Injuries, Health and frustration...

Two months ago I was at work doing some work on a microscope and realized that I was not breathing properly.  I was taking large gasps of air and not breathing in a normal rhythm.  I started to get a little anxious about this and thought to myself what the heck is happening.  I work so hard at Crossfit, train religiously, eat the best diet possible....what is my problem!  I was angry with myself and being stubborn I waited it out another couple of hours.  Finally I decided that I needed to go to the doctor.  I arrive at the doctor and they put me in an exam room.  I hate exam rooms, they smell too sterile and bad things always seem to happen in them.  Sorry for the digression.  A nurse collects my vitals, listens to my chest, asks me some questions about family history and medications and then leaves.  I told the nurse that I was having trouble breathing and my chest was wheezing.  In reality there was an audible rattle with each breath that could be heard without a stethoscope. 

Next the physician's assistant visits me.  Again we discuss my medical history.  Drive home the point that I do not smoke and never have.  I rarely drink alcohol and eat as healthy a diet as possible.  The doctor was concerned that I may have fluid around my heart or that a heart condition was causing fluid to build in my lungs.  I attempted to explain Crossfit to her and told her that if I had a heart condition I would definitely already know it.  She listened to me and stuck my finger in pulseoximeter.  This is a device that takes your pulse rate and measures the oxygen saturation of your blood.  Pulse was great...in the low 60's but the oxygen saturation was not....it was only 92% and should be no less that 98%.  The doctor looked at me and said "I usually send people to the hospital at 93% because they are flat out and purple...you must be either extremely tough or in incredible cardiovascular shape or both".  I told her it was both and we laughed.  I again tried to explain Crossfit and she told me I was crazy.  She basically said that I was having some kind of severe allergic reaction that was causing inflammation in my lungs and trapping fluid in my chest.  I had bilateral pneumonia due to allergic reactions. 

She decided to give me a nebulizer treatment and stated "that this usually helps most people get the inflammation down".  They nurse hooked me up to the machine and ran to treatment.  They retested my SpO2 and it was only 94%.  They decided to do it again and again they got the same result at 94%.  At this point they got worried because this treatment wasn't working.  They consulted me on what I wanted to do and on what my options were.  I told them I was not going to the hospital and to do whatever they thought was the next best option.  The nurse came in and placed and IV catheter.  They pulled 20 cc of blood for allergy testing and gave me an injection of solu-medrol which is a strong injectable steroid.  They gave me prescriptions for an inhaler, oral antibiotics, and oral prednisone.  I was very nervous and still was not feeling much better.  SpO2 came up to 96% and they sent me on the way.

After a 5 day rest from Crossfit I got back into the gym and was pulling the best splits of my life on the row.  I guess being able to breath and bring in the right amount of oxygen is important.  The results of my allergy test were back.  Turns out I have a few allergies.  Allergic to egg whites, almonds, peanuts, kiwi, hazelnut, some trees and grasses, latex, and a mild allergen to wheat.  I was eating egg whites, almonds, almond butter, and kiwi's everyday.  I was causing massive amounts of inflammation due to ingesting these foods all the time.  I started to immediately eliminate them from my diet and had to readjust my nutrition.  You would think this would have helped but 3 weeks later I was back to where I started.

I was back at wheezing and struggling to breath.  I was sent to a respiratory specialist with Duke Medical and told that I have horrific post nasal drip and that this is all due to allergies.  They tested me for asthma on a huge respiration machine and there is no evidence of asthma...I actually have an above normal lung capacity (due to my Crossfit training).  I was given a prescription nasal spray and told to take something like claritin or zyrtek.  I agreed to this and I was off taking pills and squirting stuff up my nose.  I hated this...I hate taking medications.  This leads us to where I am right now.  I have been doing this for a month and still have no improvement.

Can you imagine not being able to breath during your WOD's?  How about every time you take a breath you feel like you are choking because there is so much mucous in your respiratory tract you can 't get it out and you can't get air in.  Well that's what I feel like all the time.  I push through the WOD's no matter what but I am so angry and frustrated right now I am on my last straw.  All I want to do is breath and oxygenate my blood and I can't.  I am planning on seeing the doctor here in Chicago when I can get an appointment. 

