Will work out for free smoothies

This is what it takes to get me to the gym these days, free smoothies. At just about 37 weeks I have lost almost all motivation to do any sort of real work out. The only thing that sounds good is walking so that is all I am going to do. This week is my last real week at the gym. My membership is on hold for October and November. I get a free smoothie if I go to the gym tomorrow, plus I get to see my favorite trainer. It means I have to move around a little bit is the only reason I am going. I think I will want to move around more once I am done with work (next wednesday), but I am not holding my breath.

I am itching for a real, sweaty, dirty work out. I can't wait to start Jillian's 30 day shred to work on getting my fitness level back. I watch every jogger running by my house with envy. As crazy as it sounds, I miss my stinky work out clothes and having really dirty hair. I miss that hurts so good feeling. I love being sore the next day from a good work out. I am not sure how I am going to fit my boobs into my sports bras, but that is a problem I'll figure out later. Maybe I'll pick up some larger cheap ones at Target to get me by. Feel free to leave a comment if you have a suggestion for me. T minus three weeks left. Here's hoping for a smooth delivery so I can get back moving again sooner rather than later.

Staying Healthy in the Third Trimester

I am sharing this at almost 36 weeks, just so I don't forget to do it.... So here it is:

Work outs - I have been pretty consistently doing 30 minutes on the elliptical four days a week. Up until this last week I was also lifting twice a week too. I did mostly arm stuff. In month seven I did more ab stuff, but month eight I found anything with my abs and back were too difficult. This past week with the control of my abs lacking I decided to quite weights. I am just too worried about injuring myself. H and I went on a four mile walk about two weeks ago and I started to have what felt like contractions about mile three. At that point I stopped and had H come to pick me up. After I sat for about twenty minutes they went away, but that scared me enough to know that I just need to do enough to make me feel good and then call it a day. I haven't been swimming at all. I just don't feel like getting wet. I'm not ruling it out for later though. I find myself going on walks more now too, but I am on the elliptical mostly.

Diet - I continue to find myself not being able to eat a lot and not really feeling hungry. On a typical day I have my cereal in the morning with a banana. I drink my coffee over the next three hours at work, because both can't fit in my stomach at once. Around 11am I'll eat my lunch sandwich or I'll have chocolate milk, depending on what time I get to take lunch. For lunch I have a piece of fruit or veggies, yogurt, string cheese, and a 100 cal cookie pack. At about 3 or 4:30 I'll either have chocolate milk (if I didn't have it earlier) or a granola bar, sometimes those 100 cal cookies if I didn't get to them during lunch. H and I will eat a small dinner. For desert I'll either have a smoothie, a glass of milk, or chocolate milk if I didn't have it during the day. (See a theme here?) My cravings this past two months has been ice cold milk. I can't get enough of it. Anything cold is pretty much a friend of mine, but with my heart burn kicking it up a notch Popsicle aren't really included in this trend.

Health - The baby has been doing fine. She's just hanging out, swimming around. I'm up 20 pounds now. Today I really wanted to wear my riding boots, so I tried on my pre pregnancy skinny jeans. They fit! I was able to zip and button them. I ended up keeping the top button unbuttoned because it was too uncomfortable when I sat down. I figure it was worth bragging about. It was so nice to wear normal pants. I can't wait to get there again. Not too much longer.

Eight Months Pregnant and At the Gym

The last two weeks I have noticed an increase in the number of odd looks I get at the gym when I am working out.

I usually start my work outs on the elliptical or the treadmill and then do some lifting afterwards in the weight room. The weight room is some times a very touchy place. It can be filled with women, but often when I go it is filled with a bunch of 23 year old guys doing a 8pm work out, talking about the girl their friend took home the night before or how drunk they plan to get the following week end. Either way the looks I am starting to get when I am down there make me feel uncomfortable, so I have decided to move my lifting routine to home where I can do bicep curls in peace. I don't blame them, I would stare at me too. It is awfully odd and some what entertaining to see a very pregnant women doing lunges.

