Beast of a Year
I’m back. Miss me?
Well road to hell, good intentions… What happened?
First of all, serious problems with my right adductor. I’ve experienced dry-needling at the physio, and all I can say is that it helped and I will never, ever consider getting a tattoo anywhere.
In the second place, my pain management for the Sjogrens needed a rethink.
Lastly, the procession caterpillar. I was finally feeling ok at the beginning of the summer and went for a run on a godawful beautiful day in June wearing a fetching pair of red running shorts and a tank top. I run, and I may have mentioned this before, on some pretty country back roads which are flanked by ancient oaks on both sides. These trees are otherwise known as open buffets for the procession caterpillar. I came home asthmatic and covered in welts that looked like chickenpox. The worst was the damage to my eyes, but that seems to be righting itself these days. Nasty buggers.
I felt completely miserable, exhausted and itchy and moped and moaned for a month or so. I caught up on lots of Netflix.
The end of July I decided to join a gym and work on strength. I signed up for the group classes as well because you never know. After 3 Pump lessons, I decided group lessons are not my thing. Since I couldn’t get out of my contract at that moment, I inquired about weight workouts. I was directed by the manager, who obviously didn’t see beyond the age on my membership profile, toward the weight machines loved by middle-aged women who want to say they’ve gone to the gym but don’t want to sweat too much. I humbly informed him that I meant serious weights, like barbells and kettlebells and well, you know what I mean. He grinned, and said, “Oh, you mean the heavy stuff.”
In a part of the gym I hadn’t seen before there they were. More importantly, there were serious athletes were there too. People who are generally too busy working out to be looking at who else is there or if they are looking will offer a tip or two on improving your form. I’ve been following a strength program for about two months now, I prefer this atmosphere to the Pump lesson but I miss my crew.
I miss the encouragement to get in the last three reps, the reassurance of “you got this” . I say “You got this” to myself all the time at the new place (in my head of course) but its not the same. I miss cheering the others on as well, the chance to be the second last on a run and doing another round to support the last one in…I miss the high fives.
I don’t miss handstands and double-unders.
By chance I saw that the X-fit club finally has a permanent home. We’d been moved around a couple of times because of building code stuff. Popped in to see Coach Marc to congratulate him on the new location and it felt like coming home. So long story short, I’ve decided to split my workouts from October: 2 weight training at the gym, 2 crossfit. Just a heads up: I will be out cherry-picking on handstand days.
2019: Year of the Beast
So I started this Crossfit year with a nice little Rx:
1600 m. run
50 Thrusters @ 15 kg.
800 m. run
35 Thrusters @ 15 kg.
400 m. run
20 Thrusters @ 15 kg.
It took me 31.12, but dang, I finished it.
Now, I like me some thrusters, but the running was killing. Coming off two weeks of Party Hearty Marty, let’s say I was not merely a tad hungover, but rather pickled.
The mixology experiments over the holidays went well. Some at our house have come over to the venerable Sazerac. To be honest, I just really liked saying “Sazerac” with a snooty French accent, and it felt cool ordering one at the Park Lane Hotel when I was there last spring. They are surprisingly delicious. I was determined to spread the word. Go on, try one: Sazerac Recipe.
You won’t find Peychaud’s Bitters anywhere around these parts, so I switched out to “Twents Bittertje”, which gave it a bit of local flavor. Absinthe, on the other hand, was easily found at the liquor store.
However, as of Wednesday, 2 January, Dry January has been in force chez nous. Number 1 Son challenged his father and I to join him. Who wouldn’t? Right? With gloom and rain ahead from now until the first daffodil (1 March, I hope!) it’s tough not to curl up by the fire with something soothing, like say a Sazerac or a dark red Primitivo and some cheese, but when is something worthwhile ever easy?
After the WOD last Wednesday, I felt like a badass. Thursday I woke to a surprise visit from Aunt Flo; she’d been away for months and I thought I ‘d seen the last of that bitch, but no. I just badassed my way through a buncha Netflix and moved as little as possible all day. Friday and Saturday were still miserable days where I reminded myself and everybody else that I am a badass who can do 105 thrusters as I gritted my teeth through the cramps and tried not to cry. Tomorrow I will literally put on the big girl panties and march my bad little ass to the Box, where I am sure it will be handed right back to me on a platter. Good times.
