Squats and airdyne - airdyne and squats

Here is what I did yesterday and today. 

Felt sore and some pain in my deltoid, infraspinatus and teres (minor

 and major). My biceps, wrist, elbow and forearm have not been bugging me lately. I do think my triceps (long and lateral) hurt though. Or the corabrachialis. Maybe they are just sore beause they try to compensate? 

Anyway, I did have some more headaches today while doing Ghd sit-ups... I will not do them for a while. And pistols didn't feel too good on the right calf...rest as well. 

Wednesday

Warm up

Roll

5-5-5-5 ring rows

25/25 Ghd 

1' plank hold 

Squat holds

Front squat 

3-3-2-2-2-1-1

Up to 170#

WOD 5rds

1m airdyne

20 toe to rig raises

20 alternating dumbbell curls 20# each

Airsquats

Mobi

Thursday

Roll

Iron scap

20 leg raises for quality

50/50 ghd

WOD 3rds

1m airdyne

5-10 sec / 3 rep L-sit

20 alternating DB curls

3 x15 calorie airdyne sprints 

Goblet 35#squats and Pistols and planks for fun in 10'.

Mobi

Working out while injured

Yes, I have an acute c5/c6 disk herniation, as well as a knot into left palm that has today been diagnosed as Vikings Disease/dupuytrens contracture (beginning stage) but the pain and discomfort is not going to stop me at the gym. To a certain extent that is. Obviously I cannot do overhead stuff or hang on the rings, do pull ups etc but I can squat (front, back, one-legged, goblets), I can hit miles on the airdyne, slow one on the rower and do lunges, leg raises, planks, one-armed stuff etc. I am working around my injuries. 

I have to do this because otherwise I would allow depression to creep up, and I would probably encounter other health problems to develop. 

Yes, it's hard to not do the things I love in the way that I would like to, but I have to deal with it and tell myself that it will be ok. That I will be ok. 

Monday

Warm up

50/50 Ghd

Airsquats

WOD 1

5 rounds

1.5m airdyne 

1'plank

3-3-3-3 front squats (light)

WOD 2 

5rounds

10 right arm 35# KB snatch

50m 100# sled pull

10 alternating pistols

 

Stretch

Tuesday

Iron scap

Roll

Band

5-5-3-3-3-3-2-1

Backsquats up to 210#

3 position power clean

Up to 130#

WOD 

3k row in 13:30

25 Stabilized planks

25 Toe to rig

30 alternating 20/25# DB curls

Mobi

CrossFit Withdrawal

While the Games ended today - Chapaeu, Froning and Leblanc-Bazinet - but  I already feel signs of "CrossFit withdrawal" that are expressed in mental obsession with, and anxiety about my performance and level of strength. I have been working so hard to get where I was and really don't want to lose any of my strength but instead I want to keep working on my weaknesses. But I cannot. I had to quit.

I am starting to freak out.
I don't want to start over nor do I want to accept it if I need to.

I'm trying to tell myself, that it will be ok, that I will just get super strong legs and work on my core. And that's what I am doing, but honestly, I feel like I won't be able to get my chest, shoulder and arm strength back as quickly as I would like to when I can work it again. If I can work it again: 

I'm also getting scared about my gymnastics. I mean I really need all he time I can get to work on my muscle up, my handstand walks, and aside of that my snatch. Let's say, I can return to my normal workout style in October, how long will it take me to get my strength back? How fast can I work on butterfly, and other drills?

Ugh, the metcon part will be ok. I have big tank and I usually only need a couple of months to get that in shape. But, the rest... 

And if I need hand surgery also I'm going to scream! Seriously. 

My game plan for now is: 

1. Rest my left hand and pray that the knot will just disappear;

2. Work on my core and legs;

3. Get the epidural injection in my neck;

4. Work on nutrition;

5. Stay sane and breathe.

Whiteboard obsessions

Ever been to a CrossFit gym? If so, you've probably seen a whiteboard with lots of names and numbers, and wondered "what the heck?!"

