Are We There Yet?!

I have made it through the first 20 weeks of this pregnancy. I'm officially halfway. Hah, its like saying you are halfway through "MURPH". There isn't a stench of motivation when you are fatigued beyond comparison with 10 rounds of "CINDY" and another mile run still breathing down your sweaty neck. But still, the show must go on.

I had a highly emotional day on tuesday. The slightest thought, comment, or even commercial will turn on the water works and send me into a blubbering mess. This is usually followed by a sloppy display of laughter at myself for becoming so soft.  One discussion in particular really got my wheels turning, and the tears flowing (yes, I cried over CrossFit, huff.) Scott and I began to weigh the pros and cons of attending Hell's Half Acre, Southwest Regional CrossFit Games Qualifiers in May. Like I said in an earlier post, I have a free ticket to compete in this event because I was a 2009 competitor. Obviously I can't compete this year and have to kiss my free pass goodbye along with all my PR's (personal records).  So I'm torn. I feel that even if I'm not competing I should be as much a part of this event as possible. But then again, is it worth the travel cost and physical draining on my pregnant body to watch athletes I've beat in the past break through the barriers? And that's where I sit...

All In A Day's Work

Monday was exhaustingly awesome! I coached my 5:30am class, my bootcamp a few hours later and then Scott, Carson and I headed to Camp Mabry to drop in on a class run by Deric (the guy that knocked me out of #1 Fran and Fight Gone Bad).  Its really cool to be able to experience CrossFit classes in other locations. Deric started us off with a 10 minute kettlebell warm up. Some might consider it a WOD. He led us through several of the better known KB tricks, swings, sumo deadlift high pull, and clean & press, but threw in a few new ones and some turkish get ups. I've only done turkish get ups a few times so I was skeptical to do this move while pregnant (starting position in laying on your back and it involves a lot of core strength.) My KB was only 12kg so I attempted a few with no issues. After warm up we started the WOD.

3-3-3-3-3

Clean & Jerk

Having not done a strength WOD in a few months I wasn't sure where my 3 rep max would fall. I've lost a load of muscle. I started with what I knew, 95 lbs from the floor to over head, standard jerk, with no issues. Feeling good I added 20 lbs. Three reps at 115 lbs and I could feel it in my lungs and shoulders. I had to use the Split Jerk to secure the 3rd lift in my set. I stayed at 115 through my remaining 4 sets. I tend to get Braxton Hicks contractions more often when I flex my abs or use my core. 

Once I finished I heard grunts from across the gym. I smiled and thought, "That's my baby daddy!" Two of a kind we were heaving around the weights. Traeger's chances of being a firebreather are highly likely. 

With just enough time to grab half my lunch I headed for a meeting with Dave. We met at a local high school to put a few of their athletic teams through a wod. Flying by the seat of my pants and on a half full stomach I demoed squats, push ups and then kipping and butterfly pull ups. We kicked their butts in a warm up and handed it to them in a body weight Fight Gone Bad style wod. It was amazing to work with such athletes. What an honor. I hope to see some of the girls this summer in the GirlFit classes.

Dave and I debriefed with one of the coaches and headed back to CFCP. I stopped to pick up Logan and have a 10 minute rest break on my mom's couch. What a day, and its not over yet. One more class to coach. Oh, and then there is the nightly mommy duty...homework, dinner, showers, reading and of course cuddle time. 

My day started at 5:00am and didn't finish until 8:45pm. I've felt sick all day today. I took the day off and fit in a little nap. My pelvic bone feels like its going to split in half and its snowing...in Texas. I'm so over winter. 

I just googled, "olympic lifting, pregnant" and have come to terms with monday's wod being my last heavy lifting day. Five months along, its time to slow down. 

Olympic weightlifter unexpectedly gives birth to boy in gym while lifting heavy barbells

"A 22-year-old Chilean female Olympic weightlifter, Elizabeth Poblete, who competed for Chile in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was in a Sao Paulo, Brazil gym training for a competition by lifting heavy-weight barbells last week.  On December 8th, as she picked up the heavy dumbbells, out popped out a bouncing baby boy, alive and thriving, even at 2.54 pounds in weight." Read the full article.

I also found this article interesting for another point of view, but I'm not taking any chances. 