I am surprised I don't get more comments from people. They must be polite and follow the head phones on no talking rule. I have had a couple men give me support though. They tell me I look great and it is really good that I am still in there. It makes me feel good. One guy did start to go into how him and his wife were going to start trying for their second in a couple months.... TMI dude. The women have not said anything to me though. It fascinates me that it is mostly the guys talking to me about it, but I am not sure of a reason for the results I am seeing.

I have only seen one other pregnant woman at the gym. She was walking on the treadmill and so pregnant I am sure she was trying to get her labor to start. I only saw here that one time, so maybe it worked. She looked pretty miserable, so for her sake I hope it worked.

I thought I would come across more adversity and mean comments. All the strangers I have encountered have been really supportive though. They tell me I am a role model to other pregnant women and it makes me feel good. It keeps me going. Two months left.

My personal struggle with Yoga

I have what I guess what I call a hate/dislike relationship with yoga. I know it is good for my body and many people get really toned from it, but it just doesn't feel like a good work out to me. With limited time to work out during the week, I just don't have the time to fit in an hour long yoga session. I also find it pretty boring. I tried hot yoga once and got really ill during it (I admit I ran three miles in 90 degree heat before hand and hadn't eaten enough, but it was enough to turn me off from the experience).

I purchased a prenatal yoga DVD a couple months back thinking it would be more difficult than it currently is for me to do my regular work outs and it would be a good substitute. This past Friday I had planned to go to the pool, but I got off work late and didn't really feel up to making the trip to the gym. So I came home, changed, and popped in my yoga DVD.

There are three different ladies in the video. One is supposed to be the first trimester lady, the second the second trimester and then the third trimester lady. Being that I am small for my third trimester I followed the second trimester lady most of the time (plus I like to think I am hard core like that ;) ). I got bored about 10 minutes in, but stuck with it. It had to get more exciting right? The middle of the video did get more difficult, so it held my attention better. I was still bored though. Another thing I really don't like about the video is there is only one session for prenatal yoga and one for post natal. Good thing I got it on sale. I could probably find something similar On Demand for free.

My favorite part was the end. You get to lie down and take a nap.... Well you aren't supposed to fall asleep but that is pretty much what it looks like. All in all I did feel pretty good afterwards, it felt almost the same as getting a massage and much cheaper. I would still rather go get a massage, though. Bottom line, yoga will still be a last resort work out for me. I don't think it will ever be apart of my regular weekly routine. To seal the deal, the next morning our cat, McGuyver, threw up on my yoga dvd. I think he was trying to send me a message.

Diary of a four mile walk

I decided on Saturday I wanted to check out Kirkland Uncorked, which is my town's small town festival for the summer. Ironically it being a wine festival, you would think I wouldn't want to participate. They have a lot of booths with local artists and good food. I was at least able to check that stuff out. It is amazing how I treated my impending four mile walk almost like I would a ten mile run. I remember when I though an 8 mile run was easy. I can't wait to get back there again.

I packed up my back pack for my walk. I made sure to fill up a bottle of water and grabbed my wallet. I meant to grab some Swedish Fish in case I needed a pick me up but I headed out the door and was a half mile down when I realized I forgot them. At least I had some cash for a snack.

On my trip to downtown I focused on not getting lost. I took a different route than I would drive there and it tours through a bunch of neighborhoods. I have run through there before, but it has been almost a year. About an hour later I managed not to get lost and made my way to Downtown Kirkland.

I looked longingly at the wine garden. All those happy people chatting and getting drunk. That was not to be me. Maybe next year. Other than that, I felt pretty good. I did a quick tour of all the booths and didn't find anything that caught my fancy. I walked over to a small children's store that was downtown, but they have reduced their inventory quite a bit and they only had summer stuff, so that was a bust. I decided to turn back home.

The walk home I did along the main road for a change of scenery. I didn't feel tired until I hit the last mile. At that point my feet started to hurt and I could feel my body swell up. Luckily my sister called me during the last half of that mile to distract me the rest of the way. When I got home I put my throbbing feet up and collapse on the couch. For the first time I couldn't get my wedding ring off my finger. It took three hours for the swelling to go down enough.

I was really happy I made my afternoon trip. It took me almost two hours and I was exhausted, but it felt good. That's what matters.

