Michelle Kinney's Quest for 2015
Follow my training and efforts to qualify for the CrossFit Games.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Road to Recovery
While I was looking forward to fun workouts and down time, dealing with a hip injury has lessened the restoration and enjoyment that I normally experience in the off season. It's no fun not being able to squat! This has also been a challenging mental test for me. I spent the entire summer trying to "tough out" this injury and do all that I could to compete at the Games. My mental gas tank is low and I know it. I struggle to muster the strength to keep my mind in the right place so that I can tackle rehab and, again, do everything in my power to get well. The last couple of months, I have either ignored the fact that I need to pursue treatment or been busy traveling and incapable of receiving treatment. And now here I am in October... Time ticking away. My hip still hurts when I squat past parallel and lunge but it has made quite a bit of improvement. After many discussions with doctors, coaches, and people that have actually had this injury, I've decided that I want to avoid surgery. So, I start prolotherapy treatment next week. I have heard some really awesome stories about it and am excited to finally be actively taking steps towards recovery.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
A Not Ideal Beginning
“How does your hip feel, “ asked Dr. Tabor as I nervously
answered my phone a few minutes before I had to coach my Fundamentals class at
CrossFit Chickasaw. “It hurts just like it did before Games,” I replied, “the
cortisone has definitely worn off.”
All I wanted was to hear the results of my MRI. I wasn’t
sure why he was asking how it felt. Maybe he was just being polite, but I felt impatient and just
wanted to bluntly just ask, “Is it torn?” It hurts. It always hurts. That fact
hasn’t changed since Regionals, despite every treatment effort. Let’s just
chalk that emotion up to the frustration of injury.
Dr: “Well, your labrum is torn.”
MK: “How bad?”
Dr: “It’s clearly torn.”
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
The 2014 CrossFit Games: Looking Back (Part6)
Sunday’s Events
The final day of the CrossFit Games is kind of bittersweet.
Your body and mind are totally drained, but you don’t want the experience to
end. One of my fellow competitors announced, “final day, ladies” and it hit me.
This is it. This could possibly be the last time I am fortunate enough to step
out on this stage. While I have no plans on choosing another path anytime soon,
I know that another appearance is far from certain. You never know what the
next year will hold. Above all else, I am proud that I can appreciate the
beauty of the gifts and opportunities I’ve been given. You better believe I
appreciated every moment, even those damn lunges…
Midline March
A punch in the kidney by Mike Tyson may have been a more
pleasant experience than the three rounds of 25 GHD situps, 50ft. handstand
walk, and 50ft. overhead walking lunges with 115lb. A lunge without any weight
hurt my hip pretty badly. I winced at the though of holding that heavy barbell
overhead and attempting to descend to the ground. At this point, the range of
motion in my hip was terrible. The surrounding soft tissue had tightened up
like I’ve never experienced before. I don’t think I could actually open it up
all the way. To add icing to this pain cake, Dave announced that the handstand
walk had to be done unbroken. Immediately my mind started worrying about not
breaking the walk and naively dismissed the fear of the lunges. I guess it was
good to have that mental distraction from my hip.
As the event began, I calmly completed the 25 GHD situps and
took my time before kicking up to the handstand. I think everyone in my heat
attacked the handstand walk immediately. I just chilled for a second, knowing
that I shouldn’t attempt it until there was zero dizziness and I had collected
myself. My strategy worked! I actually went unbroken on all three handstand
walks! It was a little nerve wracking to walk through the divots in the grass
but it didn’t prove to be a problem.
And the lunges… I clean and jerked the weight up. Snatching
seemed out of the question at the moment. I tightened my core and gave it go. I
could barely get my right knee to the ground. I felt a slight shift and quite a
bit of pain but it seemed to work. I got about a third of the way through my
first 50ft. and had to drop the bar. It was then I knew that this was going to
be a grueling fight between what my body wanted to do and what I wanted my body
to do. The weight of the bar crushed me. My shoulders were smoked and my right
leg kept failing when it was the trail leg. When the right leg was the lead
leg, it still hurt but at least I didn’t collapse like it did when it was
behind.
I managed to make it through the situps, handstand walk, and
a couple steps of the lunge in the third round before time expired, giving me a
tie for 21st in the event. I was happy that I made it as far as I
did and that I didn’t place too poorly in the event.
Sunday Afternoon in the Tennis Stadium
I have been here before. I have also been cut before, left
to watch the final from the stands. Again, an example of the special moments I
take in.
