Well, folks, there's no denying it......

1.  ......I'm pregnant! Like random people stop to congratulate me because I'm so clearly pregnant, pregnant. This is kinda fun! And I'm really loving working out while pregnant now that it's clear that I'm not just strangely fat in my belly. I especially love running faster than the non-pregnant folks next to me at the gym:)

"I guess I'm pregnant!" (30 weeks)

2........We're getting baby ready. With both the fun stuff (we gave the BOB Ironman a test spin last weekend and it is AWESOME!) and the really boring stuff (read: carseat), we're preparing to be 100% baby ready by April 10th, exactly 1 month before our due date...just in case. Occasionally Adam reminds babybison not to come any earlier than her due date. Wonder if she'll listen?

Don't worry- we got one that will match my first baby, Elly.

3........One day we'll have a toddler.....and then a full blown kid! This didn't fully occur to me until my daycare tour today. We're lucky to have an amazing daycare 1 block from my job that's almost all populated by Northwestern doctors' and nurses' kids. Looking at the newborns didn't surprise me. But then looking at these "big kids", the two year olds, the four year olds, WOW! One day we'll have one of those!

It's strange how reality sets in in discrete jumps!

Pregnancy Fitness Goals...and Week 7 of 45/day

Week 28 babybison!

Again, I want to thank my friends and family for their supportive comments about my pregnancy weight gain! On further reflection both while writing my Complacency post and reading/hearing folks' comments, I realized a few things. First of all, I've never in my life been one to pay attention to or worry about a number on the scale. Maybe this is because I haven't seen a number in the one-teens since high school and had never seen a number above 129 (until now!) so figured I was a reasonable weight. Occasionally I'd calculate my BMI and all was well. I'd intermittently count calories not for weight's sake but for health and fitness reasons, not really to change the number on the scale. Sometimes, I'd get into body fat %, check that number occasionally on the scale, try to move it down a bit. But overall, my push has been to improve my running speed and endurance, improve my strength and most recently to start working towards an Ironman triathlon. In the past year or so, I've also wanted to improve my physical appearance a bit- mostly related to just a bit too much fat in a couple key places, but really my predominant focus has been fitness and athleticism. This has served me well for years- why would this change now?

I think seeing the number on the scale creep well above 130 was a shock to me. But I'm over the shock now and have no plans to look at another scale until my next OB visit in 4 weeks. And I really honestly just don't care about the number. I don't want the number to grow more than it should because to me that indicates I'm not balanced. I'm not eating healthfully and sparingly. But this post will be the last time I talk about the number!

What will I continue to talk about? Continuing to better myself and my body even as I continue to grow this little parasite. In what ways can I realistically better myself during this time? 5 main areas come to mind:

1. Healthy eating- Good goal all the way around, anytime, no matter what. So I'll keep working on this.

Week 28 babybison.....again:)

2. Strength training- Most of my current displeasure with my body has to do with my fat/muscle ratio being too high. I need let the fat be for now, babybison needs/will need it. But I think increasing my muscle mass is a good idea so I'm going to make increasing weight training from once a week to three times a week (carefully, with good pregnancy technique, don't worry!) a prime goal.
3. Swimming endurance and technique- From how I've felt so far and what I've read from other pregnant ladies, swimming remains doable right up until labor. So I'll start increasing my swimming distance and will maybe even take a lesson or two to improve my technique.
4. Training volume/consistency- Even as my intensity drops off, I don't think my training volume should. Even if I end up walking on a flat surface (god, I hope it doesn't come to that!), I will continued to work on getting in 45 minutes a day.
5. Running maintenance- Whatever this means. Certainly at least a mile a day. Beyond that, I'll leave it open-ended.

As you can see below, this weeks 45 a day went well!

Day 1: 1 mile run, hill walking (20 mins)

Day 2: 12 mile spin, 940 yd swim, 1.25 mile run (85 mins)

Day 3: 4.1 mile run (45 mins)

Day 4: 1300 yd swim, 1 mile run (50 mins)

Day 5: 1 mile run (10 mins)

Day 6: 2 mile run, prenatal training, 0.75 hill climb (80 mins)

Day 7: 14 mile spinning, 1 mile run (55 mins)



This week: 345 out of 310 minutes (35 in the BANK!)

Total deficit: 225-35= 190 min on going deficit. Chipping away at the deficit.

Now I just need to keep this up!!

