Climbing pregnant, Week 24: Body harness

I fit in with the kids. That's really the first thing I noticed with the Petzl 8003 adult body harness. At first glance I thought it would be a puzzle to put on but it turned out to be way easier than any regular harness I've used. The "belay loop" as it were is in a very good place for a pregnant woman. It fits comfortably under my bra line and the rope or belay device connects the two sides of the harness. At first it felt really strange to tie in so high and I had to modify my belay technique just a hair to be able to belay comfortably. These are things any climber would easily figure out. The one conundrum is how to make the entire thing fit so it is snug but doesn't hinder my extension.

If I make the leg loops tight so they don't meander as I climb (which is really annoying and I end up fiddling with them throughout the route but hey it's good for endurance..) it shortens my reach. For example, if I have to walk my feet high to make a move that is at the extent of my entire 5'1" frame, the harness tightens in and I end up with a total length that is about 2 inches short of my norm...not that I need any more length cause I'm so tall. I've tried loosening the shoulder straps (dangerous), and the leg loops... not sure how to remedy this but if anyone technical has any suggestions let em rip!

Falling: I was belaying a much larger friend of mine the other night on top rope. And I have to preface that before him I had told my friends they weren't allowed to fall..I was scared, you understand. Anyway, he fell and I belayed him normally and the harness didn't pop my belly like a zit and everything was cool. It was actually more comfortable to catch his fall than it is to sit back at the top of a climb before being lowered. (It takes me a minute to situate.)

Overall this harness is exactly what I need to keep myself climbing.
I'm amazed that my stamina is progressing. It's very strange to feel more able yet weaker. Even though my endurance for routes is getting better, my ability to yard on small holds is diminishing! Here is my latest work-out:

2 times per week, two hour session:
1. Warm up easy, juggy 5.7/5.8
2. Then 5.8/5.9
3. 5.10 with crimps, slopers, one dynamic move
4. 5.10 with big holds on an overhang to induce some pump.
5. 5.11 project with small holds and no rest
6. repeat crimpy 5.10
7. 5.10 with sustained and dynamic moves (this is the only climb I feel I really use my abdominals)
8. 5.10 that makes you use your brain
9. and 10. cool down on two easy climbs

I've also come up with a stretching regimen that I'll video and post eventually.
I hope this helps, keep sending your comments and questions my way. This is fun!

mmmmm

Don't knock it till you try it. Seaweed is my new favorite snack! It is chock full of iron most importantly but it also has many fantastic vitamins. It's very hard to find a good, taste-bud tempting photo of seaweed. I guess it would be pretty hard to get creative photographically...

Climbing pregnant: Mind Trip

The past few weeks have been a mental transition more than a physical one. As my physical ability changes, so does the style of climbing I am attracted to. The vast majority of my friends are boulderers. Now that I can't top anything out without turning into a whale and flopping my way atop the boulder, climbing with my friends has become a new hurdle. They have all been so nice, spending extra time on the warm-ups, only making fun of me a little and in return accepting my sideways sarcasm with little rebuttle. I've now reached the point where I don't really WANT to go bouldering. I want to do routes! I am faced with the challenge of getting my boulder thirsty friends to put on a harness and lead (cause I can't).

I can't climb on the sharp end because that would put the baby in jeopardy. I'll allow my child to make that decision for himself someday. For now, I have borrowed a petzl body harness and I'm going to try it out tonight. I'll report back!

It makes perfect sense to me that I'm attracted to routes and the gym seems a very fitting place. I can climb more and longer than I could if I were outside. There seem to always be jugs around the hard holds so if I get too tired I don't have to back off the route, I can merely switch gears from 5.11 to 5.9 in a single move. It's brilliant. Here is my workout and I try to do it twice a week:

Warm-up on 5.8 and a 5.9.
Follow with 8 routes between the grades of 5.10 and 5.11.
Cool down on 5.8 slab

This is a goal right now more than a standard. It seems that my belly gets really tired on the 6th of the harder routes. I've thought to break it up a bit and do 4 hard routes then one really easy one, then 3 or 4 more hard ones. I'm hesitant to break it up like that because part of me believes that with the added blood volume, my endurance isn't quite what it used to be. So sticking with slowly increasing the amount of routes I do would hypothetically increase my endurance.
Through all this I have to remember that I am not training in the traditional sense of the word. So...Even though I have a goal, I'm not going to break myself trying to accomplish it. That would be counter productive.

