“Triage!” Thurs, Apr 14
Any volunteer on the National Ski Patrol could tell you the hardest part of the job was passing the Outdoor Emergency Care Technician exam every October as you anticipated the coming ski season. The simulated scenarios were so realistic. But the toughest of them all was the grand finale, a triage. Upon entering a “scene” you quickly had to divide the injured into three categories:
- Those who are likely to live, regardless of what care they receive;
- Those who are likely to die, regardless of what care they receive;
- Those for whom immediate care might make a positive difference in outcome.
For some reason during the Wednesday morning class those memories came back so vividly. I was on the ski patrol for years and nothing ever came close to being as difficult as putting 11 excited women (oops, sorry Eric, I meant 10) through the WOD “Linda.” This is a WOD that requires a considerable amount of planning when you have limited equipment. This is a WOD that is more technical than some. But this WOD has three exercises that we do on a regular basis. And we review them often.
Just like hitting the slopes, when you buy your ticket there is a “Skier’s Responsibility Code” you are expected to follow. It seems we need a short review of how it works in a box without snow.
1. When the coaches are reviewing the movements before, during or after the warm up PLEASE listen. These are meant to guide you through the workout. When there is too much chatter valuable information gets lost in the abyss.
2. Keep good records of your benchmark WODs in your folders and refer to them.
3. If you are unsure of what weights to use set up a bar and start experimenting. A coach can make suggestions based on your one rep max’s but ultimately you need to develop the confidence and decide how much weight is too little or too much.
As coaches when the box is crowded we simply view these workouts in a triage sort of way. We cannot be by everyone’s side at every moment. We do our best to scan the room and give our attention to the athletes “for whom immediate care might make a positive difference in outcome.”
Thursday’s WOD: 6 rounds for time;
50m run
50′ walking lunges
10 DB push press (each arm)
50′ walking lunges
20 sit ups