Because the blood flow to my brain seems significantly decreased, Here's some randomness.
Get a load of my daily warm up:
400 singles (jumprope)
12 chest to bar pullups
50 double unders (jumprope)
12 Overhead squats 65 lbs
10 Dumb bell ground to overhead 35 lbs
15 toes to bar
10 ring dips
Yes, I said
warm up. That is my warm up every day. Then we workout.
Recovery has become a lifestyle.
I went over 2 weeks without a rest day - that is madness. I stopped counting, to trick my brain to get over it. To keep up with the level of training necessary I have to invest in recovery.
Here are the daily staples:
1) Ice, Ice, and more Ice
2) Contrast showers- as cold as possible for 3 mins. as hot as bearable for 3 min. Repeat. Okay so not daily, but I really did resort to this a few times when feeling the most run down.
3) Arnica cream & Bengay, BioFreeze, Icyhot... whatever I can get
4) Stretching - of course.
5) pain ball - I use a t-ball. lay on it. lean on it. roll on it... let it dig into the tight tissues and loosen them up.
6) Foam rolling - much like the pain ball only it covers larger areas
7) Fish Oil - I'm up to at least a tbs a day but should probably make it three. Keep the inflammation down!
8) Compression sleeves - I've resorted to compression. Arm sleeves for workouts and post workout. Calve sleeves for night time and work time. Increased circulation means more blood to the muscles, equals less fatigue and faster recovery. This is a recent addition. I wish I had been doing it all along.
9) Eat Clean! which really should have been first. I so can not wait for a glass of wine at the end of this :)
Also helped along by:
* Mobilitywod.com
* Chiropractic care
* Massage
I have laughed, cried, yelled, kicked my teammates, threatened to quit, failed and succeeded. Some times all in one day.
Q: What is the most surprising thing of this all?
A: The lengths I've gone to just to strive for that extra little bit.
Namely, I bought a pair of
weightlifting shoes. Which leads to a new topic....
The Snobbery. I do lift a lot of weight, but when I hear "weightlifter" I picture enormously built people in strange spandex overalls. Now, I am by no means a fashionista. Nor am I a Southern Lady... (I'm more of a southern tomboy.) But there is still a part of me that just cringes - It's my Scarlett O'Hara part...
I can deny that my calloused hands are something to look down upon, because I know how hard I've worked for those callouses and how much I need them. But to get outfitted as a weightlifter, just really seems improper - something along the lines of joining the circus.
Sigh. And Yet. I would love to swing from trapezes, and I wish I were a better gymnast, and the truth is God built me to be strong. It's true.
Some women are just made elegant. Some are made frail and delicate. I was made sturdy - short, muscular, and big boned.
I started crossfitting right after my 30th birthday.
30 brought a fresh outlook on life - I entered my 31st year (after a complete meltdown of course) with the resolution to live the life I have, not to pine for anything that it is not, and to be who I am, not waste any more time trying to be who I think I should be. (hmm... now how does one actually do that??)
When I found crossfit 6 weeks later, I fell in love with it. It was so much fun. I felt like I found something I was made to do. And as I gained weight (initially) I repeated to myself, "God made me strong, not skinny." At least here, I was using that gift.
So now I have weightlifting shoes, and they really DO help, in case you were wondering.
And really I suppose I am no more or less a 'weightlifter' than I was before. Now I just lift better. My form is better, and probably safer.
And whatever I am - I'm kicking #ss ;) and that's pretty cool, right?
Finally, the road to regionals has brought many subtle improvements. Though I've often felt only exhaustion and weakness, The training is working - moving in a positive direction. I think.
Testimony to that end...
Personal Triumph of the last week: FRAN. dropping my PR from 6:48 to 4:07.
Personal Agony of the last week: 10 reps of 205# deadlifts.
My 1 rep max until last week was 200#. In our workout Sunday (which was at a BBQ, on display for all) one of the 13 things we had to do was these stupid heavy deadlifts. It. was. awful.
Seriously, I writhed and cried between every rep. It took me like 10 min. for just this one section of the wod. AND I was nearly convinced I my back was being ruined and I would not be able to compete at all.
But I finished. And as scary, and humbling, and embarrassing as it was... I'm ok.
I took a rest day! Ha. My first in way tooo long. And I'm back. 2 days later to hit a PR squat clean of 130#.
I don't know that my agony has been redeemed, or is all that triumphant. I'm still pissed about it actually, but it seems like there must be something good in it.
This has always been my hope in this journey.... It is grueling, but there couldn't have been the resurrection without the crucifixion.