I'll keep you updated with the status of workouts and stretches and whatnot...
Please feel free to post comments, questions, and suggestions straight to the blog so everyone can benefit. Thanks!!

Pie Festival: Pietown, NM

Pie is good for the soul. And when you mix it with rock climbing and friends, well, you have one happy pregnant Carrie.

I took my daughter Ava with me on our first ever time to the Pie Festival, not knowing at all what to expect. I'm sure everyone has their own agendas during piefest but ours consisted mostly of:
wake up, eat pie, go climbing, go to the festival and eat more pie, go climbing, have gigantic spaghetti dinner.








The day of the festival we were focused on climbing in the morning so we got all our peeps together and headed out to Monster Island, a small but fun area with problems you are more than happy to get on for this one-time-a-year occasion.


Jenny Walker
Ploss
Climbing an overhang 4.5 months pregnant is harder than it looks!! I decided to make this particular overhang the last of my pregnancy. I found that it was really hard to not breath so hard that I gave myself a Braxton-Hicks. I had to rest, like a sport climber, mid problem to calm my breathing down and relax my stomach.

When the clock struck 12:30, we all ran down to the cars to make it back to the festival in time to see the pie eating contest (They make the contestants hold their hands behind there backs and go in face first!). By this time I was so hungry we had to stop at the pie booth first for an appetizer.

Being at the Pie Festival is a little like going to some one else's family reunion except everyone is invited.
After laughing through the pie eating contests and thoroughly stuffing ourselves, it was time for the horny toad race.

The horny toad race was truly a spectacle. Walker and Lisa efficiently drew two concentric circles with chalk on the towns basketball court. Each child, or adult, was marked with a number or letter that corresponded to the one on their toads belly (for retrieval and return to their homes after the race). The toads were then placed in an ancient metallic bucket looking thing and placed in the center of the circle. The first toad across the line won. Now, there were large toads and itty bitty toads which apparently has nothing to do with their age but all to do with their type. When the bucket was lifted, the crowd that had huddled around to watch erupted in whoops and hollars. When Walker's mom (the judge of the race) lifted the bucket there were 31 toads piled on top of each other. Now, we had heard that it once took a single toad 10 minutes to get from the pile to the winners circle so we were prepared for a wait. But the moment she lifted the lid this tiny toad shot out and crossed the line within seconds. Winner! Personally I think that was our toad because she was not returned to us at the end. Second place was actually two toads; one large toad with a tiny hijacker on its back.

Andrea

Pie Fest would not have been complete without the Kearney's and their amazing hospitality. In addition, I am so thankful for all our wonderful friends who make the Pie Festival what it is!

Photos by:
Javier G and Jenny Smith

Climbing pregnant: Week 16

* Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. The opinions on this blog are my own educated opinions.

The pants I've known and loved are now crying "Mutiny!". They have rebelled against my growing belly and are refusing to button or zip. Solution: Belly band. Love that thing. I can still wear my skinny jeans and I don't have to show anyone what I'm wearing underneath.

I went out to the Priest Draw a couple of days ago and for those of you who are unaware of this area, it is almost all completely horizontal roof climbs. Now, I'm four months pregnant and my pants don't close, do you think I have enough core to climb roofs? I actually did amazingly well but it wasn't my core that is putting an end to my roof climbing for now, it's my joints. Being pregnant is much more than just carrying extra weight. Your body has to grow in order to accommodate and what do you think happens to your stomach muscles? They stretch!!! Without being too graffic here, not only do they stretch but all of your joints start to act like putty as well.