"While I was on the US Bobsled team, I was squatting 360 pounds into my fourth month. I was part of a study with the United States Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committees because there was almost no research on this kind of training. For the elite athlete, the medical advice has always been, go with what feels good. For the weekend warrior, we need to be more cautious."  Read the full article.

Spontaneous Workout

Logan let me sleep in until 9am on Sunday. What a blessing! After making him breakfast I rushed off to HEB to beat the crowd. On the way home I opened my sun roof and soaked in the morning sun thinking, "If Heaven were a temperature it would be 75 degrees." All I wanted to do was wake Scott up (who had worked until 3am the night before) and drag him to the back porch to share the beautiful day with each other. But, I wanted him to sleep more.

After unloading groceries I needed a break. I sat on the couch and in less than 5 minutes Mr. Traeger, aka Bumper, was awake and kicking. BIG KICKS! I put my hand on my belly and felt the kick!! I jumped up and started running to wake Scott, but he was getting up and met me at the door. I took him to the couch and put his hand on the spot. Kick, Kick! Scott's faced lit up and I started crying.  I'm only 20 weeks, so early to be able to feel him, but even before we were married we would joke that we will bore the Superchild!

We decided to blow off house and yard work and go for a walk. Logan rode his bike and we followed behind on foot. The pace was pretty fast for a walk...at first. I was winded. It was a perfect sunny sunday wod. About 1 mile into it I felt my the round ligaments supporting my uterus pull. Ouch... Scott is planning a 10k fun run in the near future, and I was excited to walk the the first 5k with him. By the end of our walk I questioned my ability to complete a full 5k. I haven't been able to run in months due to ligament pain. I can snatch and clean & jerk 'til the cows come, but I can't freakin' run, What gives?! I seriously have dreams about running. I'm always pregnant in them and I make an attempt and it feels great, then I just take off with no pain. Running fantasies, how sexy!

After our walk we had time to tackle some tree pruning and brush clean up in the yard. There I was, waddling around the wheelbarrow with my garden gloves on, and loving every minute of it. Even the tight back and pulling ligaments.  I thought of growing old with Scott and doing yard work together when we are old and grey. Its who we are, how we were meant to be, made for each other.

After racking, repotting a plant and sweeping the front porch I walked into my dirty house and cringed. Throw me a vacuum, let's do this! I did about half the house before I ran out of gas. The loss of energy seemed to drop me to my knees. The thought of preparing dinner sent me into an anxious panic. Somebody help! Just then, a call from my mother-in-law inviting Logan and I to dinner (Scott was working.) Thank you Jesus! We showered and took off for dinner with the family followed by lights out. I'm not sure I even remember laying my head down on my pillow.

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Knowing I had followed a week off from workouts with only two WODs last week, I felt like I should do something on saturday. Hmmm, maybe those 150 kettle bell swings I'd been planning? It may seem like I'm highly motivated and feeling energized, but I assure you all I want to do with my day is lay on the couch and eat junk food. It takes all I have to muster up the energy to start a workout. 150 kettle bell swings just doesn't sound fun at any time.

CFCP hosted an olympic lifting seminar for our Saturday Masters Class. We brought in a know-it-all on oly lifts and he spent 3+ hours going over Snatch with our athletes. I watched for the most part, comparing his style to Mike Burgener's. Very similar, yet completely different. I jumped in on a few lifts and suggested the class do "Randy" as their WOD post seminar.

"Randy"
75 Snatch - Men's #75, Women's #55 (I used #45)

My time: 9:25

What I've noticed since I've started showing is that nobody critiques my form and nobody pushes me to keep going (they obviously don't want to rush me). I looked back at the pictures from the work we did on saturday and my form sucked. Hello! I still get by with a little help from my friends. Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I want to let my form go to shit! Help a girl out. Yes, the belly and the ligaments throw off my form in the bottom of the snatch, but someone could have told me I was pulling my head too far into the top.


I guess this took it out of me because I was asleep on the couch by 8:30pm. Logan woke me up at 9:30 to let me know he was ready for bed. Not really feeling too Supermom these days!

Phat Cindy

On friday morning I put on one of my "cute" crossfit t-shirts. I've always loved the tight fit of it and because its long it makes my new belly look cute too. Well to my surprise my cute, fit shoulders were gone! In their place was a pasty lump of skin. It was 5:20am, I threw a hoodie in it and walked out the door for my morning class.  Its just part of this process.

