21 Weeks and Race Details

Here we are, pre-10k, with Nadia leering at my Garmin. More like wondering if she should touch it. She often puts on the Dora watch she got for her birthday and runs down the hall saying "running watch!"

Here I am, post-10k, caked in sweat. It was a great run and we had perfect weather. I got cramps early on that stayed with me, probably from sprinting past the pack at the beginning. (As soon as I stop running they disappear so I know they're not serious.) We made the mistake of starting at the back with the walkers, a mistake especially difficult for J to weave through with the stroller. A stroller, btw, that has decided to stop collapsing so we (and be we I mean J) had to jam it, wheel-less, into the backseat of my Jetta on the passenger side of the carseat. I guess this is why people buy SUVs. Anyhoo.... J pushed ahead of me quickly and for once I didn't mind and waved him off at about 2 miles. I was flirting with 9 minute miles most of the way which surprised me since I figured I'd be closer to the 10 min. range. At about 5 miles I got a strange burst of energy and decided that neither going slower nor faster would change the slight cramping I had so I chose faster, a choice that was made easier by the fact that my legs no longer felt like two jackhammers pounding the pavement, but rather more like my pre-pregnant springy gazelle legs. (Or, at least that's what they used to feel like.) I spent the last 1.3 miles, yes, this course was a good tenth of a mile longer than 10k, zipping past people, often sub 8 min./mile and can honestly say no one passed me during that last leg. (I usually have nothing left in the tank by the end but in this race I actually raced the second half faster than the first- uh, I guess that's called smart running or something.) At the actual 10k mark my Garmin said 55:30, but it read 56:11 by the time I crossed the finish line. Well within my sub-60 goal I'm happy to report and even an average of just under a 9 minute mile!

As a funny aside, people were clammering to sprint past J at the end so as to not be beat by a stroller. Unfortunately I don't think I look pregnant enough just yet for people to have realized they were being smoked by a pregnant woman. Haha. And by people I mean the people that take nearly an hour to run a 10k so, yeah, I'm not trying to say I'm that great.

Oh, and then we ate a giant steak dinner tonight complete with chocolate cake and here I was going to take tomorrow off from running. (My first day off in weeks-both IT bands are starting to suggest I may need one.) Maybe instead I'll go swimming when we take N to the spray park.... and by swimming I mean flail wildly about in an attempt not to drown.

20 Weeks

I hit the halfway mark yesterday. Yay me. But I'll be even happier when I see 23 weeks. For some reason getting to the first week when there would be a higher than zero percent chance of a baby surviving outside the womb is always a relief.

Well, I overshot the weight goal a bit. I've gained 6.5-7 lbs, depending on the day, slightly higher than my 5 lb. hope. But I'm ok with it. I feel great, am exercising like crazy, and can still fit in some non-maternity jeans - something I could not say at this point in the last pregnancy.

We are running a 10k race next weekend and by we, I mean all three of us. J will be pushing the stroller and I will be struggling to keep up though when we run our weekly 10k we usually stay pretty close to each other. My non-pregnant time is sub-50 but my goal for this race is to do it sub-60! Yup, I'm a bit of a lumbering whale these days:)

I feel baby every day and have since I felt the first certain thud at 17 weeks. (The same time I first started feeling Nadia, btw.) But this kid seems a lot less interested in being a gymnast so I don't feel her nearly as often or as violently as I did with Nadia at this point. Maybe I will actually get to sit still and snuggle with my infant this time. Wouldn't that be nice?! It could also be because her head is already lodged down pretty low (N was feet down, head at belly button at 20w.) and seems to have no desire to move- hopefully she stays there;) The ultrasound tech even threatened an internal exam if baby didn't move out of the way enough for her to be able to see my cervix. Fortunately she budged slightly and that was good enough for a picture.

N is slowly coming to terms with the baby being a girl. When asked she has maintained for weeks that she wants a boy. Ah well. You can't always get what you want.

Girl.

Blowing Bubbles on the Balcony

18 Weeks: Photo Montage and Exercise Schedule

I finally gave up the ghost of the lululemon running shorts and am now exercising in these ugly Old Navy shorts that are too big in the hips- for now;) They were just getting too snug in the lower abdominal area, a snugness I simply can't abide by during pregnancy. And actually since I switched a couple of days ago my runs have been cramp-free, except, that is, for the cramping created by having to pee as soon as I leave the house. Nothing I can do about that.

So exercising is going well and here is my schedule (it varies slightly week to week based on availability, weather, illness, etc... and I'm going to have to tweak it next week when Nadia starts swimming lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but you get the picture.)

Monday and Wednesday- 1 mile run with stroller to the Y.

- 2 miles intervals on the treadmill - though my 'fast' interval these days is the speed at which I used to run entire runs. Poo.

- free weights, squats, planks, and a bit of skipping rope.

Tuesday and Thursday - 4 mile run with stroller

Friday- Cardio Circuit at the Y: a step class coupled with a bit of weights and abs. I LOATHE step but I need to do something to give my legs a rest from running. I would consider spinning except for the lack of upper body benefits.

Saturday- 6.2 mile run withOUT the stroller. That's J's day to push!

Sunday - Day off unless I'm feeling bloompy in which case I may do a 2 mile jog.

This may all change a bit once we move further from the nearest Y and with the summer coming, but I will definitely be doing SOMEthing 6 days a week. (Though my runs surprisingly didn't suffer this past week when the temps got into the 80s and 90s.)

That being said, remember how I said I had only gained 2.5 lbs last week? Well that's now up to 5.5.... yeah....wow. What the eff, yo? Ok so maybe there was a bit too much chocolate involved and I do tend to swell in the heat, even not pregnant, but honestly there are weeks when I have eaten worse/more and haven't gained an ounce. The problem with pregnancy is that the body really wants to gain weight so one has to be even more careful. So. Starting tomorrow. Heh heh. But in all seriousness I think I will share my weight goals for this pregnancy in order to keep me accountable.... to something....

I didn't want to gain more than 5 lbs by 20 weeks so I've got a bit of work to do.

26 weeks:-11 lbs.

30 weeks:- 16 lbs.

35 weeks: -20 lbs.

40 weeks: -21-25 lbs.

Call me OC, call me crazy, but I remember how it felt to gain 33 lbs, how long it took to feel normal again (of course having a C section didn't help), and I'm hoping that gaining less and, more importantly, staying in better shape, will help me achieve this a bit faster. Sure I lost the weight fast, but it's more about dimensions in my case. And yes, I believe this to be perfectly healthy, especially since the current weight gain guidelines used by doctors/midwives are in the process of being revised/lowered.

But even though I've had a bad week, I'm not letting it get me down because I'm able to do so much more/feel so much better at this point in my pregnancy than the last..... and that's what really matters, right?

Me On a Ship