Relaxin is a hormone that does exactly what it sounds like, it relaxes things. Joints in my case. Strangely my core was still strong enough to keep me climbing through some very tough rock climbs but the moment I had to throw a heal to pull or drop my knee down and push the pain was un-ignorable.
The sacroiliac ligaments connect the sacrum to the pelvic bones. My pelvic bones are beginning to wonder. Therefore, I'm switching my focus in climbing to more vertical pursuits that do not require me to torque that area as much. The pain associated with my shifting pelvis is a constant bother. I work with a lot of physical therapists (I'm a tech getting ready for PT school) and I've been picking their brains about how to stabillize an area that doesn't want to stabilze. Their answer for the moment is to do exercises that strengthen the area around the joint.

Side lying: Lying on your side with your arm bracing in front of your body, straighten your legs out as though you were sandwiched between two plates of glass. keeping your knees facing forward lift and lower your leg squeezing your bottom. You should feel this in your upper glutes. Do it till it burns then take a break...

Side lying circles: Beginning the same way but this time lengthen your leg out and up off of your opposite leg. Keeping your knees facing forward start making small circles in the air with your toes. Go both ways.

Bridges: Laying on your back with your knees bent, slowly lift and lower your bottom off the floor by squeezing your bum to lift as high as you can.

The future is now.

Climbing pregnant: The first trimester

During my first pregnancy, my doctor told me it wasn't even safe to ride a bike so I chose to wait till the baby was born to tell her I climbed while I was pregnant. Most people, doctors included, don't understand rock climbing. But all risks being assessed, and being smart people, we can continue to climb through pregnancy.

Here's the truth:

1. Not every pregnancy is the same.
2. Not every woman will handle pregnancy the same.

For me, the first trimester entailed a lot of nausea, and episodes of extreme fatigue. I found an unusual way to deal with both of these hurdles.

1. Fight nausea with food! The moment I woke up in the morning I went straight to the kitchen and ate a bowl of cereal. I did not say good morning, I did not stop to pee, I did not collect $200. Food FIRST!!! I made the mistake with my first preg. of indulging in my sleepy state and hanging out in bed while the nausea worsened. BAD idea.

2. Climbing was the only time I didn't feel nauseous. If it were up to my body I would have stayed on the couch and ate food but thankfully my will was taking notes. Activity fights the nausea, and holds the fatigue at bay.

There are a few catches. I was able to still climb v-hard till I was about 3 months pregnant. My core was still good BUT I had to climb in the morning AND schedule a nap almost directly after. I don't remember being this tired with my first pregnancy but I'll refer to truth #1.

We all put pressure on ourselves to achieve and/or to live up to expectations. Like the co-worker who tells us about the woman he knew that ran 20 miles up until she was due. Or that one woman who worked 40+ hours a week till she popped. These sorts of stories are not inspiring to me and I wish these people (men who are sans children usually) would recognize that the true bad ass is the one who chose to even attempt the feat of growing a child in her belly and enter the journey or parenthood.

Why am I ranting? Well, it's hard to know what and what not to do during pregnancy in the first place without someone making you feel inept.

SO.... Do what makes you happy!!!!!!

Rock climbing makes me happy but it is a tiring activity. I climbed when I felt the most fresh and energized taking into account that I had to have enough energy to pay at least a little bit of attention to my daughter. ;) Not to forget work/study and whatever else occupies your day. Budget your energy. Recovering when your pregnant takes longer. Your body isn't just funneling it's efforts to maintain you. In your first trimester your blood volume is increasing which takes up a lot of iron. Protein Protein Protein! All that fatigue stems from the fact that your extra energy stores are going to help create the placenta, which is completed by the second trimester.

I eat a lot while I'm climbing. I think of the placenta as the baby at the moment, taking up it's own weight in food. So, start eating for two! Especially when you are expending calories in an activity like climbing. And lots and lots of water!

If you feel twinges in your belly while you are climbing, especially if you are on overhangs, stop doing that motion. As you get bigger, your ligaments stretch and it can be painful at times. But don't worry if it starts to ache a little, just take note and don't do that exercise any more. Now, I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure that if you have aches in your belly followed by spotting you should probably contact your DR who will then yell at you for climbing. Just so you're warned.

For me, the harder I tied to climb and the further along I got, the faster I got tired. And this truth will lead me to my next post: Week 16. Stay tuned.