13.1 has been released. Burpees and Snatches… and a lot of
them! What are your thoughts? Mine…I love it!
It's a great combo of a simple movement that everyone can do and a
more complex movement that requires technique and strength to be
able to hang through the high rep scheme/time domain. Not to
mention a little endurance for the 17 minutes - an all-in-one
workout. By the time you all read this, thousands of
thousands of people will have already attempted this workout at
least once. Everyone has their own strategy. Some will
go all out until they are toasted. Some will pace it.
Some will try it a few times with different approaches to see what
works best for them.
My strategy… do it single legged. You are probably
thinking…what in the world is she talking about? Why would
she do that? Well, let me explain…
I was involved in a sort of a freak accident this last Tuesday,
March 5th resulting in a broken foot. I was
minding my own business, riding my bike home from the gym on a
beautiful sunny northern California day when I saw a man on a bike
cross my path about 20-yards ahead in an open parking lot. As
I continued forward he suddenly whipped his bike back around and
slammed on his breaks, stopping directly in front of me.
There was no time to stop or dodge him before running directly into
him. In what seemed like slow motion, but in reality was very
fast… I flew over my handlebars and tried to be as athletic and
cat-like as possible to land on my feet. Unfortunately, I
failed miserably and landed on the side of my foot, twisting my
ankle all to hell and knew immediately that something broke.
I heard/felt it snap. A lump immediately started to form on
the side of my foot and all I could feel was serious pain all
throughout my ankle. So, naturally, I tried to stand on it
and instantly collapsed back down to the pavement. For
whatever reason I started screaming at him "Don't go anywhere".
He had jumped back on his bike and was looking like he was
going to head out. A woman saw me lying on the pavement and
stopped to ask if I was okay and again I was frantically asking her
to not let him go (not sure what I thought he would was going to
do, but that was my first reaction). As I hysterically rifled
through my bag to find my phone, the man on the bike bolted and I
was left with no witnesses, a flat tire and a broken foot.
Not the best day of my life.
(Day 2 of injury)
Marcus, my boyfriend, was out of the state, but luckily my mom
was visiting from Colorado so I called her and directed her to
where I was. She showed up, worried out of her mind, and we
headed to urgent care to get X-rays. An hour or so later I
left with a boot, crutches and an empty feeling in my stomach - the
open started the next day.
My mom, Marcus and Shawn (my boss who joined us at urgent care)
were great. They were all trying to keep things in
perspective for me. "This could have been way worse."
"Everything happens for a reason." "Your neck will have time
to heal completely." All those things were and are
true. But that didn't change the gut wrenching feeling I had
in my stomach that yet again I was facing a season with an
injury. There are so many things that I can find positive out
of this situation. But, as a competitive athlete, my season
has potentially come to a screeching halt.
I can't fully explain the emotions I am feeling and have been
feeling the last 3 days since the accident. My thoughts are
all over the map. Initially, lying on the parking lot ground,
when I knew something was broken, I thought "oh no!... I'm
done!". Then at the doctor's office I was thinking, "This is
just not my year to compete, but I can focus on so many other
things". I've gone back and forth with the thought of trying
to do 13.1 or not. My mind has been constantly racing.
However, there are few directions I can head with this.
Scenario one, I can get depressed and down and feel like I have
failed. That's not the kind of person I am. Scenario
two, I can call a spade a spade and throw in the towel with
motivation to come back stronger next year. Scenario three, I
can take the cards I've been thrown and make the most of them and
let it play out the way it's supposed to play out. I choose
three!
I've written blogs in the past about overcoming adversity and
obstacles in life. To steal an analogy from my friend Kelly
Starrett, our life is like the game of Tetris. We work hard
to build this strong solid base and have everything lined up
perfectly to reach our goals in order to move to the next level and
then we get thrown a block that doesn't fit in any of our
slots. We have two options, we can just let it drop and hope
it works, or we can make a conscious decision to place that block
in the best place we can find and build upon it until another slot
opens up. These "blocks" can be anything from epilepsy to a
bad workout in the gym to getting in a fight with your best friend
to breaking your foot the day before your competition season
begins. It's the way we approach those blocks in our life
that determine the outcome.
With my foot, it really couldn't have been worse timing. I
am non-weight bearing for 7-10 days but I have to perform a bunch
of burpees and snatches no later than 5 days after my
accident. At first thought, this was impossible to me.
But now after looking at the situation, I know that I can attempt
this workout with one foot. I will get a score and therefore
still be in the running. Maybe Dave Castro will read this
blog and program 13.2 as left legged pistols and pull-ups for
me. Ha! Chances are slim, but you never know what will
come out of that hopper we all know as Dave's head. I have to
just take it one day at a time. Just 3 days after the break,
I can see the veins in the top of my foot again… swelling is going
down and that means progress. Who knows what will happen 9
days from now when I have to do the second open workout.
I don't want to ever live my life with regrets and that's what
will happen if I don't try this. I can mope and weep and feel
sorry for myself or I can tackle this workout with the mindset of
how lucky am I to have one good leg and be able to be active.
Now, I'm also a realist and I know that there is a chance that I
won't be able to complete the open workouts with a broken
foot. If that happens what do I do? I'm not sure
yet. I'm going to be crushed inside, no doubt! But, I
am not going to be done. I'm Jenny LaBaw the person, not
Jenny LaBaw the athlete. I am not defined by what I do, but
by who I am. I am girlfriend, a daughter, a sister, an aunt,
and a grand daughter. I am a coach, a friend and a momma to
two beautiful labs. I have family and friends that I care
about more than anything on this earth and know they love me
to. I want to travel more, I want to learn to play the guitar
and I want to start a big garden. By surrounding myself with
positive energy, smiling as much as I can and remembering what's
really important in life...no matter what happens, I am going to be
fine.
This Sunday I am going to be an athlete on one leg, trying to
crush some burpees and snatches and be so excited and grateful that
I get the chance to do it. Will see what next week
brings!
(Rowing the day after the accident... using a skate board to
support foot)
