Tales From the Y, Part II

It was only a matter of time before I found more stuff to bitch about. As a matter of fact, it didn't take long at all.

When I arrived at the Y today, I was happy to see that the parking lot wasn't filled to capacity, and when I asked for a locker, there were actually more than a few remaining. I didn't have to squeeze between two naked fat women to get to my locker which was amazing in itself.

Upstairs, I decided to warm up by messing around on the treadmill. I walked for awhile, then decided to see how far I could crank it up without flying off. I got up to 8.4 (whatever that means--miles per hour? Maybe). It felt amazing. Since I wasn't going for distance and time, I just ran until I felt the asthma attacks coming on, then I walked. More about that later.

Then I started on the WOD. I had to use the pull-up machine, and I was going to need a mat for the sit-ups, so I looked around for a free small mat to drag over to the pull-up machine. The only one available was set up with weights around it, as if someone had just walked away. The only guy near it was about 6'9" tall, muscular and wearing all baby blue. For that reason, he will be referred to as Boy Blue. He was in front of the mirror curling dumbells. I waved at him to get his attention. He stared blankly at me, so I asked him if he was going to use the mat. He glared at me for at least 5 very long seconds. I figured that meant no, so I took the mat.

There is a small space between the pull-up machine and some big machine with very long movable arms. When you have the arms positioned where you want them, you can pull on the handles to work... your arms? I don't know. It looks ridiculous. Some guy was using it, so I asked him if I would be in his way by putting the mat down next to the machine. He was incredibly polite, and said I could. I started on the WOD. In between rounds, you are to rest 3 minutes. I was on my second rest period when Boy Blue decided to use the arm machine.

He immediately went to reposition the arms, and instead of asking me to move, or saying, "Excuse me," he just moved the arm until it hit me, then glared at me until I moved out of the way. Now there's enough room where this should not have been a problem, but now I was pissed. "Is that how you say, 'excuse me,'" I asked him. He either ignored me or couldn't hear me because of his headphones. From that point on, he continued to move the arms right into my space. I think if he could have picked up the machine and positioned it so I would have hit it when I was doing sit-ups, he would have. I was so angry, which only encouraged me to work harder, knowing that Boy Blue and his steroid muscles couldn't keep up with me if he tried.

I'm still mad. The nerve. I'll take suggestions on how to deal with him if/when I see him again.

Today's WOD was "Barbara", which at the Puppy scaling, is as follows:
Five rounds, each for time of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Sit-ups
20 Squats

Looks easy. I guarantee it's not. If you don't believe me, try it. My times were the following:
1. 1:33
2. 1:27
3. 1:28
4. 1:38
5. 1:37

Last time, my times were:
1. 1:52
2. 1:43
3. 1:33
4. 1:48
5. -didn't know there was a round five :(

Keep in mind, last time I did reps of 4, 8, 12 and 15 instead of 5, 10, 15 and 20. So I have really blown my old times out of the water. I'm very happy.

I had posted a question on the Crossfit Forums yesterday about how to overcome asthma when you're working with high intensity workouts. I got some great responses, including some that I completely didn't expect. The issue is that I know I could push myself harder if my lungs didn't feel like they were on fire. My friend Kevin said it would go away with time and encouraged me to give it awhile because my body would compensate over time for the extra stress. Makes sense.

What didn't make sense to me (and I have yet to test it) was the response I got from one of the administrators. He explained that heavy weighted squats and deadlifts release adrenaline and stop the attacks. I suppose it's possible, but after I start hyperventilating, the last thing I feel like doing is loading up a bar and doing a few squats. I usually just sit down until I can breathe again.

The other option that several people mentioned was to take fish oil. Now I have to give credit where it's due and say that Tony has been telling me to take this stuff for awhile now, for a multitude of reasons. It seems to have so many benefits to it: high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, brain development, controlling bipolar disorder and... yes, the Mayo Clinic gives it a grade of "C" in treating asthma.

I was unsure about taking fish oil because of the size of the pills, but I was immediately presented with another solution (the forums are amazing). Fish oil comes in a lemon-flavored liquid that you can add to protein shakes! Is there anything that these guys can't find the answers to? I feel like throwing out random questions just to see what they can do.