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!