Day 4 – I am running short on many things, energy, motivation, sense of humour…
Last night’s bootcamp has left me a little tired. Unfortunately my nemesis, lack of sleep, is in full effect and my will to participate in this program is waning to say the very least. However I feel like this is the worst this week will be. Day 4 you are kind of over the initial pulse of the blender and into the swing. The soreness should stabilize by now and although you feel like have a concrete spine balancing on glass legs you are able to convince yourself that the worst is over. For me, this is simply lies. Big fat stupid self-effacing lies. I know this because I have to face the 55lb kettlebell today and then at some point in the near future the olympic bar again.
My workout today was a mixture of Pavel’s RKC and what probably looked like a small child trying to lift a Buick.
I managed to squeeze out 4 ladders of 3345 each with 20 swings in between which if I am honest isn’t bad considering I haven’t used the 55 in some time. I am still feeling uncomfortable with my back the way it is. It’s sore, makes weird sounds and feelings and I feel like it is still just on the brink of another episode.
Day 5 – OK I was wrong, this can get so much worse. Having hurled around a lump of iron yesterday I can say with 100% certainty that if you are ever in doubt of the possibility of your body to make you feel like it just doesn’t like you, be assured, if you treat it badly enough it will remind you of just who is in charge. I feel like I went for acupuncture and the therapist (are they therapists?) used skewers and forgot to remove them. My entire body feels like Pinhead from Hellraiser but without the cool clothing and obvious masochistic tendencies. My forearms hurt, not because of the kettlebell yesterday but rather just not to feel left out. My hands look like I peel sandpaper covered corn cobs for a living and I am pretty sure when my neighbours saw me today they must have thought I was working on my Walking Dead character for Halloween.
That said, today I coached for 3 hours and at 8:30pm launched into a painful WOD designed to get my cardio moving a little and introduce me to crunches again. One of the overriding fears I have is that abs work was responsible for my back issue. I can’t be sure, but I am a little gun shy of doing too much ab specific work right now. Here is what we did, the “run” was across the floor and back, a whopping 15 metres or so each way.
Friday WOD
Suicide Plus – Repeat 3 times (should really be 5!)
10 Wallball +3 runs
20 Pushups +2 runs
30 Box jumps + 1 run
10 Dips + 3 runs
20 squats + 2 runs
30 crunches + 1 run
Day 6 – I decided today would be my “rest” workout. In other words I would do a little yoga with Tony Horton and give my body a window of rest. Yeah, right, who am I kidding? Anyone who tells you that yoga is a rest day is a filthy liar. I know I am not the most flexible person in the world but today I felt like my joints were filled with molasses and my muscles were made from suspension bridge cable. I did manage to suffer through, embarrassed and humiliated but that’s what yoga is for right? At the very least I can say that I am far enough past half way after that to call this event almost over!
Day 7 – Is it possible there is light at the end of the tunnel? I woke this morning feeling way better than yesterday. So much so that I was able to stick with my plan to increase my Oly lift weights a little to 95lbs in preparation for a return to 135 for day 9. I was able to do the following before the feeling of weakness and instability in my back made me stop.
@75lb
20 Deadlift
20 Squat
20 full clean
20 full clean and press
@95lb
20 Deadlift
20 Squat
10 full clean
10 full clean and press
I really wanted to push through to 135 but it was just not on the cards. I am doing this 10 day return in order to get back into my workouts, not attempt to derail my progress. I wanted to feel stronger and better as time went along, not more beaten down like it was a pressure test. I think that my maturity helps in that respect. I am a much smarter athlete now than I was and dialing back the intensity is something that I am more comfortable with now that I understand the value. So the question is, am I feeling better? I am not entirely sure but I will say that for having worked out for 7 days straight I feel surprisingly good but not quite 100%. I certainly wouldn’t want to participate in a Mud Hero or Warrior Dash at this point!
I went for a 2km walk early this morning, but it was apparent as soon as I started that trying to stop taking Percocet today may have been a mistake. Before I even got to the end of the street my shins were on fire on my right leg. Strangely I cannot get rid of the pain by stretching as per normal and the pain didn’t get any worse as I went along, then again I am not sure what is worse than excruciating so….