Shortcomings

For time:

Run 1200 meters

90 Wall Ball shots, 6 pounds. (not full squat)

45 Chest to bar pull ups (strict with band)

I didn't stop once during my 1200m run. Yay for improved respiratory stamina. I did jog it at an easy pace. My 800m took me 5:30 which is in line with what I normally pace and my 400 too me 2:30, which is a bit faster than normal. 

I subbed out a full squat for just a slight dip, to simulate a push press-wall ball. My hip has been feeling good and I don't want to aggravate it. It was still tiring, with no squat. 

The C2B pull ups were a pain in my ass. Strict is tough. My arms were screaming. I actually did the last 15 with a kip. 

I really really really didn't want to WOD today, but I'm glad I did. When you think you don't/can't/want to WOD is probably a sure sign that you NEED to WOD. 

What a stressful day. Ugh. 

Speak truthfully

Five rounds for time of:

15 foot L-rope climb, 1 ascent (anchored)

5 Parallette handstand push-ups  Tripod on the box

45 pound barbell One-legged overhead squat, 10 reps  20 lunges, 10# overhead

The rope climb was difficult today. Tripod on the box challenging. It always is. And the lunges were ok. They were just time consuming. 

My hip/back is pretty inflamed. My hips are just sore from the volume of wall ball and box jumps I did yesterday. 

Tomorrow, is DT, which is heavy heavy heavy. So I'm thinking of doing shuttle runs tomorrow, at intervals. And of course work on  my ring dips and muscle up transition. 

Rectus femoris

Back Squat 3-3-3-3-3 reps

For those that have a current 3 rep max, you will choose a weight and attempt to maintain through all 5 sets.  For those that do not have a current 3 rep max, you can take as many sets as you would like to find that weight.

My hip flexor is irritated again. I think it was from the front squats + box jumps from Saturday. I was very mindful to really warm up my hips before attempting any back squats. But the minute I racked the bar on my upper back and stood up (not even squatting!!! just taking it out of the rack!) I could feel the little shot of electricity in my hip into my lower back.

105 is light weight for me, but all 4 sets of 3 were very difficult for me. My 1RM is 130# and I know I've been getting stronger since.

I kinda regret doing the strength-bias. Those 4 weeks of heavy heavy heavy really fucked me up. I've never really "recovered." It's almost like I've been losing strength.

I may consider just doing body weight met-cons and stay away from heavy days for awhile. I'm going to confer with Zeb and Diso about it.

Injury makes me sad. There is a constant dull ache in my lower back and left hip. I should go ice again.

Injured reserve

Complete as many rounds as possible in five minutes of:

275 pound Deadlift, 3 reps  5 Ring Rows

115 pound Push press, 7 reps @ 35 pounds

I think I need to go to a doctor and get an MRI on my hip. I have been self diagnosing myself with all sorts of conditions that I read up on WebMD. The closest is seems to be is Iliopsoas Tendonitis. Either way, I'm pretty fucked right now. My ROM is pretty limited. Picking anything up off the ground is chore and painful, like an article of clothing. The pain is becoming for apparent in my lower back. 

My insurance does not kick in until August... I need to be mindful. 

I love my new job! yay! 

Not yet healed

"CrossFit Total"

Back squat, 1 rep

Shoulder Press, 1 rep

Deadlift, 1 rep

I lost 8 points since my last CF Total in January. I really should revel in the fact that I did set 2 new PRs. I lost 15pts in the dead lift. My hip was in pain. Not sure if it was because I just did 130# back squat, but it only started to act up when I was warming up with the dead lift, at about 150#s. It is curious that my hip was not hurting during the back squats... 

Anyways, here to the little victories; new PR for Push Press and Back Squat!

Once my hip is all healed, I'm hoping to get my CF Total score to 375. 

Let's remember this day

I know that I said that I was going to take a week off from WOD'ing, but after my amazing yoga experience with Mary Beth LaRue at Yogis Anonymous on Friday, I felt my hip was definitely on the mend. If you notice I programmed a WOD that did not use any hip flexion whatsoever. 

So I got my area all set up: box to reach the bar, band for my push ups, jump rope--- all by the pull bar. I did get pull away from the area and when Zeb called 10 seconds, I returned to find my band gone, my box GONE. I had to hurriedly scrap together my "station." I ended up using a thicker band than I wanted. Originally, I was going to do 7 push ups, but since I was using a thicker band I went up to 10. I started late. And then when I got hooked into my band for my push ups, I find that the culprit whom moved all my shit was doing C2B right over me, pretty much kicking me in the head. Zeb had to move her over. Either way, the way my WOD started got me all in a funk. I GUESS I'm satisfied with my work, but I think I could ecked out at least 6 full rounds. 

