Easy Does It

When I completed my most recent marathon back in September, I was relieved to give running a break for a while, to switch gears.  I have maintained a consistent Crossfit schedule through every race I have trained for the last 2.5 years.  I truly believe it is what took my running to the next level.  The only downside is when I am putting in 35-50 mile weeks, my strength suffers greatly. So I was super excited to take a running break and focus on building that strength.  I had  all these visions of being able to keep up and lift as heavy as the strongest and best in my gym. To turn into this unstoppable lifting machine and have huge PRS left and right.   Ironically, it has been quite the opposite. I feel stronger yes, but not by much. And I have had more aches/pains/injuries these last few months than I have had….pretty much ever.

How is this possible? I am used to doing so much more than I am now… or at least I think.  I have done a hard WOD followed by a 5-10 mile run many times, and still never hurt like this.  It’s not even a  a sore kind of hurt. Back tightness, knee issues, wrist pain you name it I feel like I have had it. As I have been nursing some of these injuries the last few weeks, I have been throwing myself a little bit of a pity party wondering why I can’t get stronger and better faster.

THEN I had to take a step back and listen to myself (and maybe even slap myself in the face). What would I say to a person who was saying all this to me? What kind of advice would I give them? I would say… easy does it, yes you have done Crossfit for over 2 years, but not like this. You are putting more focus on your lifts.  Lifting is different than running, PERIOD. You are beating your body down in a DIFFERENT way that it is not used to.  You think you can just have personal records over night? Come on Jill, you know better. Like anything, it takes getting used to. Your body has to adjust, be patient.

Whenever I had clients in the past who would take up running or working out in general for the first time, they would talk to me about their aches and pains they were experiencing.  I would then tell them that its going to hurt at first, it won’t feel comfortable for a while, just embrace it. Take rest days when you need to and understand the difference between the pain of your body adjusting versus pain that can cause injury. Don’t do too much at once, ease into it. Anything worth doing should be done the RIGHT way.  I know all of these things…yet why is it so hard to listen to my own advice?

It also helps that I have incredibly supportive coaches and friends willing to talk me off a ledge. Amazing thing about my workout buddies is that we have all been in this spot.  Feeling frustrated, weak, unable to keep up with other people and whenever each of us is in that spot, we pick each other up.  I have said it before and I will say it again, the beauty of Crossfit is you feel invisible during a workout one day and beaten down the next.  It never lets you win, yet we all keep chasing the victory. The fact that it never gets old or easy is what makes it so fun.

First day of Crossfit in May 2012, needed a band AND help to do a pull up

I have never been good at being patient.  I jump in whole heartedly to everything I do, and I always expect immediate results.  It never works out that way.  Took me years of running to get to a point where I could say I am a Boston qualifier.  Crossfit is no different. I have to jump in to mobility and rest days just as hard as I would a workout day- something that I am learning the hard way. I need to remember the days where putting #65 over my head was really really hard (latest PR is #125, YEAH!).  I need to remember the days where I could not do a single pull-up. I need to be smart and I need to be patient and enjoy the ride.

Stay blessed in the mess!