Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Becca



My name is Becca and I am 38 weeks pregnant with my first baby.  I have been CrossFitting for one and a half years and have loved every moment of it.  Although some moments are more love-hate than pure love, for instance the exact moment a coach yells, "you're halfway there", the love has certainly overpowered the hate since I keep going back.  By the time I found out I was pregnant, I was already CrossFitting for ten months.  I continued for the first month of pregnancy but took a break until the first trimester was over, not because of CrossFit, but because of my morning sickness.
When I returned to the box, it was the height of the summer heat and humidity.  I quickly found out that I could not perform at the same level I had previously known.  The first thing to "go" were my lungs.  It seemed to take forever to catch my breath during a workout.  From there on, I began scaling everything.  I capped all my WODs to fifteen minutes, chose weights that were comfortable and took breaks for catching my breath as needed.  Very soon I became acquainted with scales that were not necessarily easier, but more suited for my changing body and needs.  Try doing parallete push-ups; they are a bear and certainly not easy.  When it came to strength days, I found myself hitting PRs on nearly every lift.  I was not necessarily aiming for each PR, they seemed to just happen.  I was told the added oxygen and blood flow are the reason for this added strength.  I still consider them achievements and know I will have to work even harder to reach them again after I have my baby.   
With only two weeks left, I still workout three days a week.  Everyone continues to support, encourage and check-in on me.  While I know I will have to take a break from CrossFit once the baby arrives, I am already looking forward to the day I can get back.  I am also looking forward to the day Aimee plans a Pregnant-Simulation WOD.  How great would it be for everyone else to wear forty-pound weight vests, oxygen deprivation masks and use all the scales my fellow pregnant CrossFitters and I used?!

Leila