Swimming work out

For this week swimming I decided to set an actual structured work out for myself. The effect was the time going by way faster and I ended up at the pool for longer than I wanted. I was having fun though, so that is all that matters. I also enjoyed the little boy next to me yelling at his dad saying "no daddy swim like her". He was referring to the fact I had my face in the water and his dad was swimming with his head up. It was pretty cute.

I started out with a 3x 100 yard swim for my warm up. I alternated freestyle and breaststroke, those are my two favorite strokes. It's my work out, I'll do what I want :) ... After my warm up I spent five to ten minutes stretching. On some work outs I will admit I get lazy and don't stretch, but since swimming moves my ligaments in ways they really aren't used to I never skip stretching during swimming. It is a cramp waiting to happen.

After I stretched I went into a 10 x 100 yard swim, alternating breast and free again. I started out on a 1:40 interval, but realized that was too fast for my breaststroke sets. I slowed down the rest to a two minute interval.... For those that don't know what intervals are, you know that big clock next to the pool that just has second markets on it? Watch it when you take off, then when you get back see how long it took you to do your lap. It was taking me a minute 35 to do a free lap and a minute 45 to do a breast lap, so I decided I wanted a least a 15 second rest, so I would leave on the 60 second mark each time. HTH.

The next set I did 10 x 50 yard kicks on a minute interval. This time I alternated free, breast, and back. I like kicking on my back, just not swimming backstroke. Don't ask my why, it's my weird little thing. I started to get really bad heart burn during this set for some reason so I switched to all breaststroke towards the end.

Finally, I did a 200 yard cool down to finish off. I had originally planned to do another 500 yards, but that heart burn was getting to me and I had been at the pool for over an hour at this point.

So to round up:

300 yard warm up, alternating favorite strokes
stretch
10 x 100 yard swim on two minute interval
10 x 50 yard kick on a minute interval
200 yard cool down

Swimming and Shopping

My purchases from Saturday. Can you guys which tank is the real Lululemon tank?

I used to be a swimmer in high school. I love to swim. When I was little my mom would worry about my sister and I because we would refuse to come up for air while playing in the kiddy pools. Every year in the summer I seem to get the itch to swim laps again. Being pregnant, it feels extra good because of the weight the water takes off me. Also, I feel like it is such a good all body work out I can lift less, which really isn't true, but call me in denial.

I set out Saturday after work to find a suit I could lap swim in. My racing suit no longer fits, and my beach bikinis will not stay in place (or on) for that kind of work out. My goal was to find an athletic bikini, so it could grow with me. Maternity suits are ugly and I would probably not wear it again. Swim suit shopping stinks and it is even worse being pregnant. After striking out at Big 5 and Sports Authority I ended up at Silvia's Swimwear. I grabbed a couple bikinis and tried them on. They were terrible! Like most women I am a different size on top than on the bottom. The suits sold as a pair with the same size top and bottom were not going to work. The tops were either too lose or the bottoms were too small. The sales girl recommended I look at the triathlon tops and try to find a fuller coverage bottom in the regular suit section. It was brilliant! I found a top that fits and she brought me a couple plan black bottoms (picture above). Everything was in place and it didn't look hideous. Plus I would have a triathlon top if I ever decided I wanted to do one.

I tried out my new suit in the pool later that afternoon. I did not have any issues. My bottoms didn't shift at all when I pushed off the wall and my top stayed covering my top. I also had freedom of movement. I liked the top so much I actually wore it the rest of the afternoon. I did not keep track of how many yards I swam. I switched between breaststroke and freestyle for about 40 minutes and did ten minutes of kick exercises. My first day back I did not want to push it too hard and my work out also included a two mile round trip walk to the gym and back. I was already feeling tired when I got to the gym.

My other goal of the day was to head to Costco. I had heard they were currently selling a style tank that is almost an exact replica of Lululemon's Cool Razorback Tank (my favorite) for less than half the price. My purchases are pictured above with the real Lulu tank. Can you tell the difference? I can, but it is very subtle. The stitching on it is almost identical and the fabric is exactly the same. Even the long skinny tag on the shirt is the same. The sizes do run a little larger. I am currently wearing one of my Costco purchases and I am really satisfied with it. It even feels exactly like the Lulu tank. Oh and if you were wondering, the Grey tank is the real Lululemon. I think my Costco fax Lulu's will take me to month eight (fingers crossed).

