Cold Comfort

Identifying what’s holding me back

Reflecting

This week I had my first session of Graston muscle scraping.  It was brutally effective and while it made me wince and made my eyes water a few times, I’m going back for more later this month.  I have a decent amount of scar tissue and the Graston technique helped stretch and relax my muscles.  I followed up with a mobility class after my usual CrossFit WOD, trying to improve my range of motion, especially for barbell work.

Having been fully worked over at both the Pioneer Performance Center and by the Graston session, it was pretty clear that… there’s nothing objectively wrong with my joints.  Sure the daily combo of trail runs/BJJ/CrossFit leads to some scrapes and bruises but I’m starting to think that I’ve been holding myself back.  My thought that “I can’t do…” such and such might just be shorthand for “I’m not maximally comfortable doing…”  Owies can and should mostly be ignored.

If I start with my conclusion that I want to be stronger, there’s just no way around the barbell.  And if I’m going to lift barbells, there’s no way around using correct form, even where it is moderately uncomfortable.  So now that I’m increasingly convinced that I’m not injured and instead am just melodramatic and whiney, I’m going to lean into the large space between maximally comfortable and causing damage – whether that’s a higher shelf on my front rack, further back sumo deadlift, or more erect squat.

Training

This morning’s white board — Every 1:30 x16:

1. :45 Cals on the Echo Bike

2. :45 Burpee DB Cleans

3. :45 Wall Ball 30 lbs

4. :45 Cals on the Ski

Next run:

Fueling

Eggs for breakfast

Pomegranate for snacks

Bison for lunches

Supplementing

What is your favorite supplement?  Anything I haven’t discussed in past Vale Tudos that you use and recommend?

Measuring

There appears to have been an inflection point right around the time I was born in 1976.  While the chart below is a very different time scale, there does seem to be a big spike in sugar consumption.

I hate wasting my time and the biggest waste of time I observe in the gym (not CrossFit, other gyms) is people who appear to be trying to use cardio to outrun bad diets.  It is nearly impossible; the math just doesn’t work.  The simplest way to make the math work is to see how badly all age groups seem to be doing at staying fit and to radically depart from the standard American diet. 

Recovering

Feeling good about sleeping the same eight hours each night.  Part of the key for me is not snoozing.  Whenever you decide to wake up, just get up and go; it will help you wind down fifteen hours later. 

Gearing

One only needs so many sets of touring skis but since I was asked for recommendations recently, these are magnificent.  For runs, I always come back to Salomon Speedcross and their 6s are their best yet.  While they’re the perfect trail runners, friends who compete in the Tactical Games have asked me for something burlier.  That would be the Xa Pro 3D V8.  They’re marketed as trail runners.  They’re too heavy for that purpose but they’re good for the Tactical Games or deployment – resistant to more bumps and bruises and serviceable door kickers.  If you want more of a full boot that you can run in, then the best one is probably the Nike SFB.

Closing

What are you working on this week that is worth a bit of discomfort?