S
Not Built for Speed; Fabulous Nonetheless
Its Sunday so I checked out my bullet journal (BuJo) this morning over coffee and saw (to my pleasant surprise) that I’ve been hitting the box twice a week the past two months! The idea was to up that to three times a week in December, but why mess with a good thing? I’ll just shift that over to my new year’s resolutions for 2019 and try to maintain the status quo for the time being. Thanks to the relatively mild autumn weather, I’ve also been running once or twice a week as well. Since I’m just running for the hell of it, I give myself a pass on rainy days. No sense in asking for double pneumonia, is there?
At last Thursday’s WOD, one of the new kids was a bit apprehensive about all the running. She is, she declared, “Not built for speed.” At 5′ 2” and (I’m told) curvy, I explained that in car terms, I’m actually a Chevy Corvair, liable to explode if I go too fast, so no sympathy here. It was a 20 minute AMRAP:
2 Strict Pull ups
4 Handstand Push ups
8 Kettlebell Swings 16/25
400 m. Run aka the “Klein Rondje Hazemeyer”
Since finding out this summer that the cartilage in my hands is basically shot, I scale everything involving hands, so I did this instead:
4 Ring rows
8 Push Press with a bare naked barbell (no extra weight)
8 Kettlebell Swings at 12 Kg.
And yes,
the Klein Rondje Hazemeyer because I have been, if not getting faster, developing a better condition and able to run a bit of a distance.
So I tell the new girl “buck up, we got this” and we paced ourselves. I was going for 3 to 4 rounds, but when we made it back to the gym floor after round 4 and there was 5 minutes left on the clock, I knew we could squeeze out 5 rounds of that particular tube of toothpaste. We did and that wasn’t bad, not bad at all.
Sally is my BFF
Planned to go for a workout yesterday, but woke up grouchy and still sore from Monday’s WOD, so I stretched like Stretch Armstrong for a good half hour. My flexibility is about nil this days and I figure it’s a goat worth exploring as I’ve given up on pull ups because my grip is shot and boxjumps as well. People kept looking askance at my husband when I’d show up with gashes in my shins. I couldn’t do this to him any longer, he really is a lovely man. I’ve been following Bowflex fitness on Youtube and I like their 5 minute full body stretch to warm up, then I add some yoga stretches and some (modified) wild Pilates moves I picked up this summer. Luckily no one can see me while I do this.
Rolled out of bed this morning determined to make it to the Box (and avoid the guys building our new carport– I love them but it’s been a week and I need a break). Following a quick oatmeal breakfast, flew out the door (without a coat) and made it to the Box in record time, about 20 minutes too early. Since the weather’s turned chilly and wet, I waited in the car. Without coffee, anything to read, or my phone, I was bored and tempted to sing along with the radio but soon my fellow crossfitters started arriving and the world was spared a banshee trauma.
When I heard we were doing the Bear Complex for strength, I could have done a (theoretical) backflip and I very nearly broke into song (banshee or no) when it was clear that today’s WOD would be my old bff, Sally. It seems I was the only one. Oh well, thems paybacks for all the HIIT and core work we’ve been doing lately and which are very hard for me, is all I’m saying.
Paired up at first with Barbell Goddess Leonie for the Bear Complex and was again confronted by the fact that my strength is not what it was. Hit 37.5 kilos and that was all she wrote. Left Leonie to her own devices and max, and teamed up with another group. Result:
5x 1
35-37.5-32.5-35-35
Sally…you gotta love her, and I do, truly, madly, deeply. Once on vacation, Moby’s “Flowers” came drifting out of somewhere and purely by instinct and much to the amusement of my family, I dropped to a squat. Paging Dr. Pavlov for the psychiatric unit… Used a 25 kilo barbell today. R-friggin’ x. Thinking about going heavier next time, just for fun.
