Last week I thought I wouldn't be using pull ups for my next goal, because I promised myself that I'd work on double unders next. This was, at the time a realistic goal, because I had yet to string together more than 2 double unders in a row. But last week when double unders came up in the WOD, I knocked out an astonishing 7 when I was warming up and trying for 10. Then, during the workout, I got up to 17.
Double unders will still be a goal, but my next official goal is 5 strict pull ups. Right now, I can do 1 at a time, and repeat after a rest. I'm starting to practice kipping pull ups when the WOD calls for a higher volume, and that's pretty fun so far. I like keeping myself in motion while holding on to the bar. My grip strength has increased so much in the last year.
Pull ups are turning out to have been a pretty good goal for overall fitness improvement. I've squatted my body weight for the first time this year, gotten a kipping hand stand push up and some consistent toes to bar action. I'm coming for double unders and I feel like I hardly go a week at Crossfit without doing something that I've never done before.
Sometimes I'll look at the WOD for Crossfit and think to myself that there's no way that I can do that. It seems too hard for me. Too much work, too heavy weights, too difficult movements. But I go anyway, and I discover that I can do it. I might scale things, but I do the work.
Now if I could only get over this cold, I could get down to some serious business.
Last March I made a commitment to myself. I was going to stop whining about wanting to do pull ups and start working towards doing them. Even when I was younger, in grade school, high school, college, I had never been able to do a pull up. It was a rare time in my life when I could do monkey bars. But doing Crossfit had infected me with a desire to prove to myself that I could perform an athletic feat that I had never before considered within my reach.
On April 26, 2015, I took a pull up workshop through Arbor Crossfit that gave me a plan for getting my chin over the bar. I put the exercises into an Excel spreadsheet and printed out 5 weeks of the 3 days a week plan. I started going to the gym at work 3 days a week, after work or during lunch. I got myself really sore and started to see results in other areas when I went to Crossfit.
I thought I could get a pull up before July.
July came and went, months of work. I took a bit of a break for my hike on the Wild Coast. I took more of a break when I had some health issues that culminated in a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome. But once I figured out that the pain I was experiencing from that wasn't something that I could make worse with exercise, I jumped back into the pull up plan.
I put my head down and I worked. 3 days a week. Every week. For the last 28 weeks. I have been focused on this goal.
I got closer. I started being able to do "un-strict" pull ups. Every chance I had to work pull ups at Crossfit, I took. After almost every class, I'd jump on the bar and try.
On Friday, after an exhausting WOD, I tried again. I got a few with minimal movement, but no one was looking. So I called over one of the coaches to watch. What I was doing wasn't quite strict. So I tried again and got within 2 inches of my chin over the bar. I just didn't have the energy to finish the movement.
On Saturday, I went to the gym with my husband to do my day 3 workout. I finished the superset of curls and strict band-assisted pull ups, and then the barbell assisted pull ups. I ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill, a hill workout. Then I had a snack, used a foam roller and did the core exercises that are a part of my pull up workout.
And then I took my husband downstairs to the pull up bar to witness my attempt at a strict pull up.
I had been having trouble with the transition from a reverse shrug to bending my elbows. But somehow, this time, my muscles all worked together. A tight core, hollow body positioning, feet together and pointed... from a dead hang I raised my body until my chin was over the bar.
I dropped from the bar in excitement and gave my husband a leaping hug to celebrate.
Then I went back to the bar and tried again. I got in two more reps, with rests in between. The fourth attempt was a failure and we adjourned to the hot tub.
Now, I didn't have my phone with me, so I wasn't really sure if this counted for my official Arbor Crossfit goal - not without proof. And, to be honest, I didn't really believe I could do it again. So, after the hot tub, dressed in my street clothes, I had Ambrose take a video of strict pull up number 4:
I've done it. I can do a strict pull up. And now I want to do more. It's not going to be my official goal. I promised myself I'd work on double unders after getting my strict. But I don't want to stop at 1. I've got my eyes set on at least 5.
And I was able to do more reps on Monday, despite my fear that perhaps Saturday was just a fluke. It wasn't a fluke. I have put in the work, and I'm continuing to put in the work, because I like my 3 day a week exercise plan.The work has become a habit, and now that I'm seeing results I see no reason to stop.
