DEATH BY 10 METERS!
Love this work out! Even though it breaks me every time. Ha.
It’s a very simple premise. When the clock starts you do a 10 meter sprint. That’s it. Rest until the next minute starts. When that second minute begins, do 2 x 10m sprints, then rest. When the third minute begins, do 3 x 10m sprints, rest. You continue to progress upwards like that adding an additional 10m sprint at the start of the next minute until you fail to complete the allotted number of sprints in the designated minute. I completed 13 sets successfully. But as I crossed the line for my final sprint on that set, Coach Ashley was already counting down the last 3 seconds for the start of the 14th minute. Without even a few seconds to catch my breath and a cramp in my calf that’s still with me 3 hours later, I didn’t even attempt the 14th minute.
Little bummed because the last time we did this workout, I also completed 13 sets. Would have been nice to get through at least one more set, just to be able to say I made improvement. But that’s all right.
We also did 30 pushups and 50 sit ups to cashout. Did the push ups in sets of 20, 5 and 5. Did the sit ups in sets of 30, 10, 5 and 5. Still can’t believe that I can’t do an uninterrupted set of 30 pushups. It just bugs me, but I’ll get there. One more addition to the ever growing list of goals for this course. I’m going to have to do a quick post consolidating all of those into one place, just for accountability purposes.
Received a funny compliment from one of my fellow bootcampers. He told me a) I’m his benchmark for his own personal progress through the class (specifically with regards to his running; (amusing, and simultaneously humbling to think that someone is using me for inspiration) and b) he told me I’m “deceptively quick.” That made me laugh out loud. I don’t think anyone’s EVER used the word quick, in relation to me and running. Actually, that’s not true! That’s the second time in 48 hours that someone told me I’m faster than they expected. The Whirlwind and I were playing tag in his grandparents’ backyard Saturday night after dinner and at the end of the game he told me that I was faster than he thought I would be. I’m not fooling myself, I’m still a Clydesdale, but I’m getting better.
Krellpw's Blog 
July 11, 2011 at 7:26 pm
Paul, you’re doing great! I have seen SO much improvement in you since your first day. And you are quick. You kept up with Dario – Mr. Soccer Player – for the majority of the rounds today!
Push-ups are very tough. They’re my biggest weakness. They always will be too and I work on them constantly. I don’t know if I could do 30 unbroken.
July 11, 2011 at 9:24 pm
Thanks, Coach. I appreciate it. I hope I’m not sending the wrong message with the language I’m using. I definitely see the over all improvements and appreciate/enjoy them.
Just continuing to try and push myself to be a little better, stronger, faster than the last time to keep improving. In the past, I’ve been REAL accomplished at letting myself off the hook with “that was good enough,” so I’m trying to be careful about being realistic somewhat objective, but not too critical.
I’m still jumping out of bed each morning excited to get to the gym and see what you’ve got cooked up for us all. See ya Wednesday.
And yeah….I had Dario in my sites. He’s the rabbit I’m chasing. 😉
July 12, 2011 at 3:01 am
You were quick when you were a soccer player and a softballer. We just haven’t seen that guy in a while. Sounds like he’s coming back to the surface.
Quick question about Death by 10 M – do you walk back to the start point after each interval, or do you just start the next interval from the end of the last?
WRT push ups – at the bottom, lay your whole body on the ground and lift your hands off the ground (as little as a 1/2″ will do) before pushing up again. This does 2 things for you – 1) breaks the elastic tension in your muscles that allows you to bounce and “cheat”, forcing you to start a whole new push and 2) forces you to engage your core and keep your midsection tight in order to push the whole body off the ground as a single unit vs doing the worm. Give it a shot.
July 12, 2011 at 11:59 am
Hey Big D — yeah, it’s been a long time. To answer your question about Death by 10M, no, there’s no walking back to the start point at the end of an interval. I suppose you could do that early in the process, but after a few sets, you’d be burning your rest/recovery time to get back to that single start point. Our end point for “minute a” becomes the start point for the “next minute”.
Picture like we used to swim these suicides back in the day. Minute one, swim one length, climb out, rest. At the end of the second minute swim up and back, climb out, rest and take off from there when the 3rd minute begins. Same principle here.
Interesting suggestion on the push ups. I’ll test it out, I can see the benefits, but it seems like you would eliminate any ability to establish any sort of rhythm. Which I suppose is part of the point.
July 12, 2011 at 12:20 pm
Still not sure I explained it well…it’s a shuttle run. We’re only using a 10 m space.
July 12, 2011 at 3:02 am
Maybe by “deceptively quick” they meant “witty.”
July 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Ha! That’s probably it! Thanks, brother.