Altogether, I am happy with my sport regimen this week. If it is not raining too hard tomorrow, there’s a window of opportunity for a quick run too. I’ve been alcohol free since Saturday last, and won’t be hoisting an elbow until our (ahem) Hallowine party this weekend. Feeling good.
Fun!
Reboot
Blogging has been chiefly a place to set my thoughts and ideas free and not think too much about them afterward. I hadn’t ever considered that real people read what I write (with the exception of friends and family members whose arms I twist on occasion). Today I got a comment on my blog (which I haven’t looked at in ages) from someone whose arm that hadn’t been twisted. Where was I? How was I doing? Wow.
I stopped posting a little more than a year ago because frankly, it felt most days like I’d been shot with a tranq gun, hit by a pick-up truck and run over a few times. I was also very much aware of the dangers in identifying too closely with Sjögren’s Syndrome. Becoming my illness was not on the agenda, but what then? Its been a year of self discovery.
When first told that I had Sjögren’s I could have done cartwheels in the consultant’s office for joy. It was not MS! I wasn’t going blind! Hey, you can get old with this thing. The offer of psychological counselling was rejected out of hand. What, me worry? I was as happy as the proverbial clam. As long as neither of my worst case scenarios were happening, I could handle this.
Until I couldn’t.
My Crossfit scores were tanking. Losing stamina for the HIIT workouts was easy to write off to being a woman over 50, but the dramatic loss of strength and the feeling that my hands were constantly being squeezed in a vise were less easy to explain. I’ve been keeping a journal of WODs since beginning Crossfit and the numbers did not lie. I did the stupid thing and started coming up with excuses (some legitimate) not to train.
Outside the Box, I had no energy whatsoever and was developing into a champion napper. I became somewhat reclusive. If anybody should ask me how I was doing, it would be necessary to lie and I didn’t have the energy to keep that up. My fervent hope was that this too would pass. I watched a lot of Netflix.I drank too much wine.
This summer, glorious as it was (we used the pool a lot!) saw me bottom out. At the yearly consult with the Rheumatologist in June, an echogram showed the deterioration of the cartilage in my hands. Oh. So not immortal then. No spontaneous healing. Nope. After a stern lecture on the evils of using Ibuprofen as a structural form of pain relief, an appointment with the nurse specialist was arranged for later in the week and I went home to list my symptoms and gripes and, it has to be said, bawl for a few hours.
The nurse specialist was wonderful. She gave me some new stuff to help combat the dry mouth, told me to practise self-compassion and rest when I needed too. More warnings about Ibuprofen (really only indicated in infection) followed and she also gently suggested talking to a psychologist again. This time I agreed.
What I needed, and got from the counselling was guidance on how to accept this illness without becoming the illness and live the best, most active life I can. It wasn’t a plan whipped out of a Sjögren’s for Dummies. Through about 4 sessions, we addressed my expectations, needs and fears and I began to feel better able to cope.
In the meantime I bagged Crossfit. I just faded out. Didn’t cancel my membership, no drama or anything; I just slipped out the door the first week of July and stayed away. It was good for me. In the time away from the Box, I realized how much I like Crossfit and why; the crew, the community, feeling like a badass for an hour…The weather cooled off and the first week of September saw me back at the Box.
The goal for September was 1 WOD a week and running interval training on two other days. That went well. This month I’m on 2 WODs a week and running interval training on two other days plus stretching every morning. So far so good.
Mellow Yellow
It has been almost a year since the symptoms of Sjögrens Syndrome started. Christmas seems to have been a high (low) point, and the level of pain has decreased since the new year and remains at consistent and constant level. It affects me mostly in my hands—twist-off bottle tops have become the bane of my existence, and eyes .Yep, I’m the hipster wearing sunglasses even when it’s cloudy. Sounds less cool when I admit almost any daylight hurts my eyes, but who wants to be Morocco Mole when you can be Joe Cool instead?
Nay!
