I am so amazingly sore

Being able to do 5-6 CrossFit workouts every 3 weeks is kind of tough.  My brain remembers what weights I should be able to lift.  My body can even handle some of the weights during the workout.  But, my level of soreness the few days after I re-start is pretty amazing.

I skied Saturday and Sunday.  Because I'd had a rough week right after the chemo, I only walked once the previous week.  Monday was squat day, and I kept the weights pretty light.  I maxed out at 165 for back squats and 125 for front squats.  A year ago, those were weights I used during my warm-up, before the real workout started.  We did 4 sets of each squat type, with relatively low reps - 3-8 reps per set.

After squats, our metabolic conditioning was simple - goblet squats and rope jumping.  It only lasted 7 minutes.

Tuesday, we started with Olympic lifting.  Twenty power snatches done as singles every 30 seconds.  I started at 73 pounds for 6 reps, 83 for 6 more, and then 93 for the last 8.  I actually failed on the 19th rep, but it was a technique issue rather than strength.  I'm working hard on the part of the snatch before the barbell gets to the waist, and my focus there sometimes has me failing to finish the lift properly.

Next, we did 20 power cleans/push jerks every 30 seconds.  I started at 93 pounds and worked to 133.  I struggled with the later jerks, but it wasn't too bad.  For each of these lifts, I got to within 10 pounds of the weight I hit 2 weeks ago, when we only did 10 singles.  So, I was happy with this work.

Then, we were supposed to do 15-12-9 each of thrusters, ring rows, and burpees.  Because I'm trying not to kill myself as I work my way back into CrossFit, I changed the rep scheme to 12-9-6.  The coach had said the workout should take 5-10 minutes, and anything over 10 meant the weight was too high.  I was already at the lowest weights on the board, and I knew I couldn't finish in 10 minutes, so I decreased the reps and finished in 8:25.  My wife did the prescribed reps and I beat her by just a few seconds.

Today, I can barely walk because I'm so sore.  It's from the squats on Monday, where I thought I took it easy.  But, apparently, not easy enough.

Last winter, I had a really good run with the weights.  I set new PRs on all of the Olympic lifts, and was happiest with my 195# squat clean.  I hit 305# for the front squat after a previous best of 275#.  And then in April, things started to change as the early signs of the cancer started to affect my training.

Even now, it's a bit frustrating, knowing that I have 4 weeks until surgery, and any gains I make now will disappear as I recover from surgery.  But, if I do nothing now, things will be that much worse after surgery.

The good thing is that I can probably recycle this post a about how sore I am when I get back to the gym after surgery.