Back at the Gym

During the Summer months and when I am training for a race, I do not go to the actual gym a lot. It is much easier for me to run outside and lift from home. Now that I have not been running, I have been using my gym membership more. I have to say it feels really good to be back. The air conditioning will start feeling better and better if it ever starts getting warmer outside. I like having more options with exercises too. Here's a few I did on Thursday. I got these from my favorite trainer, Kellie.

Airplanes - This one I can't really describe. It's a combination of a balance exercise and rows. You stand on one leg and then pull your arm and leg in at the same time. (2 sets of 12 on each side)

Monster Walks - Requires a resistance band, which I don't have at home. You place the band around your ankles and try to take large steps forward. It looks and feels like walking like a monster. If you don't feel like a zombie you are doing it wrong. (walk about 50 yards)

Wall sits with bicep curl on the exercise ball - Put the exercise ball on the wall and put your back up against it. Get down into a sitting position, doing a bicep curl at the same time and come back up. (3 sets of 20)

There is one side effect of me being at the actual gym more. I think our cat Corona missing helping me with my work outs. I got this picture of her trying pass for one of my weights. Too cute.

Time of Running Death 20 Weeks Pregnant

This week marks the end of running during my pregnancy. Some girls can go farther; I am just not one of them. It became uncomfortable with the baby bouncing around. I enjoyed the running, but I was not feeling well at the same time. I have decided there are other things I can do both the baby and I will enjoy more.

I am still working out four days a week. I have more energy now than in my first trimester, so on my days off I am trying to incorporate a walk on those days. I sit at a desk all day for work, so getting some fresh air really helps. I am lifting three days a week, instead of the two I was doing before when I was running more miles. For cardio I am doing the elliptical at the gym and stairs. I also hope to start swimming again. I need to go get a new suit though. I fit in my racing suit two weeks ago, but I do not thing I will any more.

The stairs to Crestwood's Park

Meet my new best friend and worst enemy are the stairs to Crestwood's Park in Kirkland. Just a brisk walk from our home the stairs are the perfect work out spot. It is also popular with many of my neighbors. On memorial day I counted 30 people on the stairs at one point. With 211 stairs to climb, it would be a good training spot for The Big Climb in Seattle.

My nutrition is going pretty well. As the baby gets bigger I am having a really hard time eating any full size meals, with out losing it a half an hour later. My snack times are still at 11 am and 4pm. On occasion I have split my lunch between one and my four pm snack. The same goes with dinner at seven and nine pm. I cannot have my coffee with my breakfast any more. I have to slowly sip it over an hour or two. My cravings continue to be pickles and hard boiled eggs. I have also added Swedish Fish and tartar sauce to the mix. I don't combine the Swedish fish with the tartar sauce, though :)

Vacation Run Big Island Hawaii

Sorry for the long break. I just got back from nine days on the big island of Hawaii. We stayed just 25 minutes North of Kona. My goal for the trip was to get in quite a few runs. I packed a ton of work out clothes. It did not happen like I thought it would. Either running in Hawaii is hard, or running while pregnant in Hawaii is really hard. I think both is probably true. I ended up only doing two runs, a three mile run and a two mile run. I also did some lap swimming in the pool and a few short walks. I decided that was more than good enough for a vacation week.

Unlike my Maui trip, this time I made sure to get up right away and get going on my runs before the sun got too intense. I knew if I waiting until the afternoon I would never make it. The first run I did was along the coast line. It stretched from the house we were staying in to the Fairmont Orchid Hotel. The run was flat, but pretty difficult due to having to run through several sandy beach trails. Besides my normal slowness, I had to stop to walk quite a few times. I just got too tired. The run is posted at the bottom of this post.



View of one of the beaches I ran through

 The second run I did ran along the road inside the resort area. The view consisted mostly of lava rocks and the golf course. The miles of lava rocks reminded me of when I watch the Iron Man race in Hawaii and everyone looks hot and near death during the marathon portion. I ran a mile before I decided to just turn around. The baby was just too uncomfortable. I decided her or she was right about the run needing to end.

