January Week 3 Workout Recap

This week was a slow week for me. Literally. I walked all week. Didn't make it to the gym on Monday. Tuesday we had another 2 year old visiting us all day while his mommy was  having her 2nd baby, so no gym. But when I did go, I just couldn't get that groove to run. I don't know what happened this week. I tried but it was like trying to fight my body too much, so I walked. I was get really strong round ligament pulling pain and it affected my speed of the walking. This week I will see if it continues, but I might have to get a support belt to help me out if this continues. Yesterday in my 4 mile walk, I got 3-4 braxton hicks contractions along with round ligament pain. But I am pretty sure yesterdays icky feeling was due to a lack of water the day before and day of.

Monday: rest
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 2 miles walk (18 min/mile)
Thursday: 1 mile walk (16:30 min/mile), prenatal yoga
Friday: rest
Saturday: 4 miles walk (was supposed to do 5 ARGH!) (17:15 min/mile)

This coming week is a big mileage long run on Saturday so I have to do way more, and get my groove back!

Each walk was way over the min I need for the half marathon. I know I will have to do lots of spurts of running with my walking for the half. I know I can do it! 5 weeks left until my race, then I can back off on the mileage! BUT I CAN DO THIS!

Any tips or advice to push through a burnout week?

4 Tips to Staying Active As A Fit Mom To Be

I have just over 5 weeks until my first 1/2 marathon! I AM GETTING SO VERY EXCITED! This weekend is the Tinkerbell half Marathon at Disneyland. My friend Kat and I almost signed up for it but decided against and and to try it another year. I could have been running a 1/2 marathon this weekend! EEK! That is kind of scary.  But my training for the Princess Half is coming along quite nicely!

Yesterday in prenatal yoga I mentioned that I only have about 5 weeks until the race and all the women's jaws dropped with the fact that I am still running, let alone training for a 1/2 while pregnant. I also saw my doc yesterday for my monthly checkup and he was very proud of me for my training, and my lack of weight gain. My blood pressure is better than average, my weight per his records has only gone up 4 lbs and that is because I lost so much and I am slowly gaining it back, still 2 lbs under what I was when I got pregnant by the way.  Baby sounds great, and looks great per the ultrasound. He said, this is how pregnancy should be. Continuing what you were doing before and having fun with it.

So as a momma to be my question to you is, how can we continue to exercise and be fit when we don't feel so fit, or in the beginning really like doing anything at all? It is hard. I tell this all the women I talk to. It is hard to get that motivation to go running most days, even now at 23 weeks. I still would rather just lounge on the couch or in my bed staying nice and warm and comfy than go to the gym and exercise. But exercising while pregnant is pretty cool. I am still getting tons of looks at the gym when I am running, because I look pregnant now and it is just not common to see a pregnant lady running. (plus the older generation were told not to run at all or had specific rules which have since changed but they might not know about those changes) I also get a lot of "good job!, great workout" too which is pretty cool because I look pregnant and I am still working my body! But I feel so empowered and I know I am doing something good for my body and for my baby. And he likes the bouncy ride too. Here are some tips to help you get back into exercising while pregnant even if you are just newly pregnant or if you are 38 weeks and are going to do some serious walking to get that baby out!

Start small-
If you haven't exercised in months or years or ever. Do not go to the gym and decide to start walking/running 4 miles in one day. You might feel great after you finish but your legs and feet will be barking at you tomorrow. YOU MUST START SMALL! Make it more of a time thing than distance. Don't go too fast, maybe just a little faster than you would normally walk so that you are doing something different. Start with 30 min at a 3.2-3.5. If you feel yourself struggling to keep up with that speed, slow down. If you sign up for a class for the first time, stand in the back or to the side, and take it easy. Allow yourself 2-3 classes to learn the moves and get the groove of things. Also look for shorter timed classes as taking an hour step class is a very long class, or choose a machine that lets you look in on the class to get a sense of what they do.

Pain vs Soreness-
Know the difference between being sore and having pain. Yes, after your first exercise like the day after, you will be sore. It is ok. You feet will ache, your muscles in your legs will be tight and won't really let you walk all that much, or if you lift for the first time ever you might have a hard time lifting your arms up to brush your hair or teeth. Been there. Felt that. Biggest thing go walk again that day. It will help get the soreness out by moving the lactic acid around and getting it out of your system. That is what makes you sore. The lactic acid being released from your muscles, oh and the little micro tears but they are ok too. But go walk it off. It will feel better. I promise. Pain is different on the other hand. Right now my feet are sore after I do my long runs. But if my knee really hurts than that is cause for concern. Usually muscles are sore. Joints are pain. Think about that in your sore/pain assessment after you exercise. If you have pain, ice it and take a day or 2 off to let it heal and try to think about what you did to make that pain, don't do it again. Maybe you stepped wrong in the step class, or your knee didn't like the 4 miles you did because it wasn't conditioned to do it. Think about what you did and try not to repeat it again for awhile.

Stretching-
This is the biggest thing. After you exercise you must stretch. No before. Don't stretch before. After! Take some time, a good 15 min really to get a really good stretch. Stretch your whole body. It will feel good. I am having a hard time stretching right now because some of my favorite stretches I can't do anymore because of my belly. IT Stretch. I miss you! But I still do the old fashion sit on the floor and stretch my hamstrings. If I really need a good stretch then I also have my foam roller which is a great device to help move that lactic acid around. But take the time. Even if you walk, stretch out and don't forget to get your upper body too. Your shoulders were working, your arms were working, stretch them out too. Show them the love!

