Q: Will CrossFit help me beat this cold? A: I wish.

I hope I have made it clear that I love CrossFit. It has been (and continues to be) very very good to me. Along with dialing in sleep and diet, my focus on CrossFit as my principal fitness regimen over the last 18 months has done a hell of a lot for my body composition and overall fitness.

But CrossFit is intense and demanding. All the reasons it kicks my ass and whips me into shape are all the reasons why I am not at the gym this morning.

Why? Because of this damn cold I am fighting off.

My experience with exercise and a cold back in the pre-CrossFit days was pretty simple: if the congestion was "above the neck," I would exercise; if it was in my chest, I would back off and rest. But I have not found that to be a successful strategy with CrossFit.

It all gets back to "intense and demanding." When I am beaten down, particularly when I am on a sleep deficit from waking up coughing ten or so times overnight, going into the gym and doing, say, "Fran" or "Helen" even at my 49-year-old's pace, is not terribly advisable. (And no one loves Helen like I normally do). Even worse is cranking out something monstrous that takes 20 to 30 minutes to complete. The long workouts tax the immune system -- and when the immune system is down and out already, it's a recipe for staying sick even longer.

So here I am, sitting in the kitchen, cup of coffee (black, no heavy cream while I am sick) next to me, as I type away while my gym is blasting out a workout. I am going to take more Mucinex, eat well (day 20 of a 30-day challenge) and try and get a truckload of sleep tonight.

I hate skipping a workout that I otherwise intended to do, but it's a smart move. And it increases the chances that I will be there tomorrow morning, clad in a ridiculous "costume" (of sorts), ready for the Halloween WOD. Well, hell yeah.

Man, I hate having to be an adult....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad