Ramen
Tuesday Night Sprite taught us how to make health ramen noodles. It was our shortest cooking session as we finished in just under 30 minutes. My son loved them and devoured the whole pot!The cooking club is one of the things I have really enjoyed during self-isolation that I didn’t expect to enjoy. We will discontinue weekly sessions for now but look to have one once a month moving forward. Any volunteers for June?
Reopening
things are picking up momentum at the gym, Fierce has been making the space ready, members have been dropping off borrowed equipment and picking up lost and found items, Super Mario is planning Zoom improvements and lots of members are excited to get back into the gym. So am I. But I’m also nervous. There are so many procedures a business owner is supposed to remember. To help off load some of the burden of responsibility I emailed out a list of COVID procedures for in gym classes that you must read, initial, sign and return to me so that I know at least one of us knows what to do. Let’s keep each other on track and safe from contagion (or as safe as we can be while sharing the same workout space).
Returning with Caution!
And speaking of reopening: This is when injuries happen. You’ve been out of the gym for 2-months now. Even if you’ve been training from home, chances are the intensities and loads have been lower and your skills have degraded somewhat. You are no longer conditioned for the intensity or volume of a typical CrossFit workout but you’re excited to be back and pumped to get after it. And that’s a sure recipe for injury.
Ben Bergeron recommends a 20 training session easing in period after any layoff be it illness, injury, vacation or self-isolation and I agree. You need to get at least 20 good training sessions under your belt before you should expect to be back at the levels you were before. If you’re training 5 days per week that means 4 weeks of consistent training. That may sound a long time but it will be longer if you get injured along the way because you ignored the advice!
For the first 20 training sessions you will not be chasing the RX or personal bests. You will not be going for 100% effort; forget about what you used to be able to do, it will come back if you’re patient enough not to wreck yourself on the way there. You should be dialing it back to 70-80% effort (this is where I typically train most weeks anyhow). Use this time to hone your skills. Don’t be caught up in the fact that they may have degraded somewhat, they will return quickly.
Personally I expect to be using the women’s RX’d loads for most WODs for a few weeks and not with the intention of rushing through the WODs either. I don’t plan to be collapsed on the floor post-WOD until late June and I’ve been training (albeit with improvised equipment) 6 days per week consistently throughout this shut down. And while you’re training lighter and slower than usual, use this opportunity to refine your skills which will have a huge injury-prevention and performance pay off in the long run. But it does require you to let go of short-term thinking.
I’m excited to be back, you’re excited to be back but let’s resume our in-gym training with a sensible mindset as we let our bodies become reconditioned to our gym routine. You’ve missed enough training already in 2020; you don’t need any more setbacks or layoffs. Don’t allow your enthusiasm to wreck you!
5K Row
Without a rower I decided to go out and run (I did not video this, you will have to take my word on it). It was a rainy day. I’d been unable to eat for 24 hours due to stress (it would be 40 hours before I was relaxed enough to be able to eat again) so it felt like a good idea to get out into the green space of Pacific Spirit Park. It was magnificent. I set my watch and headed out for 30 minutes. Unlike the track or the wide open spaces of roads and sidewalks, the twisting path and the proximity of the trees rushing past gives the illusion of speed. Totally exhilarating. Like Daniel Day Lewis flashing through the wilderness in Last of the Mohicans! This is what running should feel like. I set out at a 30 minute pace planning to run out 15 minutes then turn around and return. But chasing the illusion of speed I abandoned my plan and rushed on, confident the path would eventually lead me back to my starting point. 30 minutes later, when the excitement had subsided, replaced by fatigue and my 30 minute gas tank was spent, I returned to my senses and realized that the path’s branches and turns that I’d thought were leading me back had actually been leading me further and further away from my starting point. 24 hours without food I felt a little light headed and with my 30 minutes elapsed decided the safest option was to walk back in order to conserve what reserves of strength remained to me. It would also allow me to more carefully navigate my way back. It was a muddy 45 minute trek back to my starting point but it was a wonderful place to be turned around in. Sure, by the end, the beauty had escaped me and I just wanted to get home to collapse but I wasn’t sorry for the experience. Row, run, bike? What option will you choose?
Warm up
10/10 hip swings
10 alt Samson lunges
10 inch worm with push up
Then
1 min high knees
1 min butt kicks
1 min forward skips
1 min side ways slide
1 min grape vine
Tech
Row tech
WOD
5 km row or run
For those who can not row or run
15k bike
or
cardio couplet
9 rnds
1 min burpees
1 min skipping
Score= total reps
Post skipping (SU,DU,TU, penguin claps, or if you can’t jump Kettlebell swings) and burpee option to notes
Cool down
Calf drops
Runners stretch
Hip cross over
Downward dog