I will miss Hawaii. This time I do not know when I will be back. I know I will be though. Until then, I will dream of being able to run there again and getting a good nap in by the pool afterward. Here is to a warm Seattle summer. Fingers crossed.

Staying Healthy in the First Trimester

Right now I am 14 weeks pregnant. There are not a lot of blogs out there talking about working out during pregnancy, so I figure I'll share my experience. Leave a comment if you want more detail about something or have a question. I am no doctor, but I am happy to share what I am going through.

Exercises
Pre-pregnancy (I'll use PP for short) I worked out five days a week. My off season work out routine looked something like this:

3 to 5 mile run
Cross training day (which for me was my gravity class and an elliptical warm up if I had time)
3 to 5 mile run with speed training or hills
3 to 5 mile run plus lifting
6 to 9 mile run

I tried to keep up the same schedule. My doctor told me to just listen to my body and do what feels comfortable. She promised to let me know when I had to stop doing certain things. I quickly discovered my current schedule no longer worked. I did pretty well the first month, but my long runs became impossible. I have only been able to complete two six miles runs since I became pregnant. On both those runs the last three miles I had to stop to dry heave multiple times (this was on my way home, so there wasn't a way to cut it short at that point).

Towards the end of the second month I started to have less energy (equalling to little motivation) and started to feel more nauseous. If I felt good I could get out for a three mile run. If I did not, I would hit the elliptical. For some reason running really made me sick. Most of the time I could manage the elliptical or lifting just fine. There were a couple occasions I set out to run, started to feel my stomach turn and just went back home to lift. My five day a week work outs have been cut to four days a week. I just feel too tired and felt the need to rest. For all you girls out there who run full and half marathons into your second trimester I don't know how you do it. Props to you for sure!

Now being at week 14 I feel a lot better. I am noticing right now when I get my heart rate too high I start to feel sicker, so I am having to hold myself back. It is really frustrating, but I know if my body responds by wanting to hurl it is the best thing to do for me and the baby. I can run more during the week, but I haven't been able to run farther than three miles at a time. My goals was four to five last weekend, but there was an unfortunate vomit incident that made me cut it back to two miles. No good. Below is what my schedule looks like currently:

3 mile run
Gravity
3 mile run and lifting
3 mile run (hopefully more one week sometime here)

I do not think I will be able to do Gravity much longer. It is making me really motion sick. I cannot lay on my stomach any more and I will not be able to do ab exercises soon. Luckily, my trainer is awesome and she is thinking about changing her class so I can still take it. We will see what happens.

Diet
It took me a little while to get a good system down with my eating. At work sometimes I would go with out eating from 7am to 3pm. I would try to eat a snack at noon if I knew I had to take a later lunch, but if I did not get a chance to eat it, it wasn't the end of the world. I was also really good at not eating something if I knew it was bad for me just because I was hungry, like french fries, chips, candy, really processed stuff, etc. Now if I skip a meal I WILL shove a whole pie down my throat because I am hungry. I also had no ideas how many calories I should be eating. I figured I was pregnant, so I should be eating more, but I had no idea how much. I made several mistakes, but now I have a schedule down. Here is what my day looks like:

7am Breakfast
11am Snack (usually whole natural almonds or a piece of fruit)
2pm Lunch
4 to 5pm Snack (what ever I didn't eat in my lunch or some more almonds)
5 to 6pm granola bar
8pm Dinner

That has kept me from eating a whole pie or a plate of french fries. To answer the calorie question, here is what I read: 1st trimester 100 calories more, 2nd trimester 300 calories more, 3rd trimester 500 calories more. I am still tempted to eat things that are bad for me, but oh well. I'm pregnant I am going to enjoy it and not stress over a few splurges. Everything in moderation. Luckily my cravings have been pretty healthy, eggs and pickles. On my eggs I will take out one of the yokes to make them a little healthier. Last time I went to the doctor I had only gained four pounds so far. I am not sure if that is normal or not, but the doctor has not said anything, so I am sure I am doing just fine.