It’s a rare and beautiful thing to feel like you’ve found “your calling” in this life. Feeling like you’ve found the one thing that sets your spirit on fire and makes you wake up every morning excited to live is a powerful thing, to say the least. This is how CrossFit has always made me feel. Ever since I stepped into my first box in the summer of 2012, it was a whirlwind romance from the start. I became obsessed with the challenge and pushing myself to surpass physical and mental limits I felt I had. I began to see progress and over time, a linear progression toward achieving every goal I ever set. I fell in love with the process and season after season I saw my progress and it fed my hunger to keep pushing my limits to achieve more. I felt purpose and passion and in time, I had made a hobby into a profession; I was living my dream.
The 2019 CrossFit season was one with more hurdles than I had ever had. Physical ailments and a complete change of the competition landscape left me frustrated and unsure of my future as an athlete. I remember a phone conversation with my sister a few weeks prior to the Games and she asked me “Is this the last one?” and for the first time I truly wasn’t sure. We talked briefly about the future and I remember her telling me “Look down the road, 5-10 years from now. What do you see? Where do you want to be? What do you want to have? And is another Games, or two, or three going to support this short term vision?”
Through pregnancy I was able to maintain my fitness and because I truly LOVE working out so much, it was easy to want to do...even when I had a big ol belly! I worked out up until the day I left to get induced at 40 weeks and 6 days; I even did an “AMRAP” in the hospital to try and get baby boy moving (walking the halls, bouncing on the labor ball, air squats, yup, it’s true.) Coming back from childbirth is nothing to rush. READ THAT AGAIN, MOMMAS! Too quickly and you can find yourself with issues that set you back long term, even further down the road. Personally, I took 2 weeks completely off besides walking and breathing exercises. Started slowly adding things in every couple weeks, a new movement; intensity stayed low for a solid 6-8 weeks. Around 3 months I was able to push intensity and lift some heavier weight. I worked with an amazing DPT who specializes in women's health; she was an integral part of my recovery! By 6 months postpartum I was officially able to do everything safely and soundly! During this return to fitness my training sessions look very different than before. Five hours a day is now 60-90 minutes. Some weeks I take an extra rest day and swap a nap for a workout. Some days I’m too tired to “hurt,” so I do some light biking or rowing and burpees, just to get blood flowing and a little sweat. I have done more affiliate classes in the last 6 months than I have since 2013 and it is SO much FUN! My priority is to move and to feel good moving my body; I still like to push myself and always will, but it’s for ME, no one else. I don’t have anything to prove to anyone anymore.
MORE BEASTIE BLOGS
A Blind Beast Knows No Boundaries
Kym DeKeyrel is a BEAST athlete. She’s stacked up many firsts, including being the first blind athlete to compete at...
Running [with a donkey] is fun?
Have you itched to race so bad that you agreed to run with a total ass, and by ass we...
