Salt In The Wound

I’m realizing that I’m in an abusive relationship with my skin.  We’ve had some rough times.  We’re hot and cold.  Our families do not approve.  We’re back together right now.  We’re a passionate, fiery duo but we’re meant for each other so we’re making changes and making it work.  I left town with guns blazing and the wind in my hair but recently came crawling back with with benzoin tincture in my hands and a promise on my lips.  “I’m a changed man.”  Me and my skin, we’re going to make it this time.  This time is going to be different. . .

Saturday Squall is when my coach pairs me off against a man who is a friend, an in-house rival, and a notorious chauvinistic womanizer.  Squall for us is a a head-to-head competition designed to turn our enormous egos into fuel.  It keeps us sharp.  No one can mentally terrorize us like we can to each other.  He has a habit of innocently asking me “how old are you?” before we compete.  Out of respect for his chauvinistic privacy, I will refer to him as Shmryan “Shmollywood” Shmandrews. We have a well established rivalry where he wins some, and I look really muscular with my shirt off in others.  Anyway, this past Saturday me and my fresh, unblemished skin walked into squall that turned out to be a hand tear buzzsaw:

SQUALL #2
75 DU’s
hand stand walk across gym
30 power snatches
“all good thus far”
3 rounds of 10 chest to bar pull-ups/ 12 wallballs
“C2B’s can be tough but my super-amazing gymnast tape job holds up great and my baby soft skin is still intact.”
3 Rope Climbs
“Dang.”

3 rope climbs isn’t really a problem. I did 11 touch and go last week, but after those C2B’s and the rushed tempo of no recovery between climbs, the three rope climbs became “a problem.”

I’d typically tape my legs, my shoes, my face, etc. for this sort of wod but the events were announced just before we began and I foolishly dove right into it rather than slow down the momentum of the moment for my adhesive ritual.

I had a fast tempo going with butterfly chest to bar pull-ups that gave me a big lead on Shmryan heading into the final 3 climbs but he is very tan and he was gaining on me fast.  The first guy to touch the ceiling on the 3rd climb would win this squall.

I took off on the 3rd climb before he did.  I had to.  He is quite tan after all and a fast climber.  I began that climb with enough energy in the tank to make it to the top but not quite enough to make a controlled descent back down.  The result:

I get to the top before Shmryan does and reach for the ceiling and my hard earned victory.  I miss- I miss a freaking wall!  I fall part of the way back down the rope.  His small strong hands and leathery skin are nipping at my heels.  I struggle back up to the top, take another desperate grab at the ceiling and promtly fall 17′ to the ground, leaving a good amount of arm, leg, and hand skin on the rope.  I’m not sure if I even touched the ceiling but the judges gave it to me.  For the moment my burning lungs and gaping flesh command my attention.  Squall #1 ended with a controversial missed rep by Mr. Shmandrews and my victory.  Squall #2 ended with an equally murky conclusion.  Until next time my mute, hairless, leathery friend.

That night I went to Foundations Crossfit’s holiday party and got some interesting hand recovery advice from trainer Adam Wenzel.  Apparently, it is a commonly held belief in the gymnastics community that soaking hand tears in super-saturated salt water causes the skin to grow back strong and with the callus already in place.  I had several nasty tears available to test this theory and that’s how I’ve spent the last few days.  I chose the right hand as the salt dip hand and the left hand as the traditional neosporin/soap and water control hand.  The right hand had the bigger and deeper tear so if it healed better than the left, this salt soak concept would be validated.

PICS!
Here’s a pic of the poor digits immediatly after I removed the bandages when I got home on Saturday.

This poor bastard is my right hand.  This is The Experimental Group= salt soak 3x/day

left middle finger:  the smaller tear of the two.  I will refer to it as The Control Group=  neosporin+soap and water This salt soak concept comes from Coach Sommer of Gymnasitic Bodies .  It works like this: Step 1) Make a super-saturated salt mix Fill a small glass of warm water with so much salt that it no longer dissolves and their  is a small pile of undisolved salt in the bottom of the glass. Step 2)   Put your ripped finger into that glass and keep it there for 10-20 minutes. Repeat 3 times per day

24 hours later.  Sunday, Day 2.  This photo is taken immediately after a 20 minute salt soak on The Experimental Group which is the miraculously normal looking digit on the right.