A Few Good Workouts

Wednesday, December 31;

Despite my preaching about forced relaxation, I have been able to get in a few LIGHT workouts.
I'm afraid of doing damage to the surgical area, so I haven't done any lifting with my upper extremities. I think It's better to be safe. One of my very wise blog readers suggested that I "think of it as investment" in the health of my shoulder. Great suggestion!

Tuesday, Dec. 23rd:
shoulder exercises
20 minute ride on recumbent bike
6 sets: Tabata squat holds
3 sets Leg raises - hold for 20 seconds
2 sets 20 weighted reverse ab crunches (I put weight between feet, put legs at 90 degree angle and slowly raise and lower my legs. Ouch!)

Monday, Dec. 29th:
shoulder exercises
20 minute ride on stationary bike
6 sets: Tabata squat holds
6 sets: Tabata leg raises ( I hold my legs a few inches from the ground for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds)

Tuesday, Dec. 30th:
shoulder exercises
ladder squats in the blue room!!
start at 10 squats.. add 1 squat per minute until failure.
30 squats was my goal, which I achieved (along with a nice burn!)

That's 420 squats

I hate the feeling that I'm back in my old (pre-Crossfit) workout routine, but it is certainly better than nothing.

Lessons from the Checkout Line

Wednesday, December 31;



This sounds like it may be a post about about eating well, but it's not at all. It's a short allegory that I thought you may enjoy. I was in the checkout line at my favorite grocery store on Sunday. The line was quite long, so I was practicing a new skill that I'm trying to develop. It's called patience. An older woman with a bad wig pulled up behind me with her loaded shopping cart. She paused for a moment, went to look for a different line that wasn't as long, and then came back with a huff. I looked at her, smiled, and then said a new phrase that I have been repeating to myself, "we're practicing forced relaxation." She smiled and said she hadn't heard that before. I explained that was due to the fact that I had just made it up. She said she liked it, and I encouraged her to pass it along.

Now, I'm no maharishi, but I think this idea of "forced relaxation" could be a good thing. It happens when you have no option than to take it slow. Go easy. It's like waiting in a line at the grocery store. Sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. Being stuck on the Metro. Having an invasive surgery that keeps you out of the gym for months.


We have the opportunity to decide how we handle these situations. Do we get antsy and irritated? Do we take the opportunity to take a deep breath and relax? Do we make a to-do list? Do we squeeze our glutes for 10 sets of 10? It's up to you!


I choose to take the opportunity to take a breath and relax. I had done a lot in that day, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to "be easy on myself." Maybe I should say I took the opportunity to enjoy a little "forced relaxation."

Thoughts on Recovery

Monday, December 22;

Usually, I'm a really crappy patient. I never listen to my doctors' advice. I always think I know what is best for me. This time I have been taking a different approach to recovery. Some might even call me a model patient (for now). I have been doing my at home exercises religiously every day. I have not been doing major workouts. In fact I have barely been working out at all. Honestly it is driving me crazy, but I think this may be a good approach for me in the long run. I've been eating poorly around the holidays, but I'm trying to give myself permission to enjoy the food and family without beating up on myself. Trust me. This is much easier said than done.

Back to the workouts. I have not been working out. I'm thinking that giving my body some serious rest and time to relax and even {gasp} get out of shape for a little bit may actually be a healthy option for me right now. I should be clear. When I say "out of shape" I mean allowing my body a month off from the gym. A month of rest and recovery. To most normal people a month out of the gym is nothing. It's the first month of having a baby or it's the month where the annual budget is do and everything is crazy at work. For me, a month outside of the gym is torture. It's agonizing. I feel gross and out of wack. I'm not thinking as clearly and I'm certainly not fitting into my pants as nicely.

When my mind starts going wacko, I remind myself of two very helpful pieces of advice.
1. "Be gentle on yourself."
A producer at C-SPAN suggested this before I took my temporary position during the election. Sometimes, things don't go as we would like them to. Sometimes we mess up or sometimes we have to admit that we are humans incapable of imperfection.
2. "It's just a small slice of the pie."
Jerry keeps telling me this. It's great advice, because it puts things into perspective. This may suck big time, but the sucking is temporary. Six months may sound like a long time, but in the grand scheme of things it's just a small slice of the pie. I have to remind myself that the things that are limiting me now are temporary. In a few months, I'll not only be back to where I was, but I'll be better.

