23 weeks ... PR, Baby!

My morning went something like this: 


23 weeks


9:00-11:00 a.m. - I switched offices at work from the 4th floor to the 1st floor.  Several 40-50+ year old women, most of them quite out of shape, offered to help with the oh-so strenuous task of moving some books, notepads, and stacks of paper onto a cart, wheeling the cart onto the elevator and to my new office, and removing those items from the cart.  I assured them that, although I know I look extremely fragile, I could handle it on my own, to which I was told "your back will hurt enough during pregnancy, you don't need to be lifting and moving a bunch of heavy things," and "you really shouldn't be bending down and picking things up."  Shockingly, I was able manage the move on my own, and just to prove how badass I am, at one point I even picked up 4 books off the shelf AT THE SAME TIME. 

12:00 p.m. - Noon class at CrossFit 515.  Max Clean & Jerk - 140# (PR by 5#).  I had cleaned 145# (on 8/28/11 and 10/30/11) and jerked 145# (on 9/19/11), but my max C&J had been 135# since June 27, 2011.  My plan was to stop at 135#, but that felt fairly easy, so I had to go for the PR.  I failed on the jerk on my first attempt at 140#, but my second attempt went up without much struggle.  I did resist the urge to go for 145#. 

Then, 3 minute amrap of 65# clean & jerks -- 44 reps 

A couple side notes:

First, there are only a few lifts that I personally feel comfortable still working up to a max, including power cleans, power snatches, anything shoulders to overhead (i.e. jerks), and bench.  Maxing out on deadlift is too much straining (I almost always get light-headed anyway on max deadlift ... and I figure lack of oxygen to me probably = lack to oxygen to baby), and squatting makes me nervous because your ligaments become looser during pregnancy (as in nervous I will injure myself, not that it would hurt the baby).  I'm much more careful and conscious of my form now, but I'm sure I'll get to the point fairly soon where my belly is so big that it's impossible to have descent clean or snatch form, at which point I would not go for a max. 

Second, offering to help a pregnant lady - with pretty much anything - is usually the right thing to do.  I realize it was very nice of these women to offer to help me move my "heavy" things.  And, although it's annoying, I get a lot of amusement out of the comments about what I should and shouldn't be doing when it comes to working out and lifting.  This is why I do not share the details of my workouts with non-crossfitters.

Max Clean & Jerk history:
9/2/10 - 95#
10/15/10 - 110#
2/13/11 - 120#
6/17/11 - 135#
12/2/11 (15 weeks pregnant) - 135#
1/30/12 (23 weeks pregnant) - 140#

117 days to go! 

Guest Blog Post -- Justin

This week's post comes to you from Justin. Thanks, Justin! You so fancy. 

Previously, the most exciting day of my life occurred on June 4^th, 2011.  That was when my wife, Lindsay, was silly enough to marry me. That day was soon to be replaced by October 20^th, when we heard our child’s heartbeat for the first time. Once again, my life was changed forever. Within the past year and half, my wife and I moved across the country, switched jobs, built a house, and got married. And now, we will be forged into parenthood in 4 short months. Life moves pretty fast!

In the middle of all that, we found CrossFit, thanks to Bobby and Jaime. Nutrition, health, and exercise soon expanded from a hobby to a fueled passion. Our entire ideology of fitness and training was flipped upside down, and we haven’t stopped working on improving since day one. Like others, I truly believe CrossFit has made me a better person, inside and out. The outside is a no brainer. Since I started, I have become leaner, stronger, and increasingly more mobile. Outer appearance and improvement is easy to see and since everything is tracked in CrossFit, easy to prove. These improvements are a shining benefit of CrossFit. I strongly believe CrossFit is the most time efficient, healthy, logical, and FUN way to achieve these results.

What is interesting to me are the internal improvements that result from CrossFit and, ultimately, what they stand for. It takes a special breed to be good at CrossFit out of the gate. Even our own superhuman Bobby said he had struggles when he first started. Different movements, new ideas of “intensity,” and lack of typical gym equipment certainly makes the initial experiences with CrossFit somewhat awkward. Combining that initial awkwardness with the Fran like feeling a WOD elicits and preconceived opinions of your own level of fitness is a recipe for a big slice of humble pie. In short, it’s uncomfortable. This is where the fork in the road lies and people have a decision to make. Do I risk failure, being uncomfortable, and not worrying about what others think? Or do I stay somewhere else that is comfortable, predictable, and only moderately beneficial?  I don’t think there is anything wrong with either option. The comfort zone is comfortable! There is little risk of failure, and it allows you to feel good about your workout by doing something that you excel in or are used to. I get it. Nobody likes to fail. But this comfort bubble that is created also restricts your growth as an athlete and person.

