isolation – Page 3 – 2 Chicks and a blog

We’ve written about CrossFit Hero WODs here on the blog before.

The subject of today’s blog is one of the more recent ones, known as “Chad.”

Read the story. It’s a worthy one.

The workout seems seems simple enough. 1,000 box step-ups with a weighted vest. Not much movement. Same thing over and over again. Just counting and moving, moving and counting.

1,000 of anything, though….I’m not sure CrossFit has any other workouts that reach into 4 digits.

My mindset: It would take a while. I knew that. It would be grueling. I would keep going until it was time to stop.

So, before sunrise in the middle of the quarantine, I started counting and moving, moving and counting.

As with many hero WODs, there are lessons to reflect on. The story of Chad made me think about mental health throughout most of the reps.

Here are the lessons I learned, 50 reps at a time. As many face mental health challenges in our current coronavirus situation, some of the lessons seem more important than ever.

-It is ok to set your weight down sometimes. You have to pick it up again eventually but it is ok to take a break sometimes. This was easy for me to say with my dumbbell in a backpack, but what about those who can’t put their weight down?

-I had choices. I brought out dumbbells, plates, and more. But in the end, it seemed like too much trouble to switch even though it might have brought relief to do things a little differently. Lesson: Sometimes even our best advice or tools aren’t useful to people who are consumed with just getting through whatever it is. People will often default to what is familiar because it is familiar. When you are enduring hardship, change can be too much of a challenge even if it might help.

-Good music helps. Drowning out the discomfort and having a little to sing along with makes a big difference.

-After a while I lost my form and was just flailing. I also took extra steadying or stutter steps on the ground between each step up after about 500. I thought to myself I should be more efficient and tried to skip the extra steps and keep my form together but my body just wasn’t doing that. It needed the extra break or correction in between. Sometimes we can see a problem and think our way into fixing things, other times not.

-I would have sudden bursts of energy, seemingly out of the blue. I’d just push right through 6 or 7. Then, it would go back to the same slow rhythm. Unpredictable energy levels happen. I may seem ok, but then slow down again.

-Coming down was just as hard as going up. You’d think the up would be the challenge, but I noticed myself coming down harder and harder as the reps went on. I knew my knees were under pressure. Even the easier things require effort and concentration.

-Sometimes, the only way out is through.

Surprises:

-My heart rate was SO high and I burned so many calories. To a passer by, it would probably not look that complicated or taxing. Just up, down, up, down. What’s the big deal? I couldn’t believe how out consistently high my heart rate was. Sometimes we can’t tell the effort others are putting in to things that may look simple.

-Sometimes my body just refused to step up even though my mind told it to. A few times I barely missed the top of the box. Other times my body just stopped like a stubborn horse refusing to jump. Just no. Sometimes our bodies and minds don’t work together.

-I ran the full gamut of emotions. Bored, Anxious, Determined, Giddy, Frustrated, Relieved. All over the map.

I thought to myself:

-I wish I was not by myself. I wished it was a partner WOD at one point, then I thought I would have settled for a buddy or even a FaceTime friend. CrossFit is built on community and shared suffering. It was REALLY hard to do it alone. It just lifts you up when you see others engaged in the same task. But, sometimes in life going it alone is the choice you have. I had many partners in my thoughts cheering me on.

-I need a coach. When I felt my form and motivation slipping, a coach watching me, helping me, encouraging me, barking at me would have meant a lot. Someone who knows what they’re doing, knows me, and knows what to do is a good companion.

-I had a huge case of the “I don’t wannas” between 300-600. Not at the beginning, not at the end, just the long, wide middle. Monotonous. Boring. Is it over yet? I just kept pushing but it was mentally and physically taxing when I wasn’t in the excitement of the beginning but couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. The middle is hard. What about situations where we don’t know where the end point is?

-I was hard on myself. I “no repped” myself many times when I didn’t stand up completely on the box. But really, does it matter that much? How many people do we know who are just really hard on themselves when it’s not entirely necessary?

-At times I lost count or had repetitive thoughts. I got so tired things didn’t even make sense anymore. I was taking a break every 50 reps to have water and write. But, sometimes I would go to write things and I had already written them, or I couldn’t remember what I was thinking about when I got to the paper.

-Toward the end, I had a burst of “I Think I Can” and Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb” in my head. It was almost time for me to go to work so I also got a little flustered toward the end thinking I wouldn’t finish in time. But getting toward a goal can be motivating.

The aftermath:

-Pain that went all throughout my body in waves for about 48 hours. Just gotta keep moving to keep the real pain of immobility from setting in. Pain is real.

-I was one of the first to do it in our gym group. So, I was able to encourage people who came after. This is one of the most important parts of being on the path, and being a survivor. Help those who are with you or coming along after you.

