more weight, but I wanted to be smart about it today. 1 We don’t use the sled often, but it’s a great low-impact thing we can use, and it was a damn good investment to buy it during the pandemic.

Thanks Becky for the little bit of motivation.