The people that decide to stick with CrossFit have immediately joined a family that has decided to expand their comfort bubble. Different people with different backgrounds, age, and experience get together and attempt to reach their goals through good old fashioned hard work. This family that has been established is just as motivated in helping each other as they are with improving themselves. This is evident in the constant support athletes provide others within the gym, whether it be cheering them on as they finish a workout or putting in some overtime and working on technique. It’s really an amazing thing to witness and be a part of. 

All boiled down, the values of CrossFit are amazing lessons that I will strive diligently to provide to my little one. 

Effort and Hard Work – Fast times and big weights are impressive, no doubt. But behind PRs and max lifts is the effort it takes to get there. I am much more concerned that people try their best and lay it all on the line day in and day out. Extremely uncomfortable, yes. Extremely beneficial, yes. If you give minimal effort in your workout you will get minimal results. The same is true outside of the gym. 

Integrity – There are no shortcuts in CrossFit. If you find one, you are doing it wrong. Standards are in place for a couple reasons. One, to get the full physical benefit of the movement itself. And two, to be able to compare apples to apples and compare your current self to your past self and others. By and large, CrossFit attracts those who would rather do an extra rep than risk themselves or others questioning later whether their workout was legitimate.  

Fitness and Health - The CrossFit community is first and foremost focused on making people fitter and healthier, things that I believe are greatly undervalued in our society today. CrossFit will undoubtedly be a part of our baby's life from day one, and we can only hope the importance of fitness and health will become ingrained at a very early age.

In short, I am thankful we will have an entire community of amazing people at CrossFit 515 setting the right example for our little guy or girl!

-Justin

122 days to go!

Yes, I can still walk

If you don't do CrossFit, I will probably try and avoid talking to you about the specifics of my workout routine while pregnant. Even a simple "yes" answer to the question of whether I'm still working out has gotten me sideways glances and concerned comments a few times. My favorite conversation on the topic went something like this:

Non-crossfitter:  You look great!  You probably haven't put on any weight yet. 
Me:  I've gained about 15 pounds, but thanks!
Non-crossfitter:  Have you still been working out?
Me: Yep.
Non-crossfitter:  Really? Well, I suppose you can still walk. Probably not run or lift weights or anything.
Me:  Yes, I can walk, but I still run and lift weights. I just can't go as hard as I did before.
Non-crossfitter:  Oh [look of concern]. Well, you still haven't put on any weight, so when you do your balance will be off and you won't be able to do those things or you might fall.
Me:  Yea, we'll see. 

First of all, I don't know why people who aren't doctors and have never worked out, pregnant or not, feel the need to give me advice on this. Second, I don't think my balance is going to be so off that I'll just start falling while working out (I'm sure Bobby would enjoy that though). And third, I do not consider walking (on my feet) exercise. Unless a pregnant woman is on bedrest, why in the world would she not be able to walk?! Walking is, of course, something we should all do. A lot. Everyday. But it's not exercise. Yet, most pregnancy information out there says something like "exercise is important during pregnancy." Good start. "Try walking 30 minutes!" Sigh. 

Walking that is exercise: 


[It is ok to be upside down while pregnant. From yoga websites and crossfitmom.com, the only reason I can find to avoid handstands is the risk of falling. I actually feel more balanced on my hands now, but I'll stop doing them if I feel like I'm at risk of uncontrollably crashing to the ground.]

I understand the need for the medical community to be conserative in their recommendations to pregnant women, but I do hope more research comes out about the benefits of doing crossfit while pregnant. I have no problem being my own personal case study on the topic. There may be no correlation, but so far, I know this: Justin and I both do CrossFit and eat paleo, and it was stupid easy for this whole baby thing to happen (no gross details, but as Justin says, he's batting 1,000). I've continued to do CrossFit and eat (mostly) paleo throughout my pregnancy, and so far I've had a very easy pregnancy. Maybe we're just lucky, in which case, I hope the luck doesn't run out come labor and delivery time.

Workouts at 21 weeks:
Tabata This: 37, subbed toes to bar for sit ups (row 5, squat 14, pull-ups 6, push-ups 6, TTB 6). PR 48
Wallballs & TTB: 5 rounds, 12 wallballs (14#), 12 TTB - 7:13
Split Snatch: 100#  (power snatch PR 95#, squat snatch PR 110#)
Elizabeth: 15:45 (PR 8:40 on Aug 3, 2011) 

127 days left!

It's a ...



