30 weeks workout report

Last week's exercise report:

Monday- 3 miles, 10:09/mile.  I felt a little uncomfortable until mile 2.  Planks & stretching.
Tuesday- Elliptical 30 minutes, weights- legs & arms.
Wednesday- 5 mile run
Thursday- 3 mile walk with Rachel The Dog
Friday- 5.64 mile run, 10:05/pace around Lake Calhoun, felt good!
Saturday- 5 mile run, felt great!
Sunday- 3 mile run, 10:05/mile with Rose.  Long walk with Sara and Rachel the dog in the afternoon.

Total miles: Around 25 miles!  The most I have run in weeks!  Funny how that works....

24 weeks pregnant= 16 week training plan!?!

After a hiatus from blogging about fitness, running, and wellness goals, I am tempted to get back on course (pun intended) as I have been feeling lonely and pregnant out here in the blog-sphere of fit mom blogs.  Where are the pregnant ladies who are trying their darnedest to stay fit while their middles grow?  If you are out there, let it be known!  Additionally, I need to power myself through the fog that is February in Minnesota + pregnancy, and writing about positive choices helps me to stay upbeat and motivated.  

To backtrack a bit, my first trimester closely matched that of my first pregnancy.  I felt great until about week 8 and then terrible until about week 13.  During the five weeks of nausea and exhaustion, I cut myself slack and set a goal to simply move my body in some way, shape, or form almost every day.  Around Thanksgiving, I began feeling energized again and slowly worked back up to seven miles of running.  On Thanksgiving morning, my mom and I participated in the local turkey trot around Lake Harriet.  Mom ran the 5k, and I finished the 10k in just under an hour, with faster splits in the second 5k.  The weather was totally gross with sleet and wind, but I finished with a big smile on my face.

As the sidewalks became icy, I switched to treadmill running.  Unfortunately, the more miles I logged on the treadmill, the more my lower right back pain flared up.  Martin Luther King's day brought piercing pain from just ordinary movement.  It was a major reality check.  I had been ignoring the pain and now I couldn't even get out of the car.  Thanks to a friend's recommendation and good timing, I found a chiropractor specializing in maternity care.  I had my first appointment on MLK day, and I am now hooked.  The adjustments she made worked wonders, and I began to feel like my old self a few days later.

That said, I have been hesitant to get back into running.  I can help but think that the treadmill running had a big role in the pain.  My body has never responded well to consistent treadmill running, especially when I compare treadmill running to trails and roads.  I also want to give my hips and lower back some time to heal after the adjustments.  

So, it is time to rethink fitness during pregnancy.  One thing that I've learned is that it does not make sense to set long term goals- beyond the goal of listening to my body every day and responding accordingly.  If I really listened to my body, I think it would tell me to be active in some capacity on a daily basis.  The mode of movement and the degree of rigor, however, would vary.  Since my wake up call in January, I have been trying to listen to my body more closely.  It is a challenge because the competitor in me wants to perform and my winter blues need the endorphins badly.  

In some respects, fitness during pregnancy is a mind game.  Some days, I take the micro approach- What is going to feel good right now?  One hour of exercise=12 hours of a better attitude.  Other days, I think macro: What can I do today that will help me get back into shape faster post-pregnancy?  How can I stay healthy now so that I can run this summer?  

Last week, I hit the pool three times and I felt great after each workout.  This week, after two missed workouts and overeating on Monday and Tuesday, I managed to get myself back to the gym with the promise that I could use the elliptical (something about getting in a bathing suit turned me off!).  I think I am ready to get back in the pool tomorrow morning though.  Today, I did 45 minutes on the elliptical, listening to Caroline Smith and reading runner's world.  I worked up a little sweat and definitely felt better than I would've if I hadn't worked out.  We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Oh, and one more thing, I was joking with the blog title.  I am obviously not going to make a true training plan for the next 16 weeks, but I do think it is a clever way of thinking about pregnancy and birth from this point on.  I am not going to get any fitter or any faster, but I think I can develop some skills and life/body insight as I approach the race (otherwise known as labor and birth!).  I will use this blog to chronicle this 16 week race journey.

