Landon goes to the CrossFit Games

Landon is 7 weeks old today, and he's already started traveling the world. Two weeks ago, we packed (a lot!) and headed out to California to watch my mom, Shelley Noyce, compete in the 55-59 masters division at the CrossFit Games. Landon was a little trooper the whole trip and slept right through every flight (with his dad and uncle), as well as most of the competition.


As you would expect, the spectators at the CrossFit Games are a fit crowd, including a lot of pregnant women and new moms. I always think it seems like there are more pregnant women at CrossFit events than other places, and the Games was no exception. The age demographic of many crossfitters probably has something to do with it, but my theories are that (1) crossfitters are generally healthier and more fertile than the rest of the population, and (2) there isn't as much "is she pregnant or fat?" speculation. In any event, I assume many of these women are continuing to do crossfit throughout their pregnancies, which I hope may eventually help change the accepted recommendations about what women should / should not do during pregnancy.

Go, Grandma!

Crossfitters much more influential than I am are leading by example. Heather Bergeron competed with her team, CrossFit New England, this year just 9 weeks after delivering her son on May 11. Here she talks about CrossFit and pregnancy. I completely agree with everything Heather says in the video, especially about diet and nutrition while pregnant. Mainly, it's not any harder to eat healthy when you're pregnant than when you're not pregnant! And it's more important than ever to do so.






Seeing Heather ready for competition at that level so quick after having her son (is insane and) motivated me to get after it when we returned from California. So I've been taking advantage of not having to go back to work until August and spending more time at the gym. Luckily, Landon loves hanging out with all his friends at CrossFit 515 and has no problem sleeping through the loud music and weights dropping.










In the past week, I power cleaned 135# (PR is 145#) and squat snatched 100# (PR is 110#), and I feel like I'm able to push harder through workouts. I'm back to loving burpees, but running and box jumps (which used to be strengths of mine) have gone way down hill. I've attempted muscle ups a couple times ... but failed. I still have a ways to go to be where I was pre-pregnancy, and while it's frustrating, it's also kinda fun seeing a lot of progress quickly, like being new to CrossFit all over again.

Here's a video of me doing an online competition workout, CrossFit Believe online competition "unbroken wod":

For Time: (all must be unbroken)
50 Double Unders
40 Deadlifts (95#))
30 KB Swings (35#)
20 Pull-ups
10 Front Squats (95#)

My time - 4:28

Post-Baby Weight Loss and Benchmark Workouts

Landon is just over 3 weeks old, and other than adjusting to an unpredictable sleep schedule and never getting more than 2 1/2 hours of sleep at a time, I'm pretty much feeling like my normal non-pregnant self and have started to get back into a regular workout routine.

Post-pregnancy weight loss summary:  In the 3 weeks I was pregnant following the final weigh-in, I didn't gain any more weight. I weighed myself when we arrived at the hospital and was 165#. When I left the hospital two days later, I weighed in at 150#. The following week or so, I lost about 1-2 pounds per day and was down to 140# about a week and a half after Landon was born. The weight loss slowed after that, and I'm currently about 135-138 pounds (depending on the time of day). I'm still about 10# heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight, but I don't really have a weight loss goal ... I just want to be good at CrossFit again. (And Bobby is happy to let me know that currently I am not good at CrossFit.)

I didn't ask my doctor many questions about what I should / should not be doing as far as working out because I figured I wouldn't listen anyway. She told me not to lift anything heavier than Landon in his carseat for 6 weeks ... ha, ok.  I'm just following the same philosophy as when I was pregnant and listening to my body. Within a week of having Landon, I started going on walks, and 11 days after he was born, I did a workout with rowing, pull ups, and push ups. I felt super light doing the pull ups and push ups, but my body also got really tired really quickly.

My plan now is to do a bunch of benchmark and hero wods over the next few weeks to get some times to beat. Here are the ones I've done so far:

Helen, 6/22/12 -- 11:39 (PR 8:29 on 7/9/11)
Jeremy, 6/25/12 -- 5:43 (PR 4:40 on 5/3/11)
SQT, 6/26/12 -- 3:58
Jackie, 6/27/12 -- 10:30 (PR 7:38 on 7/26/11)
Cindy, 6/29/12 -- 14 rounds + 5 reps (PR 15 rounds + 11 reps on 2/21/11)

It feels weird, and a little scary, being able to push myself hard again, and I'm realizing it will be harder than I thought to build back that mental toughness. This week, I plan to include some longer workouts and workouts with heavier weight.

Landon and Uncle Bobby

As for being a new parent, I'm loving it.  Justin and I are convinced we have the cutest baby ever, so we asked Bobby whether we are just delusional parents or if he really is as gorgeous as we think he is. Uncle Bobby's loving response was:  "Babies r not gorgeous, they r pale little blobs of fat, there r only ugly babies and just babies, Landon is just a baby." He then changed subjects to the Magic Mike premier and his crush on Channing Tatum ... but I'm pretty sure he really thinks Landon's the cutest baby ever.


25 days old :)