I LOVE BURPEES!

Seriously. I do. 7 minute amrap of burpees -- the CrossFit Games Open wod 12.1 would be the perfect workout for my non-pregnant self. I think I mentioned my 1,001 burpees for time experience (76:59 on June 18, 2011); I'm being completely honest when I say 1,001 burpees wasn't as bad as I expected, and I could probably be talked into doing it again (post-pregnancy). But you can't exactly flop to the ground on your stomach when you're 6 months pregnant, so burpees with a baby bump are a different story. I've found I'm still able to meet the movement standards (without crushing my baby) if I basically do a push up from my knees each rep. This makes burpees significantly harder and slower, but it works.

Workout 12.1 was about what I expected. For me, the main limiting factor was chest/shoulder fatigue (from the knee push ups), but it was still just a complete gut check of a workout. I'll admit, I broke some of my working out while pregnant guidelines -- No water breaks (kept moving the whole time) and collapsed to the ground when I finished (to my hands and knees, not my back ... somehow that's better, right?) Felt good to breath fire for awhile after I finished. My goal was 100 reps, which might have been a little overly ambitious, but I got close with 96 reps. I'm happy with it and definitely will not be re-doing that workout this week!

There tends to be a lot of complaining in the CrossFit community when in comes to the programming of the Open workouts, so I'll take a second to share my opinion on 12.1. A single modality amrap of burpees requires zero skill and tons of mental toughness; it's all-inclusive and a great measure of work capacity. Case in point, we programmed 12.1 at CrossFit515 yesterday, and every single person did the wod rx'd with scores ranging from in the 40s to 120. For all these reasons, I think it's a perfect first workout for the Open. Don't worry, 12.2 is not going to be an amrap of box jumps, followed by 12.3 being an amrap of double unders. That would be stupid. I do think the Open this year will test weightlifting stregth to a greater degree than the 2011 Open, but with 60,000 people participating, it makes sense to program the heavier weights and higher skill movements in the later workouts. So, no complaints from me on 12.1. I'm just looking forward to doing this one again when I can do normal, slam on my stomach burpees! Like this: 

Thanks for all the love and support, Justin :)

92 days left!

Blood Results

I posted last week about gestational diabetes and the oral glucose tolerance test. Here's the update:

My doctor was great about offering an alternative test, so I didn't have to consider a Plan B. Rather than drink the sugar poison, I took a fasting glucose test and HbA1c. All I had to do was have my blood drawn in the morning prior to eating breakfast. What did I eat in preparation??

Mmmmmmm, ribs :)

Here's how my non-medical brain understands these tests --

• The HbA1c basically gives a measure of your blood glucose average over the last 3 months. How? Glucose sticks to hemoglobin in red blood cells, creating HbA1c molecules, so the more glucose in the blood stream, the more HbA1c. The test shows a 3 month average because red blood cells live about 3 months (I also read 8-12 weeks).  An HbA1c of less than 5.7% is considered normal, 5.7-6.4% is considered pre-diabetic, and greater than 6.5% is diabetic.
• The fasting glucose test just measures the amount of glucose in the blood after a period of not eating. 70-99 mg/dL is considered normal, 100-125 mg/dL is considered pre-diabetic, and greater than 125 mg/dL is diabetic.

My results (drum roll) -- HbA1c was 4.7%, which the nurse described as "on the low end of normal," and my fasting glucose was 80 mg/dL, "right in the middle of the normal range." So, good results, and I was told to "keep doing what I'm doing." Like this?

Somehow, I don't think they would approve of me putting 105# over my head or eating bacon for breakfast every morning.

More importantly (and something you get asked about 100 times a day when you're pregnant), I'm still feeling great. Bigger, but great. Other than occasionally feeling like something is trying to crawl or pound its way out of my stomach (so weird!), I just feel normal ... but with a big belly.

Big day for the countdown -- double digits :) 
99 days left!

Lindsay > Bobby

Time for the 25 week weigh in results:

Uh oh, Bobby, you lost 2 pounds since the last weigh in 5 weeks ago. What happened?

Bobby: It was a fluke. I was sick that week and woke up vomiting several times the night before. I would estimate I lost about 15 pounds before the weigh in. It will make my win more dramatic.

Sounds like morning sickness. Did you, in fact, get pregnant yourself?

