Fitness - WOD "Elizabeth" 8/7

Today's WOD was absolutely brutal. I was excited to see we were doing a benchmark WOD, until I saw what it entailed: squat cleans (this is where you perform a clean starting with the bar on the ground and after you catch it on your shoulders, you continue that motion into a full front squat. Lower the bar back down to the ground and start that sequence all over again) and ring dips.

My glutes/hamstrings and quads all felt smoked this morning. "Elizabeth" was on the board and she looked like a harsh mistress!

WOD: Elizabeth, 21-15-9 for time of:
full squat cleans - 135#
ring dips

Time: 8:46
Calories burned (including warm up and WOD): 534

This was my first go at Elizabeth and although my I feel really good about my time, afterward It felt like she had knocked me on my ass and stood on my chest with a pair of stiletto's (picture the Captain Morgan pose, but with heels, and I was the barrel). Seriously, I was sucking wind and I had a pit in my chest that hurt like crazy. This was the first time I've had to lay on my back on the ground after a WOD.

I feel like I could not have pushed any harder on this one. I was shooting for a sub 8 minute time but that was too much to ask of my body today. I didn't miss my goal by much and as I said, I am truly pleased with my performance on this one. I know I spent too much time resting between the ring dips and getting back on the bar. But I hardly rested when I had to break during the sets of squat cleans and ring dips.

I forget how I broke up the sets, but instead of going all out I tried to set a nice even pace and get as deep into the set as I could before having to take a break. I'm glad I went with this approach instead of going as fast as possible. It definitely allowed me to do way more reps in a row on both exercises and especially later into the WOD. By midway into the second set, or start of the last set, other guys that tried the "AFAP" option, instead of pacing themselves, could only get one rep at a time before dropping the bar. Where as I was still ripping off 3 or 4 squat cleans and 4 or 5 ring dips at a time.

My goal for "Elizabeth" next time will be 8:15 or below. I don't think it's too lofty to shave 30 seconds off this one.