Weekly Workout Recap : Crossfit Struggles

Monday - Crossfit 7-8pm
Tuesday - Crossfit 7-8am
Wednesday - REST
Thursday - Crossfit 7-8am
Friday - Run 2miles
Saturday - REST
Sunday - The Color Run 5k!

This week was a good week of exercise, culminating in the awesome London Color Run where I got suitably "rainbowed"! Race recap and photos to come 🙂

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I do however want to address some of the more negative issues I've been struggling with this week, and how
to deal with them.

DOMs (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)

Doing Crossfit Monday evening followed by Tuesday morning can be tough - I was seriously struggling to walk down the stairs on Wednesday! I managed to Push Jerk 30kg on Tues which is pretty amazing for me and I was so proud of myself! But I could definitely feel the after effects with tight aching shoulders and painful quads.

The science behind the exact cause of DOMs is murky, but it is generally defined as severe muscle soreness that occurs several days after a hard workout. This is thought to be due in part to microtears in the muscle fibres as well as the body's inflammatory response to exercise, but it's not definitely proven. It is usually caused by eccentric muscle action which causes muscles to lengthen while force is applied. eg. squats, running downhill, the lowering phase of a bicep curl...

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Reducing DOMs symptoms:

Warm-up - make sure you do a proper warm up before exercising
Anti-inflammatories - pills will assist with the pain but not with healing, and shouldn't be taken before exercising.
Cryotherapy - the application of ice reduces swelling and inflammation, as well as providing pain relief.
Exercise - light aerobic exercise can help the blood flow to healing muscles, as well as alleviate stiffness. But bear in mind, muscles are weaker so avoid strenuous activity
Massage - eg. foam rolling, can assist with pain relief but doesn't necessarily speed up recovery time.
Stretching and mobility - this will help get the body moving again to minimise stiffness and soreness.

Introducing a new or more intense exercise program, DOMs is pretty inevitable and is the body's way of adapting. It will decrease with time as strength increases, so I guess I just have to "embrace the pain"! 🙂
For more information click here.

Asthma

I had my first freak out at Crossfit on Thursday morning. I was still feeling pretty achey after Monday and Tuesday, so didn't start out with as much energy as usual.

The workout was:
EMOM (every minute on the minute) for 15mins of-
-3 power cleans
-5 burpees over the bar

I used 20kg for the cleans. The weight was fine and for the first few mins I finished in 30secs and had some time to recover. However I gradually got slower and slower and the time in between got less and less, and I was starting to panic that I wouldn't finish one round before the next started. I could feel myself getting tense and a little bit frantic, I was breathing hard and pushing through the exercises but my chest was getting tight and my frustration was making things worse.

By the 11th/12th minute I thought I was going to have a proper asthma attack, I was seriously struggling to breathe and had to go outside the gym for a minute to calm down. I could feel tears welling in my eyes, and felt disappointed at my lack of fitness and ability to keep up and my annoyance at letting it get to me! Coach Freddie was lovely though - he came outside to see if I was ok, and said I didn't have to finish if I didn't want to, but I damn well was going to! I pulled myself together and managed to get back for the last minute of the 15 which was fine.

I know that asthma is part of my life, but I guess having not had an attack or any problems for a long time it had drifted to the back of my mind. I carry my inhaler with me when I'm exercising but it's just habit, I haven't had to use it for ages.

Thursday shocked me a little as I thought I was over those kinds of issues. I need to make sure that in future I keep calm and take things at my own level, and pay attention to how my body is feeling. And don't beat myself up about being slow and not yet an amazing Olympic weightlifter! I have only been doing this for around 10 sessions, and these things take time. While all the workouts so far have been tough I've really enjoyed the challenge. This is the first time that it's all got a little overwhelming which was bound to happen eventually, it's how I respond and deal with the pace next time that's important.