Sometimes all you can do is have faith in yourself and to know that challenges can come in many forms.  A physical barrier, a psychological barrier, or an injury.  I think that most athletes have a universal reaction to an injury..."I am just going to push through this and it will get better on it's own".  Injuries can't always be made better by more training.  They require appropriate treatment and rest.  Resting for a bit may seem scary but it must be done.  If you keep pushing the injury it will snowball into something major that may possibly put you out for a long time or end your career.  What is the worse a week or two of rest or never being able to Crossfit again?

Give your injuries time, train around them, and gradually work back into what you were doing.  Try to focus on how your injury occurred.  Were you not hitting full range of motion, lifting too heavy of a load with poor technique, or over training?  By giving yourself a rest and refocusing your thinking you may be able to prevent any further injuries.  Injuries are hard to deal with and crush your confidence and training.  What can you do?

Realize they happen and that's that!  Get the right treatments, see the right doctors, and train the weakness that lead to your injury.  Improve other aspects of your training like nutrition.  Proper nutrition may help prevent any other injuries from occurring.  Don't give up, use the frustration and anger to fuel your recovery and become a smarter, stronger Crossfitter.

"Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain."
  -anonymous author.

Functional life...

Long before I was training for the challenges of Crossfit and training functional lifts I was performing feats of functional strength.  My father believed in a strong work ethic, discipline, and to understand where your money came from.  The summer that followed my 12th birthday was my first chance to understand how hard it was to earn a buck.  My father's friend owned a farm and he had decided that it would be the perfect place for me to start work.  I did not know this until many years later but this had generational significance.  When my father was younger he was sent to a work farm for his entire Summer break.  There he had to cut hay by hand, stack and bale it, and then pitch fork it into wagons.  He had many other jobs that he had to complete on any given day but the bottom line was that he used all the strength and functional movements his body could muster every day. Now let's jump back to my experience.

I can still remember that first day like it was yesterday.  It was a Monday morning 6am and my father drove me to the farm.  We met his friend by the chow hall and I began work.  My father drove off and left me there and I had no idea what was going to be asked of me.  That summer I was excited because I broke the 70lb mark and was going to be playing 8th grade football that fall and needed to weight at least 75lbs to be on the roster.  I knew I needed to gain weight but that was a huge challenge for me and hoped the long days on the farm would put past the 75lb mark.  By the end of the summer I was up to 76lbs and could play football.  How did I gain that 6lbs?  It wasn't from a poor diet or trying to eat a lot....it was from 12hr days of functional movements.

There were three hay and alfalfa harvests in the summer.  During each harvest there would be an entire week that consisted of baling and stacking the hay and alfalfa.  I am not sure how many of you have had to do this but it is hot, itchy, painful, and difficult.  Each bale of hay or alfalfa weighed 75lbs and there was 180 bales to a wagon.  We loaded up to 10 wagons a day.  The baler would pick up the cut hay or alfalfa pack it into a bale and tie it off with twine and then shoot it into the wagon.  Our job was to catch the bale and stack it.  The challenge was that bales came out every 30 seconds to 45 seconds until the wagon could not hold anymore.  There tended to be gifts every once in a while like a snake that had been packed into a bale.  The twine would dig into and cut your hands, the hay was sharp and would get lodged under your finger nails, and your arms looked like they had barbwire drug across them.  Let's not forget the Maryland summers 90 to 100 degree days on end with so much humidity that it looked foggy outside.  Once the wagon was full it needed to be unloaded...what a joy and challenge this was.  You needed to throw each bale up and out of the wagon into the hay loft which was 15 feet above the ground...imagine a 75lb wall ball that has to hit a 15 foot target.  Now at 70lbs this required me to throw this 75lb bale 15 feet in the air...how the heck did I do this?

HIP DRIVE AND EXPLOSION!

I did not realize it then but I was doing my first clean an jerks!  I had to drive my hips, catch the bale as high as I could, and then jerk/throw the weight as high and fast as I could over my head.  I got lots of practice with this. 

There were many other jobs that summer that required functional strength.  We would cut down dead timber and hauled it back to various areas of the farm to be split and stacked.  The farm used wood burning stoves to heat most of the lodging for the farm hands during the winter so this required a great deal of wood.  We were lucky to have a hydraulic splitter in addition to our axes which made splitting larger logs a great deal easier.  In order to use the splitter to break apart the logs each log needed to be lifted on to the splitter.  The splitter was about 2 1/2 to 3 feet above the ground which meant we needed to deadlift the logs up to the splitter.  I was doing my first deadlifts...picking heavy stuff off the ground all summer long.

