Something that I’ve done a TON lately is communicate with injured athletes.  Most of them ruptured achilles, but a few fractured vertebras as well.  Obviously it’s these particular injuries because I’ve been through and am going through them both.

There’s on thing that is starting to really sicken me; injured athletes are being treated like ‘dirty little secrets’  Why I ask?  Why these injured athletes being made to feel like THEY did some thing wrong?  Why are these injured athletes being made to feel like THEY are a black on on their gym?  Why are these injured athletes being pushed aside and ignored?  Why are they being treated like ‘dirty little secrets’?

Trust me – being injured is a shitty lonely place to be no matter how many people you have around you.  I know from personal experience.  No one can do or say anything to make it ok.  Being hurt sucks!  I know I beat the crap out of myself every time I get hurt be it when I broke my back two years ago, my ruptured achilles or even a small nagging knot in my shoulder.  I don’t need anyone else to do it for me, I’ve got it mastered beating myself up.

To the injured athletes I’m working with;
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
YOU ARE NOT A BLACK EYE ON YOUR GYM
YOU ARE NOT A LOSER
YOU ARE GOING TO HEAL AND COME BACK STRONGER

Part of sport is injury – part of being an athlete is injury – CrossFit is a sport  - CrossFit creates athletes = injuries happen

Feel free to reach out to me at cocacrossfit@gmail.com or 440.724.6587 if you’re hurt and feeling alone. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

One of the hardest things to get people to understand is the amount of time it really takes to be good at CrossFit.  You hear all these crazy stories of previous athletes in other sports tripping into CrossFit and dominating.  Let me tell you, that’s not the norm, and it’s not without hard work and dedication.

One thing I try and get all my athletes to understand is that it takes HARD WORK- CONSISTENCY & TIME

Hard work - if you follow any games athlete present of past one thing you’ll see is that they all work REALLY freaking hard.  They may only work out once a day  four days a week or hit multiple wods a day 6 times a week.  The common theme is that when they’re there to work they do just that.  There’s no half assed efforts or dicking around.  It’s business.

Consistency - One of my most pivotal pieces to being a successful CrossFit athlete is consistency.  There is no I pushed hard this week, taking next week off and well see maybe how I feel after that.  It’s non-negotiable.  They are consistent not only in how they train, but how often they train. They consistently push themselves through out the year.

Time - Most games athletes take years to develop.  Look at me, I FAILED hard core the first year I tied to make it to the games.  Look at Dan Bailey and Lisa Shui, failed their first year, made it their second.  It takes time to master the skills and movement patterns crossfit requires of it’s athletes.

In my humble opinion you need all three to succeed as an athlete in CrossFit be it in your daily wod at your affiliate or your an athlete trying to get to the games.  You need HARD WORK – CONSISTENCY & TIME

I have to say, I have a sense of relief today as the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games Open is over.  I find myself in 326 place in the Central East Region.  Not too shabby considering I took a score of 1 rep on the third workout and finished the other workouts at 50% health.

It proved the point I was looking to make – I’m down but I’m not out.  If I can finish so high in my current physical state, what can I do when I’m back to 100%?  That’s what’s driving me now.  I’ve got 7 months to get ready for the Beast of the East in October.  It’s our yearly Coca CrossFit road trip, and I plan on making a statement there again this year.  Last year I took 6th place, this year I’d like to make the podium.

Sometimes a black box experiment is the best way to figure out.  How do I use the black box to experiment on myself?

I play with my training, nutrition, recovery and mobility etc.  The black box part is not knowing every little detailed reason something happens but knowing what you’ve changed and the result you got.

With my return to training with two legs Brian Yoak and I have been experimenting with training days, movements etc.  Something that we found is the third day of ‘real’ training I’ve been drained.  Yes I worked out while recovering from the achilles repair, but not nearly with the intensity I used to have.  I would call it more of a maintenance plan.

It’s been three weeks now and I’m struggling to get back in the swing.  By the time I hit my third day of working out I’m so sore and tired the workout is garbage.  What are we putting into the black box? 2 days on 1 day off.  Short intense workouts to get my lungs back and 20 rep maxes to get my body used to moving weights again.  We’re going to test for three weeks and see what happens.

I used a rowing helen at mens weight at my before wod….I FAILED to complete the workout pulling off after two rounds due to my achilles screaming.  I’ll retest in three weeks, and would hope that 1. I would make it through the workout  and 2. that I put up a sub 15min time.  I know… not impressive, but at 4months from surgery it’s a time I’d take.

I love experimenting on myself as it gives me a wide variety of ways to approach my athletes training.  If it’s something that I’ve tried and I find works for me, it gives me another way to improve my athletes.  And on the flip side if it doesn’t work, I know not to use it on others.  Black boxing is an important piece of training.

Ok….ok…ok…. It’s not really a box jump, but it’s a start.

I take every small victory as just that, a victory.  Many told me I’d be out 9months to a year, so to be returning to normal in 11 weeks I’m happy.  And of course, I have to be able to laugh and myself and the situation.

Life is all about having fun and taking time to play.  So I practiced my ‘box jumps’ and played with 3 week old boxer puppies today.  Taking time to enjoy the small things is so important!