I am at the end of my 2nd week back to crossfit after approximately 6 months of strength training. No doubt, I am stronger than I have ever been. Weights that I previously would have been afraid of are going up easily without much effort, and they don't tax me at all really. I am still PR'ing on oly lifts (and recently did a clean 5lbs higher than my body weight, a feat that I thought was impossible). Wall balls feel great. Dead lifts are a joke. Any kind of squat work is easy, as are double unders (thanks Rudy) and box jumps.
But, as with any positive, there are down sides. I am incredibly frustrated coming back. I have no capacity to push through a wod. Body weight movements like pull ups and ttb's are incredibly difficult, and I am routinely the last one to finish these days, even though I'm going heavy, or rx'ed or whatever. Although I am better at stringing pullups, my muscular endurance just isn't there, nor is my lung capacity. That's a big slice of humble pie, and really really hard to accept. My conditioning, or lack thereof, is incredibly embarrassing to me. I mean, here I am, having done ALL this work, and why do I have nothing to show for it??? I really feel as if I am starting over. Was 6 months too long?
I guess I expected that this would feel easier after all that strength work. And to be honest, some of it does. It's not the weight in any of the WOD's that has gotten me. It's the prolonged rest I need to take in between sets, or reps or whatever. Anything more than a set of five feels tough. It's pretty demoralizing right now, but those that have been through it tell me that it takes about 6 weeks before it all comes together, and you can actually combine the strength and metabolic gains. That's the trick...trying not to get down about it.
I am grateful for all my buddies at the gym who have been giving me pep talks! We do have an awesome community. Thanks Mandie, Steph P, and Joy. And if you have any words of advice (EA, JK, Rudy) please, please, please post them here! I could use all the help I can get....