Finally,

The first thing I wrote was,

-What is my mountain?

I am still thinking about that. There are many. Short term, long term, distant future. This was a metaphor for many challenges in life and living. I’ll keep thinking about it and I wouldn’t be surprised if I do it again some day.

What is your mountain? Who can be your partner on the path? Your inspiration? Who can you encourage today?

A short time ago in reality but in my mind it seems like years ago, I was in a multi-day professional training. Attire was casual but attention to learning was expected. I had an open mind as day one began. Seems funny to recap this now since most people are stuck inside 24/7 these days.

Commuter time was long and exhausting for many but some had hotels with no commute. A luxury many of us actually miss today (traffic/people/hotels). Coffee was served until 10 am to spark the day but nothing after lunch. How would this impact the audience? Would limiting caffeine hinder learning or attentiveness? Another reminder of how much I miss coffee dates with friends, sigh.

A couple of the speakers were slow in getting their concept across or ill-prepared at times. Unfortunately that seems to make time move at a turtle’s pace for many, myself included. When time seems to stand still for me my mind wanders. I people watch. When time slows in the afternoon the overall audience aura changes. I especially enjoy people watching during and after the shift. I wonder if people carb loaded at lunch or if the lack of caffeine caused their shift.

As day one ended I noticed a gal using play doh in another row. I thought it was odd then saw another doing it. I was ever so curious so I asked what the significance was and both said stress relief and ability to concentrate is the motivation. Okay I can buy into that I said to myself and moved on.

Next day it was a couple different people this time with coloring books. One had felt tip markers, one colored pencils and another crayons. By the next day the color sheets seemed more elaborate as well. I wasn’t in shock rather I thought if I was the presenter I might reevaluate my performance, that I wasn’t being engaging or there was too much idle time built into the day. Neither seemed apparent to the presenter.

The next day I noticed a woman knitting. Not just knitting a cap for a baby this was a full blown scarf or blanket of sorts. At this point I seem flabbergasted. How would I feel as the presenter? Shocked that the focus was not on the presenter and the content he/she was supposed to present. Then I saw the neon stress ball group in the back row. Then the smackers who used food to soothe their environmental stresses.

Using tools of soothing was normal behavior in this class group. I have doodled in the past in trainings and school in general but have never taken these more extreme measures. Or are they extreme? If my kid used this strategy in high school or middle school would it be an acceptable concentration method? Would a teacher be offended? Would the concession be allowed or would it cause chaos among other students?

Is this a new trend? Am I old? How would this culture affect you as a trainer? I neglected to mention there was also the classic person who nodded off but we had a full-fledged snorer on day 4 after lunch. Might have been my favorite to watch from a distance.

In a world of videos, I wouldn’t envy the person sleeping as it might be sent digitally to their big boss. Just food for thought. For me I will stick to my old school training and try my darnedest to pay attention in this type of formal training. Mostly out of respect to the person conducting the training as the content may be difficult to present at times.

No matter what your perspective is, I applaud bold folks for taking initiative to calm their minds and nerves to enable themselves to focus and realign as needed to be successful in their environment. As a footnote to this paragraph: I wrote this weeks before the corona pandemic. I had no idea how it would totally come full circle as I sit in my own home on lockdown. A time out from life.

This is clearly my observation post. Maybe you are a stress ball person or maybe a coloring book type. Whatever your stress relief I applaud you. Don’t mind the people watchers like me. My tool is observing my environment. Assessing the whos, the whats, the whys and so on.

Thankfully my in service training has come and gone so I can get back to my routines being routine and keep my people watching distractions to a minimum especially while
in isolation. It is again an irony that I initially wrote this post pre-corona yet it’s applicable to life today. No routines, keeping my distance, and of course limiting my
people watching because I’m on lockdown.

It’s also apparent that in these crazy times people of all ages and mindsets need refreshing and new ideas to comfort them and shift their focus. I chose to take a long bike ride today. I enjoyed the crisp fresh air. I listened to the peaceful sounds around me.

Knitting may be your thing or maybe it’s playing cards or playing video games. Find your niche and get your groove on when you need to. This blog post was written sometime during the self-quarantine phase of the great corona virus 2020.

While in quarantine I have resorted to coloring my driveway with sidewalk chalk and chalk paint. I have blown many bubbles with those super size bubble blowers. I planted flowers and even a few trees. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned more times than I can think. I colored. I sent care packages by mail. I binged watched Netflix more than I should have. I’m sure some of these idea came from my people watching time in the past. And the list continues….

Drop me a note to let me know what you have been up to in isolation.

Tag: isolation

Chad

Passing Time in Class