Thick ‘N Quick
More heavy-ass squats! Crap! Hip don’t fail me now.
The super high rope climbs with thick ropes were definitely
a fun little twist. Given the 165lb. barbell that awaited me, I didn’t rush
though the climbs too quickly. Climbing with my legs was a nice little change
of pace from Regionals as well. On my third climb, for some reason (a momentary
brain fart), I hit one of the inside beams that were just as high as the side
beam we were supposed to hit at the top of the rope. I descended a couple of
feet with a weird feeling about getting no-repped and decided to peek down at
my judge for approval. She shook her head pretty forcefully, indicating that my
actions were not okay. I laugh as I write this. It reminds me of my mother
shaking her head at me for my antics as a kid (and adult). It was if I knew I
had done wrong but was hoping that I could get away with it. Busted. So, I
climbed back up the couple feet and hit the correct beam before coming down. Whew,
I dodged a bullet there! No-repping a rope climb sucks!
I took my sweet time approaching the bar. Three reps were going
to be a stretch and I needed to make sure that I was ready to do it. I got the
weight locked out overhead and braced myself as I went to squat. My first rep
was pretty solid… painful but solid. I started to shake on my second rep as I
was coming up from the bottom and didn’t show control at the top for a no rep.
The bar came crashing down. I looked at the clock to find that I had about a minute
left to try to get another rep. I stared at the bar for 30 seconds and then
failed my power clean attempt to get the bar up. Ha… oh well. I tied for 17th
in the event with one more mystery event to go.
Double Grace
When Dave announced that the final event would be Grace, my
initial thought was that it was going to be fast and sting a lot, a nasty way
to cap off the Games. But, no… With less than a minute before go time, he said
we were actually doing Double Grace. My thought was now: that’s really going to
sting but let’s do this.
A test of will, as CJ calls it, was exactly what this event
was. And, will I have. Plus, I didn’t have to squat! The bar felt so light at
first, as I strung five reps touch-and-go. Awesome, only 55 reps to go! At that
moment, I realized that connecting reps like that was going to make me crash
and burn. The weight started to feel heavy too. So, I went with a fast-single
rep strategy. Pick it up. Drop it. Pick it up. Drop it. Just keep picking it
up. Simple.
Around rep 30, I heard the announcer saying my name a lot
and wondered why. Was I in the lead? Was I close to the lead? I had no idea. I
was surprised to find that I started to pull ahead and eventually won my heat.
Afterwards, Elizabeth Akinwale asked me how I broke up my
reps. I responded, “5 unbroken then 55 singles.” Her response: “Really!?” It
was a funny moment as we were directed back under the tennis stadium for
holding.
This was the only heat I won and my first piece of hardware
I’ve ever earned at the Games. I got third overall in the event which landed me
a 12th place overall finish for the 2014 CrossFit Games.
I shared a beer or three in celebration with some of the
competitors as we waited for the final heats to finish. We all laughed and talked about the things we
look forward to in the post-Games world that awaited us. For me, some of the
things that I look forward to are enjoying some lower key workouts, healing my
hip, traveling, playing outside, drinking beer, and moving to Denver.
Quest for 2015 coming soon.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
The 2014 CrossFit Games: Looking Back (Part5)
Saturday’s Events
Muscle Up Biathlon
While strategizing how I would break up the muscle ups, CJ
asked how many I’ve done unbroken. Unfortunately, I hadn’t tested that in the
last three years so I had no idea. I told him that and included the fact that I
had done two sets of ten separated by sixty seconds rest a couple weeks prior
to Games. We agreed it was safe to
assume that my max number was greater than ten but probably less than eighteen.
The game plan devised was as follows:
Set of 18: 12+6
Set of 15: 9+6
Set of 12: 7+5
And… Plan B, the plan that happens when Plan A goes out the window,
was initiated during my opening set of muscle ups. At rep six, I knew that
hitting another six reps would put me close to failure, so I decided to stay
conservative and break after my eighth rep. I realized that since my muscle up
sets were going to each be broken into three subsets, my runs needed to be
faster. So, I made sure to run a little faster each time. What actually
happened was:
Set of 18: 8+6+4
Set of 15: 6+5+4
Set of 12: 5+4+3
I completed all muscle ups but time expired as I ran towards
the finish line, tying for 9th in the event.
And now for some wise words…
Moral of the story is that your game plan doesn’t always
work out the way you envisioned, but being able to know you ability and adapt
to what is happening will allow you to still succeed.
