Fran

21-15-9

Thrusters (95lb)
Pull-ups

It had been almost exactly two years since I had last done the standard Fran workout.  (Note: I re-read my blog post from back then and holy shit do I take myself way too seriously sometimes.) 

I was still pretty sore from the WOD on Wednesday so my expectations were not great that this would be the day I would finally break 5:00 on Fran.  I tried doing a few thrusters when warming up and they got heavy after, like, three reps so that didn't exactly boost my confidence, either.

I'm writing this three days later, so don't remember a ton of what happened once the actual WOD started but here are some highlights from my fuzzy recollection:

• 21 thrusters - I did 11 straight, rested with the bar on my chest, did another four, rested again, did one more and then had to drop the bar.  Obviously, it wasn't as efficient as it could have been.
• 21 pull-ups - I think I did 12 uninterupted, then five and four. 
• Finished the first round in about 1:40ish

• 15 thrusters - Sets of eight and seven.  I know in the past I had to split these into sets of five, but I think that was because I had burned myself out in the first round by doing both sets uninterrupted.
• 15 pull-ups - Rapid singles, briefly touching my feet to the ground, but not letting go of the bar for a bunch of them at the start.  I must have stepped away from the bar at some point, and probably more than once, to give my hands a rest. 
• Finished the second round at about 3:30ish.

• 9 thrusters - sets of five and four, I think.  I can't remember.
• 9 pull-ups - As I got near the end, I remember thinking: "Okay, don't fall off the bar this time, dumbass. Especially since you're doing this on the 8-foot bar over a box."

"TIME!"


4:50.  PR 

Even though my first sub-5 Fran time comes about three years too late, I'm still happy about it.  It had been a longtime goal.

Days like this are when I really love CrossFit. 


.

Tyler falls for "Build-a-Fran"

Run 200m
Run 200m with 45lb barbell
Run 200m
Run 200m with 25lb plate
Run 200m
Run 200m with 25lb plate.

It was during the final run, at the turnaround point, that I wiped out slip-on-a-banana-peel-style in the icy alley that swerves as our running track. Christian saw it and was torn between trying not to be an ass and laughing hysterically at my clumsy spectacle. Fortunately I was largely unhurt.

Still, what is the deal with me falling down during Fran-related WODs?

Oh, hey, by the way, this WOD isn't over yet.

Put together a 95lb barbell.

Do "Fran."

21-15-9 reps of thrusters and strict, chin over the bar pull-ups.

Took me 11:32.

Holy crap, did my forearms burn after this.

"Fran": The clock doesn't lie

5:03 (PR)

Beat my previous time (when I fell off the bar) by three seconds.

I'm not depressed about this or anything. It's a pretty good time. Normally, I'm happy with any kind of personal record, and once you've been doing CrossFit for a while, the margins of improvement inevitably decrease, especially with a quick WOD like Fran.

Having said that, I would have liked to get sub-5. I believe I am capable of doing better than I did this morning. But I'm not going to start listing reasons why I didn't live up to my own expectations because they would be nothing more than excuses.

Bottom line: the clock doesn't lie. My Fran time is 5:03.

Tyler almost bails on "Fran-ish" (a.k.a. "C2B Fran") but eventually discovers his testicles

Kind of a weird morning.

When I signed up online for the 6am class, I saw that there was only one other person registered for the class. I figured that at least a couple more people would show up, but when I got there, it was just Franz (who was coaching) and MichelleD.

Then I looked on the board and saw that the WOD was C2B Fran.

21-15-9 of:
95lb thrusters
Chest-to-bar pull-ups.

Fuck.

While this isn't what I consider to be a benchmark WOD, it's close enough that I would have liked to know I was doing it a little more in advance than 15 minutes. With benchmark WODs (basically, the ones with girls names) I usually prefer to do them in the evening so that I can come in, see what people have done, and feed off some of the energy in the gym. This morning, I was going to be doing this one alone because MichelleD was going to be doing yesterday's WOD.

Also contributing to my foul mood was the fact that when I looked on the whiteboard, my results for the first part of yesterday's WOD (skips and pushups/mountain climbers) were in the bottom third of everyone that did it yesterday. It pisses me off because that's the kind of stuff I'm supposed to be good at.

