I am not a particularly big fan of F-bombs, but they happen. Oh, not the four-letter ones I hear everyday. The F-Bomb I am struggling with is “Frustration”. Lately it seems like the wheels have fallen off.
For the past two weeks, everything I do in the Box seems to be a struggle. It’s like slogging through 2 feet of wet snow, only it’s over 90 degrees outside. It’s not like I’ve hit a plateau. If that were the case, as least I’d be constant. No, instead, I seem to be sliding backwards.
I began to experience this notably a couple weeks ago when I wrote Jumping Jack Flash. I had no idea that that day was the beginning of a downward spiral for me. It’s kind of like a major league baseball player who goes into a batting slump. Every time I step up to the plate, it seems like all that is on my mind is the slump, and the slump becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.
I began today’s WOD pretty well. Warm-up went better then I’ve felt all week and Push Presses were great, I did 90% of my max for 4 reps, seven rounds. I thought I was breaking out of my slump.
Then the WOD began with 21 Double-Unders or in my case 42 Single-Unders, followed by 7 Ring-Dips. I managed to get the first round done and then for the next fifteen minutes, I wasn’t able to complete a single jump. My timing was shot, I couldn’t do it at all. I’d jump before the rope went under and I’d trip. I was suffering from an advanced case of Premature Ejumpulation.
So what’s going on? My diet is excellent. My sleep is fair to poor. The heat has made sleeping difficult and my schedule change has messed me up. Have I been wearing myself down by not scheduling an occasional rest day? Am I submitting to peer pressure and doing WODs that are inconsistent with my goals or condition?
So last night I went to bed earlier and I slept in later. I got a full 8 hours of sleep and I did not go to the gym today to kill myself doing wallballs. Call me a “Cherry-Picker”, I don’t really care.
Have any of you gone through this type of slump in your CrossFitting experience? Do any of you have any Pearls of Wisdom for me? If so, please comment below.
[…] week I wrote about my back-sliding with rope jumping that had me frustrated. I had drawn the analogy of a major league batter struggling every time he […]