Whine, Whine, Whine

So when the doc said it would take "six to eight" weeks for my wrist sprain to heal, I chalked that up to him being a pessimist. Despite having zero medical knowledge or training, I was confident that I'd recover much more quickly. (See? I'm all about positive thinking!) It'll take four weeks tops, I told myself.

Not so much.

It's been over four weeks since my sprain (though it feels like four months), and I still can't put pressure or weight on my flexed wrist. Olympic lifts, push-ups, handstands, wall balls are all still on my no-go list. Consequently, I've had to modify most all of the gym's programmed workouts to accommodate my stupid, stupid wrist.

Here are our most recent workouts:



No snatches for me. I did kettlebell cleans and presses instead. Result: 10:29.

"Holleyman" looked like a fun one (well, except the wall balls). But I wasn't able to do any of the movements in this workout. I subbed out dumbbell thrusters for the wall balls, ring rows for the HSPUs, and a 70-pound kettlebell clean for the power clean. Result: 27:27.

On Monday, I attempted this run / ring dip / overhead reverse lunge workout as RXed, but after the first round, my wrist was aching. For the final two-thirds of the workout, I did ring rows (again) in place of the ring dips, and for the reverse lunges, I held a light kettlebell up overhead instead of a barbell. Result: 12:13.

I recognize that I'm overly impatient, and that in my eagerness to get back into the swing of things, I often bite off more than I can chew. (Also: I'm an annoying whiner. Obviously.)

But is it really going to take another two to four weeks for my wrist to heal? Really? Because I'm going to be totally insufferable until then.

Last Friday Feels Like a Million Years Ago

Honestly? I can't remember how long it took me to finish last Friday's workout. Guess I should blog more frequently, huh?

I do recall, however, repeatedly attempting bar muscle-ups prior to our metcon, and failing over and over again.

I've done ring muscle-ups, but bar muscle-ups are terra incognita for me. I almost managed to crank out one -- on my last try, I got my upper body over the bar, and my left arm was in position to push up, but my wonky right shoulder gave out and I flopped back down. Argh.

I'm so close to getting a bar muscle-up that I can almost smell 'em. Sadly, my right wrist has been sore and swollen since the weekend, which means I've gotta take it easy for a little while. But I've got my eye on you, bar muscle-up.

Friday's Workout: Feeling Chipper?

A long chipper today -- and I almost managed to complete it as RXed. But almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and not CrossFit.

For time:

• 100 air squats
• 80 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 60 walking lunges holding a bumper plate overhead (45lbs / 35lbs)
• 40 toes to bar
• 20 headless horsemen - a variation on kettlebell palm presses) (24kg / 16kg)

The air squats felt fantastic. I got through all of them unbroken, and quickly transitioned to the kettlebell swings.

The swings felt a little less awesome. Swinging the 24-kilogram kettlebell, I managed to only get through 25 reps before having to take a breather. After that, I didn't manage more than 15 swings in a row before having to set down the kettlebell and wheeze.

The walking lunges were exhausting. After the squats and swings, my legs were like jelly, and my brain turned to mush, too. I was keeping track of my lunges by counting backwards from 60, and with 12 left, Tim asked me which rep I was on. I tried to do the math in my head: 60 - 12 = ?

"51," I sputtered. "Uh, wait, no -- um, 48?"

The toes-to-bar weren't horrible, but then came the headless horsemen. I'd performed this movement in a WOD once before, back when I had a bad back. I didn't try the RXed weight of 24 kilograms that time, and I didn't think I could do so today -- especially after fifteen minutes of an ass-kicking chipper. On the other hand, all that stood between me and the completion of an RXed workout was 20 one-armed ground-to-overheads. How hard could that be?

Pretty hard, it turns out. I couldn't do it. After several attempts, I think I managed just one completed rep at 24 kilograms with my right arm, but I used my left hand to support the handle of the kettlebell. Clearly, the quest for RX today was going to be futile, so I traded in my kettlebell for a lighter one (I had a 16 kilogram kettlebell on standby) and finished the WOD. So close, and yet so far.

Result: 18:49.

Monday's Workout: Kneepads Would've Been Nice

A great one today.

Strength Skill:

• Squat Cleans (3 sets of 3, 2 sets of 1)

I'm digging squat cleans. A lot. I'm still getting used to the form, but even though I didn't attempt to go heavier than my own bodyweight today, my reps felt solid.

But just like last week, after I caught a glimpse of today's metcon, I wished I'd taken it a little easier on my legs.

Metcon:

For time:

Over the course of 400 meters, complete 5 rounds of:

• 20 overhead walking lunges (carrying a plate -- 45 pounds for men, 25 pounds for women)

• 20 push-ups

Then, complete the remainder of the 400 meter course while carrying the weight.

The 5 a.m. class doesn't get to WOD outside very often -- especially with noise ordinances keeping us from waking the neighbors with dropped weights and hurled expletives. So on days like today, we had to stay as quiet as possible -- so the eight of us remained silent as we lunged across a parking lot and down the street with plates held high. Other than a few grunts here and there, and the sound of knees kissing concrete, only our labored breathing was audible.

But that doesn't mean we didn't work hard. This one was no joke; my arms and legs were aching well before I was out of the parking lot. At one point, I lost track of which round I was in, and croaked out to one of our classmates, V, to ask if we were on Round 4. "Yep," he wheezed. "Just one more round." So close, yet so damned far.

Once I found my legs, I got through the plate carry okay. I threw the weight on my back and fell forward, stumbling all the way down and back. I reminded myself that this was (marginally) easier than carrying my six-year-old on my back, because the plate doesn't squirm and pull on my hair.

Result: 12:08 as RXed. In a sick way, this was really, really fun.