Goings On...

You know the song, "It's the most wonderful time of the year..."  That's pretty much my mantra starting around Thanksgiving week and wrapping up in mid January. As I write this post, I am listening to the holiday station (programmed on all household and vehicle radios) AND Mike is currently buying out Menard's stock of holiday lights.

Here's a glimpse of the weekend's festive and not-really-festive happenings:

Today, The Longfellow Lights Committee prepares this year's awards.  A popcorn bucket and Muppet's Christmas Carol will keep us on task as we cut and glitter (yes, I used glitter as a verb).

Mike and I attended an 8-hour Childbirth Express Class on Saturday.  I should write an entire post about this, but for now, I will say that we feel confident and excited about the birth process.  We also quizzed each other on childbirth trivia all the way home.  True or false- a newborn should have 3 soiled diapers before it leaves the hospital?  (I got this one wrong...Mike got every question correct...responsible parent already established.)

To celebrate a friend's birthday, Mike and I walked to our local pub, Merlin's Rest.  Whenever we go, I am reminded how lucky we are to live five blocks away from this cozy establishment.  The place was packed with happy locals.

We're planning a mid-December Christmas Party- cookies, caroling, and eggnog.  I am working on a cookie list while Mike is compiling Christmas Carol lyrics so people actually know the verses.  I am thinking family favorites for the cookie list- molasses cookies, Grandma Jean's sugar cut-outs, peanut blossoms, and my favorite, BISCOTTI!

Still running!  I completed a refreshing 7 miler with Rachel (my tried and true running buddy) on this foggy morning.  I continue to appreciate living near river road as there are lots of places to sneak a pee (more and more necessary as the pregnancy calendar progresses).  I have become quite the ninja pee-er.  Post-work runs are especially easy in this area as the sunlight goes down so darn early!  You won't hear me complaining as I pop a squat...  (Okay, I will spare you further details).  

Okay, its time to hang some lights!!!  More soon!

Race Report: Big Woods Run

Even though this race report from a few weeks ago, I am posting it anyway as it hallmarks a distinct running moment in my journey as a female runner. 

I signed up for the Big Woods Run trail half-marathon with my friend, Rose, before I knew I was pregnant.  I ran this race in 2010 and it remains one of my favorite trail races in Minnesota as the course follows wooded paths up and down hilly ravines.  Come October 2012 and four months pregnant, I wasn't willing to drop out of the race as I ached for the solitude of the tall trees and the sound leaves crunching beneath my running shoes.

Rose and I started the race together with the plan that she would run ahead after a couple miles and I would find her husband after running five or six miles.   The problem with this plan is that the race course looks like this:

The only place accessible to cars is where highway 29 crosses the course, somewhere around mile three or four.  Now if you know me at all, I am just getting warmed up at that point!  Secretly, I think I already recognized this "problem" and I subconsciously decided that I would complete the full race (as long as I truly felt fine).  This is not unlike the mentality that I used to finish my first marathon in 2008.

I breathed in the smell wet pines and oak leaves as I relaxed into an easy pace around mile 5.  Although I stayed connected with Timbuk (the growing Vasich) to see if the little one was enjoying the ride through the woods, I felt more at peace than I had in weeks.  A soft rain kept my skin fresh.  Over thirteen miles, my inner animal rejoiced as my heart pumped, my legs stretched, and my mind focused on each physical sensation. This may sound silly, but I really sensed that Timbuk and I were a team and Timbuk was loving it.

Whereas the first mile is on a paved road working downhill from the church, mile thirteen is just the opposite.  Big Woods Run is famous for this last uphill.  As racers say, the church seems to get farther away with each step towards it.  I was jubilant at this point- passing runners and thinking in my head, "four months pregnant, suckers!"  Now, I know this is a little competitive (okay, a lot competitive) and not peaceful at all, but it did make me smile as I made my way to the finish.  Rose and Dustin cheered me on in disbelief as I waved my hands in the air as I crossed the line.