Hah, yeah, power cleans, what’s the big deal, right? You may or may not remember (or know) about the wrist issues I inflicted upon myself 2ish weeks ago during our Front Squat 1RM day.. They’ve been sore here and there, especially doing things like reaching my hands behind my back to unhook my bra (I’ve had to use two hands instead of doing it one-handed, because that curve of my wrist was too much) among other things.

In any case, I’ve still been trying to do CrossFit and yoga as much as I can with our current workloads and all. Yesterday’s WOD had cleans in it, and for some reason, I just kind of forgot all about my wrist pain. I think I saw that it was a 20 min AMRAP and had 400m runs in it, and I focused on that the whole time leading up to it. Whoops.

So we did our mobility, whatever, it was all great. The 400m warm up lap was a shock to my system because of how cold and dry the air is. Why can’t it just stay like, 65-70*? 🙂

We moved into the WOD, and I didn’t really even think to warm up my cleans very much, because whatevs, they’re cleans. Usually we do practice runs or we incorporate the movement in with our skill/strength portion of the class, but no, I worked on DUs instead. So smart of me.

The WOD was:

20 min AMRAP of
400m run
2 power cleans (205/145)
3 burpees
4 sit ups
5 push ups
6 alternating jumping lunges

I grabbed a bar and put two 35 lb plates on it, which made it 115lbs. (I use the mens bar, typically.) I was planning on RXing the WOD and doing the 145 but I figured I’d try out the 115 first. I pulled it, no problem, but as soon as I got my elbows under and the bar fell into the front rack position, I yelped out in shock because of the jolt to my wrists from being under that weight, all of a sudden. I HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT MY WRISTS! I even had my wraps on. How stupid am I? I just.. forgot about them. Whoops!

I cried out to Derek, who gave me a funny look, and then realized what happened. He said at this point, it was probably just a flexibility thing, and I might want to try stretching them out. So I grabbed an empty mens bar and did a couple hang cleans (5?) basically til the pain and soreness subsided. It did, and then I proceeded to add another 30lbs onto my bar. I said, “Okay! We’re good! Let’s go for it..!” With the mentality that if they were gonna hurt, they were gonna hurt under whatever weight I used, so I might as well try and RX it.

Time started, we ran our first 400m (sucked) and then I came in to do my first 2 power cleans. And up they went! No problem, no issue. I don’t think I’ve ever done more than a couple cleans at 145 before! It’s only 20lbs under my 1RM, and I had only done THAT once. Jesus.

I was going for 5 rounds because a lot of people got 5, but most people are faster runners than me, which I took into account as well. I was watching the clock and quickly figured that if I pushed it, I could do 4 full rounds, as long as I kept up with my timing.

A really neat way to think of yesterday’s WOD: (I calculated this as I was running around the block, in an effort to distract myself from what was really going on.)

In 20 min, I ran a mile, did 8 power cleans at 145 (plus 1 missed attempt; I didn’t get under it fast enough,) 12 burpees, 16 sit ups, 20 push ups, and 24 jumping lunges. Pretty cool!

Yesterday was a really good day. Kind of like a breakthrough for me. My wrists were a little sore but they didn’t HURT. I FINALLY feel like I’m getting back to normal here. I even posted on Facebook:

It’s exhilarating, empowering and amazing to Rx a difficult WOD. To give it your very best, to finish strong, and then to hear people tell you that you “made those 145lb power cleans look easy!” is just the icing on the cake. I feel incredible after CrossFit tonight.