Weekly Workouts Roundup + Another injury

I think I'm still riding on the sub-2 goal "high"! I'm so dang happy, and I know this weekend at Rock N' Roll Tori is going to crush that goal, too! Meghan and I will be right there next to her to witness it!

So let's talk about last week a little...

Although my mileage is low, this was a very hard week of workouts for me!

On Monday, I started my first Crossfit class at Body Mechanic, which I went into detail here. I started Crossfit with the main goal to help build my core and upper body strength. Well, that first workout was definitely one to do that!

Tuesday, I went for a early evening tempo run. My arms were pretty stiff from Monday's Crossfit workout, but I didn't think they'd bother me much on a run. They didn't. It was 75F out and humid as all get out. Although my run felt really good, I was sweating a TON. I didn't plan to set a new best 5 mile time on this run knowing that a potential PR could come out of the weekend. I still did good with a 43:25 (8:41 pace) finish.

Wednesday was my second go at Crossfit. I got to class, told my coach about my stiff arms. He didn't say to not go for it, but he didn't give me a warning either. I of course, pushed balls to the wall, because that's what I do. During the workout I felt great, arms loosened up, didn't bother me at all. But the moment we stopped the workout, I knew I was going to be in for some serious t-rex arms come the next day.

Warm Up: 
10 min work on rings L-sit 
Conditioning: 
AMRAP in 12 minutes: (I did 2R+21) 
Bar+30lbs Shoulder to Overhead, 15 reps 
15 Deficit push-ups, hands on 25 pound plates 
15 Box jumps, 20″ box



I woke up on Thursday feeling less pain than I thought I would, but something else was going on. My left arm was really puffy. Very puffy and hard to the touch, but only in the areas around my elbow - I worked on stretching it, rolling it out with The Stick. It didn't really hurt more than a good hard workout should. I went for my 3 mile run, in which the Garmin died about .8 into. I was okay with it considering it was an easy run day. I got home in roughly 28 minutes. Got a little sweat going, but nothing to make me tired. I began to alternate heat/ice on my arm to see if the swelling would go down.

Friday was a rest day. The arm was still puffy. No real change in size/swelling. Worked on getting it completely straightened throughout the day. Still no pain. Took 2 ibpruefen.

Saturday morning I got up for the Best Damn Race and my arm was still puffy, but I had zero pain and full mobility so I didn't worry about it affecting my run. It didn't bother me Thursday, so I doubted it would bother me this day. It didn't! I finished my half marathon with a new PR (official time-1:54:56 / 8:47 pace)! My arm felt fine after, although still puffy. I took 3 ibpreufen before the race just in case my hip got angry.

The next morning I woke up and did 45 minutes of yoga in the living room to make sure I stretched and recovered properly. The only bit of pain I had was on the outside of my right (problem) hip, but it was nothing major. It was Super Bowl Sunday! I decided to wrap my arm with the Arctic Eaze wrap that I got in the Best Damn Race goody bag. It felt soooo good! But it didn't make a big difference in the puffiness/swelling. I took 2 ibpruefen to help with the inflammation. I was starting to feel like an ibpruefen junkie at this point.

Come Monday, I felt like I better head up to Crossfit and have the coach take a look at my arm. Plus, the WOD was right up my alley with lots of running! Casey took a look at it and called over a couple of the long time students (one is a massage therapist and another a personal trainer in study) began rattling off terminology that I hadn't heard before along with compartmentalized, tears, nerves, chemicals, renal failure, etc. I asked him what it all meant. He said I have a mild compartment syndrome going on. But to watch it and ZERO arm work with this arm. He immediately scolded me about any kind of heat and told me to put ice on my arm for 15 minutes. I still did a very scaled down version of the WOD and only used one of my arms for one of the exercises. Iced again after. Instructed me to ice throughout the day the next couple of days and keep my eye on it. He was pretty amazed that I had no pain and full mobility though.

Warmup (4 min hamstring floss) - stretch 
WOD: 
100 one arm tire burpees (just my right arm)
Run 1 mile 
80 air squats 
Run 1200m 
60 situps 
Run 800m 
20 situps 
Run 200m 
Stretch


I of course went home and Googled what "compartment syndrome" is. Don't do it unless you want to scare the sh*t out of yourself. The Wikipedia article shows the severe cases, but even so, it was enough for me to wake up once in the night to make sure my arm was still attached.
Ugh.

So I have another injury, but it hasn't phased me in the least. I can still run, and there are plenty of alternative exercises for me to do during the WODs that don't require my arm. I don't suddenly hate Crossfit and I still scoff at all the people who bash the mess out of it because they see my puffy arm and immediately launch into "Crossfit is so bad for you!" Well so is breathing people. Especially since I injured my hip running just last fall. </end rant>

Overall, I had a great week of workouts, and this week is going to be almost a complete mirror to it :)