Dirty Vegas and the road home

Dirty Vegas and the road home

Pulsating neon beckons through the curtains of my dimly lit hotel room. I fumble for my phone and find it with mere seconds to go before my alarm was set to announce the morning. Knowing I have hours of 100 plus degree desert heat to endure I check the website for today’s WOD so I can tackle it prior to getting beat down by the glaring sun and sand.

I make my way down to the gym of the hotel and casino I’ll call home for the next 4 nights. My focus for this week is simply not to lose ground on the progress I made my first week of CrossFit, while on work travel. Translation, I really don’t want to start over. Fittingly enough, the hotel that supplies light to the moon, the Luxor, doesn’t feel the need to provide airflow to their workout facility, which is fantastic since now I may very well pass out with 115lbs above my head. With only a few “Is he going to take out a ceiling panel with that medicine ball?” looks, I manage my way through thrusters, wall balls and pull-ups. Feeling like I’m missing something I get a run in that evening as well.

This would be my routine for the next 4 days.

After a couple days off from both work and any type of exercise I find myself finally back home and with my family. To knock off the Vegas dust I get a long run in on Sunday prior to getting back to the CrossFit routine Monday. This past week I was able to attend the WOD’s with the group Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, getting Monday and Thursday’s in on my own. Although I didn’t lose a ton of ground my week on the road, it wasn’t the same as being at CrossFit Arvada. I missed a bit of the intensity and accountability. The following is a glimpse into my return to WOD’s within a more structured environment:

Monday

• Although on my own, I have set up today’s WOD at a local gym.
• In spite of the inner struggle and not knowing the etiquette of this gym, I manage to keep my shirt on despite it’s suffocating, sweat drenched grip on my neck and shoulders.
• 30 deadlifts at 225 lbs is border line attempted murder, however, what makes it worse is resting every 10 reps as starting again elicits noises not necessarily appropriate for public places.

Tuesday

• I was almost giddy with the fact I was sure I could get through today’s pull-ups without the use of a band, however, someone decided it would be cool if we did clean and jerks along with front squats prior to those pull-ups and tail between my legs, I had to install my sweet band of assistance to the pull-up bar.

Wednesday

• Double Unders, great.. now jumping rope is hard. No worries though, I ended up quadrupling the effort after the second round of today’s WOD. I’m much better at jumping rope now.

Thursday

• Again, had to do the WOD on my own, which almost felt like an off day and that I was getting away with something
• By doing the WOD at a local gym I did benefit from being the audience to a gentleman who was getting through his WOD of 5 to 6 rounds of: 1 rep clean and jerk followed by “see how high the bar bounces after I drop it from here”, 2 reps of change song on ipod, 2 reps heavy breathing and fumble for ipod volume control.

Friday

• With one eye open and blurred vision, I felt I needed to check today’s WOD prior to seeing why my 2yr old thought it was appropriate to be awake at 5 a.m.
• Pretty sure the white board was upside down today as we seemed to be increasing the reps from round to round, which completely destroyed my mental strength and the relief I typically get by telling myself “hey, only 15 reps this round and 9 on the last.”
• I seem to get past the mental weakness, as I am far too distracted trying to figure out why my feet hurt. I mean, I’m pretty sure I didn’t work out feet this week.

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With 3 weeks in the bag, one of which being on the road, I am beginning to get glimpses of where I can push a little harder in the coming days, which is both exciting and a little scary given the fact that some of my first days at the box had me stumbling home. I am seeing some honest improvement and I’ve found myself in several contemplative states, analyzing where I could pick up a few seconds here and there. I have also learned that my wife is not mature enough to handle me discussing thrusters over dinner. I continue to be thankful for both the guidance and support I receive each time I get to join the group for that day’s WOD.