10-04-30: Thrusters, Sit-Ups, KB Swings, Pull-ups, Push-Ups

CrossFit WoD for April 30th, 2010
For time:

• For time: 
• 70 Burpees Thrusters 45#
• 60 Sit-ups 
• 50 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 poods
• 40 Pull-ups
• 30 Handstand elevated push-ups

Honestly, I was a lot nervous going into this one.  I knew I still didn't want to do thrusters.  The knees are vastly improved from where they were a week or two ago, but there is still some residual pain, which means that it won't take much to re-aggravate anything.I figured thrusters would make for an ok sub, since they are also a fairly full-ranged motion, though obviously not nearly so much as a well-performed burpee.  Ah well.  Worst case, if they seemed to be irritating the patellar tendonitis, I would quit immediately.  70 thrusters later, it looks like they're back on the menu! ;)

Total time = 22 minutes.

Effort was pretty good through the sit-ups, but I completely gassed on the kettlebell swings. A lot of it was tiredness in the same muscles that had just been targeted three days earlier, and that these two workouts were my first in over a week, but still.  The weight was marginally too heavy, and I was working too hard to try to ensure my form was ok, so I spent a lot of energy working against myself. Fought through the rest of the swings, and then hit my nemesis: the body-weight pull-up.  Ended up doing 20 pull-ups, 10 elevated push-ups, 10 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 10 pull-ups, and a final 10 push-ups.

So, getting some good protein into myself now, gonna restretch everything, especially my legs, and then ice my knees.  That's it for this week, since I probably won't do anything over the weekend.  We'll see how things develop!

10-04-27: Push-ups, Pull-Ups, KB Swings, Sit-ups

CrossFit WoD for April 27th, 2010:
For time:
   30 Handstand push-ups
   40 Pull-ups
   50 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 poods
   60 Sit-ups
   70 Burpees


This being my first workout after dealing with my knees (see earlier posts), I decided from the beginning that I probably wasn't going to do any burpees, and ended up keeping that promise! Subbed elevated-foot pike push-ups for the HSPUs, and added about 50# of assistance to the pull-ups after 25 or so. Otherwise, did the workout as Rx'ed = 15:12

Started out with very gentle rowing, since I wasn't sure if that would trigger the knees or not. It apparently didn't, but by the time I was done with the kettle bell swings, things were tightening up again. I've been wearing the AirCast Cryo Cast knee for the past two days, for about 30 minutes for each knee.  That's about the usual time before it needs to be refreshed with fresh water from the cooler... but I believe I've done reading to the effect that you shouldn't be chilling joints much longer than that anyways, so no worries there.

Between the icing, stretching, and taking it easy, the knees are definitely feeling progressively better. I can now make it downstairs in the morning without feeling like I'm just going to fall down them when the one leg refuses to bend because of the stiffness and pain!  Yay, healing!

On the downside, my attempt at making a few bucks off this thing are being thwarted by the Amazon Associates dealie refusing to finish 'initializing,' thus allowing me to show you some crap from Amazon that you probably don't want. Not that the program isn't cool, but really, (holding up a picture of me), would you really buy something like that from a guy who looks like this?!

10-04-19: Patellar Tendonitis (I think...)

Well, after asking a track coach, and trolling the CrossFit forums, as well as doing a lot of reading and some basic do-it-myself therapy, I've self-diagnosed...myself...with patellar tendonitis.  I actually feel pretty good about this diagnosis because A) it fits with both knees being terribly sore, and B) they seem to respond very well to the treatment (icing, stretching, resting, etc.)

At first I was afraid that lots of years of soccer and ultimate frisbee had finally caught up with me, and that tons of slight injuries had finally started to accumulate against me.  But the one weird issue was that it was evenly painful in both knees, which a sprain/turn/etc should have targetted more on one side or something.  Also, since the pain is right up front, in the "middle" of the knee right below the patella, it's unlikely to be a meninges kind of thing.

It was the track coach (Hi, Lee!), who pointed out that it might be patellar tendonitis, or Jumper's Knee, as its more commonly known. So I did some reading:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/patellar-tendinitis/ds00625
http://www.hughston.com/hha/a_13_4_4.htm
http://www.stms.nl/download/Jumpersknee.pdf

The short version is this: There is a tendon that connects the patella to the shin.  When you do exercises that create a lot of impact on that tendon (box jumps, double-unders, running, etc), *especially* if you are not yet in perfect form on those exercises (*double-unders*...daily!!!), then you are banging the crap out of those tendons.  Also, since the way I exercise targets both knees very evenly (unlike say a basketball player who might land on one leg more than the other, depending on her technique), that also explains why both knees are equally sore.

Everything said pretty much the same thing. Short-term therapy is to stop pissing that tendon off (ie, rest it), ice it, and make damn sure to stretch all the muscles around it (calves, quads, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors, etc.) And you know what?  When I do that, everything stops hurting for a good 20-30 minutes, until it all has a chance to lock up again.  But if its getting results (and things are already less sore, which is good), then I must be on the right track.

So here's the game-plan: continue the rest/ice/stretch therapy for the rest of this week.  Next week, begin easing back into WoDs, but making sure to adjust/scale/skip anything that might put ANY strain on those tendons. Push-ups and pull-ups? OK! More box-jumps? Hells no! ;)

Updates as and when they occur.

10-04-15: "McGhee"

CrossFit WoD for Thursday, April 15th, 2010

"McGhee"
Complete as many rounds in 30 minutes as you can of:

• 275 245 pound Deadlift, 5 reps
• 13 Push-ups
• 9 Box jumps, 24 inch box

10 rounds plus 5 deadlifts

Scaled the deadlifts back to 245# after trying a full 275#.  I can do the full weight, but not in a timed situation. Its too close to my skill-limit right now to try to crank out a bunch when form isn't my UTMOST concern.

