9 Month Training Plan: Creating a Human

Most of you can guess where I have been over the past few months. There isn't a whole lot to write about as you watch your fitness steadily decline for 9 months. Regardless, I thought it would be nice to share some pearls of wisdom to those who may be going through the same thing or considering it. (Especially given the void of information out there for pregnant athletes as well as the plethora of  pregnancy myths)

Despite a small hurdle in the 8th month, a combination of endurance training and CrossFit kept both the baby and I more healthy. More specifically, my blood pressure stayed within normal limits, I had no incidence of low back pain (even with a history of a pelvic fracture/ORIF), no lower extremity swelling build up, proper weight gain, and pretty good energy levels throughout.

Overall, I continued to swim, bike, and run until about 8 months preggo. Around 8 months/32weeks preggo, I strained my achilles pretty bad to the point where I could barely walk. My weekly track workout did me in as I awoke one morning with a swollen achilles and inability to bear weight on the affected leg. Combine that with a little ligamentous pregnancy laxity + being on my feet all day at work+ history prior calf injury = mobility nightmare and rookie mistake.....

In the end, I took almost a whole week off with no working out, added a heel lift, and did some Graston to my calf/achilles. I was able to walk normal about 2-3 days later. The whole incident gave me a little bit of a scare as I know professionally what happens if you tear your achilles. (usually it necessitates immediate surgery otherwise the achilles will shorten) I put running, swimming, jumping on hold for a good 3-4 weeks.

With no running/swimming from 32 weeks-36 weeks, I shifted my focus even more to strictly CrossFit. As my achilles mended, I spent a lot of time air dyne spinning, squatting, ski-rowing, and regular rowing for cardio. I also was able to do my usual CrossFit WODs pain free.

Besides my physical fitness, at 39 weeks pregnant my weight gain topped off at around 20 lbs and was all localized to the right areas (my belly)! My nutrition had not changed much- I mostly avoided processed sugar, gluten, and obviously adhered to the normal pregnancy restrictions. There may have been more splurges here and there but I simply listened to my body's needs. My progress was closely monitored by my physician who recommended that I workout until close to the end of the 3rd trimester.

To all my fellow female athletes who are pregnant, considering becoming pregnant, or simply afraid because of all of the bad info out there... I'm sharing a few things:

1. My 1st-3rd Trimester Training
2. Pregnancy Fitness Goals
3. Pictures from my Journey
4. Baby Benefits from Exercise

1st-3rd Trimester Training:

1st Trimester

• Swimming-2000-3000 meter workouts 
• Biking-1-2 hours (trainer/outside) 
• Running-1-2 hours tops
• CrossFit-2x a week 
• Ab/Transversus Abdominus(TA) Isometrics/Glute Strength 2-3x a week
• Weekly Volume- 6-12 hours exercise
•  Total Weight gain-2 lbs

2nd Trimester

• Swimming-1500-2500 meter workouts 
• Biking-1-2 hours (some outside/trainer)
• Running-Kept running workouts 3-5 miles. (At the end of the second trimester, I started having severe round ligament pain and resorted to mostly shorter distance running and running only on soft surfaces (beach/track/trail)). 
• CrossFit 2-4x a week. As my ability to SBR diminished, I transitioned to more METCON style workouts. At this time, I lightened up my squats, deadlifts, and general lifting weights to about about 65%-75% of my norm. I discontinued hand stands/inverted work. For toes to bar, I stuck to knees to elbows ONLY. I was still able to perform kipping pull-ups, but shifted focus to mostly ring rows because of ligamentous laxity. 
• Ab/TA/Glute strength-2-3x a week
• Weekly volume-6-10 hours
• Total Weight gain-10 lbs

3rd Trimester

• Swimming-1500-2000 meter workouts (held swimming temporarily during achilles injury)
• Biking-No more trainer @ 7months as belly was in the way. After D/C bike trainer work I resorted to Air Dyne work with occasional tabatas. 
• Running- short and interval based on soft surfaces ONLY. (held running from 32-36 weeks secondary to injury)
• CrossFit-5x a week. I dropped my weights to 50-65% for most Olympic lifts. I rarely did movements where my belly impeded the bar pathway (snatches). Instead, I opted for single arm dumbbell snatches. I still jumped rope, but DC-ed double under secondary to achilles. Burpees were executed from a box or plates. I substituted ring rows for pull-ups and occasionally did box jumps onto plates. 
• Ab/TA/Glute strength 1-2x a week 
• Weekly Volume 6-8 hours
• Total Weight gain-20lbs (38-39 weeks) 

My Fitness Goals

#1. Maintain health pregnancy : Check
2. Finish CrossFit Open Scaled Division: Check (first CF open ever @ 5months preggo)
3. Keep weight gain under 25-30 lbs while maintaining healthy pregancy: Check
4. Finish Donna Half Marathon: Check 1:47 (4 months preggo)
5. Finish Gate River Run in top 10%Women: Check (4.5 months preggo)
6. Maintain good core, postural, and glue strength to prevent low back pain: Check

The Transformation:

