Friday, August 26, 2011

Friday's Workout

This morning, while doing our usual warm-up duck walks, a shooting pain raced up my right groin muscle. I paused before resuming my waddling, but my leg did not feel awesome -- especially when I got up again and tried to squat. I could do it, but it felt incredibly un-good.

Still, I've been a wreck all week, so what's a little crotch pain? Besides, the strain happened during DUCK WALKS, for cryin' out loud. How bad could it possibly be?


As we practiced gymnastic skills (L-sits, pass-throughs, skin-the-cats), I tried to shake it out. I stretched and massaged my inner thigh, but it only made me wince. (I'm sure it was super sexy, though.) After a few minutes attempting to will my groin back into shape, I robot-walked over to Tim and quietly told him that I may have hurt myself doing duck walks. (DUCK WALKS!)

Seeing the concern on his face, I countered: "But I can totally do this gymnastic stuff! And it's not like I can't put weight on my leg. It's just...a little uncomfortable. As long as our metcon doesn't involve doing a hundred air squats..."

"We're not doing air squats today, but..." Tim's voice trailed off. "Just take it easy," he said, cautioning me to play it safe. "Be smart."

Unfortunately:
  • Tim then wrote "Fran" on the whiteboard;
  • I heart Fran, and was desperate not to miss her today; and
  • I am not smart.

Tim and the Terminator both raised their eyebrows as I loaded the RXed weight on my barbell. "You sure?" they asked. Yes, I thought. My groin wasn't feeling 100 percent, but I was dead certain it wasn't serious. I'll just rest this weekend, I told myself. I can work through discomfort. Fran doesn't take long.

So I did it. Not long after I started, my mind shut out the fire in my groin. And I got through the first 21 thrusters unbroken (though my subsequent sets -- of both thrusters and pull-ups -- were interrupted by frequent breaks).

But now, looking back, I'm not sure it was worth it. My time was 6:56 as RXed -- 24 seconds worse than my previous Fran time. I'm left wondering how I would have performed if I'd waited until I was less thrashed, and whether I'd be more comfortable right now if I hadn't insisted on pushing myself so hard.

Lesson: I need to be less of a stubborn jackass when it comes to this CrossFit stuff.