I learned something this weekend, BlogLand... My body is always right, even if my mind says it isn't.
You may notice that I did not blog yesterday (Sunday, Day 277)... I swear, it was with good reason. Mostly, because I could not bring myself to write an entire post about the ridiculousness of Sunday. Here's how it goes in a nutshell. Saturday night, I go out to a shindig with some ladies from work. I eat crap (not crap. Just not the way I usually eat.), I drink too much alcohol. I enjoy myself, but I completely forget about water of any sort. I stay up very late, and roll out of bed (a friend's couch) too early. Upon waking up, I decide that I (all things considered) feel pretty good, and this night of festivities will not throw off the training too much. I'll eat some good stuff, hydrate like mad, and by afternoon, I should be good to GO, right?
...
Wrong.
What actually happens is you think you're "okay" (just a wee bit tired, right?), and you trot out your door ready to put on 5-6 miles, and you get a grueling, ugly mile and a half in, and your body tells you to go eff yourself. Insert raging calf cramps, general fatigue and achy quads (that hadn't quite recovered from my CrossFit WOD the day before), and you have a recipe for messy. Apparently, at 29, your body just doesn't feel 100% after a night on the town quite as fast....
Nonetheless, I hobble-jogged the 1.5 miles home, for a whopping "long run" day of just barely 3 of the slowest miles you've ever seen.
At least I tried. Right?
So. There's my Blog Of Shame. Onto today's real good WOD!
It was CrossFit morning, this morning! Yay! I fought staying in my nice warm bed, but remembered the importance about all this (fueled by a mini-panic moment about the impending race), and got my butt to the gym... I felt particularly triumphant, because (having cheated and checked out the website from my comfy spot in bed) I knew that today's WOD was a combination of my least favorite stuff, that I struggle with. It was all upper body craziness. BUT, I reminded myself how bad I wanted it ("If you want to be successful, you have to want it MORE than you want to sleep!"), and got my ass to the gym.
After a light warm up (it's true. My warm ups ARE some people's work out. Are "mountain climbers" and push ups part of your "warm up"?) we got down to business: a strength/skill section. Today's evil torture was the Overhead Squat/ Snatch.
Looks like this, if you're unfamiliar:
Yeah. I hate everything about this. Why? Because although I can squat like a champ (more on that later), my shoulders/arms fail me, here, very quickly. I'm working on this, but I find this a little bit frustrating, just because it is difficult for me to perfect.
We worked (lightly weighted, then more usual weight) on form and technique today - which was good. I can always use help, here. Although, apparently, I'm doing pretty well at this one (thanks to hyperfocusing on trying to do it right?). In my class of 6 this morning, the instructor used me as an example, because my squats/position was good. People in my class today seemed to struggle with getting low enough in the squat. That is not my problem. I can get down in that squat, but you should hear my shoulders scream when I keep them "activated" and my arms locked out.
Our instructor did torture us a bit. In the name of working on all the parts of this lift, we sat in full squat stances for hours at a time (... or ten seconds...), held super heavy (... or 4 pound pvc pipe) overhead for EVER.... It was horrid. lol. My hamstrings were tired, before we even started the official WOD. However. As I said, I worked hard - as I know this is a weak area for me. If I am to transform into a superhuman, I must conquer these Achilles Heels, right?
The first part of out WOD was based around this skill development. We did an E2MOTM (Every 2 Min on the Min), consisting of 3 Overhead Squat Snatches (snatch being the means of getting the bar from the floor to over your head).
I was dripping at this point. Convincing my upper body to maintain position and hold 50# over my head is no mean feat.
I did some extras, so my instructor could use my form as an example. I was flattered, but holy crap, my shoulders hated that.
Onto the official WOD! It was a ladder day:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of:
Pull Ups
Box Jumps
Over head Squats
Yeah. I pay someone to yell me into doing that. I dutifully set up my giant rubber band to help me do my pull ups (I STILL struggle, even with the band.), and I got my box. I eyeballed my bar and "practice" weight. Although this was supposed to be a heavy WOD, my shoulders said this was as heavy as we were going to do, if we intended to do all the reps.
Away we went. The first few sets were okay. Pull ups really sucked (try to be surprised). Following overhead squats with pull ups sucks even more. You know something is seriously wrong with you when box jumps become the "rest" portion of your workout.
Then, somewhere around the 5 rep mark, it started to be real unpleasant. I had to do my (banded!) pull ups in sets of 3 ish, because my upper body just couldn't. My OHS stayed consistent, other than the pain faces I was making, and horrid noises of exertion I was emitting. Whatever. You know YOUR heavy lifting face isn't much better!!
I am happy to report that I finished the whole wod, without having to short any reps. The last few burned and my muscles quivered. But pain is temporary, and I WANT to get better. If I want to get better, then I must PUSH past what is comfortable. The last OHS, with 50# over head, after all that, was decidedly not comfortable. But progress is made outside of your comfort zone....
.... which leads me to my next topic. How the Cosmos must be testing me right now, or something. I just received news from my dear CF gym that their schedule will be shifting around for the summer scheduling. "Cool!" I think to myself, as I pull up the new schedule. Then I proceed to die inside. My 6:45 am class is cancelled. Starting next week, the ONLY classes I will be able to attend during the week are at 5:15 am (I can't even acknowledge that as a real class, that is so early), and 6:15 am. I live 15 minutes away from the gym. What this means is that in order to get to CrossFit during the week, I will have to GET UP at like 5:50 am, twice a week.
...... I have no words for how much I hate that. I was just starting to figure out how to get to the 6:45 am class, and was still struggling. I have no idea how I'm going to get their even earlier. But, sometimes you just can't look at it as an option, but more just an adjustment of the inevitable. In the words of my GT: "Make it happen."
If I want it bad enough... I will find a way.
When I start managing to consistently get myself to a 6:15 am CrossFit class, I will consider the Year of Change a raging success. Not because I've lost 85+ pounds, or lifted big heavy things, or run great distances.... but, I found the hardest battle of all - my very genetic make up. I have a legit sleep disorder... but I will not let it have me. Crack 'O Dawn CrossFit.... Here I come.....
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