November 22nd, 2016 By Man Down

4 men showed up for The Precinct’s monthly AMRAP workout – The Academy. 4 started…only 3 finished. YHC felt good for the first round, even pulling ahead of Brutus for awhile! About midway through the 2nd lap, however, I got a metallic taste in my mouth. “Is that BLOOD?!” I thought to myself? Spit check. Nope. No blood there. Carry on. But the taste was unmistakable. After a few more stations, my chest started to tighten up and I was sucking wind! Okay, time to let Brutus run away with the lead. I’ll just wait on El Toro and run the gauntlet with him. Here he comes. Crap! I’m still out of breath! Okay, I’ll let the bull run on ahead. Field of Dreams is not far behind, so I’ll just rest here at the Burpee station while he catches up. Now I’m ready. 1 burpee…2 burpees…..that’s it. I’m tapping out. Something definitely not feeling right. Carry on FOD. I’ll just…um…stretch. On second thought, I’m gonna call it and head in. Sorry gents.

So what happened? Did I have a heart attack? Do I have anemia? Nope. Most likely, I just fartsacked too many times in a row and then tried to push it too hard in colder temps than my body is used to. I did a little reading when I got home and found the following explanation for the bloody taste:

“When you are overexerting yourself, fluid can accumulate in the lungs where some of the excess red blood cells can accumulate in and be transported to the mouth via phlegm. Our tongues carry receptors that respond to iron by sending a signal to our brains that we sense as a metallic taste. Whether you taste blood or metal it is basically the same mechanism at play. In short, you have a metallic taste in your mouth during strenuous exercise because your heart is unable to keep up with the physical demands you are placing on it.”

AND cold weather makes it worse! Next time I’ll pace myself a bit better. Anyway, enough chatter. Here is The Academy rundown…

0530 – Farmlands run, back up to Cell Block gate for The Gauntlet…

1. 10 Burpees at the Gate, run forward…
2. 20 Cinder Block Curls, run diagonal…
3. 10 Tire Flips, run forward…
4. 20 Cinder Block Triceps Extensions, run to the Gun Range…
5. 10 Pull-ups, run to the Great Wall…
6. 10 Muscle-ups, over the wall and down to sidewalk…
7. Bear Crawls from pole-to-pole, back around the Cell Block to the Gate.

Rinse and Repeat until time called at 0605.

Blocks and tires back, then back up to Check-in for Mary and COT. Log your laps – x.1, x.2, x.3, x.4, x.5, x.6, x.7 – depending on how many full rounds you got in (the “x”) plus the last station completed (1-7). Totals can be viewed HERE.

Davis Lake, The Precinct, Tradition