I’m On My Way
Fifteen days after feeling a little SNAP! CRACKLE! POP! in my back while doing back squats, and no fewer than seven weeks after pounding the crap out of some bone in my foot (right below my big toe) while doing tuck jumps, I'm on my way back to being able to join the human race as someone with a normal range of motion.
Oh, I attempted to rejoin immediately after both incidents, but that didn't work out so well. My foot seemed to heal quickly, until that second set of tuck jumps within a week. It hasn't healed since then. In fact, the second time I injured it, I became unable to do even regular rope-jumping or running (such as it is). This, in everyday life is not too much of a problem, but to someone currently enjoying the challenges of CrossFit, my lessening mobility brought me a little closer to hell.
After the foot injury, I had to do something for warm-up, so I had to the opportunity to row instead of jump rope or run. As bad as I am at running, I am at rowing, and in the same way: when I'm alone, I don't like the activity but I'm okay with how I'm doing; when I am with others, or compare my abilities with others' I realize how much I really suck at it. So I try harder.
It's not an exaggeration to say I hate rowing. In fact, I am beginning to suspect my short-legged spastic row (trying to catch up) laid the foundation for the aforementioned back injury. I just can't seem to get into a rhythm. On the rower, I am one giant, uncoordinated, bending, stretching, pulling, oxygen sucking clod. And I hate it. Did I mention that already?
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| Devil's Alley (photo from Wikipedia Commons) |
It’s a crying shame, too, because it’s really one exercise that does it all. And yet – still hate it.
Anyway, two Saturdays ago, after a rowing warm-up, I was back squatting not too heavy (130 lbs.) with many repetitions (5@5). The SNAP! happened on my 23rd (cumulative) squat and the CRACKLE! POP! on my 25th. I knew something was wrong, but it didn't really hurt too much. So I finished the class with tabata sit-ups. Maybe completing the conditioning was not my best move – maybe it was. I'm not sure how it all works. I figure, if I am able to walk, then I had better.
As it turns out later, I was able to only roll into and out of bed for an entire week (sneezing and giving myself a subconjunctival hemorrhage somewhere in there)! Then, when I could move without wincing, I needed to go back for more. In an attempted slow and gentle 1000m row, I felt SNAP! within the first 400m (@324m to be exact is where I stopped immediately). Okay. No rowing. More's the pity. With my cardio options dwindling before my very eyes, I couldn't take it anymore! A week later, I began to jump rope for the first time in many weeks. Then I did a few 105 lbs. back squats. My foot didn't hurt anymore than it had coming in and I was feeling pretty good until SNAP! on the tenth (cumulative) squat. Poo.
But yesterday, two days after the last SNAP! I jumped rope again and did fifteen 95lbs. squats. No SNAP!
After two weeks of doing virtually nothing, this paltry achievement alone was enough to celebrate, but that's not all. It was so gorgeous out we just had to go for a walk. Well, darn it all if I didn't just break into a run! (Disclaimer: my run pace is close to, or possibly slower than, someone else's walk pace.) It was only for about ¼ mile, but after months of no running, I'll take it. I feel much, much better today having moved my body without breaking, twisting, jamming, or snapping anything!
And I've made a decision to try to run there, because the only thing I'm getting by rowing is bitter.
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I like it. Thanks.