 4 MONTHS: 

 17 weeks 

18 weeks

 19 weeks

5 MONTHS: 

20 weeks 

21 weeks 

 22 weeks

23 weeks 

6 MONTHS:

 24 weeks 

25 weeks 

 26 weeks 

27 weeks 

7 MONTHS:

28 weeks 

30 weeks 

31 weeks

 8 MONTHS:

 32 weeks

 33 weeks 

34 weeks 

35 weeks

9 MONTHS:

36 weeks

37 weeks 

38 weeks

39 weeks 

Baby Benefits of Exercise

While exercise helped me stay physically in shape, more importantly:
1. Maverick was born super healthy.
2. Both Maverick and I were D/C-ed from the hospital a day early secondary to good health and quick ability to bounce back after birth.
3. I avoided HBP, gestational diabetes, and pre-eclampsia (All of which can cause premature birth).
4. Maverick will hopefully someday have a higher IQ secondary to improved oxygenation while in utero and has a increased likelihood of being an athlete someday (compared to babies of mothers who did not work out during pregnancy according to some studies).
5. Maverick was born with an extremely healthy heart and lungs secondary to again improved oxygenation again from my exercising.

I could keep going but you get the picture :)

The reward of this 9 month training plan:

Maverick Steel Austin 

Feel free to contact me with questions! There are more myths than factual information out there. As for references, the books that further helped guide my journey were:
The Better Baby Book
Primal Mom
Pregnant Athlete

New Chapter: Gut Check

As age 35 is coming up quickly on the horizon, my priorities in life, triathlon, work have shifted. I have been putting "this" off for years and years... mostly for one race and then another race... and then another goal and then another IM and then partially due to some self confidence issues/self image issues over the fear of getting fat. Overall, mostly for selfish reasons...

I have matured enough to finally realize that there is more important things and bigger things for me in life than triathlon. Although I have been saying I have wanted a family for awhile now-ha- ha -maybe years.... it finally happened. A lot quicker than anticipated of course... first try in fact.... I thought just maybe I could squeeze out another 70.3 and rock my cute betty kit??? The guy upstairs had other plans. For that I am so thankful. Yes my friends in case you haven't figured it out already- I am pregnant.

Gut Check: 8 weeks 

Gut Check:12 weeks 

As of this week I'm already over the 1st trimester. Yay for that! Scott and I had a small scare initially and really thought it would be smarter to keep it quiet. Who likes everyone up your business anyway?So far I have been pretty fortunate with only mild nausea, zero weight gain, and have been continuing to train -swimming, biking, and running, and CrossFitting.

I'm doing no-where near the volume I used to but am working out a total of 8-12 hours a week. I cut back initially to excessive fatigue but feel like I have bounced back in the last few weeks. And yes my pull ups are still there :)

So what I have I learned initially? A lot. I feel like there is still a long road ahead. Here are some big lessons I've learned thus far.

1. Pregnancy does not equal sickness. You can still work out!
One of the biggest thing that amazes me is that our society thinks it's ok for pregnant chicks to chow down on fast food, pizza, and ice cream but yet criticizes those who keep fit. Gaining excessive weight while pregnant seems acceptable or the norm.  I have seen a lot of fit chicks harassed and labeled as selfish or narcissistic.  And beware there are way too many workout myths to keep track of.  I can see how some pregnant gals may simply be scared to get off the couch. Either way I am going to continue to work out and listen to my body.

2. You can still eat healthy!
I was pretty strict no sugar/no grains for the first 8 weeks and fell off a little the past few as my appetite has changed. This week my normal diet has been back on target. Depending on how much nausea you have, this clearly will affect your diet. This is still no excuse to eat daily ice cream and bon bons. Gross. You are feeding your baby that shizit.

3. You can lift heavy things.
Yes-you shouldn't start anything new while you are pregnant. But if you lifted heavy weights before -you can continue to do that. I can't tell you many times already I have been told "Don't lift anything heavy!" I tried so hard not to laugh in one of the doctors faces as I deadlifted almost 200 lbs the day before. As for now, I'm going to continue to train, work out moderately, and listen to my body. And yes I did an AMRAP of the workout below at 8 weeks pregnant. Oops ---there  may have been heavy weights involved.

4. Keeping this a secret for 13 weeks may not have been the best idea. 
Although we told our families a little earlier, not being able to talk about this with friends was very challenging. In fact, it made me feel withdrawn for awhile. In case you were wondering where I have been...

5. Making smaller less ambitious goals will help keep you sane. 
For a type A triathlete who normally has the race season mapped out a year in advance, not having a race calendar to look forward to was down right depressing. So instead, I signed up for a 5k, a half marathon, the Gate River Run, and the CrossFit open. Yes I may not be qualifying for Kona, but I have smaller fitness goals to keep me on the right path. My selfish goals can take a back seat for a few months to create a human :)

And don't worry this will most definitely NOT turn into a pregnancy blog. In fact, I think pregnant chicks are annoying lol...I still do. I just want to share the learning experience with my fellow female athletes. There is still a huge informational gap out there concerning may of these topics. Feel free to email me if you have questions heidilaustin@yahoo.com. As for me, I still have a lot to learn.