During our initial assessment, the reumatologist asked if I were experiencing much pain. I just told him that I do Crossfit, I’ve always got pain. This pain I had long attributed to being an old bag trying to do Crossfit, but apparently it isn’t normal. In March the ‘grit your teeth and bear it’ approach was no longer working and sleep deprivation was turning me psychotic. I started taking Ibuprofen when I felt the pain start. However, taking 400 mg. Ibuprofen a couple of times a day, every day is, I am told, not normal. Yay!
What to do? My mother, an MS patient, was addicted to painkillers, which she was able to obtain perfectly legitimately by prescription. It changed her. Prescription painkillers are not for me.
Just say “No!”
Instead, I’ve learned to choose my activities wisely. Although I am still working out at the Box, I take two to three rest days between workouts. I scale. On the “rest days”, I’ll do a short 1 – 2.5 km. run. Sometimes I don’t bother with the run, for example on days when I have some heavy yard-work to do or when it’s raining. I’ve lost the idea that I have something to prove by running in the rain; it only proves to make me wet and miserable. The rheumatology nurse emphasized the importance of doing the fun things while I have the energy, not just the necessary stuff. Clean the house or work on a painting? These days it is definitely work on a painting. Still, the pain persisted.
A friend, who is also a professional masseuse, recommended that I try some weed for the pain relief. I was a bit taken aback and said that I hadn’t considered it because I don’t smoke and with my asthma, it probably isn’t a good idea to start. Then she told me about CBD oil. I said I’d think about it. On my 6 month check up with the rheumatologist, I flew the idea by him. He said it wouldn’t hurt to try.
A few weeks went by, and even cashier at our local drugstore was questioning the frequency with which I bought my Ibuprofen gel caps. It was then I decided to investigate the possibilities CBD might offer. I’d already decided to recruit one of my alt.hip friends to accompany me to a local headshop to buy some product. I’m such a dork, I figured I’d never be able to do that on my own, but a quick search online revealed I could order the stuff from the local health food store (where I already have a discount). It is times like this when I realize that living in the Netherlands really does have some interesting benefits.
Two weeks in on a minimal CBD dosage in drops (they taste vile), my use of Ibuprofen has dramatically decreased. Instead of popping a pill before a workout, I rub some CBD into my hands, especially if it is going to involve lifting heavy. I have the idea that my hands are far less stiff and cramped. In the past few days, on more than one occasion, I’ve been called “mellow’. That has never happened before. Who’d a thunk?
Hitting (my head against) the Wall
So up to today it’s been going pretty well for me at the Box. Although we’ve been waiting for our usual location to be cleared of asbestos and using another location on the complex, there’s a plus side: no friggin’ stairs.
Friggin’ stairs. Especially after lots o’ squats.
I could get used to that.
Peeking ahead, it was clear that today’s skill work would be challenging. Double-friggin’-unders. Rogier brought up the notion that the rhythm is DUM-tak-tak and not dum-TAK-TAK, which helps. Its a belly-dance/ musician thing, just sayin’. Will be working on that to this:
The WOD. What can I say? It was Blackjack
WOD: For Time
20 Push-Ups, 1 Sit-Ups
19 Push-Ups, 2 Sit-Ups
18 Push-Ups, 3 Sit-Ups
…continue this pattern until…
2 Push-Ups, 19 Sit-Ups
1 Push-Ups, 20 Sit-Ups
Each round consists of 21 reps (aka: “blackjack”) for a total of 441 reps in the workout.
Mae and Leonie were discussing the reps before we started. Frankly, I always prefer not to think about the reps. I was just hoping to be able to finish the WOD.
Started off with strict push ups. Bad move. Lost lots of time. Modified after the round with 15. It didn’t help. By round 8, I hit the wall and figured I’d be happy to finish the first half of the WOD, because after all that was 220 reps and today, that was enough. I have no idea what my time was, don’t care. The buzzer went off and I was still working. Next time it will matter. Next time I know where the wall stands.