So, during a half-hearted warm-up, I started looking for reasons why I shouldn't do Fran-ish. I thought about maybe trying to improve my score on the first part of yesterday's WOD. I even seriously contemplated just going home and going back to bed.

Basically, I figured I was going to completely tank on this and I really didn't want to have the whiteboard displaying a substandard time under my name for the next week. (When I'm thinking rationally, I know most people couldn't give two shits about my results, but those moments of rational thinking are rare).

While the little devil on my shoulder was telling me, "Go on, bail on Fran-ish... you can go home to your nice warm bed," the little angel on the other side took a break from kettlebell swings to say, "This is what CrossFit is all about: getting you physically prepared for the unexpected. In real life, you don't always get to choose what challenges you will face. Man the fuck up, douchey."

The devil was the reason I got fat and stayed that way for years, so I listened to the angel.

Speaking of angels, Franz provided some good coaching throughout.

The last time I did regular Fran was one of my better days ever at CrossFit. That day, I had the benefit of a cheering crowd, a week's notice of the workout being Fran, and, because I did it in the evening, I had a whole day's worth of results to compare to.

Today, I probably managed to summon up about 85-90 per cent of the intensity and focus I had during Fran last time. There were three or four pull-ups I didn't get all the contact I wanted between my chest and the bar, and the breaks I took were probably too long and too frequent, but I got through it.

Time was 7:00 which is a little under two minutes more than my regular Fran time. I'm not sure if the C2B pull-ups should really have that kind of an impact on my results, but I gave just about everything I had this morning.

One other thing: I was no longer in a pissy mood.

I actually don't know if that 7:00 time is "good" for a person at my level, or how well it will hold up against the people I usually compare my results to. At that point, I didn't really care. I had done it. I didn't listen to the devil on my shoulder who wants me to stay in bed when that alarm goes off at 5:30 in the morning, and who tries to talk me out of doing a workout because the result might bruise my fragile ego.

Fuck you, little devil. I refuse to be your bitch.

As I attempted to recover from Fran-ish, I looked at the clock and noticed that it was only 6:40am. So I started looking forward to getting home a bit earlier than normal, and maybe even rousing Tracey for a morning quickie. Then I found out that I wasn't done.

I hadn't noticed the bonus work was to do 75 GHD sit-ups in as few sets as possible.

Fuck.

I was shooting for three sets, but figured I'd probably end up doing it in four.

Turns out it took me five sets: 20-15-9-16-15.


Here's a video of a guy doing C2B Fran a lot quicker than me.

Tyler falls for "Fran"

"Fran"

For time, 21-15-9 of:

95lb thrusters
Pull-ups

Sounds simple, right? And, as far as the amount of work being called for, it isn't that much, at least not on the CrossFit scale. I mean, there are motherfuckers in the world that can finish this in around two minutes.

But in our gym, and for untold thousands of CrossFitters elsewhere, there isn't a single other workout that evokes such strong emotions from so many people. (See my previous post.)

There aren't any other workouts that would pack a gym with spectators and people who are an hour removed from their scheduled workout time on a Thursday evening (Hell, 30 Rock is on tonight, people!). For cryin' out loud, Shae had a homemade "I love Fran" T-shirt.

I'll tell you one thing: I don't love Fran. Not one fucking bit. It had been more than half a year since I had last done this workout and in the days leading up to it, I tried to convince myself that it wasn't gonna be so bad. It's a total of 45 reps of each exercise... what's the big deal?

Well, it's a big deal because we make it a big deal. For a lot of CrossFitters, your Fran time says a lot about where you are in your CrossFit journey, and when you walk into a gym on Fran Day, you know there's something in the air that's a little more intense.

I felt it when I showed up at CFR tonight. A group of the firebreather CrossFit chicks (Robin, Kelly, AngDesj, Lexi, Julie, Mandy, Leya and Leah) were four minutes into Fran, and they looked like they had been put through hell. The place was noisy with people screaming encouragement, telling them to pick that weight back up, get their hands back on that pull-up bar, just a few left, c'mon, you can do this.

