From: Friday, June 25
Today I redlined and no this not a political statement.
In CrossFit lingo redlining means going too fast initially and hitting a wall. Even though I thought I was pacing myself, it was still too intense at the beginning and there were some other factors involved.
A week after my first class I came back to The Power House to do another Workout of the Day (WOD). Today I started at 11:30 AM and made sure to eat a decent meal and drink enough water before coming into class. Like last time I met the friendly coach who told me what sort of things we would be doing for today’s WOD.
I learned how to do a snatch with a barbell. The coach started me off with a long, lightweight, PVC pipe to help me get used to the movement and then we slowly moved to a dumbbell. This Olympic lift starts with the barbell at your feet with your hands on either side. Then with your back straight and knees bent, you lift the barbell along your body to your chest and then over behind your head in one sweeping movement.
After the warmup which included variations of the snatch with a dumbbell and some stationary biking, we were about to start the actual warm-up of the day. At this point, I was completely warn-out even though I thought I had paced myself during the warm-up. I did a couple of snatches and then felt kind of sick. I listened to my body, told the coach who was very kind and understanding about the entire situation and returned home mid-workout.
I also learned a crucial lesson after the fact. In any new thing that you do, especially if it’s of a certain intensity like CrossFit, you need to not only lean into it but do it consistently. You need to let your body get used to it and you can’t wait an entire week to do it again. Getting in the groove of it and going consistently will allow your body to adapt.
To me, this is just a small bump in the road and part of the learning experience. I don’t feel discouraged at all because I am new to this. I’m going to get back on the horse and continue with CrossFit.
Again, I want to thank the coach for being so understanding. Also, this blog post is proof that just because I work here doesn’t mean this blog will be all generally positive experiences if anyone was wondering.