Coming Back

I knew it would be difficult to come back to Crossfit after having a baby, however this past week has proven to be even harder than I thought. My shingles episode definitely set me back more than the pregnancy. My shingles followed my sciatic nerve so I had a rash and pain from my lower back all the way down my left leg. I have been back at it for a week now and have not felt very good about my performance. My cardio, which was usually a strength of mine, has been very poor, and I feel weaker than I did while I was pregnant.

Last Saturday I jumped right back in and think it might have been a little too much because come Monday I couldn't even do basic things in the workout because my abs were so sore. I haven't done much direct ab work as I am trying to avoid it so that they heal with as little separation as possible but even things like front squats and legless rope climbs have proven to be taxing on my very weak abdominal area.

The other thing I have mentally struggled with is my endurance. After spending that past 9 months slowing down or quitting when I feel like my heart rate is getting high or that voice pops in my head saying slow down and actually listening to it, I now have to retrain to push through those times. This week we had an endurance WOD on 9/11 that instead of pushing through, I wussed out and slowed down. I was working out on my own at the time so I have decided that I must workout with a class so I push myself harder.

The other thing is I have a fear of failure and I faced that today. Before I was pregnant I could do ring muscle ups fairly consistently. Although I could not string multiples together, I could successfully do one at a time. I have been afraid to even try until today they were programmed in our WOD. My fears came true and I was unable to do one. I now have a goal that in addition to our programmed workouts, every day I am going to work on handstands (walks, HSPU, and free standing) as well as muscle ups so that I can be proficient at both.

On a positive note, my body has bounced back fairly quickly. Much quicker than with my first and I fully attribute that to crossfit through pregnancy. I am fluctuating between 5-7 lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight of 128 lbs, which isn't too bad after just a couple of weeks. My stomach is also beginning to shrink down so I think in a month or so, I will be close to being back to normal. We are starting a lifestyle challenge Monday so today I tested my body fat in the BodPod. I was at 19% so although most of my goals are all performance related I hope that after 8 weeks I am around 16% as I think I will feel better with my body weight movements at that percentage as well as be stronger in my weightlifting. In order to get there I need to be sure I am eating plenty of Calories but they need to be largely fat and protein calories and the carbs will come from veggies, a little fruit, and limited amount of sweet potatoes. My goal is to be completely free of the "sugar" cravings in 4 weeks, which means no more chocolate chips or paleo treats (at least for the next month:) .

Here are a few progress pics

2 Weeks Post Partum

3 Weeks Post Partum

I love these two so much!