Pain

**He finally has a new name. Before Coach was my coach, he was my go-to-guy and I called him that for months, I never used his name. These days I avoid consulting him at almost all costs but if I think there is a risk of injury or I am totally confused or I need a safe place/someone who understands me, he is my go-to-guy. So from here on out Coach, who hasn’t been my coach for 6 months, is now known (once again) as Go-To-Guy (or GTG).

Yesterday I asked someone “am I supposed to feel worse AFTER a rest day? Isn’t the rest day supposed to make me feel better?” Last night I would sleep for 10 minutes then be up for an hour, sleep 10 minutes and be up for an hour. By the time I was leaving for my lifting session today, I could barely walk.

I started with power jerks + overhead squats. Power jerks were great (to my surprise as this was my first time with them) but I would go down 1/4 inch for the OHS and pain would engulf my thighs of both legs. My hamstrings, quads, glutes, adductors and abductors were screaming from the pain. I sucked it up through 2 sets and then I only did the power jerks. After the last set I did OHS with low weight but the same amount of pain.

I probably should have reassessed my workout at this point but snatches were up and these have been my happy place. These were the only reason I hobbled my way in today. Do we all see where this is going?

Nowhere actually. It went nowhere. I grabbed the bar and started to pull and as pain shot through me I thought “Let’s think about this for a moment.” Reading through the rest of my lifts I decided I could do a snatch grip pull from a high hang and barbell rows (GTG told me ages ago to not Pendlay row and today I asked him why: they are too jarring on the back and shoulders).

In the ‘good old days’ I would be so angry about my failings that I wouldn’t be able to even think of ways to alter the workout or to figure out what my body needs to heal itself. Do I feel like a slacker for not getting all my sets/reps? Absolutely. Do I think I made the right decision? Absolutely.

My mother-daughter 5k team idea has taken on a life of its own and a group I have been working with has asked me to put together a program for them. In return, they will be handling advertising for me and “would you get something together to put in the swag bags?” I was thinking 50-75 participants…Oh no, this is a statewide and I will need between 1,000 and 2,000 promotional items. Terror ran through me. Who would have thought this little mouse whose greatest wish used to be to become invisible, would have her name in thousands of homes? Terror. What the hell did I get myself into now?