I love that shit, because it gets me psyched and a little scared about what I'm about to put myself through.

I had booked myself in at the 6pm class because I decided that I needed to have time to warm up properly and that I wanted to see how others had done on the workout during the day, which are a couple of luxuries that I don't get when I sign up for an early morning class and show up five minutes late.

I tried my best to warm up and I felt alright when it was time for the 6pm class to step up. We were divided up into guys and gals. The guys were going first and we were each assigned a counter. Poppy was mine.

3-2-1 GO!!

21 thrusters

I did all of these without putting the bar down. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to do that, but I did want to get through the first big set of thrusters as soon as possible and get on the pull-up bar. Kurt later said that I was going really fast, but I remember that I did have to pause a couple of times to breathe.

21 pull-ups

I jumped up to the 8-foot bar, because I'm usually reluctant to drop off it before my sets are done. I figured, for the first set of pull-ups, I could do them all unbroken. I did, but it was ugly. First of all, instead of a clean hook grip, some of the skin of my palm was trapped between the bar and my fingers, so my grip wasn't great and I was worried about tearing. At the start, I couldn't get a good rhythm on my kipping pull-ups happening, but I was able to correct it. However, I got so distracted doing that, I lost count of my reps. "What rep am I at?!" I asked Poppy, praying that she was still counting for me. "Ten," she replied. Good... she was still counting. Fuck... I thought I had done a few more than that. I did the last 11, though I had to will myself up for that last one. It's always the last one.

15 thrusters

I glanced over at the clock before picking up the weight. 1:44. Not bad. I thought two minutes would be a good time for Round 1. People are cheering me on because it looks like I'm going to end up with a pretty good time. I can sort of hear them and it really helps, but at the same time, I'm pretty focused and can't really hear much of anything. I pick up the barbell... What the fuck... the weight was a whole lot heavier this time. Did someone add 30 lbs while I was doing pull-ups? Fuckers. I went from doing 21 straight, to three sets of five, dropping the bar after each set.


15 pull-ups

No fucking around on the 8-foot bar this time. I headed straight to the 7-footer. The advantage here is that I don't have to jump for it, and I can touch my feet to the ground briefly after each pull-up, giving my hands and arms a quick but much-needed respite. I realize this makes me less of a man, and it's something I'm working on.

9 thrusters

I can fucking taste it now. Almost done. I think it's at this point that someone, probably Chris T or maybe Franz (both of whom were giving steady encouragement and coaching through the whole time and I've gotta thank them for that the next time I see them) tells me I'm four minutes in. I do the thrusters in two sets, maybe three, I'm not quite sure. I think it takes me around 30 seconds.

9 pull-ups

Sub-five minutes is within my chalky grasp as I get over to the pull-up bar. I can't get any rhythm on these fuckers but it doesn't matter. I can do sets of one. I'm not too proud. It's me and a race against the clock, which - stupidly - I have my back to. I'm getting updates on my time and people are shouting encouragement, practically willing me to get my chin over that bar. I've got to do nine pullups. One pull-up, two... I'm chugging through them... three, four... it's gonna be close, but I've got a real shot at beating five minutes, something I used to think was superhuman... five, six, seven... and it's taking everything I have... eight... I barely got over on that one, but I've only got one more...ni... and I lose my grip mid-kip and fall to the fucking ground.

Seriously. Can you believe this shit?

I think I landed mostly flat on my back and a little on my right elbow. I'm sure it looked ugly, and it didn't feel great, either.

Chris rushes over to check on me. I push him away. "I'm fine," I tell him. At that point, I wasn't entirely convinced that I actually was, but I had one pull-up left and the clock was still ticking. I get my chin over the bar in what was probably the ugliest pull-up ever and collapse on the ground.

Time was 5:06.

After an extended period in the post-WOD roadkill position, I determine that I am not injured, though I am completely exhausted and am probably gonna have a nice bruise on my upper right ass cheek and my right elbow is a little raw from scraping. So, don't worry, Mom. The fall was probably a result of fatigued forearms and hands and a mental lapse by me not ensuring I had a firm grip on the bar. I may have been using a more aggressive kip than normal to over-compensate for my arms, which were just spent.