That was my first thought at least, whenever I began CrossFit. 

But, soon I found myself drawn to the board. I checked out other peeps' numbers and wondered if I would ever be able to get that Rx sign next to mine. I still don't have it on all WODs - especially not now that I can't do any upper body movements - but then, once I had it, I kept wondering if I can shave off seconds and minutes of my WODs - especially the benchmark WODs. I found myself liking the competition and I found myself liking getting  better at movements. 

I worked on getting double unders for probably 3 months after failing miserably on 13.3 and I still need to get more comfortable with them. Without the whiteboard I would not know this.  

The whiteboard constantly reveals to me what I need to work on. And of course, it makes you feel pretty good to see your name and number shows that you beat others'. Within a year I have improved tremendously not only on WODs but on lifts. I have kept pretty good track of my numbers since I started, and cannot complain that I was not getting stronger. 

Until now. Until my injury put my CrossFit life on hold. I should have taken that shoulder pain more seriously back in March. I should have rested and not competed at local competitions. But I did not imagine that it was that serious. So March through May I worked through the pain, even worked more on handstand walking and muscle ups. I wanted to keep my numbers up on the board.

I paid the price in June, when I realized that I needed to stop. Some days in May had already shown me that I needed to get this figured out. I started Physical Therapy, but whenever there was a WOD that would allow me to do well, I would do it. I hit lots of PRs April and May and strength-wise was probably right behind Andrea Ager at our gym. Deadlift 355#, Back squat 235#, Front squat  210#, Squat Clean 190#, clean and Jerk 180#, Jerk 185#, just snatch, press and bench were not improving. I hated the days at the gym on which the board would reveal my weaknesses, and I truly hated having to modify WODs. I was. terrified of losing upper body strength. However, cervical radiculopathy means weakness. So, I am in pain and I have lost strength. I can't do anything about it - not even work through the pain - the strength is simply gone in my left arm. 

Now, the whiteboard reminds me everyday that it's all relative. It's more important for me to get healthy. At the same time I need to make sure I do what I can until I am again able to do pullups, toe to bars, dips, swings, and all. I am scared that I will have to relearn what has been difficult for me already. But I am even more scared that I will not be able to bring myself back on the whiteboard at all. Not only because I am competitive and like to have good numbers on there, but also because only the whiteboard really shows me how I am doing comparatively to others and how I am improving. 

I have eight more months before the next Regionals and I really want to kick ass on the big whiteboard that is the leaderboard. Making it on a team for MBS would be awesome. Qualifying as an individual seems out of reach considering that I will have to relearn a lot of the basics in a short time frame. But I can work on making my legs even more valuable and appreciate them for what thy make me do. Core work and legwork will dominate for another 1-2 months. Then, I hope I will be able to climb back up on the board and prove to myself that I can do whatever I set my mind to. 

I'm thankful for the whiteboard because it is what helps me keep my eyes on my goals. Even though it is sometimes a painful reminder of how much mental and physical work I have ahead of me. 

Do more squats

While my neck has been feeling much better recently, my left hand is now in a splint. Whoop! Whoop! My doctors don't know yet what is wrong, but I have a knot under the skin in my left palm, that's sensitive to touch and causes tingling in my hand. They want me to rest it and take ibuprofen. They don't think it's a cyst, and the knot does not seem to be attached to a tendon. It also did not show up on X-rays. I guess, that's a good thing. But of course it limits even more what I can do at the gym. Can't grab or hold anything. Anyway, I went today, and we watch a bit of  the Games. Patrick Burke, the owner of MBS - the gym I go to now - finished 9th today in one of the Games WOD. Pretty good. I coined the term "Six Pat" since he is at the games for the sixth time! Pretty impressive. Let's see where he can finish. It's pretty cool to watch him compete.

So, at the gym today I did this:

Warm-up

100 air squats

100 alternating pistols

WOD:

3 Rounds of

about 250m 100# Sled pulls

20 alternating tire step ups

1.5 mile air dyne (use legs only)

1' plank hold

20/20 GHD

Mobi