I am very glad that I had this experience.  My father did more for me that summer than any other summer that I experienced until processing through Officer Candidate School for the United States Marine Corps.  I learned to work exceptionally hard in a difficult environment.  I learned that in order to do this work over long periods of time the most efficient way was the best way.  Doing this work efficiently meant that I could do more of it for longer and the outcome was always better.

I see people from time to time in crossfit gyms just muscling movements or lifts because they happen to be strong enough to do it.  We all know that at some point the weight will be too heavy to just muscle it and technique will be the only way to lift that weight.  How can you expect to all the sudden have perfect technique with a lift and to be extremely efficient with the weight if you never practice it? 

Technique beats size and strength any day.  No matter the weight, PVC pipe or 500lbs always attack the lift with the best technique you can.  If you don't have perfect technique practice it and become a student of it.  Once you develop your technique and efficiency with a movement your PR's will sky rocket.  I would love to see all of us practice complicated lifts with PVC pipes or empty bars because it reinforces the movements and muscle memory that you will need at heavy lifts.  I practice with broom poles in my house.  If I know the next day we are going to train snatches or cleans I go into the kitchen and I got through the Burgener warm up, download snatch progressions, and read articles on the Crossfit Journal. 

I could never have lifted logs that were my body weight for 10hrs a day if I did not have mechanically sound deadlift.  The same goes for my cleans.  I could not clean 260lbs if I did not have a mechanically sound clean.  Work hard from the bottom up.  Take time to focus in on the little things and work hard at them. 

Never give up, never stop trying, and always question your potential.  There is always more in you than you think.

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." - Thomas Edison

Moments...

I remember when I was wrestling there was a moment unlike any I had ever had before in my life. Prior to any match I would be so nervous and anxious that I was choking back the vomit.  My name and weight class would be called and I would take my first step onto the mat.  At that exact moment the nervousness and anxiety disappeared.  My senses heightened and became extremely focused.  I could no longer hear the crowd, feel the temperature of the room, or see outside to circle of the mat...I was focused.  I knew that only one of two things was going to happen...I was going to beat my opponent or he was going to beat me.  I always liked the first option more.  I could feel the mat sink under my feet, feel the sweat roll down my back, my muscles tighten, and knew that I was ready for battle.  Across the mat from me was 1 person and I knew he wanted to beat me.  We both put our toes on the line, looked eye to eye, shook hands, and then we were off.  Six minutes of fighting, bleeding, and undying will to win.

During my last year of wrestling I had 33 wins and only 3 losses.  Those losses destroyed me...I was beaten.  I repeat...I was beaten but I was not out of the battle.  Nothing motivates you like the taste of defeat.  I never wanted to have that taste in my mouth ever again.  After those losses I would spend an extra hour a day shooting take downs, stand ups from the bottom, and reversal techniques.  I would not be beaten again.

Never in my life was there a more real experience than when I was wrestling.  There was no way out, no one to save me, no one to blame...it was only me and my will to survive and conquer.  I am not sure how many people in this world have this type of experience but an experience like this carves a deep scar on your soul.  It gives you character, work ethic, and determination.  After I finished my wrestling career I searched and searched for another experience like this and I could not find one.  Where would I find a battle where I always knew the exact outcome like that in wrestling...you win or you don't. 

CROSSFIT!  This is where I found that feeling.  Now I know what you all are thinking...how can you beat weights or how can they beat you.  It is more than that.  I have one opponent now and it is myself.  Every time I step onto an Olympic lifting platform there are two options...I am going to hit the lift or I will fail at the lift.  I never want to fail at a lift no matter the weight.  Again it is that awful taste of losing.  This motivates me to hit the lift, pull hard from the ground, drop fast, catch strong, and stand with confidence.  Every time I stand with weight over my head it feels great.  It is as great of feeling as pinning someone in wrestling.  I am the winner and no one can take that away from me.  If you try I will beat you and you will go away the loser and hurt.  This applies to the WOD's as well.  I am not as concerned with times as some people are.  I am concerned with the outcome, the feeling at the end.  Did I give it everything?  Did the WOD beat me...it never will, I will never lay down on the floor after a WOD, and I will always have a smile.  Just like walking off the mat...always with a smile...even if it is full of blood.

