15 Weeks Pregnant: CrossFit Open Workouts and Registries

First update! Fair warning, I think these will all fall one week behind (I’m currently at 16 weeks). There’s just no way to really do it in the same week. Well there is, but I enjoy having a life and plenty of time to be reflective, so deal with it. This way instead of delivering multiple posts on various areas, I can just recap the week of developments, workouts and how I’m feeling, as well as respond to any questions you may have.

I love this picture because you can see my nutritionist off to the left cheering for Amanda and I. He does amazing work, and despite frustrating him with some of my less than great eats, he hasn’t totally written me off yet.

The CrossFit Open

I’ve actually received a few questions about how I’m handling the Open this year. As much as I wanted to, I decided not to sign up. I know a lot of pregnant women still sign up, many even in late pregnancy or immediate postpartum, however I know a few things about myself:

1. Signing up for contests/competitions make me extremely competitive, and I really didn’t want to have to worry if I was pushing too hard, or reversely beating myself up for knowing I could have done better. Just not worth it this year.
2. With Neil’s racing schedule, I didn’t know if I was going to be around every weekend, and just didn’t want the added stress of trying to get the workout in if I wasn’t feeling great (still dealing with fatigue).

The good news is, you don’t have to be signed up to do the workouts, and I’ve done every one. I’ve scaled as necessary, and completed 14.3 this past Friday at 15 weeks. While I’ve watched other pregnant ladies do heavier deadlifts, I’ve opted to typically scale to 65-75% of my pre-pregnancy working weights. Increasingly heavy deadlifts didn’t sound particularly well-advised, so I stopped at 115 and still got an awesome workout.

Here’s a 15 week picture:

I’d just pulled off all my make-up off and put on a pair of “house jeans” — old baggy jeans that are super comfy to wear around the house. I assure you I try not to go out looking like this.

Feelings

Life otherwise is pretty good. Things are definitely starting to warm up weather-wise, and that means we are outside a lot more, usually working on the yard. Over the weekend we laid all the mulch down in the landscaping and did a TON of raking. I really wore myself out, but it just felt so nice to be outside and moving that I didn’t care.

Overall I’m feeling really good. I have decent energy, my strength still feels good and emotionally I vary from naively super excited to overwhelmed by all the information I have to sift through and decisions I feel like we have to make in a cascade of different deadlines and milestones. I really try not to set the bar too high for myself, but it’s impossible not to want the best for your kid and be the most informed parent you can be.

I joined my first mom’s group (for Paleo moms) and got a ton of information and resources from one of the amazing ladies in my gym on natural childbirth and courses for people who want a little more than hospitals and general practitioners/OB-GYNs typically offer. Does this mean I’m already crunchy, or does that not mean what I think it does?

Food

Eating is going really well. I will talk more about my diet/nutrition in an upcoming post, but it’s been mostly clean and devoid of a lot of junk with the exception of cheat days. I have a little something fun every day in the evening with Neil, and haven’t been craving anything too badly. There definitely are a few notable reoccurrences in my diet:

• Berries
• Mexican food — so easy to make healthy and mostly Paleo
• Paleo banana bread — a fun treat
• Cantaloupe

Registries

While recovering from all the activity on the couch, I started working on our registry and a comprehensive, yet rambling list of all the things I think we are going to need. It’s so daunting to make decisions for something you have no clue about, and I can’t seem to read fast enough to know enough to make decisions. It’s not like we have preferences for anything — so I’ve relied a lot on people who either know us or are like us to give us good advice. Have any tips?

Workouts

Below are the workouts from last week with the scales I implemented. Doing good still, and feeling so much better than I did in 1st trimester. Scaling the box jumps to weighted step-ups (harder than box jumps so yay!) and not doing anything ab-inducting like sit-ups or bed bug warm-ups any longer. Instead, I’ve taken this opportunity to really start to work on plank holds. This is one of the great things about CrossFit, there is always something to work on — even in pregnancy. I’m also working on strict and l-sit pull-ups as well. So basically, lots of strict movements and holds are getting work.

Monday:

1 mile walk with dogs
Stretch

Tuesday 3/11

Warm-up: 400m run
Relay

WOD: 2-3 Person Team 20 Minute AMRAP

400m Run
50m Prowler Push
5 Strict HSPU – Scaled to pike-push-ups off a box

In a team, each member will run 400m. Upon completion of 400m by each teammate, each will push the prowler 50m (1 at a time). Upon completion of the Prowler Push, each teammate will complete 5 Handstand Push-Ups

Wednesday 3/12

Rest day, had a client phone call

Thursday 3/13

Warm-up: 400m run + relay
Skill: Pistols
WOD: For Time

15 Pistols – Did unassisted pistols
21 Push press (95/65#) – Did the prescribed weight!
12 Pistols
15 Push Press
9 Pistols
9 Push Press

Friday 3/14

CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.3
Complete as many reps as possible in 8 minutes of:
95-lb. deadlifts, 10 reps
15 box jumps, 20-inch
135-lb. deadlifts, 15 reps
15 box jumps, 20-inch
155-lb. deadlifts, 20 reps
15 box jumps, 20-inch
185-lb. deadlifts, 25 reps
15 box jumps, 20-inch
205-lb. deadlifts, 30 reps
15 box jumps, 20-inch
225-lb. deadlifts, 35 reps
15 box jumps, 20-inch

Scaling note: Did all deadlifts at 115 lb. and did step-ups instead of box jumps, which were allowed in the standards, so technically not a scale.

Saturday 3/15

1 mile dog walk
5+ hours of yard work (I totally think this counts)

Sunday 3/16

Rest