In The Princess Bride, there is a fight scene, the first time that the Spaniard and the Dread Pirate Roberts meet. At the start of the duel, both men are fencing with their left hands. Partway through, when it seems the Spaniard is overmatched, he reveals that he is not left handed and switches. The switch allows him to prevail until Roberts, nearly defeated, reveals he is not left handed either.
I am not left handed. My left hand is weaker than my right hand. It can write, but the words are quite less than legible. I suppose if I were to practice writing with it, I could improve, but it's not something that I'm interested in. But as I continue to work on pull ups and Crossfit, I want to bring more equality to the strengths of my hands and my arms.
To that end, I have cultivated a couple strange habits. First, when I'm working with weights, I try to use my left hand to work the squeeze collars. It's harder. I fumble them at times, and now and then I have to use my right hand on a particularly stubborn one. Second, I try to carry the plates with my left hand as much as I can - if I have a 10 pound plate and a 15 pound plate to put away, then I'll carry the 15 in my left and the 10 in my right.
Someday, someone at Crossfit will notice that I'm using my left hand all the time for the collars and the heavier weights. And on that day, as long as my brain isn't too fried from whatever insane workout we've just completed, I will put on my best Inigo Montoya accent and proclaim, "I am not left handed!"
On Saturday, my husband and I made a hike up Lucky Peak. Well, we didn't hike all the way there. Ambrose didn't want to spend the entire day making the trip, so we had a deal. I'd hike out for 2 hours, and then turn around. When I caught up with him on the way back, he would turn around and we'd meet at the car and then go home.
We've done this before, and I remembered trying so hard to be fast enough to reach Lucky Peak within the 2 hour limit. It's not that far, distance-wise, being a paltry 5.5 miles out. But the elevation gain of over 2800 feet makes it a killer. I struggled to go more than 4 miles last year up the never ending steepness of Shaw Mountain Road. Mile 1 is relatively flat, and I could get it down close to a 20 minute mile, but after that I struggled to stay under 30 minutes per mile.
This year was different.
I fought a hard and cold wind for the first 2 miles, and I wanted to turn around when I completed the first in a long 22 minutes. It blew directly in my face every step, gusting occasionally and rarely allowing respite when the trail curved near to a ridge. I dug down into myself and forced every step, trying not to stop, because stopping would lead to more stopping.
I stopped once, in the 2nd mile, to blow my nose, which was dripping from the cold, the wind and the exertion. Other than that, I didn't stop at all until I heard my alarm go off.
I pushed myself not to stop, where last year I gave myself breaks at the top of every little slope, sometimes stopping midslope on the especially hard ones. And when I started hearing split times of under 23 minutes being called out from my phone app, I was shocked, awed and driven to continue.
The sight of 3 separate groups of deer would normally make me pull my phone out to take a picture. Not this time. I would not stop.
A Facebook friend recently made an ironic comment about the license plate slogan of "Scenic Idaho." I thought about taking pictures of the scenery around me, mountains still snow-capped in the distance, water gleaming in the distance, rolling hills giving way gracefully to mountains. But I would not stop.
When the 2 hours rang out, I had already passed the 5 mile mark. I could see the bathroom below Lucky Peak. I could see the peak itself. I was so close.
I took pictures to mark where I had made it to, and then I went on to the bathroom, because I had made it close enough to get to use an actual toilet instead of trying to find a quiet piece of trail to pee on. There was no toilet paper in the building, but I had my own. I also took the time at the bathroom to take off my windbreaker and gloves, re-tie my boots and generally take a break and dawdle.
This is where I stopped.
The bathroom is less than two minutes up the road.
The time I spent there was really just me being a good wife - the longer it took me to come back to meet Ambrose, the longer he would get to hike. More hiking is good for him.
A little scenic Idaho.
And even though I didn't reach the top, I got closer than I thought possible last year. I was elated coming down. Another five minutes, maybe ten, and I can get to the top. Just a minute or two shaved off of each mile up and I can do it. All I need to do is not stop.
