Ruth Anderson Horrell: My First Week in LA

What a challenging first 5 days in LA!

I arrived Sunday and had the day off training on Monday. Tuesday I worked out at at DogTown with Lindsey Valenzuela and Sam Briggs.

Wednesday we travelled out to Venice and Santa Monica, which was a rest day. We did a light ocean swim and a light run on the boardwalk then played at Muscle Beach working through a short obstacle course on the outdoor bars and rings. 

On Thursday, it was July 4th holiday, and we were back at DogTown. Our wod was 21-15-9 snatch (43kg), handstand walk in meters. It was a great WOD, but, with my body still being a bit out of wack from flying, I ended up popping a few ribs out during this workout. I finished the WOD and felt discomfort in my upper thoracic area and that was followed by a hot flushing feeling and pain when moved. At the time I thought I had slipped a disc!

Fortunately I was able to be seen by Dr. Lindsey Mathews, who was able to settle my mind at ease that I had just shunted some ribs out of place. My thoracic spine has had it’s issues. Moving ribs have been an issue for me for a while, since I first injured them rolling a large stone up my rib cage. My thoracic extension is limited and something I have to constantly work on.

I was able to work out Friday with plenty of icing and some anti-inflammatories, but the enjoyment was short lived as we did a hero WOD. But I was confident of the workout “Bulger” ( 10 rounds of: Run 150 meters, 7 Chest-to-bar pull-ups, 135 pound Front squat- 7 reps, 7 Handstand push-ups). However, once I took off, something was going wrong. Each round, the discomfort increased and I decided I couldn’t wait I until the end of the WOD to have a drink. In fact, I just wanted to jump in a pool! So I had Dusty grab me a drink.

Then all of a sudden, by the 7th round I started feeling disoriented, I was extremely hot and I started losing control of my body. Confused by my inability to jog the 150m run, I was overheating. I finished the WOD after taking what seemed like eternity to finish the last 3 rounds. I felt better as I cooled down, rested and drank some electrolytes. So I had lunch before completing a short aerodyne WOD.

I have experienced heat stroke before, but this seemed quite dramatic compared to previous times.

Challenging is really an under statement this week. The shock to the system has been huge. Jetlag, sore joints from flying, training in temperatures 25 degrees Celsius hotter than what I have been in, with some of the best athletes in the world.

But this is why I am here. The CrossFit Games should be a breeze after this!