I rolled out my hip afterwards. Everything feels great. No pain, soreness or tension. I can't wait to jump back in full bore. 

Interlude

I have made a vow to take 7 days of rest. I will resume CF next Thursday at Track Night.

I have isolated my discomfort  to the psoas majora muscle. I will ice and roll daily. I will probably do a couple epsom salt soaks as well. I pray I heal quickly so I can resume my Strength Bias program.

I bid Adieu!

Giant among us!

This post is dedicated to Chris Sherwin. 

Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

This story is just crazy.... Only in Assassin's world :D

So Martina does Games WOD 11.6. At her completion I claim her 65# bar. I slap on 2-35# plates on it. I lift it. I do not record this on the whiteboard. I add 2-10# plates. I lift successfully and with ease. 

I go to the whiteboard and record my last 2 reps: 125-145-

Add 2 more 10# plates. Lift. Done. 165#.

Add 2 more 10# plates. Liiiiiiiiift really slowly, but complete the rep with "ease" once the bar was off the ground. I was mindful to also do the eccentric movement back down to the ground, knowing it aids in making me stronger. It wasn't bad. 185#. Done. This felt very heavy, which kinda already put in a bad mood, cause I thought, If it was soooo difficult to do my current PR, how the heck am I gonna set a new one at 190? I was discouraged and thought, Maybe I'm not that strong today. 

I scout for 2 and half plates to add another small increment of 5# total. I pulled as hard as I could, but the bar would not even budge off the ground. I knew it was my head. 

I took a long rest and was determined to PR. I went to ZEb and said I HAD to lift this off the ground. On my 2nd and final attempt, I set up strong and pulled. NOthing. 

I got really down on myself. I just laid on the ground with CR and had this running loop of disappointment in my head. We goofed off long enough for the 6:30pm class to start. I decided to FINALLY strip my bar and put it away. AND that is when I found out that the 2 innermost plates were 15#s, not 10#. So this entire time I was recording my reps, I was off by 10#s. 

THEREFORE, I DID SET A NEW PR BY 10#s: 195#s!!!! I'm only 5#s away from DL'ing double my body weight. 

So my last 2 missed reps were actually attempts at 200#s. 

It totally turned my blah class into pure elation. I'm even giddy about it now, 6 hours later :)

200#s is my goal my birthday. Which is totally doable. 

For no particular reason I just want to say that I really appreciate my Coaches, Diso and Zeb. Now that I'm coaching, I have a greater respect for what they do, and I hope that I can be in a place to touch lives like they have mine. 

This is the most sure I've ever felt

I ran 400m for warm up. Came back and jumped right into DROM. During my leg front kicks and side kicks, something tweaked in my hip. I felt fine at extension, but when flexed it was painful, at 90 degrees or less. I decided to continue with the classic warm up. Doing the squats were painful. I did some stretches and some mob-wod movements to see it would "work itself out." I was determined to do deadlift today. 

Without feeling any relief I jumped into lifting some weight. I started at 115#, then 145#. I wanted the my 165# to by my first official number on the board (In January I set a 4RM PR @ 165#). I got it the new PR!!! It was actually "easy." I did not release the bar at the top of the deadlift, but did the eccentric movement back to the ground. Probably a bad idea for my strained flexor, which at the time I didn't isolate it to be that muscle. 

For 175#, I did release the bar at the top after each rep. The first 3 reps felt great; #4 was tough. Rep #5 was very difficult, breaking the 5RM PR I just set 5 mins prior. After dropping the bar, I fell to my knees feeling the stars swirling about my head.  It really gassed me. I laid there, rotating my hip, feeling the tension building up. At that point, I thought I would do my last set of 5 reps at the same weight of 175#. 

The pain was starting to be too much. Tyler recommended that I throw in the towel and be satisfied with the numbers I put up. I'm glad I took his advice. I immediately rolled out my hip and iced it. It felt sooooo good. 

I have a strong feeling that sleep isn't going to be so comfortable tonight. My hips bother anyway when I'm injury free. 

Instead of back squat tomorrow, I may have to work on push-press and do an upper body couplet, maybe like the Main site WOD, hmmmm. 