Sprint Carry
This was the most fun of all the events of the 2014 CrossFit
Games. It was quick and involved new, odd objects: the rubber logs and magic
carpet sandbag.
Side note: The athletes called the sandbag a “magic carpet”
since it had straps at each corner, resembling that of a magic carpet. As if
we’d actually seen one before… Haha! We hoped we could ride it to the finish
line, but unfortunately, it didn’t have that kind of magical power.
Going into this event, I knew that I needed to unleash hell
on the carries, but not necessarily the sprints. I wanted to make sure that I
had enough gas to complete the carry portion, especially since the weights
increased each time. Lucky for me, after the 2013 Games, I purchased one of the
logs and used it occasionally which allowed me to be comfortable carrying
things and running with them. The log carry ate me alive last year! This time
it was different. I ripped all three objects off the ground, probably not in
the safest position, and ran like hell with them. I finished a surprising 6th
place in the event and couldn’t have been happier with that!
Speed Clean Ladder
Up until this point, I had barely given any thought to my
hip, but when Dave Castro viciously announced the speed SQUAT clean ladder, I
knew I’d be in trouble. Following the announcement, the athletes watched Demo
Team members Stacie Tovar and Jennifer Smith sprint through the five barbells
in the blink of an eye. I think my jaw dropped to the floor. They went so fast!
Warming up for the event, I started with an empty bar. No pain. Then to 95lb. No pain. Then to 135lb. FUCK. No other word quite captures how bad that pain was like that one. CJ gave me a look of concern. My response to him was, “This is going to suck. I’m just going to have to deal with it.”
Warming up for the event, I started with an empty bar. No pain. Then to 95lb. No pain. Then to 135lb. FUCK. No other word quite captures how bad that pain was like that one. CJ gave me a look of concern. My response to him was, “This is going to suck. I’m just going to have to deal with it.”
I hit my final warm up at 155lb and called it good. All I
wanted to do was clear the ladder within the time cap. I knew it wouldn’t be
fast, but I didn’t want to be the poor soul staring at the bar that I couldn’t
pick up. I’ve been there before and didn’t want to relive those feelings.
As the go signal sounded, I hurried to the first bar
(155lb.) and hit it. That weight hadn’t felt so heavy in a very long time. I
let the bar fall and moved through the 160lb and 165lb bars in a kind of quick
but controlled way. As I approached the 170lb. bar, I took a deep breath, set,
and pulled. I caught the bar out front, which caused even more pain in my hip
than catching it in the correct position. I fought to stand up but got it.
Whew! I took my time going to the final bar. I had just given close to 100%
effort on the last bar and needed a few seconds to recover. All the girls in my
heat had finished and all eyes were on me. I can’t fail this now, I thought to
myself. I took a huge breath, set, and pulled with all my might. I caught it
out front again. Piercing pain radiated through my hip, but I refused to let
the bar fall without standing up. My back was rounded and it was about as ugly
as ugly gets, but I got it. I rushed to the finish podium under the time cap,
getting high fives all around.
I was relieved to have cleared the opening ladder and didn’t
dwell on the fact that I finished 37th in the event. I did the best
I could and had to accept it. Reflecting back, it is a little bit discouraging
to have made so much progress with my strength over the last year and not be
able to show that with my performance here. I don’t know that I would have made
it to round two with a healthy hip, but I do know that I could have gone
faster. Ultimately, I played the hand I was dealt and I dealt with it.
Push Pull
Strict handstand pushups and sled pulls under the tennis
stadium lights capped off Saturday’s events. Again, running down the steps,
fist bumping all the cheering fans made me feel like a superstar. It will
forever be one of my favorite Games memories.
I never had worked on pulling sleds with ropes and I was cut
before the final event in the 2011 Games when they introduced the movement.
Luckily, I got to watch the first women’s heat on the TVs in the athlete area
to pick up on some strategy with the pull: sit on your butt, dig your feet in
the sandbag, and pull like hell, using mostly your back. I got this.
Handstand pushups felt strong. I attribute that to all my upper
body-only training I was limited to in my Games prep. I went unbroken in the
first two sets and broke my final sets into manageable ones, not failing a
single rep. The sled drag also went well with the exception of the brain fart I
had not unclipping the rope off the first sled. After I came off the wall on my
second set of handstand pushups, I turned and looked down my lane and
discovered that mine was the only lane without a rope lying across the floor…
Shit. I ran to unclip the rope and connect it to the new sled. Whoops! I didn’t
forget it again.