Bring That Funky Track Back

Friday, December 19;

Yes, everyone. I was thinking my daazy duk shape was taking a dizzying daazy drop. After various and assundry holiday parties, which all involve eating and drinking, I am feeling soft all around. In order to put my mind at peace, I thought I'd try to make my first official visit to a gym. The office gym is by no means well equipped, but it has a recumbent bike, treadmills and free weights.

WOD (can I call this a WOD? I say no.)

30 minutes on recumbent bike (varied degrees of intensity)

10 minutes walking uphill (this felt really uncomfortable)

I tried a few seconds of work with free weights in my right hand, but it just didn't feel safe.

I ran this workout by my pt trainer. She said the walking on the treadmill is a no go. While I was working out I was trying to find something that would reproduce the increased heart rate that occurs with a Crossfit workout. I knew that the bike wasn't getting it. I may have been working on increasing muscle and toning, I wasn't burning fat. It was frustrating. The heart rate shot up when I got on the treadmill and started walking uphill at a steady pace.

My physical therapist said that I actually want to avoid that racing heart beat for a few more WEEKS! She said when the heart gets going and starts pumping blood it impedes the recovery process. Now that I'm writing this it doesn't quite make sense. Can anyone better explain? I'm going to check into this and check the legitimacy of this claim.

In the meantime, my back is freaking killing me. Imagine having a muscle cramp and then pretend that it is happening over the entire span of your back. No fun. I promise.

Measuring Progress

Thursday, December 18;

Now that I am over two weeks out of surgery I've started moving my shoulder again (very minimally). It's so incredible how much the range of motion improves day by day. Like any good Crossfitter I like to make "measurable" improvement. Today, I decided to create a ruler for my cubicle where I can do my wall climbs. Right now, it's written in pencil on a metal divider. I'm thinking that I'll print out a paper ruler and tack it in my cube somehow. I know you can't see the mark but right now I'm at 20. My goal is to be at 23 by next week.

The wall climb is a seemingly simple exercise meant to help increase your range of motion. It's just like it sounds. You crawl your fingers up a wall as far as you can go, and then you hold it for 5 seconds and then you climb down the wall. Do it 10 times. Sounds simple... right? This is one of the most painful things I've ever done. This simple sucker brought me to tears on Monday. While we're talking progress.. I haven't teared up since!

I'm also starting to go crazy with the lack of exercise. No real workout since the beginning of December. That's 18 days without getting my heart rate up and keeping it high for more than 20 minutes. I'm thinking of going home, changing into workout wear and coming back to work to hit the recumbent bike for half an hour. My energy level is pretty good today. I'll keep you posted obviously.

The Gym for Geriatrics

Monday, December 15;

I have officially gone from working out with some of the toughest athletes I've met in my life to working up a sweat with the 80 and over crowd. My physical therapy is scheduled for the unofficial geriatric hour at Commonwealth Orthopedic. I was in for my first real session yesterday. Besides being one of the more painful things I've done in the past few weeks, it was a big shock. It was the first time I had really used my muscles to move my arm since surgery. My range of motion is unbelieveably limited.. maybe about a 65 degree angle to the front and a 40 degree angle to the side. I can't go backwards yet at all. I was so exhausted after physical therapy, I couldn'y even imagine staying late at work to workout. I'm hoping it won't always be this exhausting.


On a more positive note... the stiches are out! Here are pictures that were taken last night. The wounds had mostly healed, so they aren't as gross as I had hoped. Apologies!

I'll explain what you're looking at. The stitch tie us on the left with the big black dot. The incision is a vertical cut slightly to the right of that. Then the little indent to the right of that is where the stitch pulled the incision together. I only had 4 stitches, which is a third of the stitches I got when I rollerbladed into a parked car. That's a great story.. I should share it once I'm typing with two hands.

A Night Out on the Town

Friday, December 12;

I did it. I had a friend come over and blow dry my hair and help me get dressed. Then I had Keturah pick me up and take me out to the CFOT happy hour. I stayed out until 11pm!

Check out Lt. Col. Dan and me. We both clean up well! Also, there's the first picture of my abduction pillow. It's not nearly as bad as I thought it might be.

Also, I should mention that I can do walking lunges. I did 100 up hill walking lunges. Pretty sweet.