Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Improving Week by Week

OK, first the obligatory whining.  It's always something.  I have noticed in my workouts the past couple weeks that running is somewhat painful.  It seems to be in the area where my psoas muscle was removed.  Wearing high quality compression gear doesn't seem to help like it did before my latest surgery.

Monday night's workout had 3 x 400m runs as part of the workout, and by the third 400, I was reduced to walking part of it due to pain.  I told my wife that I'm really glad right now that I don't consider myself to be an ultrarunner any more.  If so, this pain would be a lot more worrisome.

Also, I'm still less than 10 weeks removed from major abdominal surgery.  I'm still healing.

And, my favorite physical therapist is on the DL, after two knee surgeries.  She helped me with rehab after the first surgery that removed some of the psoas.  I'm sure she could help me this time, but she's not working right now.  Hopefully, she will be back at work fairly soon.

But, other than that issue, things are going well.

My first week at CrossFit, I accidentally trashed my legs so badly that I could barely walk for a week.  The next week, I had to change the workout on Monday to avoid squats, but I made it to the gym 4 times that week.  My plan was no more than 3x per week until at least September.

Last week, I made it 4 times again.  I've been doing Olympic lifting twice per week, which is huge for me.  For a while, I'd sort of backed off on Oly lifting.  Mobility issues were limiting my progress, and I injured my shoulder doing snatches a few years ago.  Fear of re-injuring the shoulder led to me limiting what I did, rather than adapting by changing the amount of weight on the bar.

This time, I'm keeping the weights light, and treating it as a cross between mobility work and strength work.  I'm doing the Oly lifts fairly lightly, but it's heavy enough to create some stimulus.  And, when it comes time to do full depth snatches, overhead squats, or split jerks, I'm not backing down.  I'm doing the movements as written by the coach.

Currently, I've done 11 CrossFit workouts in the past 23 days, which is about average for me when I'm healthy.  I try to average 3-4 days per week.  I usually end up averaging 3 days per week for the entire year, but I have plenty of weeks where I'm there 4 times.

I am going to miss 2 days this week due to a day off work tomorrow and a trip out of town.  But, everything is moving in the right direction.  I'm sore and I'm tired, and I have some pain, but I'm not hurt.

Each week seems better than the last.

It is a bit frustrating to finish last in every single workout.  That's just where I am right now.  I'm older than most people in the gym.  I missed almost two entire months after surgery.  I had cut back on workout intensity for a few months before surgery due to side effects from chemo.  So, I'm older than most, I'm a cancer patient, my workouts have been limited, and I'm finishing last in the workouts.

People in the gym aren't having any of my whining.  They think I'm a hero just for being there after all I've been through.  They see me working hard, and that's good enough for them.  I have to let it be good enough for me as well.

The same attitude that carried me through so many marathons and ultras is now carrying me through this.  I'm just not ready to quit yet.  I still have so many things I'd like to accomplish, and my training in the gym is essential to most everything else I want to do with my life.

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