My Facebook friends know that I am an avid CrossFitter because I always check in from my box, Omnis CrossFit West (mostly because they donate $.50 for each social media check-in to a different nonprofit each month). That being said, they know that I’m usually getting my workout on before I go to work.
Lately I haven’t been able to work out as much as usual. A few months ago, I was doing a sumo deadlift and my body let me know that it wasn’t used to moving that way, and I developed sciatica (meaning that I had a bit of radiating pain on my left side for a bit) which made it difficult to move and lift as normal. A few weeks ago, I started out being able to lift, run and move as usual, but mid-week, I was practicing my beloved box jumps and skinned my left leg to the white meat when I attempted a 24” box. It was more shocking to me than painful because I have jumped on a 36” box before without incident.
After I had a pouty moment, I got back on the box and worked out with the rest of my crew. A full week after, I returned all prepared to do double-unders (two turns of a rope instead of one), but still felt some tenderness around that gash and decided not to push myself.
This isn’t the first time that I have been injured, but I want my normal mobility back, dangit! Now that I’m reading this over to myself I realize that this is such a first world problem. A woman complaining about not being able to work out while so many others are concerned about life or death situations: where is their next meal coming from, how will they afford insurance, etc. However, it’s important for me, and each of us, to practice self-care, and the ability to work out my physical body allows me to not snap at people for saying hello. I’m not that bad, but working out allows me the opportunity to escape reality for that one hour, which is therapeutic because there are so many things that consume my attention.
So I’m going to stop giving myself a hard time because I can’t lift as much or jump as high as I would like to right now, and be thankful that I have a reasonable portion of health and strength, as well as a sound mind. (It’s a good thing that I didn’t push myself, as I later learned that I indeed injured muscle when I cut my leg, so I wasn’t being overly dramatic when I couldn’t move about as usual.) I have to keep it moving, because I unfortunately inherited a not so great family health history of diabetes, congestive heart failure, and renal failure. Thus, I’m not trying to continue a vicious cycle. At the same time, I need to go back to the basics of drinking a gallon of water a day and taking even more care to plan what I eat like I used to. You’ll probably be hearing about that, too.
I just have to keep on keepin’ on, and I encourage you to do the same. I intend to be as sassy as I can for as long as I can, so being physically fit is important to that all that sass.
#ksmithsays
ksmithsays 