The 2009 CrossFit Games champion is expecting her second child this winter.
Tanya Wagner has withdrawn from the 2013 Mid Atlantic Regional competition.
The 2009 CrossFit Games champion is expecting her second child this winter.
Since winning the 2009 CrossFit Games, she has not yet been back to that level of competition as an individual.
At the 2010 CrossFit Games, she competed on Team CrossFit Apex. She was pregnant during that competition, finding out just three days prior to the trip. The next Games season was happily foregone to the important task of giving birth to her son, A.J.
Last year, Wagner returned, taking 14th in the Open and qualifying for Regionals. She finished three days of Regional competition in fifth place, proving she could hang with the best.
This year, Wagner got off to a great start and felt she was getting back into fighting shape. She ended the Open in fourth place in the Mid Atlantic, with the hopes of making a run for the podium.
“I am the strongest and fastest that I have ever been, so I was really feeling good with Open,” she says.
Following the close of the Open, Wagner was training full steam ahead. She even PR’d Jackie. It was soon after she started to feel fatigued. She thought she might have been over training. But to her surprise, she was pregnant.
“This fall, we were going to start trying again, but apparently the baby doesn't want to wait,” she happily says.
Even after Wagner discovered she was pregnant, she didn’t immediately give up on the idea of competing. She feared the nausea and fatigue she had during her first pregnancy might set in, but she kept hope.
“When I found out I was like, ‘Oh, I'll still be good to go for Regionals,’” she says. “Then all of a sudden … all the yuckiness hit — nausea and feeling so exhausted."
Even though Wagner knew they would support her decision, she feared withdrawing would let down the CrossFit Apex community.
“I am a person who listens to my body and I know it’s not what I should I do,” she says.
Wagner admits she feels some disappointment.
“I'm definitely sad that I won't be able to represent CrossFit Apex, that I won't be able to be there and even just honestly to see what I can do, because I really feel I was the strongest I have ever been."
Wagner says she is at peace with her choice.
“It's for such a good reason, that I can only be disappointed for a second.”
Wagner will not be attending the Mid Atlantic Regional as a spectator.
“I don't think I could handle that,” she admits. “I don't think I could be there and not be out there.”
Instead, she and her husband, Josh, are planning on going away for the weekend to get much needed rest.
For the future, Wagner says she will compete for as long as she can, with the goal being to get back to the CrossFit Games.
“I think there’s still probably one more time in me,” she says. “I really still want to see if I can go back one more time.”