Encima de la Cabeza

Overhead Squat 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

5 reps:

PVC Pipe-Weighted PVC Pipe-15#-20#-35#

1 rep:

40#s

I arrived at the box at 4:45pm and immediately got down to hip/glute mobility wods. After 30 mins of stretching and massaging my left nalga, I decided to do some OH squats. I started with the pvc pipe, 5 reps felt great. Onto the weighted pvc; that felt great as well. With the blessing of G, I went onto do 5 reps with the 15# bar. My hip felt all nice and "greased" up. I did notice that my shoulders and back did feel tight, but not a big deal since the weight was so light. Onto 20#s, and it still wasn't a challenge. My confidence was raised. 

At 35#s, I definitely started to feel a tingling in my back, but I immediately thought it had to do with my mid-section not being stable. The last 2 reps I took a large breath in and really "braced" myself, and those reps definitely felt more solid, with no tweaky feeling in the back. 

At 40#s, I jerked the weight overhead and the bar felt really heavy for some reason. I took a deep breath and slowly lowered; I dont think I got low enough cause I didn't feel that solid at the bottom so I came up prematurely. I dumped the bar. I picked it up to clean and rack it AND that when I felt it: the little shock of electricity that shot from the bottom of my tail bone and up my back. It small shock, but a shock none-the-less. 

So, my body said, NO, I'm not ready. I put away my weights and bar and went back to the foam roller. In the short amount of time of doing the low weighted OH squats, my back managed to completely tighten and knot up. It was as if the first 30 minutes I spend doing myofascial release didn't happen. It was painful to roll out. 

I didn't have time to ice at that point, but I do plan to ice my hip/glute/back when I get home tonight and  soak in epsom salts. I can't wait!

I don't think you're ready for this jelly

I went into the box to just do a combination of Mobility WODs. I rolled and pulled and pushed and contracted and flexed my hip/glute until it was hot and pliable. I got blood to the area to hopefully expedite healing. My left butt check is bruised and tender this morning from all the myofascial release.

I will probably continue to do more MobWODs for the rest of the week, then back into to WODs at low intensity/weight at first.

Heal. Heal. Heal. Heal.

I'm GOLDEN

Every minute on the minute for 30 minutes, perform the following:

1 Squat Snatch

20 Double Unders

I think I did well. I'm a little upset that I didn't last longer doing the 1/20 DUs on the minute. I was having trouble getting into a rhythm during minute 9 and 10. I literally had 1 DU left when the minute changed over. I was pretty bummed about it. so with 20 mins left I managed to fit in 13 rounds. Within those 13 rounds, I was "greased" up enough at that point to really land my snatch. I went light for 2 reasons: I wanted to work on perfecting my technique, and two, my back is still acting up. When I commit to the snatch and I stick the landing... that feeling of being solid at the bottom of the squat, mid line tight, arms locked out, shoulders active... the feeling is GOLDEN. 

I was able to do 20 DUs straight through 5 times out of the 20 rounds. Felt pretty awesome :) 2 of those five times I collapsed on the floor with retching, pukie feeling in my tummy. Thinking back, I was pretty miserable the whole last 15 mins. So I'm quite happy that I survived it. 

At the end of the 30 min clock, I laid out on my back and felt the blood rush to my face. I felt ALIVE. I immediately iced my lower back/left nalga. As well, I consumed a sweet potato a la Rico. 

It is now 11PM, and my "back" is bad. I'm not even sure if it's my back. The pain can be described as radiating from the hip joint/socket, shooting up my back. It feels like electrical shocks. There are no specific movements that trigger the pain, but it has now encompassed bending forward from the hip, turning from the hip with feet in place, sitting with my weight on that left side, standing with weight on that left leg... There really isn't time when I'm absolutely in comfort. I'm concerned. I'm not sure what to do. Actually I know what I have to do, but I'm a stubborn, hard-headed donkey and I really don't feel like taking time off from training. 

Tonight I plan to go to 24hour CVS and buy some epsom salts and have a long soak in the tub. I can't wait. Another 10 hour day at work. Tomorrow looks like a 14 hour day. Shoot me. Is it Sunday yet? Having brunch with the hot cougars on Sunday. We're actually coming into the Hotel. I think I'm going to get schnookered. I'm starting to feel really unappreciated and overworked. In response to feeling overwhelmed, I emotionally ate today; I had Linguini and Clams. While I completely enjoyed the dish while consuming it, I felt really gorss and guilty afterwards. Tomorrow is a new day to make better choices :)

Besides work and this injury, my spirits are high. That feeling of yearning has left me. I'm not in want. So all the good things that happen feel like a BONUS.