This event was so much fun and I was pumped to not have too
much trouble with any of the sled weights. I finished 7th in the
event and found my family in the stands and waved in excitement. It was
awesome!
Thursday, August 21, 2014
The 2014 CrossFit Games: Looking Back (Part4)
Friday’s Events
Triple 3
I was excited for Triple 3 event because I knew that I would
do well. Coming from a distance running background, I drooled over the
three-mile portion. The really cool thing about this event was that the run
mattered more than row or double-unders. Well, that’s my opinion anyway. I
trailed it solo the week before Games and finished in 39:07. CJ and I agreed
that I should go faster come game-time and I did, completing it in 37:39.
Motivation and competition create marvelous incentives for me to perform
better.
I rowed a comfortable
2:08.5 average 500m pace for the entire 3000m, allowing my double-unders to
break as few times as possible. I was relatively fresh for the run and knew I
had a lot of ground to make up. Passing competitors fueled more enthusiasm as I
ran my little heart out. I was around 30th position starting the
first mile and 9th after the first mile. I WISH I had gotten my first
mile split! I thought I had hit the start button on my watch but as I peaked
down at the first mile marker, all I saw was zeros. So, I hit start, for real,
at the beginning of my second mile. After that lap, I looked down and saw 6:40.
“Wow, I am cooking,” I proudly thought to myself. I tried to make a move on
Janowitz by speeding past her and trying to create as big of a gap as possible
but then she reciprocated and buried me. Turns out she has a track background
too. Ha! Foucher was in my sights but my mind kept telling me that she was
outside of striking distance. Oh, how the mind plays its tricks. Fortunately, a
random fan in the crowd yelled at me and said she was only six seconds ahead of
me. Now, my head said: Six seconds? I can make up six seconds over the course
of a mile. So, I went for it. I caught and passed my fellow and much-respected
Central East competitor. As I crossed the finish line, I hit the stop button
with 13:40 displayed on my watch. My last two miles were at a 6:50 average. As
a “has-been” runner, I will take it! I ended up finishing 5th
overall and couldn’t have been happier with the effort. I also couldn’t help
but be relieved in not finishing at the bottom. I don’t particularly like
getting my ass kicked.
Sleds of Death 1 and 2 (A more appropriate event name, in my
opinion)
Want to know the most painful event of the entire 2014
CrossFit Games? It was this one, without a doubt. That 95 pound sled was absolutely
brutal to push for 60 yards, let alone, do it again minutes later. My mindset
going into this event was to give that sled hell. This was one of the events
where I literally slap myself in the face a few times to psych myself up.
Heather Welsh knows what I am talking about. Ha!
Ahead of time, I fully accepted that it was going to burn like crazy but knew that I needed to keep my legs moving no matter what type of lactic, quad seizure (exaggeration) I was feeling. Though, I had no idea how bad that would truly feel until it happened. There was one point on Sled (of Death) 2 where I was pushing the sled from my knees. It was moving so I kept going with it for a little bit.
Any way. Any how. I was determined to get that piece of crap
across the line.
Afterwards, I couldn’t stand. I wanted to “walk it off” so
badly but I simply couldn’t get back on my feet because I was in so much pain.
Luckily, it wasn’t hip pain at all. I finished 7th in both.
21-15-9 Complex
Friday night at the tennis stadium is one of the moments
that I train for all year long. In fact, the energy and atmosphere give me
chills as I type this. Running down the stairs, fist bumping all the fans, and
performing under the lights on the biggest stage in CrossFit fires me up like
nothing else.
The barbell and pullup bar complex proved to be a really
difficult one for me. My bar muscle ups aren’t as efficient as they need to be
and it was exposed in this event. The weight on the barbell wasn’t super heavy,
but it certainly felt heavy given the sequence of movements. My deadlifts and
cleans were fine, but the snatches were ugly. I performed them in singles and utilized
the Kinney clean method (when power cleans get heavy, my catching position
becomes atrocious) of catching with the widest stance possible. It makes CJ
cringe every time. Whoops! It continues to be a work in progress.
At the last station, I knew that finishing inside the time
cap was at stake. My right hand felt wetter than my left and in that moment and
I remember thinking that was strange. It is kind of crazy the random thoughts
that go through my head during the events. I was able to squeak across the
finish mat with 15 seconds to spare and 26th place in the event.
Gazing at my right hand, I discovered that it had ripped. I never felt the pain
in my hand and I don’t recall feeling any hip pain either, for which I was
extremely thankful.
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