Redemption

Pretty much right after I typed yesterday's post, I knew exactly what I was going to do. Even as I typed out the phrase "I don't know of an immediate fix..." I knew what I was going to do. It was about 3pm, I pulled my still damp gym clothes from my gym bag and laid them out around my desk to hopefully dry somewhat. I had a homeowners meeting to attend at 6:30pm, and I could either leave work at my normal 4:30 time and head home to let the pooch out and grab a bite to eat, or I could head back to the gym for the 5pm class and take another crack at that 24" box, then go straight to the meeting, grabbing something to eat along the way.

I just couldn't get it out of my head that I had the ability. I knew I could do it. I HAD to go back. I knew if I didn't go back and just get it over with last night, the next time I was staring down a 24" box, it would be the same thing all over again. I seriously had 1,000 reasons to tell myself of why I could do it, and only fear to tell me that I couldn't. Then, like a sign from above, I was checking my FB feed, and there was a picture with Arnold Schwarznegger in all his body building glory on one of the fitness pages I stalk, with a quote that read "Good things don't happen by conicidence. Every dream carries with it certain risks, especially the risk of failure. But I am not stopped by risks. Suppose a great person takes the risk and fails. Then the person must try again. You cannot fail forever. If you try ten times, you have a better chance of making it on the eleventh try than if you didn't try at all." As the hours went by since my noon time suck workout, I started to feel better. The tightness in my back from all the kettbell swings lately was relieved (probably thanks to the 30 (pretty sad) power snatches @85# at noon), it was like my body was finally waking up. My muscles felt warmed up, loose, and I knew that I was going get that 24" box jump if it killed me. I texted fave trainer and asked if she would be coaching, she replied "yesm." All the stars were aligning for me.

At a few minutes to 5pm, I shut down my computer, put on my slightly less damp workout clothes, downed some BCAA's and headed for the gym. The 5pm class is a little different from the noon class. The noon class has a lot of regulars, and usually contains some pretty athletic people, as in, they have coordination and natural ability from other sports, but haven't necessarily been crossfitting for long. The 5pm class is usually a mish-mosh of first dayers, or people that couldn't attend their "regular" class time. I've yet to see the same people there at 5pm. Anyway...it made for a way less intimidating class.

During the warm-up it was confirmed that I was feeling much better than I was at noon. Everything was just working better. I wasn't as stiff, I just felt good. Maybe I need to start working out 2x a day more? Then it was time to grab the boxes and start jumping on them. I grabbed the 20" box, jumped on it once, then grabbed a 45# plate (3.5 inches I was informed) to put on top. I jumped on that no problem. I then grabbed another 45# plate to stack on top, for a total of 27." That's where I froze. I removed the second 45# plate and jumped on the 23.5" height. Confident I could do that, I put the second 45# plate back on. Freeze. This pattern repeated itself a few times, and then coach brought over a 25# plate (2") and stacked that on top of the first 45#'er. So, I was looking at 25.5" and I jumped it no problem. Then I replaced the 25#'er with the 45# plate again, and just jumped. I made it. 27." Now, by crossfit standards, this is not really that great. BUT...for me, I struggle with box jumps so much, they are such a mental thing for me. I'm absolutely sure that I made it with room to spare. I was so happy. I turned to coach and said "ok, I can go home now." But, I was still jumping on a 20" box, just with plates stacked on top. I still needed to conquer the 24" box. So I walked over to one of the 24" boxes, stared at it, and jumped. I made it. It was nothing. Once again...way worse in my head then actually doing it.

So now, I think maybe before class, I'll practice my 24" box jumps. Just 1 or 2, getting comfortable with that height, because I know I can do it, I HAVE done it.

After the box jump session, I did a repeat of the noon workout: 3 rounds of 10 power snatches, 10 lateral box jumps, 10 toes to bar. At noon, I did 85# for my snatch weight. I got through them, but they were not pretty. The noon coach had us jump over our barbells laterally instead of jumping on boxes laterally, which sucked, and then my toes to bar were more like toes to hips. At noon, it took me 11:00 minutes to finish.

At 5pm, I chose 75# as my snatch weight, stacked plates 14" high to do my lateral box jumps, and my toes to bar were actually toes to bar or toes to neck. I worked my ass off. I could string together way more snatches at 75# then at 85#, and I don't even know how my toes kept getting so high each time. I finished in 9:29, and I was DRIPPING sweat. There was such a huge difference in that workout compared to my noon workout...The only way I can describe it is redemption. Pure redemption.