I hope that all of you have a moment like this, a chance to live in the moment.  When you start your next WOD, step onto the platform, or compete in your next challenge listen for the silence, the smell of the weight plates, the feel of the steel bar in your hand, and the beautiful agony that you are about to experience.

If you can't imagine this or don't experience this I feel sorry for you.  I hope everyone someday finds this in their training.  3,2,1...Deep breath and go...no one but yourself to battle...who will be the champion?

"More enduringly than any other sport, wrestling teaches self-control and pride. Some have wrestled without great skill - none have wrestled without pride.”
-Dan Gable

                                                                             

Coaches...thank you

Everyday I have the chance to be around both amazing athletes and coaches.  The Crossfit athlete completes unbelieveable feats of strength and skill that most normal people could never imagine doing.  How do Crossfitters become these super humans? 

GREAT COACHES!   Plus a few other things.

There are many factors that lead to a great Crossfitter such as determination, high threshold for pain, work endurance but also GREAT COACHES.  No Crossfitter would be able to do what they do without the ever watching eye of the Crossfit coach.  The coach is ever vigilant in the box watching every detail of complex movements and knows when and how to modify any skill, lift, or WOD to get the most out of an athlete.  This is not easy to do and takes a great deal of organization, skill, and patience.  Think about all the coaches you have had during your time in Crossfit...what sticks out the most?

When I think about this the following come to mind:  ability to program, skilled at breaking down complex movements to their basic parts, making corrections or suggestions that help the athlete, strong motivator, and helps athletes go past their perceived personal limit.  An individual that is able to do this not only helps create a great Crossfitter but earns the respect of the Crossfit community.  These coaches help make dreams come true.

When I was coaching at CF Durham I approached every coaching session with the attitude of how can I get the most out of my athletes.  This was not for my benefit but for their own.  Sometimes people need an external force to push them or motivate them....that was me.  I tried to make corrections at the right time, keep the integrity of the WOD or skill, and set an example as not only a coach but a Crossfitter.  This was my responsibility and one that I keep close to my heart. 

I am thankful for all the Crossfit coaches that I have had during my time as a Crossfitter.  Thank you for the effort and time you put in outside of the box, the amazing programming and your undying passion for Crossfit.   

Your weakness is your key to success...

It may seem strange to think that a weakness could be the key to your success but it absolutely can. As Crossfitters we know that there is always the chance that a weakness will show up in a WOD.  What would you do if you are at the games and your weakness showed up?  Most people would loose their confidence and their focus and concentration for the WOD is gone.  How do we combat this?

TRAIN YOUR WEAKNESS! 

That is how you combat the crippling domino effect of a weakness showing up in a WOD.  Crossfit would not be what it is if you could only do WOD's full of skills that you are good at.  We all know those people in our Box that only show up on days where the WOD works in their favor.  This may give these people a sense of superiority.  This may also make up for a weakness in their work ethic.  Whatever it may be I don't want to train around you.

I have a very difficult time with rowing and know that every time there is a rowing component to a WOD I know that I am going to suffer through it.  This does not mean that I avoid the row...it means I attack the row and give it all I have even if it destroys me.  I am not afraid to admit that rowing is hard for me or that I have weaknesses...I believe it makes me a more honest and better Crossfitter. 

I applaud the Crossfitter that attacks their weakness.  I am impressed with their drive to train hard, find ways to improve, and to never give up.  This warrior spirit to never give up will carry an athlete farther than simply being good a small skill set.  Man/Woman up and work your weakness.  It will be hard, painful, and extremely difficult but it must be done.  The results of training your weakness will be unimaginable...you will find your level of fitness and ability as an athlete increased to levels you did not know you could achieve.

Tonight was an amazing night at Windy City Crossfit.  I took part in the Olympic Lifting class that meets on Tuesday/Thursday nights and Saturday afternoons.  This class has a strong focus on the Olympic lifts and heavy weighted metcons.
Tonight during the oly strength portion we attacked three lifts: the snatch, the clean and jerk, and the squat.  You read that right 3 massive lifts in one night.  I had a smile on my face the entire time.