7 Rounds– Nailed It!
Wednesday 12-4
Skill: Ground to Overhead
Power Snatch, Squat Snatch, Clean and Jerk, Clean and (Push)Press
WOD: Every 2 mins for 7 rounds
6 Ground to Overhead (25/40 kg)
10 Burpees
Last night posted I was coming to the 9 am. WOD. Tossed and turned and decided I was doing thrusters for the “ground to overhead”. This morning woke up with wonky hands, decided against thrusters and a good thing that was because only the first thruster is ground to overhead, so thrusters were not on the menu.
Usual “Rondje Hazemeyer” for the warm up. I was fiddling with my Iphone because I wanted to run to music today to focus, so everybody else was well out the door before me. Thought I’d wave to the rest while they were on the back stretch and I was parallel, but when I got outside, I didn’t see anybody! Now I am slow, (turtle in peanut butter slow) but this was ridiculous. Robert joined us this morning and by the time I was on the back stretch and hadn’t seen anybody’s dust, I started to worry that he’d organized everybody to jump out from behind a dumpster to scare me into picking up the pace and that I’d scream like an idiot, but no…Apparently the rest of the crew did the short run around the building and I did the big run around the complex. Wtf. I got a round of applause when I entered the building. Listened to some Captain Beefheart on my run, it wasn’t half bad.
Before we got into the WOD, I asked Coach Marc what to do if, like me, you probably wouldn’t finish the burpees before the next round started. Start again. Oh joy!
Went with 25 kg. push-presses and my weirdass burpees (still can’t do a legitimate burpee)– made the first round with a little time over to rest. Second round, same time. Considered stopping after the 3rd round, but hit the same time again. After the 4th, I knew I’d finish.
Form(ever) Follows Function, but only in Architecture and Design
According to U.S. architect, Louis Sullivan “Form (ever) follows function”. This became the credo of the modernist movement and a very admirable movement it was, bringing to light such construction heroes as Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe and Richard Neutra (my favorite), but I digress.
This quote sprang to mind today because unlike architecture, in Crossfit form must always come first. Bad form really fucks up your function, if you know what I’m saying.
Neutra’s “Lovell Health House” —nothing superfluous, beautiful clean lines = great form.
FYI- a nice little link to Kettlebells with Good Form.
This morning while, waling on my kettlebell swings during an AMRAP and going for speed I pulled sin No. 3. Spaghetti city. For one second, I forgot to keep my core tight and I strained something funny. It feels like a skrinked rib. I’m sure it’s a skrinked rib muscle (intercostal). I have skrinked my ribs before and this feels familiar. Thank heavens for super-strength ibuprofen, you know… those gel things that kick in in minutes. Rest day tomorrow, back in the box on Wednesday. Form! Form! Form first and foremost in Crossfit.
Looked for an architecture themed vid, but this one has more schwung than Simon & Garfunkel
Cherry Picking in Cherry Blossom Time
So, after the great WOD last Monday, our coach was informed by the local authorities that our box’s building has a possible asbestos situation and nobody can go inside until the inspection and analysis is completed. Another space on the old Hazemeyer complex had been organized for us but the Box 074 and almost all the equipment is on lockdown until further notice.
Crossfitters are nothing if not adaptable. Running and condition trainings were put together at very short notice by Lichelle Scholing , a top Dutch athlete These were scheduled in the evening so I gave them a miss. I’ve been busy giving my house an old-fashioned spring cleaning during the day and had nothing over for any evening training and especially not running. All day up and down a ladder, washing windows, cleaning the parquet, oiling the furniture, polishing the furniture, washing all the bedding….Sue me, I cherry picked. Everybody else was very enthousiastic about Lichelle’s trainings though. I’ll admit to a tiny twinge of regret for not going.
Temporary locale , but we have barbells and bumper plates and kettlebells!
Via a Facebook post , a selection of weight lifting equipment was made available on loan and I, for one am delighted to report that nobody had wallballs to spare! Back to business as usual today. My Deadlift Skelly t-shirt looked great.
WOD
7 min AMRAP Deadlifts
(I scaled to 25 kg)
5 mins rest
7 min AMRAP Powercleans
5 mins rest
7 min AMRAP Front squats
95-39-80
and all that after warming up with a run around Hazemeyer.
It was a good day.
Nuckin' Futz 
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