Ouch!

I have done some crazy athletic events in my life.  Long triathlons, ultramarathons, long solo mountain hikes, etc.

Squatting on Monday has left me more sore and incapacitated than any of those events ever did.  I squatted 25% of my lifetime best, and four days later, I can barely walk.

I did 5x7 squats at 85# and 95# on Monday.  On Tuesday, I was a bit sore, but I walked 3 miles.  I'd been planning that instead of CrossFit.  I'm not planning to do CF on back to back days until early September or so.

Tuesday night, while sleeping, I woke up to go to the bathroom.  I couldn't believe how much more sore I was.  My upper hamstrings were on fire.  Getting in and out of the bed was very difficult.  Getting into the car to go to work was horrible.  And, while this may be TMI, most lifters can tell you that getting onto and off of a toilet seat can be excruciating after a tough squat session.  On Wednesday, my wife skipped CF, so I had an easy out to skip exercise.

And, Wednesday was the second day after the squats, the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is often worse the second day.  So, I thought I'd be fine after that day.

By Thursday morning, things were worse.  I could barely walk.  My hamstrings would seize up randomly, and despite some big doses of Tylenol, I got no relief.  I'm not allowed to take NSAIDs, so that wasn't an option.  My wife went to CF on Thursday night, so I decided to go for a walk.  Five minutes into my walk, I was really struggling.  But, it started to rain, so I used that as an excuse to bail on the walk.  Let's just pretend that there really isn't a treadmill at the gym, because that's what I did.

This morning, things are different.  The soreness has moved down to the middle of my hamstrings.  Well, the tops of the hamstrings are still sore, so we've just added a new issue.  I had to drive our car in stop and go traffic this morning, and it's a standard transmission.  My left hamstring kept seizing up on me every time I used the clutch.  It's continued to seize up all morning at work - left and right.

So, it's now been almost 96 hours since I squatted, and I'm still incapacitated.  There is no way I can do CF tonight.

I'm guessing that by Monday, I'll be able to do CF again.  It will be squat day.  I wonder how many days of rest it will take to recover from that day.

It's kind of funny, actually.  I expected this to some level after not squatting for two months.  But, I went ridiculously easy for me, and it still crippled me.  It could easily take a month before squat night doesn't inflame my hamstrings.

I said I wanted to ease back into CF, but I didn't expect it would be just one workout this week.

Hopefully, I'll get some good hiking or biking in this weekend.