sled push

sled push

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Being Sick is Not Fun!

So this is what it looks like at the end of Open WOD 12.4 when you have been sick for 3 weeks. This was AWEFUL!

Ok, I really, really try not to be a whiner, but I have to admit, I have done a hell of a lot of whining over the past, hmmm, going on 4 weeks!

The week of Open WOD 12.2 I started getting sick with a cough. Just a cough, but it was a constant, can't sleep at night kind of cough.

Over the next weeks it just got worse. I went to 2 different Doctors 3 times and finally on the 3rd week after a chest X-ray was diagnosed with Bronchitis. I was soooo frustrated! I haven't been sick since the fall and here I am sick during the World Wide OPEN.

Okay, so why am I telling you my sob story? Because this isn't a story about being sick, it's story about stubbornness.

After Open WOD 12.2, I was in 400 something place in my region. Um, only the top 60 go on to Regionals so the odds were high that I wasn't going to the Regions (a bit of sarcasm in the morning). Yeah, I am not going to Regionals. And I knew that going in. I have not trained how I wanted to this past year in order to get there. I knew this. But for me, the Open WOD competition wasn't about going to Regionals, it was about seeing how much I had improved from last year. Now I was sick!

I did Open WOD 12.3 on Friday during the week I had had no sleep.

(Open WOD 12.3 is As Many Rounds As Possible in 18 minutes of: 15 Box Jumps, 12 Push Presses (75lbs), 9 toes to bar.)

I had a steriod shot, steroid pack, and was loaded ups with meds. Well, good bye sleep for 2 days! Then the other nights I was up all night coughing...no sleep!

My score was 6 rounds + 33 reps. I knew I could have done better had I been 100%. Because of this, I decided to do it one more time that Sunday. I awoke Sunday morning around 5:00 coughing so hard that my throat closed up. For what was about 3 minutes I couldn't breathe. I went into a panic, scared the crap out of my husband who almost called 911. Oh, it was awful!

When I went into the gym that morning with my husband to redo WOD 12.3, I was still shaking from the events that morning. As I was watching him redo this WOD I realized that I was being very stubborn...and stupid. This wasn't worth it. My body was sick and it obviously needed a break. This was in contradiction from what I wanted to do, but I realized I had to surrender. My body was screaming at me to pay attention!

I took off another week hoping I would get better before Open WOD 12.4. I did...but just a little. I did Open WOD 12.4 on Friday.

(Open WOD 12.4 was As Many Reps As Possible in 12 minutes of: 150 Wall Balls, 90 Double Unders and 30 Muscle Ups.)

My goal was just to get through the wall balls. My "Karen" time (Karen is 150 Wall Balls) is under 8 minutes  but I was so scared I would launch into another coughing fit, I wasn't even sure if I could do it in 12 minutes. I was going out of town with my family for the weekend. I wanted to play it safe, not make myself worse. My new goal was to have a great weekend with my family. Priorities were now in check.

My friend Danny, who was judging me for the workout, really helped me get through it. He kept me at a pace. I would do 10 Wall Balls and drop it and he would count me down before I could pick it up again. This was such a help, I only had to stop to cough one time. My score was 186. All the Wall Balls plus 36 double unders.

Was it my best? Hell no! But I had a great weekend with my family in D.C. and that was the most important thing to me.

I am still not 100% yet and I realize that this is my fault. If I had taken some time off when I first started to get sick, I may not have gotten Bronchitis. Being sick is not fun, but being sick for almost a month is hell.

I have learned a very valuable lesson. Sometimes it is good to push through the pain, but you have to know when your body truly needs to rest and recover.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Open WOD 12.2 ...I love snatches!

Another item I can check off my 2012 Goal list! One of my goals was a 95lb squat snatch and last week after doing the Open WOD 12.2 I got 98lbs and it felt great!!! BUT...not 100lbs, so if you know about the Open WOD 12.2, then you know that my score was only 60.
The Open WOD 12.2 was 10 minutes of:
30 Snatches at 45lbs
30 Snatches at 75lbs
30 Snatches at 100lbs
then as many Snatches as you can at 120lbs

I did the first 60 snatches in 5 minutes, then spent the next 5 minutes trying to get that 100lbs. I have been stuck at 88lbs for months, I was determined to break through this. Well at the end of the 10 minutes my score was still 60.
I went into the gym that morning KNOWING that I was not leaving until I had a new Personal Record (PR) on my snatch. I had posted the night before on facebook. "I can do this". A friend of mine replied "NO, you WILL do this!"
Well, the WOD was done, I was disappointed and had already decided I was going to try this again.
I taught my class and watched PR after PR as my athletes snatched like crazy. It was so exciting!
After my class, I loaded up the Bella bar and decided that now was the time to PR that snatch. I like the Bella bar better for snatches because it is much easier to hook grip that bar, but it's only 33lbs.
I power snatched 88lbs and then loaded up 93lbs...and power snatched it! What?
Ok, 5 more pounds. BAM! 98lbs. squat snatch! I was soooo excited!
I tried 5 more pounds...but that was it. I was done for the day.
THEN it started bothering me...why did I load up the Bella bar? Only 2 more pounds and that would have been a 100lbs snatch! UGH!
I ended up doing WOD 12.2 two more times last week, but I never got that 100lbs snatch. I started getting sick the day before the Open and by the end of the week, I was just an empty tank.
So, score for WOD 12.2 was only 60, BUT I  did get a 10 lbs PR on a squat snatch AND did 120 snatches in 3 days.
So not beastly, but something I can be proud of.
How about you?
I would love to hear how you guys doing during the OPEN.
Any new PR's?

Oh, and of course, now I need to make a new goal for a Squat Snatch...110lbs I am coming for you!