Bobby: I can neither confirm nor deny at this time.

Although Bobby sucks at putting on body weight, he has been putting up some very impressive weight at CrossFit 515 lately:  500# Deadlift, 415# Backsquat, 300# Front Squat, 275# Bench Press, 255# Clean & Jerk, 185# Snatch. Something (-------->) is obviously working. So Bobby, how nervous are you about testing positive during this year's Games season?

Bobby: The only thing I'm worried about testing positive for is too much awesomeness.  

Pretty cocky for someone that lost to a pregnant chick in a workout just last week. 

Bobby: No comment.

3 rounds

10 deadlifts (Bobby 315#, Lindsay 135#)
Double unders (Bobby 50, Lindsay 30)

Bobby 3:02
Lindsay 2:37

Less than 15 weeks to go. Better step it up, bro.

Enough about Bobby. How is this extra 20 pounds affecting my workouts? Body weight movements, especially pull ups, have gotten a lot harder lately, and my workouts are just a lot slower all around. The longer, light weight, grunt through it type workouts were my strength pre-pregnancy, so it's a little frustrating that those are the workouts I struggle with the most now. But, 25 weeks in and I'm still feeling great and doing most everything rx'd. Hopefully that will continue for at least 6 more weeks through the Open. 

102 days left! 

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUSTIN!!! 

Paleo and Gestational Diabetes

Pretty much every pregnant woman in the U.S. is tested for gestational diabetes between 24-28 weeks.  I was curious about what this would entail, so I did some research. Standard practice (including at my OB's office) is to take a glucose test at the 28 week appointment. The glucose test consists of drinking an artificially colored, artificially flavored drink containing 50g of raw glucose. You aren't supposed to eat within 2 hours of drinking it and are told to finish the drink within 5 minutes. An hour after having the drink, your blood sugar is tested. A blood glucose level of 140mg/dL is "failing," and you would then be told to take the 3 hour oral glucose tolerance test.

Women are often told to eat a high carb diet (150-200g) for at least 3 days prior to the 3 hour test.  For the 3 hour test, you are given a drink with 100g of raw glucose. Blood sugar is tested prior to consuming the drink (fasting blood sugar as you not to eat within 12 hours of the test) and every hour for 3 hours after taking the test.  If you fail the 3 hour test, you are considered to have gestational diabetes.

Treatment? Most pregnant women with gestational diabetes are able to keep their blood sugar levels in check with a low carb diet and moderate exercise. Sigh, facepalm.

So, we're going to pump me (and the baby) full of sugar to see how my body responds to something I never consume; if my body sucks at processing 50g, we'll see how I do with 100g; and if I fail that test, I'll be told to avoid carbs and sugar and go for walks. Sounds like modern medicine at its finest. 

I probably would have just assumed "well, I'm healthy and eat right, so I'll just suck it up and pass the 1 hour test no problem." But I started reading several accounts of paleo-eating, crossfitting moms-to-be failing the glucose tests and being told they have gestational diabetes.  Why?  Robb Wolf says:

Great, now let’s go to Bizzaro world (ours) and see how a lack of evolutionary understanding on the part of our medical professionals can derail an otherwise good situation. In the example above “paleo mom” has been eating great and if we ran an A1c (a measure of blood glucose over time, much more valuable than the OGTT or blood glucose measure) we’d likely find she has low, BUT HEALTHY blood glucose levels. She is fat adapted, not insulin resistant and can thus run many of her tissues on fat. That folks, is good. But what happens when she is given a bolus of raw sugar, much larger than anything she, or her developing fetus have ever seen? Well, she has trouble clearing all that sugar. This may give people a headache, but some of this mom’s tissues are “insulin resistant” but healthy because they run on fat.

http://www.robbwolf.com/2010/09/06/gestational-diabetes-what-constitutes-low-blood-sugar/

So rather than suck it up, I decided to talk to my doctor about it at my 24 week appointment this week. I was expecting to be told the test is mandatory and maybe be lectured on how I need to be eating whole grains. I was very pleasantly surprised by my doctor's response. She basically agreed that consuming the glucose drink would make me feel like crap, and (based on my diet and lack of other risk factors) she's comfortable with me not taking the glucose test. She has to run it by the other (5) doctors in the practice, but she sounded confident that they could offer an alternative, such as testing my blood sugar a couple hours after a normal meal. Whew!

