The CrossFit Comeback! ...Interrupted

Well, two weeks and just one and a half full-intensity WODs into my long-anticipated Crossfit Comeback and I've aggravated my herniated disk. Unbelievable. Nothing "popped" as it has in the worst cases in the past, but anything other than walking (except maybe the hangboard... we'll have to see) is not happening right now. And it couldn't have come at a worse time either. Tussey Mountain is starting to blow snow and should open this weekend, a deep freeze
has settled over the entire Northeast creating favorable conditions for ice to finally start to form, and lake effect snow is blowing all the way to Maine. ...And my back is screwed again. Let me see I can get the timeline right and then start thinking of a way out of this.

The comeback was going well. I'd been eating zonish all of November. My first week of wods(starting after Thanksgiving) was all half-volume, medium intensity just-get-back-into-the-groove type stuff from the main site or from CrossFit KoP. I felt good. I was stiff and sore in all the right ways. I was happy to learn that the skill-based "crossfit tricks" (things like double-unders, kipping and butterfly pull-ups, against-the-wall handstand push-ups, pistols, etc) all pretty much picked up where they left off, and I was finding a way to fit the wods into my schedule. Of course, my strength and stamina were seriously degraded, as was my mental ability to push the intensity... but I knew I'd get those back quickly.

After one week of this, the wod called for a 1000m row, then 21-15-9 reps of GHD sit-ups and back extensions. Pretty straightforward. I'd sub 45lb sumo deadlift high pulls for the rows, abmat situps for the GHD situps, and supermans for the back extensions. A not-bad workout that I could do full-volume. But I felt the tug in my lower back during the SDLHPs. So, being very cautious about my lower back, I cut them short and wrapped up the situps and supermans without issue or discomfort. "Damn. I'm so smart and approriately cautious," I thought.

I took a much needed day-off just to catch up on my sleep and everything felt fine. The next day I decided to go full-on intensity for a couple of short benchmark wods. The first was 200 double-unders for time. That felt OK, and I was surprised to find my time (5 minutes and some change) not as bad as I thought it would be. I rested a bit. Played on the hangboard for a few minutes. Then I did a couplet "ramp" or "half pyramid" from CFKoP: 1 burpee and 1 53lb kettlebell swing the first minute; two each the next minute until I couldn't complete a round in one minute. I love these types of wods! It was GREAT! I mean, I only made 8 full rounds but it felt good to take the governer off and just go for it. Not exactly an impressive score, but I was happy to find my mental ability to increase the intensity on these burners was coming back. My lower back
felt OK but I could tell it wasn't 100%.

The next morning I spent about an hour shoveling extremely wet, heavy snow. Thank god my
neighbor cleared the bulk of my driveway with this tractor-mounted snowblower. I was as careful as I could be, but my back didn't much care for it. But still, I felt no sharp pains and was expecting to have to work through a bit of discomfort as I got back in the groove. "So far so good," I thought.

That night the main site wod was to run a 5k. No way was I doing that in the dark at 25 F. That would be a sure-fire case of bronchitis. The famous "300" wod was on the CFKoP site. I could do that with the weight scaled back a bit. The deadlifts were already plenty light (135 lbs) and I'd just cut them short if it bothered me.

Well they did bother me, and I did cut them short, but by the time I got halfway through the box jumps, I knew I should stop. Unless I very consciously tightened my abs and held my breath, I would feel a little twinge when I landed at the top. So I stopped. It still didn't feel that bad and again I congratulated myself on my ability to make the tough decision to just cut the workout short. "This is how I will avoid a serious injury," I thought.

That night it bothered me when I slept. It kept waking me up and I couldn't sleep on my stomach like all good people prefer. The next morning it was obvious that this wasn't gonna heal up in a day or two....I would be lucky to be able to ski ro board by christmas and make the first climbing trip by the end of the year. "Damn it!" I thought.

Last night's therapy was a whiskey-soaked, rest-the-back-and-ice-it-continuously viewing of "Old School". Tonight's plan -- after I stop at the liquor store to get some vermouth and bitters -- is to perfect my Jim Beam Manhattan so that I can have a Jim Beam Manhattan-soaked, icing-and-resting-the-back-viewing of say, The Big Lewbowki.

I've started to formulate a path to comeback to the comeback. This will be tricky, though. I need to "fix" this once and for all. It's really the only part of my health that I can complain about. For that I am very thankful, but it is still a significant hit to my life and lifestyle, so it's worth doing right... finally. "So, what is 'right'?" I thought.

Soundtrack: Swingin' Utters "Nine to Five"