photo by Steve Penland

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Wheelhouse

I'm beginning to think, after just over a year of CrossFit (yes, I missed my CrossFit-versary on July 6.  Since I was only at CrossFit MN for a month, I kind of consider my August start at SISU as my start to CrossFit)...anyway, where was I?  Oh, yeah...after a year of CrossFit, I'm beginning to think I may actually have a "CrossFit Wheelhouse."  It's tiny, and there's only room for two things in it...but nevertheless, it's a wheelhouse.

I do have a skating wheelhouse, and I've known this since I started racing.  My best events have always been the 3K and 5K (just as, in high school track, my best events were the mile and two mile).  I apparently have no fast-twitch muscles whatsoever--except possibly those involved in talking and eating--so longer distances have always been my friend.  And since skating produces times that one can compare to the times skated by one's peers, it's pretty easy to see what you're good at--so yeah, 3K and 5K are in the wheelhouse.

CrossFit is a bit tougher.  Up until very recently I've been scaling almost everything, which makes it difficult to compare my results to others', and WODs are rarely repeated, which makes it harder to see rates of improvement in various movements--as opposed to skating, where you get many opportunities, each workout or race, to compare times over just about any distance you'd like.  Still, I was pretty sure that there were a lot of CrossFit movements that were definitely NOT in any wheelhouse I might posses.  Take yesterday, for example.  Yesterday was a "so far away from the wheelhouse I can't even see the wheelhouse" day.

We started with skill work on Toes to Bar and its scaled cousin, Knees to Elbows.  Now, I have to confess that never, in a year of CrossFit, have I ever achieved a T2B or a K2E.
This is my pullup.  Unfortunately, it's also my T2B and my K2E.
Notice that toes and elbows are nowhere near bars nor knees.

After being assured by Coach Jason that K2E, if not T2B, were very likely to show up in Granite Games WODs, I gave it my best shot.  But even with some good suggestions and the exhortation to "pretend that a bunch of judges are staring at you and you have to get this" (hey, it worked with pistols and chest-to-bar), I was unable to execute any, resulting in the coach declaring that K2E and T2B are my current Kryptonite.

Kryptonite is definitely not in one's wheelhouse.

The WOD was a bit better in that I could do both movements--rope climbs and pushups--but neither are things I'm proficient at.  True, I did get asked to demo the rope climb, but I know there was an element of "hey, if she can do it, anyone can do it"--which I wholeheartedly agree with (but it made my day anyway.  I don't often get asked to demo anything).  So I can get up the rope, but it requires great deliberation and is a slow, methodical process.  And pushups?  Well, I started CrossFit unable to do even one--two shoulder injuries had had me avoiding any plank-type exercise for five years, with predictable results.  I was finally getting to where I could do 10 or so unbroken pushups, and then I hurt my shoulder (why yes, I did hurt it doing some ill-advised, not-in-class, and ultimately ineffective T2B practice last March).  So now I'm back to doing very sloooooow, laborious pushups, and after about 10 of them (with a rest break) I have to switch to toes on the way down/knees on the way up.

So yesterday was not a "wheelhouse" day.

Today, though?  Today's WOD consisted entirely of the two CrossFit movements that I now consider to be "in my wheelhouse."

Ready?  Here they are:

Running and rowing.

I know...exciting, right?

It makes sense that I'd be reasonably proficient at these two movements; both require a lot of cardio fitness, which I have from skating, and both are usually done in short intense intervals, which is how my skating workouts are programmed so I've trained that particular system pretty extensively.  Also, skating and rowing use many of the same muscles (many of my masters skater friends row in the summer for cross training).  

And--and this is a big plus--neither of these movements require a ton of coordination.

So it's kind of fun, when I see a running/rowing WOD, to feel like "hey, I'm pretty good at this.  This one will go well."  I'm sure pure rowing/running WODs probably won't come up often...but still, it's nice to have a wheelhouse.

Even if it's a tiny one.

No comments:

Post a Comment