I'm very happy with the time. Going in, I thought I could maybe get sub-6:00, and I did quite a bit better than that. I took 2:22 of my previous Fran time and came within a sniff of getting sub-5:00, which would have put me in some very elite company in the gym. As it is, I exceeded my own expectations, though I definitely see some room for improvement.

I still don't love Fran. But I do love CrossFit.

Here's a video of some CrossFit Chicks doing Fran last February. I figure all of them would have improved on their times this go around.

Franxiety

I've got to do "Fran" in less than five hours and my head is filled with nothing but questions:

-What time should I reasonably expect? I'm hoping to take a minute off my previous time of seven and a half minutes. Is that too optimistic? Too cautious? Chris T and Brian B were both sub 5 minutes... I'm not quite in their league but should I be shooting for sub-6? Maybe I should just stop thinking about times and go balls-out?

-I ate chili at lunch and some sugary treats in the morning. Is that gonna fuck me over?

-Since when do I pay that much fucking attention to what I eat?

-Why the fuck does Fran make me feel like this? Originally, when it was supposed to be last Friday, I started having Franxiety on Wednesday. I'd be in a meeting at work and my thoughts would drift to the upcoming Fran, and then I'd start getting all nervous and excited and twitchy. I mean, more than normal. What's the big deal? Hell, if I don't like my time, I can come in on a Sunday and do it again, right? Yeah, right, Tyler. Fran is not a big deal at all. Nosiree.

-When is this feeling going to end? Actually, I know the answer to that one: When this fucking thing is done.

Fran puts on 40lbs, becomes a real bitch

"Fran" is one of the most signature of CrossFit workouts. More CrossFitters know their Fran time than know their Mom's birthday.

"Fran" is:

21-15-9 reps

95lb thrusters
Pull-ups

The workout today was "Heavy Fran."

Heavy Fran is the same number of reps but with 135lb thrusters. 135lbs is a lot of weight for me. To put it into perspective, I just HATED doing salt bag thrusters during the Wall Ball Challenge, and this is with three times the weight.

I could have scaled it back, but I didn't want to do just regular Fran today, because the next time I do it, I want to significantly improve upon my current score, and I didn't feel like today was the day to do that. I could have gone with 115, but then I'd spend the rest of the day wondering if I should have just sucked it up and gone for the full 135. I figured with this, I would just slug my way through it and accept whatever the time ended up being.

I had gotten there late, and should have probably done a better warm-up, but I just wanted to get on with it.

The first set of 21 thrusters was awful. I think I did 6 straight off the bat, but from then on it was 4s and 3s. It's pretty bad when you start thinking of pull-ups as a break, but that's what they were. Pull-up sets were 11-10.

The second set of 15 wasn't much better. It's fewer, but at this point, I was already feeling it. I think the sets went 3-4-3-2-3. Pull-ups were 10 and 5.

Third set, 1-3-2-3. The last three was basically just me wanting so bad to be done, I didn't want to put the bar down. Pull-ups were 6-1-1-1.

Time was 13:55, which is probably at least twice what my regular Fran time would be if I did it today.

Fuck.

When I was done, I curled up in the fetal position for a few minutes, then I felt like I wanted to yak, so I went outside. I hadn't eaten breakfast, so nothing came up.

Deadlifts and Wall Ball Fran

Did 3-3-3-3-3-3-3 deadlifts today. I don't really know what my max DL is because I've never done single reps, so I took it kind of easy.

115-135-185-205-225-245.

I think 245 is a PR for me, but only because I've never attempted to lift anything heavier. Considering my body type and experience, it's not all that much. That's my fault and my fault alone, by the way. I haven't put as much focus into improving my strength as I have other areas. One day, I've gotta see how high I can really go.

I was paired with Young Chris, who is still fairly new and like 17 or 18. That kid is going to be a CF monster in like six months.

Wall Ball Fran (21-15-9 WB and pullups) 4:53. I thought it would be a little quicker than that, to be honest, but my pullups continue to be hampered by my sissy hands.

Since I already did my WB Challenge wall balls, these 45 (actually 46, because I did one before starting) are going in the WB bank for this weekend. Nice!