The Wolf and the 7 Baby Goats
I bailed on the workout last Friday. I was really planning to go. I even joined in the banter complaining about the WOD on our Box’s Facebook page, but I was up against karma: slept through my alarm so I missed the 9 am. WOD, decided to go to the 10 am., when I got there, the 9 am. crew were running late, I had a gazillion things to do and I couldn’t be running later than I was already, yadda yadda. Nobody had seen me come in. Nobody would notice if I just slipped away….so I did.
The weekend was great. All my guys were home and we actually ate meals as a family for a change. We drank wine and watched goofy videos on TV. We walked in the country and talked about everything under the sun— good times. So why was I in such a godawful mood from Sunday morning?
Usually when the leaves start to fall, I am pursued by what Churchill called “the black dog”. Mine’s actually a wolf and it eats at my soul. I’m talking about depression.
Because I’m a creative type, I’ve never considered taking “happy pills” which would just even out all the highs and lows and dull the creative process, but I don’t like being a miserable git to those around me. I’ve noticed that when I manage to make it to at least two workouts per week, I’m much more pleasant to be around. My family has noticed this too.
There seems to be scientific basis for this phenomenon
from Harvard Health Publications
exercise enhances the action of endorphins, chemicals that circulate throughout the body. Endorphins improve natural immunity and reduce the perception of pain. They may also serve to improve mood. Another theory is that exercise stimulates the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which may directly improve mood.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Exercise-and-Depression-report-excerpt.htm
At one point yesterday afternoon, Vince poured us both a glass of wine and said,
” Tomorrow you are going to Crossfit and don’t even think about checking the whiteboard beforehand. Just go.”
Today I collected another goat: my squats are criminal. But I finished the WOD in a decent time and I am in an excellent mood.
I Have More Goats than You; That Makes Me a Sheika
Recently my best friend came to the Netherlands for a visit, which gave me an excellent excuse to take a break from training for a week. Theoretically, I could have dragged him with me to Crossfit, right up the friggin’ stairs and parked him in a chair to let him cool his heels while I got on with the Crossfit thing. In practise, this would have resulted in my best friend making witty asides about my technique and weird but painfully accurate comparisons to Mr. Bean films while chugging a big coffee. We love each other that way.
At the last workout before my hiatus, M. introduced us to the expression, “Training your goat”…anyone’s particular goat being their worst crossfit element, that which they suck at most. I thought, “Good grief, M! I ‘ve got a shedload of goats. Hell yeah! I’ve got a herd!”
© Ubagas76 | Dreamstime.com – Herd Of Goats In The Desert Photo
My friend left on Wednesday, so I planned to be back in the box first thing Friday morning. Last night I decided not to peek at the whiteboard online, better not to know what’s in store. As I traversed the friggin’ stairs, I prayed like a lapsed Catholic on her deathbed that there would be no wallballs involved in today’s workout. Wallballs are one of my most ornery goats. It’d been a wild weekend; I spent most of last week recovering. That’s all I’m saying on the matter.
Lacing up into my super-cool, new, hazmat yellow Nanos, I sneaked a peek at the whiteboard. Immediate relief. Crossfit Total WOD. No high-intensity stuff. No wallballs. Shoulder presses (half-tame goat), Back-squats (non-goat) and my favorite, the Deadlift. I made 25 kg max on the Shoulder press, which was an embarrassingly poor lift, 65 kg max for the Back-squats and a whopping 80 kg max for the Deadlift, which is more than I weigh these days, booyah!
Habibi, take one of my goats, please, for your grandmother.
Important Lessons in Crossfit # 2
Lesson # 1 is, of course, leave your ego at the door. Lesson #2, boys and girls, is this: Don’t forget your asthma inhaler.
Its true that my overal stamina and condition are improving with Crossfit and some days, so much so that I almost forget to take a puff of Ventolin 15 minutes before I enter the Box. Just in case I forget to puff before I leave the house, I always have an extra inhaler in my gymbag.
Almost always. Yesterday I decided to get fancy and use another gymbag that matched my outfit better and the inhaler didn’t make it to the gymbag of the day. I discovered this while digging down to the bottom of my bag just outside of the door to the Box. What to do? What to do? I could have turned around in the parkinglot, driven back home, picked up my inhaler and made it to the next WOD at 10 am., but I had plans you understand; I had places to be, people to see, things to do. It was the 9 am. WOD sans Ventolin or no WOD. I flew up the friggin’ stairs because I was running late as it was and didn’t feel short of breath, so I figured I was good to go.
PERISH THE THOUGHT!!!!
We did a bit of warming up and a nice little Wendler Pushpress Cycle and then it was time for the WOD, and what a WOD it was:
6 rounds for time of:
30 Air Squats
19 Power Cleans, 135/95 lbs
7 Strict Pull-ups
Run, 400 m
Seriously.
I decided to go with 25 kg. for the Power Cleans, because weightlifting seems to be my “thing” and I’m cool with the blue band for the Pull-ups. I figured I was good for 3 rounds and anything more than that was gravy. I managed 3 rounds plus 30 Airsquats and 19 Power Cleans. I was wheezing like a freight train from my first 400 on and had to take it down a notch. For want of a Ventolin inhaler, I was the sad man in the cellar on the whiteboard. Embarrassing or what?
Please take some time to read the link to the Hotshots 19.
A Bit of Progress
It’s taken a while, but I finally started using Beyond the Whiteboard http://beyondthewhiteboard.com/. Turns out it is a great tool to help monitor your progress. I’ve screened my profile so that I’m the only one who sees my entries, but if you’re so inclined, you can share yours with your box and anybody else who cares to look.
I was amazed to see that I’m actually getting better at some things.
Six months ago, running 400 m. was something I couldn’t do. It is still not my favorite part of any WOD and I’m almost always the last one in, but I don’t get nervous any more when I see 400 m. buy-ins on the whiteboard.
Lately I’ve been adding 100 single-unders as a regular part of my warming up. When I started with Crossfit, my jump-rope skills were dismal. I’m not consistent enough with the double-unders, but if I’m on a roll I can do 100 single-unders without too much difficulty.
Yesterday was a milestone. I did pull-ups using the blue elastic instead of ring-rows! Pull-ups have been a bit of a bugbear in the past, (Raising the Bar) but I seem to have gotten over it.
Nuckin' Futz 
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