Later that day, with my shoulders lacking, I felt the need to do do some work on them. My WOD, 150 KB swings for fun. I figured this would be good for my core as well. My warm-up started with a 500m row and some push ups. Two rounds in, a member of CFCP sat on the rower next to me to start the WOD I'd written on the board.

Running Phat Cindy
AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 20 minutes
400m Run (500m Row as sub)
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Back Squats - #45 for the ladies (This is what makes Cindy Phat)

I quickly cleared my rower clock and started the wod with her. My pull ups were butterflies, but 10 lbs extra to my body weight you could call them weighted pull ups. My push ups were belly to deck and my squats were flawless. Four rounds later the 20 minutes was up. I felt so good I did a fifth round for fun. Maybe I'll do the KB swings next week.

On a horrifying note, my first pregnancy caused a massive varicose vein to run from my inner knee down to my ankle. After giving birth the vein went down, but never completely went away.  Can you imagine being 20 years old and having sexy grandma legs?! Its a cosmetic surgery and I never saw a need to take care of it. Here I am 7 years later, pregnant again with this gnarled, enlarged vein. My doctor suggested I buy the ultra, fire resistant, uber, super compression hose. Ha, ya right. I wear sweat pants every day and jeans are pushing the comfort level as it is. I'm not walking around in hose. Hope I don't regret that decision! This picture was taken on a good day.

Big Announcement

We had our sonogram today. Scott, Logan and I all sat in the room anxiously awaiting the announcement. "Its a Girl!" With that Scott and I smiled at each other and gripped each other's hands. We sat in silence while the sonographer went through her routine of measuring all the baby's organs. I was thinking weird thoughts like, "maybe she is wrong. No, this is God's plan. A baby girl was meant to be, but this is Scott's last chance at a boy and carrying on the Isbell name. But its a girl and its what we were destined to do together." Obviously I was a little disappointed. Then out of nowhere, "OH! I WAS WRONG!" Before she had even finished the statement I saw the boy parts flash across the screen. Tears welled up in my eyes. Scott and I gripped even tighter. I didn't trust her, "Are you sure?! Show me again." Twenty minutes passed before our baby unfolded and flashed us his man parts. This time we got the picture. We even asked the sonographer to go back and triple check.  There was no mistaking it, Scott and I are having a SON!

Traeger Wayne Isbell weighs about 12 oz and looks beautiful on film. The doctor said he is a perfect growing baby.  Scott, Logan and Mekenzie all have red hair. The question now is, what color will Traeger's hair be?

HELP! I'm Under Attack!

Huge growth spurt over the last weekend. My belly, boobs and butt seem to have doubled in size. I've been excited about growing up until now.  I feel like my boobs are attacking me from all angles. As aesthetically appealing as that is, they are uber uncomfortable. I want my fit body back!

Getting back into the workout routine was pretty tough today, but it had to be done. I was starting to get stiff all over. Being sore from working out is one thing, but being sore from doing nothing just sucks! The sciatic nerve is staring to scream. Not sure if its the lack of working out or the pressure from the baby.

Today's WOD
4 Rounds
500m Row
15 Wall Ball - #20
15 Good Mornings - #45
15 Squats

I didn't care to keep the time on this one. It was harder than I expected. The time off really hurt me. Lesson learned.

Tomorrow's post will be huge! Don't miss it!

I'm Sure She'd Make a Really Excellent Mother

Maybe its the weather, but I'm willing to bet its the baby that has got me feeling the urge to hide out in our bat cave. With the blinds shut tight, the kids away and my husband at work all I can think about is closing my eyes. Who am I kidding, I think about closing my eyes all day long. The thought of going to bed at night makes me a little giddy. That being said, I haven't worked out all week. Even after attempting to buy a bathing suit the other day, I'm okay with taking a week off. (Bathing suit shopping will be another blog...YIKES!) As of now I've gained 8 lbs. I'm right on track.

Aside from extreme exhaustion, some of the other symptoms I'm experiencing at this point are heart burn, acne all over my body, extreme urge to cry over anything (happy or sad), the feeling that my pelvic bone is determined to rip in half, a little nausea, loss of mental focus, odd dreams, loss of appetite with an increased food intake, and huge boobs that spill into my armpits. Pregnancy is beautiful.

