Either I catch an illness, or I try to do my absolute best on a workout, thus resulting in extreme soreness for many days afterwards, or just plain working out in general. Neck, legs, back, arms, you name it and I haven't been able to move it. At my new gym I don't usually hurt myself as I did when I first started Crossfit, but all by dammed if I did not injure myself last week. And it wasn't even doing weights or anything extreme. It was fucking jump roping! How lame is that?
On Sunday, Feb 5th, my gym offered a Double Unders clinic. What a great idea, I thought, as I can only do a few double unders sporadically, so maybe I'll learn some tips. It was very informative, and I did learn several ways to correct my technique. Squeezing my butt to stay vertical, where to put my fingers on the rope handles, and how to figure out your tempo. Mind you, I still didn't get past 1 double and 1 single, 1 double, 1 single... I did make some pretty good progress on form, which was great. But I know me, and I should have known better. Jump roping always kills my shins and calves. And practicing it for an hour; well that was just plain stupid.
The results...
My calves were already pretty sore that night. I stretched and rubbed them in a feeble attempt to prevent them from becoming immobile. As expected, the next 3 days I could barely walk as my calves just would not stretch. (aka the stiff Frankenstein walk.) Another injury I wasn't expecting was on my left hand. The skin under my fingernail had slightly pulled away from the nail on my left forefinger. This was from the grip tape on the rope handle being too resistant and my finger just kept still while the skin kept moving, resulting in the separation of skin and nail. Not a lot of pain, but pretty annoying.
My third crazy injury was tendinitis. When I got home, I could tell the back of my left hand was really sore, and I couldn't pull my fingers backwards as it was quite painful. (No issues on my right hand.) I suspect I must have had some crazy death grip on that handle with my left hand. Stupidly, I started massaging it and stretching the fingers back, which I suspect only aggravated it, as it came back to haunt me later in the week.
I went back to work out on Monday in hopes of stretching out my calves. I'm not sure if this was a mistake or not, but Coach Chris saw me hobble in with my stiff legs and gave me some good stretching warmups, and my calves did loosen up during the WOD.
"Mini Jack"
10 Push Press
10 KB Swings
10 Box Jumps
10 min AMRAP
I got 5 rounds + 20 reps and the first 3 rounds were a strict press @ 35lbs.
My calves felt better after the workout. But the next 2 days they reverted back to the original non-stretching Frankenstein legs. My left hand was still bugging me, but not enough to worry about it. I took off until Saturday when finally felt able to go back, and the workout wasn't calf intensive. I'm glad I did because I achieved a PR on my Deadlift: 3 reps at 135lbs!
The WOD was:
10 Deadlifts (@95lbs)
15/12 Assault Bike Cals (I could only do 10 cals do to my lack of lung capacity)
Rest 2 minutes
5 Rounds (I finished in 22:30)
P.S. That assault bike is a BITCH! Anyhow, I was feeling ok after this workout too, even though my hand was still bothering me. I figured I had missed nearly all week, so I should go in on Sunday to practice and I asked my fellow Fresh Starter, Pam, to come with me so she could also practice.
We went in on Sunday (hand still slightly sore) and practiced our pull ups, push ups, wide stance back squats, sit ups (30 in 1 minute for me, 18 in 1 minute for Pam) and stupidly, some more jump rope. I really wanted to help Pam improve on her jump roping from that previous Sunday, and she did. I was really proud of her!
That same night, I noticed that my sore left hand had now swollen. I iced it a little, and then went to bed. I later awoke at 2:30am with my hand in massive pain. I had to run to get the Advil and an ice pack. As I ran to the kitchen for the Advil I noticed my left foot arch seemed to be a little sore. A couple hours later, the pain was dulled slightly, and I was finally able to fall back asleep.
The next morning, Monday, my hand was still quite swollen and in bad pain. Our health plan at work has become quite shit, so I wanted to avoid the expense of doctor if possible. I went in to work and showed my hand Coach Andy since he used to coach baseball I thought he might know what the problem was. He suspected tendinitis and suggested the R.I.C.E method. So, I iced and heated it and then wrapped it up with an Ace bandage, and tried to keep it elevated. It was still in pain most of the day, and I could barely type on my keyboard, but the next day it was substantially better. I think the compression made the difference.
I assumed I probably could not work out for the rest of the week, as I should probably rest my hand. However, Murphy's law struck again, and now that my hand felt mostly better the arch of my left foot was now in a substantial amount of pain, most likely from the 2nd jump rope practice on Sunday. Yay. A fourth injury. A new limp for a new week! I couldn't put much pressure on my left foot, nor walk without limping. Fuckin-A. Now I really can't work out the rest of the week. And side note...No more jump roping for the next couple months, Hurley!
One thing that really bothers me about being visibly sore or in pain is that I feel like I am somehow giving Crossfit a "bad name." Or scaring potential people away from doing it, because they will hurt themselves. I don't think I am the "norm", but rather the extreme case. Don't be afraid to try Crossfit!
I wanted to start this blog to document the continuing trials and tribulations of my body, essentially, preventing and discouraging me from working out. I'm not sure what is wrong with MY body and it's ability to become so sore with the slightest activity, or what exactly I am doing wrong nearly every single time I workout. Am I not resting properly, am I too tense when working out, nor taking the right steps after a workout? Or maybe my body is just prone to being in pain all the time. I'm not a spring chicken, after all. This weekend (February 18th) is the gym's 2 year anniversary party. Fingers crossed, I will be able to walk by then! 😒
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