The snatch was 3 sets of 2 at 70% of your 1rm (145lbs) then 1 set of 1 at 70% of your 1rm.
The clean and jerk was 3 sets of 2 at 70% of your 1rm (185lbs) then 1 set of 1 at 70% of your 1rm
The back squat was last and it was 4 sets of 2 at 80% of your 1rm (285lbs).

Next for the metcon.
15-12-9
2 for 1 wallball at 20# (2 squats for every 1 wall ball shot, squat then throw and squat again before the catch). 
American kettle bell swings at 32kg (70.4lbs)

I completed this in 4:40mins.
I was spent and it felt great.  Training hard and pushing through the tough times...it's what Crossfit is all about.

"Our strengths grow out of our weaknesses"
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Disappoint is relative...

I would like to first congratulate the Windy City Crossfit affiliate team for an outstanding performance this weekend at the North Central Regionals.  I was not able to travel and support the team in person but followed the 2010 Games page as much as possible online and cheering on my fellow crossfitters from my living room. 

I am going to be selfish for a bit.  It was very difficult for me to not be apart of the team and not be able to compete at the affiliate games.  I wanted very badly to be apart of the team and to compete this past weekend.  Due to moving from North Carolina back to Chicago, Illinois I missed the windows of opportunity to compete in either the NC/SC region and the North Central Region.  This left me in a "bipolar" state of excitement of the competitors and frustration with myself for not being able to compete.  This leads up to this morning.  At 5:30am when I stepped out of my front door I was very angry and down....I was disappointed in myself.

As I drove down Lake Shore Drive watching the sun rise over Lake Michigan with the light reflecting off of the John Hancock building I began to reflect inwardly about this anger and disappointment.  I realized that disappointment is relative.  I mean what is disappointing to one person may be another person's dream. 

This morning it didn't matter than I can push myself harder and farther than most people, that I can do free standing handstand push ups, or that I can almost squat clean 2x my body weight...all that mattered was that I was not able to compete.  I was disappointed in myself and it was not a logical emotion or thought process.  I see new members in crossfit everyday and have trained people that cannot run a half mile and if they could do half of what I can it would make their year.  I had to trash my poor attitude this morning and decide to work harder.

During crossfit this evening we had to 5 rounds untimed of squat cleans and 10 ring push ups.  Squat clean weight was 235lbs and it went up easy.  During the WOD tonight we had three rounds of 45 seconds of 95lb thrusters followed by a 15second rest then immediately to follow was 45seconds of muscles ups follow by a 15 second rest.  I completed 63 repetitions during this WOD.  I was training hard again and realizing that my disappoint was not for the bad but was a motivator. 

After the WOD tonight I appreciated more than ever the gifts that I have bee given and challenges that I have overcome.  I have decided that disappointment has no place in my training regiment and that positive attitudes, support, and motivators will always help me push through the toughest of crossfit moments.

Every crossfitter should take a few minutes a day to themselves to reflect on what they have accomplished and the gifts they have.  As Crossfitters we push ourselves to levels that normal people cannot tolerate or imagine reaching.  We have such high expectations and dreams in our training and sometimes we focus entirely too much on the numbers and weights.  Some focus and energy needs to spent in personal reflection.  Taking time to think about our training and where we want to go will give more focus to our training.  This refocusing of our energy, thoughts, and emotions will help us to become better athletes. 


"Our thoughts create our reality -- where we put our focus is the direction we tend to go.”
-Peter McWilliams

My first steps...

Tonight I decided to create a blog.  I have been debating this for a while and was not sure that I would have anything to contribute to a world overlaiden with stories and personal views.  As you all can tell I have created a blog and hope that it will be beneficial to me and anyone who reads it.

This is my first attempt at blogging and just like learning to walk I am sure I will "fall" a lot during these first blogs.  I will continue to get back up and try to write something worth while.

I am going to post many things here but a great deal of the blogs will focus on my crossfit training and nutrition.  WOD's, meals, and all the challenges that go with these everyday.

The title of this blog refers to the constant battles that I must wage on a daily basis.  These battles maybe to fight the urge to eat unclean food, push through a WOD and keep going even when I am in extreme pain, and the courage to do this day after day.

Refusal to quit when the battle enters it's darkest hour tests the true fabric of our soul.