With Valentine's Day right around the corner I'm happy to have the time to volunteer for Logan's class party.  Logan and I have been working on his Valentine's cards to his classmates and his mailbox so he doesn't miss a single love letter from an admirer. I live for the art projects. Its a great opportunity to pull out the ole glue gun and puff paint. We tried to "man up" his mailbox with some blue material, but the artist formally known as Logan is a huge fan of glitter glue.  Can you blame him? And just so there are no concerns about his masculinity, he's no stranger to rolling in the mud and releasing vulgar smells.

Happy Valentine's Day to all the Redheaded Loves in my life. 

Over Doing It

Friday I asked Scott to come up with a workout for me. I told him my arms were sore from Fran and snatches so I needed a leg burner. Without prescribing weight he text me, "21-15-9 back sqt, dl, weighted step ups." I took off from there. I know from a few weeks ago I can do 155 lb deadlifts with out any issues. Games weight on deadlifts is normally 185 lbs in a met-con so this is taking it down to my pregnant level. The back squats were sketchy. CrossFit Mom suggest 45-65 lbs. Why I thought I could do 145 lbs is beyond me! I dropped it down to 135 after a lift or two.

Here's how it ended up:

21-15-9

Deadlifts - #155

Back Squats - #135

Weighted Box Steps - #20 medball, 20 in box

Time - 30+ minutes

The deadlifts felt great. The back squats went in groups of 4's - ROUGH. The step ups were just fun.

Halfway through I started texting people asking if #135 was safe, by the time I finished the wod the answers came in. NO! My abs aren't strong enough at this point to support that weight. A few hours later, halfway through coaching the 6pm class it felt like someone hit my light switch. I went from energized to lifeless in seconds. Knowing I over did it with my workout I really started to worry. On top of that I hadn't eaten in a few hours and was beyond starving. After class I laid on a therapy bed and asked Scott pick me up. We got BBQ to-go and I scarfed down my banana pudding in the truck. I needed the quick carb slap in the butt!

I've felt the baby move today and my soreness is minimal. Nothing feels out of whack so I'm okay with the workout I did, but I don't think I'll try it again unless I'm trying to induce labor. 

I Love My Oly Shoes

Last night I attempted double-unders and after 3 felt some major pressure on my bladder. Forget that idea. I'm not peeing my pants for this. I start doing the Burgener Warm-Up with a 25 lb bar. I still had no idea which workout I wanted to do, but next to me was a loaded 65 lb bar. Temptation struck. In my Nikes I attempted a full snatch. The moosh of my shoes sent my body and the bar all over the place. I thought up a quick wod and changed into my favorite shoes ever...My Oly Shoes! These babies reap a strict, solid landing under the bar. The sound they make as they hit the floor at the bottom of the snatch is like music to my ears. I attempted my next snatch and it stuck. Love it!

The WOD
3 Rounds
250m Row
10 Snatch - #65
Time - 17:34 I'm not sure why I even keep time at this point.

Olympic lifts make my heart go pitter patter. They are my strength and I'm going to be very sad when my belly is too big to safely get the bar around it. Guess I'll have to settle for dumbbells.

Below is a video of Olympic winner Natalie Woolfork-Burgener. She is the daugther-in-law to Olympic weightlifting Coach Mike Burgener. If a dream vacation were in order for us Isbell's, it would probably be a week in Mike's Garage learning to lift like Natalie.  I wonder how much her training will change when she is pregnant?





On a sad note, I was bumped from my last number 1 spot on the leader board yesterday. Deric kicked ass and took names on Fight Gone Bad beating my 333 points with 432. Ouch!

A Thing for the Girls

FRAN
21-15-9
Thrusters - 65 lbs
Pull Ups

Time 2/3/20 - 12:06

It took me all week to find the motivation to work out, but FRAN was knocking on my door. That and I got my heart rate monitor and had to test it out.

Every CrossFitter has a story. Its that quick go to event you tell to help new comers or non-CrossFiters understand why you wake up at 5am for an 8 minute workout. CrossFit is my passion. Beyond my family CrossFit isn't just CrossFit...its everything.  That being said, I have a lot of stories, but my go to event is Fran.

