The important things in life….off season and injury update

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find how far one can go.”
-T.S. Eliot

Things have been kind of a quiet from my end regarding Crossfit. Truth be told , I suffered an injury about 9 weeks ago that left me fighting to not fall into a negative spiral of self-pity and eating my favorite comfort food – Chocolate!.

The injury was major enough that I was unable to participate in any wods for a few weeks. I was able to do upper body strength work only (which resulted in bench press and  strict press).

I had a grade 2 Hip flexor strain from my attempts to get under a 105lb bar in a snatch. I tried several times to stand up with it and failed and finally , after the 5th attempt, I felt a little pull on my left hip and I knew that some damage was done. Did that stop me from continuing? Of course not. I got my 105lb snatch with 5 seconds left and then I then proceeded to clean 135 lb and attempt to deadlift 205lb 10 times afterwards before I finally called it quits.

Not the smartest move and the next day, I knew that I had done some damage as I could not squat without pain in my left hip flexor. A diagnosis from my trusted chiropractor confirmed that I had indeed strained it pretty well. Injury #2 in my Crossfit career.

Injury #1 occurred 2 years ago during OH squats when I was going for speed on the OH squats and not being concerned about “weight in heels, knees out, maintain lumber curve”. I tore a ligament and was out of commission for several months. Instead of working on repairing my knee and strengthening it, I just proceeded to avoid anything that was squat related.. hard to do in Crossfit. But I made it work by subbing out lower body movements, not working on the knee (huge mistake) and was back at the wods in time for the Crossfit Open 2012.

Injury #2 ( and this will be my LAST one) I really had no business trying out to be on the Regional team. I know some of the ladies who have qualified to represent as Individuals at the NW Regionals and I certainly am not in the same category. But , given a chance and not wanting to regret not trying out, I had to put my name in the hat and see what would happen. And what happened was that I was not ready and I got injured. My mechanics still needs a lot of work, especially when it comes to Oly lifting.

Fast forward 9 weeks later…I am on the road to recovery. I signed a contract with my coach that I will be at 17% bodyfat by the time of my new competition – WodFest in Seattle on August 4th (If I fail, then I have a 150 wall ball penalty with $100 to my coach) and maintain the 17 % for Booties in Action in September(an all women throwdown benefiting a local charity) I started a new Workout journal when I got injured detailing my progress (it can get pretty depressing if you don’t track your accomplishments when you are healing so I like to look back and see how far I’ve come)

I had to focus on the I CAN instead of the I can’t… and this is what I can do after 9 weeks of being “injured”

Bench press increased from 115# to 125 # (more than body weight)

Strict press  at 90 lbs from 85 lbs.

 Strict pull up with a 26lb kb attached.

11 HSPU unbroken (with a 35lb plate on each side )

10 ring dips unbroken

 25 unbroken pull ups (still working on the perfecting the butterflys- they will be ready for the Open in 2014)

Became BFF with the Air dyne

As I’m in Off season for the 2014 Open, we all wrote our goals on the Whiteboard for everyone to see.

Mine is simple…stay healthy, top 10 for the NW Region 40-44 age group and to catch all my snatch and clean in a full squat .Oh, and of course to become  A Supple Leopard (thanks to Dr. Kelly Starrett)

This off-season is about perfect practice. Mastery of the movement. Achieving virtuosity. Being patient and less concerned with times and scores and weight and more about mastering the the mechanics. Going to watch the NW Regionals was an amazing experience to see the best  athletes in the Northwest compete. The ones that stood out were the ones who understood that you have to perfect your movement and be efficient in everything. You don’t have to be the fastest really or the strongest  at anything – you just have to be able to execute the movements and execute them really well.

The off-season for me is also about what is truly important. My family. The kids have been troopers spending hours at the box while mom and dad work out. My friends – friendship first before Crossfit .Supporting the Crossfit community is what Crossfit is about – regardless of which box you work out in.  I can say with confidence that I am better prepared to handle what comes my way from this point on and when the Open is here next March of 2014 I will be more than ready to handle what Dave Castro throws at us all!

So, if you ever find yourself with an injury (and it does happen in Crossfit as in any sports that you choose) know that it will pass and it is better to focus on what you CAN do instead of dwell on what you cannot do.

Happy Off-season training!