Hydrate-
Water. You must drink water before, during and after you exercise. It is really important again to stay hydrated. If you feel thirsty than you should have already drank something! So drink and drink a little more. Try not to drink too much water while exercising so you don't get that sloshing feeling or puky feeling, that is why drink before. After you exercise it is important to drink because it helps to flush that nasty lactic acid out of your system. Drink a glass of water before the gym drink during and then drink another glass after the gym and during the rest of the day. WATER is the key too. No fruit juices, or sugar drinks. WATER. We are made up of 80% of the stuff it is the stuff we should be drinking!

In all honestly these are things that we already know. I am not a fitness expert or a doctor but we have heard these rules a thousand times. These are the things I follow too. Last summer I started small with the running and now I am up to 7.5 miles. Progress is a great thing! We need to be reminded of them every now and then. I was last night at a church activity and that is why I wanted to write about it today. We all need a reminder.

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WE ARE HAVING A...

We are so excited to be welcoming another boy to our family. It will be easy right? I already have clothing thanks to Mace. I already have a ton of boy toys and things that we knew we would use for multiple babies, like the car seat, pack n play, crib, high chair, were all gender neutral so I was good at prepping for that.

Now, to paint Mason's new big boy room and get his new bed and bedding and that room all ready. Also to convert the toddler bed/crib back to a baby crib and put the cute bumper on and all the decorations. If I am feeling ambitious maybe I will paint the baby's room too. ( we still haven't painted anything in the house.) Go through clothing, sort. Go through all the baby gear. Get a swing, and an Ergo Baby carrier. Let the fun begin!

Oh, and a name, Yeah we have that too. His name will be Collin. We are so excited for him to join our family around 17 weeks and 1 day, give or take a few days, from now!

Prepping for Labor- Positions

First off, we find out today if we are having a BOY or a GIRL! Any guesses? I will post tomorrow what the results were or if you check FB it might be on there prior to tomorrows post. But family finds out first! Now on to the post!

The biggest thing about prepping for labor is that all it is, is prepping for what could actually happen during labor. You won't know what happens or what to do until you are going through it. It is best to always be prepared for whatever happens. This blog post today is on different laboring positions (not birthing positions, those are different) you can use to help ease the discomfort of laboring.

What I thought prior to going through labor with Mason. That laboring positions will make labor easier and will take away the pain. HECK NO I TELL YOU! I was actually shocked when going through labor that the positions didn't do a ton to help me get through the contractions itself. The positions are the best possible way to help your baby to engage their head in the right place and eventually come down the birth cannel. But they don't take away the discomfort at all for you. If anything, they keep you busy to get your mind off of what you are going through. I am telling it like it is. If you felt laboring positions helped take the pain away, great for you, please let me know what you did so that I can try it this time around! PLEASE! They didn't for me and I was shocked by it. I felt lied to and misled. Frustrated. But alas I got though it anyhow.

Here are a couple to get you occupied and busy but be sure to practice them before so that you know how to get into those positions when the D day comes!

1. The birthing ball. Great for opening up the hips and rocking on. Need to lean on you partner or the bed or a chair though when a contraction happens because I found I tended to lean forward and double over when I had a contraction. I also almost went flying off the ball at one point in-between contractions trying to get more comfortable. Have someone be your safety on that thing. It is a ball and will roll out from under you. I didn't spend too much time on this see #2.

2. The toilet. Sorry mom if you are reading this. Yes the toilet. It was my fav place until the tub became available. It wasn't as big and round and moveable as the ball was. They had broke my water too so it came in handy for that too. But it was the best place to labor. Surprising, I have found a ton of women that preferred to labor on the toilet because it was just easier. There is even a birthing stool that looks like a toilet a little bit. It is the perfect size and we all know we fit on it.

3. Leaning over in the tub. Once the tub was available I would lay back in-between contractions but when I felt a contraction start I went to the edge of the tub, kneeled down and leaned over the edge. This is where I stayed for most of the labor. Probably 2 hours. Best labor position for me personally. Bad thing though, have a towel under your knees for comfort. Also under your feet. I kept complaining about the top of my feet hurting a ton. And that is because I was kneeling and there was nothing softening the weight of my feet. Lesson learned. This time around towel under knees and another under the feet. And lots of deep breathing.

4. Squatting. Practice this now! Get your legs used to a deep squat. Frog style squat. Have your hubs sit on the couch behind you and you frog squat in front so that they can be your safety and hold you and keep you from falling over. My hips kept cramping in this because it almost opened them too much but it is great for opening the hips us and forcing the baby down because gravity is pulling them that way.

5. In the bed. I put the back of the bed all the way up and leaned over the back and my bare naked butt was exposed to all who entered. I probably blinded them because it is so white. Ah the joys of being a red head. It is the same position I had in the tub but on the bed. My knees and feet were comfy though. Also on all 4 is another one that I have heard is really nice. I didn't do this one, it just didn't work for me. Like I said I liked to double over and breath super deeply. That is what worked for me.

There are a few more and I will get to them another time. I have found that these pregnancy posts have been very popular. Is there anything you want me to talk about? Just leave a comment or shoot me an email!

Super HUGE SHOUT OUT

To all the finishers of the WDW Marathon weekend! Today was the Full marathon and final race to the 4 day race extravaganza! And also CONGRATS to those who completed the Dopey Challenge! 5,000 people participated in the Dopey challenge. Maybe in 2016 I will try the Goofy challenge first (half and whole marathon) then the next challenge would be the Dopey. That is a long time away and a lot of running until that point. I must learn to run faster, comfortably!