I started CrossFit in the fall of 2007 2x a week. My athletic abilities went no further than high school dance team and since those days I had had a baby and dabbled in the boring Gold's gym style workouts. By January 2008 I had taught myself kipping pull ups. My coach at the time invited me to a workout with him and his buddy, another affiliate owner. The workout was Fran and being new to CrossFit I had no idea what a thruster was or why this workout was named after a girl. I watched the two guys do the workout then fling themselves to the floor gasping for air after just a few short minutes. Then it was my turn. I used the prescribed weight of 65 lbs for females. 10 minutes later I was struggling to get my last pull up over the bar. After 4 attempts one of the guys came to give me hand. I snubbed it off and gutted out my last pull up Rx.  I walked away not understanding what I had just done, not knowing it was the first of many milestones through out the next 2 years.

In June of 2008 I attended my CrossFit level 1 certification in California. The workout on the first day was none other than Fran. By this point I was doing CrossFit several times a week and had been strictly zoning my crappy food for 6 months. The man of my dreams, Scott, and my CrossFit Hero, Jolie Gentry, stood in front of me cheering me on. I took a personal record (pr) on Fran in 6:24.

By October 2008 I had switch to Paleo Zone with my diet. Quality and Quantity. I took on Fran in a casual corner here at CFCP. There was no hype, a small crowd of people warming up, and the clock. Again, a PR with 4 minutes and some change.

April 2009, just before Qualifiers, I nervously took on FRAN with the camera rolling. After 3 minutes and 53 seconds I threw myself to the floor gasping for air. I completely understand the intensity of the coaches attempting this back in January 2008. I too had hit that point.

Just before the CrossFit Games I took on Fran again with no improvement, a scary thing when you are about to compete against the fittest men and women in the world. I believe I actually did it in 3:55...OUCH.

BUT, By November 2009 I reclaimed my spot on the board  with a Fran time of 3:49. And that's all she wrote.  (I was bumped down by Deric last week. Chest to bar Fran in 2:41...WOW!"

Last night I took on Fran with a heart rate monitor, the video camera and an obvious baby bump. After doing some research I've found that heart rate monitoring is a little less important than it used to be during pregnancy. There is no rule stating you need to keep your heart rate with in a certain range, but I'm not sure they wrote that with CrossFit in mind. I found when I had the natural urge to rest is when my heart rate hit 160-170 bpm.  Listening to my body seems to be the best rule of thumb.  In my Games training I learned to resist the urge to rest, but now its time to respect that urge. Scott was there, giggling at Baby Bumper's appearance more than my performance, but also to make sure I knew when to stop. My time was safely 12:06.  I had some solid butterfly pull ups my first round, but switched to kips when my deconditioned calluses wanted to give out.  Butterflies really fly. They are so much faster. I'm so glad I have taken the time to learn them and I can't wait to hit my next Fran PR. The goal is 3:30 post baby.

Side Note - I can now feel my belly when I row. Its not in the way yet, but it won't be too much longer.

Rekindling An Old Flame

Scott and I had full intensions of taking on FRAN saturday, but it was our first (and one of our last) weekend with no kids in a long time. (One of the only perks of sharing our kids with the exes is the occasional reminder of life before kids. As many parents out there know, it makes you feel young and frisky.) So we blew FRAN off for baby furniture browsing, running shoe shopping, lunch, napping, and a nice dinner out. He wore a button up shirt, I wore perfume, we basked in "date night".  I even stayed up until 10:30pm, but it felt like 2:00am to my pregnant hormonal body. I was starving by 7:30am and found myself too weak to sleep, if that's possible.  This made accomplishing anything on sunday completely impossible.

Monday came quick and with it a new goal, getting my family back on paleo. I think my entire house is pregnant. For the first time in months I was able to get through the grocery store with out crying on the cracker isle as I scrambled to open a box of saltines. I did my well known route around the perimeter of the store dipping into the isles only for a few snacks for the kids.  The skies opened and the angels sang as I entered the produce department. I was ready to reclaim my relationship with the vegetables. Zucchini, bell pepper, onion, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, avocado, and squash I have missed you. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me? 

I'm happy to report that things are currently going very smooth between the veggies and me. So much so, that my husband has happily jumped in on every meal with us.