That fine line

There is a fine, very fine, line between listening to your body and giving up. I'm not sure which side of that line I ended up on today.

After working on my school assignment, getting it posted, and eating a good breakfast, I headed out to Crossfit. I was a little apprehensive about the WOD considering the last 4 days, plus the fact that it was the coach's birthday and birthday WODs are usually brutal. But I was looking for a butt kicking so I went.

The WOD was as follows:
5 rounds for time:
12 bar over burpees
8 handstand push up
13 kb swings
82 double unders (2x singles)
---then---
31 clean & jerks


I got through the first round and thought I was going to die. During the second round I was positive I was going to die. During the third round I think I did die. By then everything hurt. All the jumping was getting to my knee. My shoulder was acting up. I was a mess. I got through the burpees, push-ups, and kettlebell swings for round 4, but I just could not do the jump rope. My knee hurt and I was dying. So I quit. I sat down and gave up. After a couple of minutes I did try to do the clean & jerks but I only got 8 of the out. I was pissed because I let myself quit instead of pushing through. But things hurt. So did I do the right thing by stopping because it hurt, or should I have pushed through a little more.

It's a delicate balance between when to push and when to back down. I think, today, I did the right thing. I have not done anything in 4 days and my body is full of crap. It will take time to recover from that, not long, but time. So while I am a little upset with myself that I didn't push harder, I'm basically okay with the WOD. I have to walk that line and sometimes I'm just not sure which way it went.