[Update:  I'll be going in Monday (2/13) morning for a fasting glucose test and HbA1c.]

Considering the typical pregnant American's diet and that as many as 10% of pregnant women develop gestational diabetes, I can see why this method of testing makes some sense. However, in my common sense view, it is extremely stupid when applied to someone that eats paleo. I found this analogy funny:

"Miss, could you step up here," asked the seemingly nice and caring doc. "I want to test you. It's for your baby."

"Test me for what," asked the girl rather innocently.

"Dear, that's really not for you to understand. ...I want to ensure that you're sensitive and fully responsive to bee sting anti-venom."

"...Sensitive...? ...Anti...??? ...But I stay away from bees; I had my experiences when I was a silly girl; and now I keep away...no matter the honey."

"Didn't you read the literature? We told you to get 4-5 bee stings per day," the doc admonished; showing signs of impatience.

"But bee stings hurt! And worse, they make me feel bad for days. They itch; they hurt. It seemed the right thing to do to just avoid them."

"WELL HOW ARE YOU GOING TO HANDLE THEM, THEN!?"

And with that, the doc ushered her into the enclosure to get not the 4-5 stings she's recommended to get in a day, but 4-5 in the space of a few minutes, just to see how sensitive she'd be to the anti-venom; in the space of an hour.

"You didn't do too well," said the doc, conclusively. "I'm afraid we're going to have to re-run the test."

"Re-run the test!!!? ...You mean 4-5 more stings," asked the girl, pleading 'no!' by implication.

"Oh, no," replied the doc. "See, we're wondering if this was just a fluke, so here's what we're gonna do: over the next week, I want you to get stung 1-2 times per day, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5 and so on...for a week. Got it; understood!?"

"Oh no!"

"Yes, and then we'll see if you can handle 10 bee stings in a hour!" (he tried, but could couldn't resist letting off a tinge of excitement, at this point).

"And if I fail?" she whimpered.

"Oh, missy; you do not want to fail."

http://freetheanimal.com/2010/11/gestational-diabetes-and-paleo-you-horny-women-you.html

Some other helpful links on the issue:

http://www.robbwolf.com/2008/06/25/gestational-diabetes/
http://www.carbohydratescankill.com/1835/44-dr-mary-vernon-on-gestational-diabetes-its-causes-prevention-treatments

107 days to go!

Baby Weight Throwdown WOD

Last week, Bobby apparently wanted to empathize with me and challenged me to a workout:

30 second handstand hold
100 double unders
20 wallballs (Bobby 25 / Lindsay 14)
75 double unders
15 wallballs
50 double unders
10 wallballs
25 double unders
5 wallballs
20 (Bobby GHD sit ups / Lindsay toes to bar)

Bobby -- 30 lb vest, 8:50
Lindsay -- 23 weeks pregnant, 11:06

Things were looking pretty good for me until about 1 minute into the workout.  Maybe if the handstand hold had to be unbroken I would have had a shot.  Bet it felt pretty good to take that weight vest off, huh, Bobby?

There have been a lot of tough workouts that last couple weeks, but I'm still doing most of them rx'd.  Some movements that have come up lately -- like strict pull-ups, chest to bar pull-ups, rope climbs, and (kipping) handstand push ups -- are much harder, but I can still do them.

Other Recent Workouts:
3 rounds of Jackie -- 34:45 (regular Jackie PR - 7:38 on 7/26/11)
7 rounds, 7 front squats at 115#, 7 C2B pull ups -- 15:55
Back Squat (50-40-30-20-10 @ 55#) and rope climb (5-4-3-2-1) wod -- 18:43


Our precious dog, Bandit

Desforges -- 37:24

24 weeks, Baby Facts: 

- The baby can hear, taste, and perceive light and dark. Good to know he/she is already getting used to our barky dog acting like a psychopath. 
- Baby weighs over a pound now and will gain about 6 ounces each week (that's almost an ounce per day -- crazy!).
- 24 weeks is usually used as the point of viability. If Baby were born right now, he/she would have about a 40% chance of survival.  Over the next 2 weeks, the chance of survival increases by 2-3% each day.  Hoping he/she stays put for at least the next 14 weeks though!

113 days to go!