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.
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