Fist Bump

 BABY!  (Whew!)  We had our 20 week ultrasound this week, and all looks good with Baby V.  Pretty crazy being able to watch the baby doing his/her thing in there.  The baby must have known we were going to be doing filthy fifty in a couple hours, because he/she was resting up and didn't want to move around for us.  We stuck with the plan and didn't find out the sex, but I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's boy/girl predictions over the next 4 months.  (Bring on the yellow ducky onesies!)



Other milestones:

• The baby is about 7-8 inches long and weighs about 11 ounces now, which is pretty insane considering just a month ago it weighed less than one-third of that, about 3.5 ounces.
• I can feel the baby move.  It's often described as "flutters" at this stage, but only once have I felt something I would describe as a "flutter."  It usually feels like my stomach is jumping a little, like when you're on a roller-coaster.  And sometimes it's just a quick tap.   
• I busted my first zipper on my pants yesterday.  I guess that's what I get for not buying any maternity clothes yet.    

  

  Foot

Workouts at 20 weeks:

• Kelly - 37:51.  (PR 24:50 on 2/18/11)
• 10 Rounds of 15 dealifts (95#), 15 push ups - 17:08.  (previous time 19:33 on 10/11/10)
• Death by Pull ups - 16 rounds + 15 reps (previous scores: 13 rds +7 on 9/13/10; 17 rds + 12 on 3/10/11; 18 rds + 7 on 8/15/11)
• Cindy - 14 rounds + 10 reps (PR 15 rds + 11 reps on 2/21/11)
• Filthy Fifty - 28:41 (PR 19:08 on 6/29/11)



creepy 3D pic

Now, let's see that baby again:

 



Weight Gain Challenge: 20 Week Weigh-In

20 Weeks - halfway there!  Bobby and I stepped on the scale over the weekend to check our weight gain progress:

Lindsay

Starting/pre-pregnancy weight: 125 lbs.

Current weight: 140.2 lbs.
Current weight gain: 15.2 lbs

Target weight gain: 25-35 lbs.

Ideal rate of gain: 1 lb per week 

Goal weight: 150-160 lbs.

Bobby

Starting weight: 175 lbs.

Current weight: 187.9 lbs.
Current weight gain: 12.9 lbs 

Target weight gain: 20 lbs.

Ideal rate of gain: 1-2 lbs per 2 weeks

Goal weight: 195 lbs.

Current Leader: Lindsay

How has the added weight affected your workout performance?

• Bobby:  "I have really only felt stronger and faster.  I thought I would feel heavier and slower, but that is clearly not the case after PR'ing on Kelly by 47 seconds on Saturday."  Kelly time: 15:57. 

• Lindsay:  "I feel heavier and slower.  The weight I'm putting on is not muscle, so nothing about working out is easier.  Bodyweight exercises are a lot harder.  I can also use Kelly as an example: PR from Feb 18, 2011 was 24:50; rx'd time on Jan 6, 2012 was 37:51." 

How has your diet changed?

• Bobby:  "I've increased my healthy fat intake as well as protein."  (Translation: Bobby eats a shit-ton of almond butter and Power PB)

• Lindsay:  "I used to drink about 5 cups of coffee a day.  Now I maybe have one cup per week, and I drink orange juice in the morning instead.  I also used to have a glass (or two) of wine several nights per week.  Now I just smell Justin's wine.  Other than beverage consumption, the types of foods I eat hasn't really changed, athough I eat more frequently." 

With about 20 weeks left, it looks like I'm going to blow right by the lower range of my target weight gain (25 lbs).  Which means:  Bobby doesn't stand a chance.  Although he's happy with his weigh-in results, Bobby knows extreme measures need to be taken if he wants to win:  "I'm still debating getting pregnant myself.  Seems a little drastic, but if that's what needs to be done, it needs to be done.  I hate losing." 

138 days to go

19 weeks - Fran

I plan on taking Fran on a few times while I'm pregnant.  What better way to ring in the new year and (almost) halfway point in my pregnancy? 

Monday January 2, 2012, 19 weeks pregnant.  Time: 5:07.  Lots more rest time and coming off the pull up bar than usual with Fran.  1:33 slower than my PR ... still, very painful!

Fran History:

July 20, 2010: 8:54

Nov. 13, 2010 (Level 1 cert): 6:31

Jan. 29, 2011: 4:15

June 14, 2011: 4:07

July 23, 2011: 3:35

Sept. 23, 2011 [5 weeks pregnant]: 3:34

Jan. 2, 2012 [19 weeks pregnant]: 5:07

In a couple months, someone may need to remind (aka force) me to take her on again. 

Next time:  Bobby vs. Lindsay weight gain check-in.  Spoiler alert - it's not looking good for B. Noyce.

143 days to go!