Started out shooting for 15-20 rounds, which seemed doable when I was done with 2 rounds at the 3:00 mark, and 3 rounds at the 4:30 mark.  Things slacked off dramatically after that.  First of all, standing up from the dead-lifts was making me grey out a bit, and then getting up from doing push-ups was nearly killing me.  Remember those knees from my last post?  Yeah, that started catching up with me on the box jumps.  Basically, by the end, my form on the dead-lift was probably a joke, my push-ups were slow and agonizing, and every jump up to and off the box was making my knees burn like a blow torch was being aimed just below both kneecaps.  So, to pull 10 rounds out of that actually makes me pretty happy!

However, there is the aftermath, to be expanded on in the next post.  Basically, it boils down to this: patellar tendonitis.

10-04-14: Filthy 50 (well, 30)

CrossFit WoD for April 14th, 2010
For time:

• 30 Box jump, 24 inch box*
• 30 Jumping pull-ups*
• 30 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
• Walking Lunge, 30 steps*
• 30 Knees to elbows
• 30 Push press, 45 pounds
• 30 Back extensions
• 30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
• 30 Burpees
• 30 Double unders*

29:50
Definitely got beat up by this beast.  I may have tried a reduced version of this in the past, but this was my first tour through all of these exercises in a row...and boy, did I end up paying for it.  More on that to come.  Started out intending to do a full 50 of everything, but a few dozen box-jumps in, I realized the insanity of that plan.  Full disclosure, this was my first workout after an amazing wedding weekend down in Arizona, which I celebrated by cranking on the weight and not working out nearly enough (the last two entries were actually from AZ, but from BEFORE the food extravaganza began, so...).  The implications of doing body-weight exercises with a noticeable INCREASE in said body-weight made me rethink those plans.

Did a pretty good job of keeping the pace up until the burpees. I had already been dealing with Pukie the clown (successfully, thank you!) after the back extensions, but by the burpees, I could only do 2-3 at a time.  Still, I forced myself through the last of them, before making myself look like an idiot trying to string together double-unders to complete the workout.

So, as to the asterisks in the list.  After this workout, a problem that had been growing more obvious over the last few weeks became a lot bigger: My knees were KILLING me.  I could stretch them, and move them through a full range of motion, but just below each knee-cap there was a ball of barbed-wire just waiting to screw me up.  Worst was trying to go down stairs after standing for awhile (picture most of a normal train/subway/bus commute in NYC and you see the problem here), but now things were getting serious. More to come...

10-04-09: Running!!!

CrossFit WoD for April 3rd, 2010

• Run 1600 meters
  Rest 3 minutes
  Run 1200 meters
  Rest 2 minutes
  Run 800 meters
  Rest 1 minute
  Run 400 meters

21:33
Done on a treadmill in AZ, wearing Puma indoor soccer shoes (ie, Sambas). Started off with a fairly brisk (for me) pace on the one mile, and kept bringing it down as needed to keep from tossing myself like a lawn dart into the useless and broken "multi-gym" hulking in the corner of the "exercise room."  Feet and legs felt more or less fine after 2.5 miles of "pose-like" running (check out the Pose technique here...I have no doubt I'm not doing it right, having never been coached.) I did have a minor blister on my left big toe, in the crease area underneath, but I think my shoes just weren't tight enough. Legs were super-sore the next day, but it passed VERY quickly, definitely more muscle-sore than leg-pounding, heel-toe soreness. Awesome!!

10-04-08: Run 800m, 150 D-Us, 50 Burpees

CrossFit WoD for April 7th, 2010
     For time:

•        Row 500 meters
•        150 Double-unders
•        50 Burpees

41 minutes
Subbed running .5 miles for the rowing, then broke the Double-unders and burpees into 10 sets, with a 15/5 breakdown per set.  Definitely wanted to quit by the end of the 7th round (shade was getting scarce at the hotel in Arizona!), but forced my way through the final rounds.  Skill in double-unders did NOT improve as a result of getting 150 of them. Sigh.

    

10-04-06: Dumbell C+Js, Weighted Pull-ups

CF Wod for April 4th, 2010
     For time:
      10 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
      1 Weighted pull-up
      9 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
      2 Weighted pull-ups
      8 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
      3 Weighted pull-ups
      7 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
      4 Weighted pull-ups
      6 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
      5 Weighted pull-ups
      5 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
      6 Weighted pull-ups
      4 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
      7 Weighted pull-ups
      3 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
      8 Weighted pull-ups
      2 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
      9 Weighted pull-ups
      1 Dumbbell Clean & Jerks
      10 Weighted pull-ups

22 minutes.
Used a 25# weight, which was ideal from a form and met-con standpoint on the C&Js, and also made me feel better, since this was my first time attempting weighted pull-ups.  Was able to do the workout as Rx'ed until the final round and a half, when I switched to unweighted pull-ups, and was still barely able to complete those!  Total arm and back meltdown!

Updates coming, I swear!

No, I'm not dead, just haven't had a chance to update this recently.  Last few workouts have been (mostly so I remember later)

Tuesday, April 6: Dumbbell C&Js/Weighted Pull-ups

Thursday, April 8: Run 800m/150 Double-Unders/50 Burpees

Friday, April 9: Run 1600m, rest 3 min., run 1200m, rest 2 min., run 800m, rest 1 min., run 400m

Feeling sore, and a little blistered after the running, but kudos to me for doing 2.5 miles in Samba-style indoor soccer shoes, *not* running shoes.  Definite muscle tightness in the quads, but WAAAY less shin/ankle pain than I'm used to with any kind of running, much less some pretty solid distances, even for me!  Updates and specific results/times when the opportunity presents itself!