Crossfit Day 479 – Back Squat PR and some mild Rhabdo from Fran – 6/1/15 – Alicia CrossFit

HOLY HELL. For the first time in… almost a year. I did 265 last July and missed 275 twice by not going low enough. I also remember hurting/popping something in my back and thinking, jesus christ, you are such an idiot for trying..

I got 275 this time! I missed my first attempt, I panicked, actually, and dropped the bar off my back behind me. Two strong boys came over and lifted the bar up for me and I was encouraged to try it again. I bumped it down to 265, did it, and then went back up to 275 and I GOT IT! 🙂

That was pretty awesome.

Then.. the WOD was Fran. I haven’t done a legit Fran since my Level 1, and that was half-assed Fran with jumping pull-ups. I really wanted to try to RX it, but at the last minute, decided to use a band instead. Because I haven’t been wodding regularly, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to jump into it and RX 45 pull ups.

AND… to do Fran in any great length of time really doesn’t do anything that great for you. So I figured, whatever. I’ll use a band. I don’t want to hurt myself or my pride. So. I used a black band. Screw it, whatevs. I don’t want this to be a 15 min ordeal anyway.

I got started, did all my thrusters unbroken at 65lbs. I got up to the bar and divided my pull ups into 2 segments, no big deal. It took some time and my arms were feeling it.

By the end, (I finished in 9:04) I was smoked. My arms were shaking, sore and weak. I could barely lift my hands up when I went to wash my face after the WOD. I was like, good lord, I’m glad I used a band. Got home, drank my BCAAs, took my glutamine, and hoped for the best.

My right arm hurt more than my left, I figured because I’m left handed, so my left side was stronger. Undressing was an ordeal, and I started to worry. Sleeping was okay, but I couldn’t get comfortable. My arms hurt so badly. And when I say arms, I mean where my biceps attach to my forearms, I guess. If you hold your arm straight out, palm faced in, and pinch the inside and outside of your elbow, it’s that muscle. The inside elbow bicep connective thing. Yes? Yes. From a google image search, it is apparently the bicep tendon where the pain is.

It got worse the next day. I started googling “mild rhabdo symptoms” and “mild rhabdo treatment” and didn’t get a whole lot of promising results, so I did the next best thing… I drank lots of water, took lots of glutamine, drank my BCAAs and kept an eye on my pee color. (If it’s dark brown, like soda or tea, it’s bad news. Get to the hospital immediately!) The soreness was what threw me off. My arms hurt to straighten all the way out, but I would do it to stretch the muscles. Once I had them outstretched long enough, the soreness would alleviate, only to come back again. But I could still use my arms. They weren’t giving out. I obviously didn’t work out, but I still had to move stuff around, pick up some heavy things at the office, etc, and was fine doing so.

I didn’t want to tell anyone about it because I didn’t want to go to the hospital for something that I’ve been through before (too many squats, too many GHD sit ups, all on my own accord) and I knew I’d recover and be fine after a few days. I also told myself that if my pee turned brown in any form, that I’d take it more seriously and seek legit medical attention.

The soreness lasted from Monday night through probably Thursday. Sleeping was awful because of how I like to position my arms. I couldn’t take my shirts or sports bras off without being in fairly excruciating pain. I couldn’t push myself up off a seat (like an L-sit type thing), it was pretty awful.

Friday I was feeling more normal, but the WOD had rope climbs and I was like, no. I’m not doing that. And I didn’t want to scale either. I didn’t want to overdo it, and I didn’t want to sound like a whining child (so you know, the best alternative is to do nothing at all… right..) I also figured the healing time wouldn’t be a bad thing.

So… here we are, a full week later, and my arms are fine. I can’t see any swelling, they don’t hurt, although during my massage last night, my biceps were definitely tender when they were being worked on. I can stretch them out with zero pain or discomfort. My pee is perfect. I’ll be returning to the gym tonight. 🙂

Am I saying here’s what to do if you experience what you believe might be mild rhabdo? Absolutely not. Am I saying it worked for me in my situation? I don’t even know if I had rhabdo, but whatever the fuck I did to myself, it hurt really bad (could’ve just been DOMS) and I treated myself with rest, lots of water, lots of glutamine and lots of BCAA, which is what I would do after any crazy workout where I felt pain afterwards.

Here’s my PR picture. 🙂