Swimming Like I Mean It

When you first start a new sport or exercise, you generally have one speed. And that speed is 'hard'. Running, at any speed, feels hard. Biking at anything more than a leisurely pace on a flat surface feels hard. Swimming, or just trying to coordinate breathing in the water....hard. But if you stick with your new found activity, whatever it is, eventually you will develop a range of paces including one that feels easy. I found this took a long time for me with running. It wasn't until I had been running consistently for a year that I noticed (while running nice and slowly with a new runner) that there were running paces that felt easy and nearly effortless. What a good feeling!

Leisurely pace

Well yesterday, on day 2 of the 3rd trimester of my pregnancy, I had a swimming breakthrough! I now have swimming paces! I started my swim with a "leisurely" warm up that felt really great. So great that I decided to nix the intervals I planned and instead do a long, slow swim. Eventually I got bored of that, so did a drill for a few laps, then another few laps of slow, leisurely. Then, boredom recurred so I decided to do some slightly faster intervals.

Swimming like she's going somewhere!

As I did the intervals I realized I was "swimming like I was going somewhere". Somewhere more exciting than the other end of the pool (just to turn around and swim back....just about as pointless as  a treadmill!) I was reaching farther ahead with each stroke, I had faster arm turnover, I was pulling back the water with more force, kicking a little harder. The wall came faster, the ceiling was moving faster- I definitely felt I had stepped it up a notch.

Swimming like he means it!

Once I realized this, I started thinking about my last swimming workout, which included even shorter intervals (they were labelled lactic threshold intervals, but during pregnancy I've been avoiding full on breathlessness, so they were probably down a notch from what was prescribed). I recalled thinking during those intervals that I was "swimming like I mean it". Pace 3- "swimming like I mean it", almost sprinting. Like a shark!




Now I'm contemplating whether I should take another swimming lesson in the next few weeks just to have someone weigh in my form and recommend some drills I can work on for the next few months. I expect I'll be able to swim until the very end (i.e. day of delivery) so it might be worthwhile to be more intentional about the whole thing. Regardless, it's great to feel like I'm making improvement in some athletic arena! A year ago at this time (Feb 2012), I logged no swims. That's zero swims. So three swims already done in Feb 2013 is a definite improvement!

Babybison, Your Dad's an Inspiration

On top of long hours at work and being a father-to-be extraordinaire cooking and foot-massaging up a storm, Adam recently set a crazily ambitious fitness goal for himself - run 3 miles daily in 2013. Now you may remember, he was the one who initiated our one mile a day goal that we started back in December 2010. I jumped right on board with that one and am so glad I did (and going strong over 2 years later)! But this time, being pregnant and all, I thought it best to let Adam one-up me on this one and while I've been doing my best to continue exercise, running 3 miles a day would be a stretch. But I'm so amazed and proud that he's been able to keep this up!

Unfortunately, Adam has recently had the misfortune of catching nearly every bug that's crossed his path. So far in 2013 he's had one bad cold that lasted weeks (or maybe it was two colds) and during Valentine's Day dinner he came down with viral gastroenteritis. Pretty severe. So severe he couldn't get through my (albeit) verbose Valentine's Day card without a restroom break let alone dinner. Poor guy. After being up all night Friday sick and still unable to eat or drink, he set out to do his 3 miles yesterday afternoon. I couldn't believe it. He hadn't been vertical for 10 minutes yet let alone exerted himself in the vertical position! And he was clearly so, so dehydrated!

But, much to my amazement, he did it. He asked me to join him in the gym in case he fell because he didn't feel very steady. Not sure I would have been fast or strong enough to catch him if he went down, but I of course accompanied him, at least for moral support. And he got through those three miles. He did it! One of the hardest things about completing the daily mile is doing it sick, but 3 miles?!? Absolutely inspirational. And, Adam doesn't know this, but I was planning on taking yesterday as a rest day- I was only going to run 1 mile and nothing else. But obviously in the face of such heroic acts, I couldn't merely run a mile! So I pulled out 4 (slow) miles, with all my motivation coming directly from the very ill man next to me who I am lucky enough to call my husband!

Babybison, you are going to have such an amazing role model for a Dad. I can't wait for you to meet him!

On Complacency....and Pregnancy Weight Gain

No one strives to be complacent. In any sphere of life. But I believe there are so many instances in life where we are lulled into complacency, even encouraged to be complacent. Weight gain during pregnancy is one such situation. Clearly, when normal weight women become pregnant, they need to gain weight. Fetuses and all the support structures they require weigh something. And people who start out thin (or healthy), will need to gain lbs corresponding to these structures. But how much? What should this weight distribution be? How do fit women balance eating with the decrease in exercise intensity that inevitably is a part of a healthy pregnancy?

I am doing many things well during my pregnancy. But there are things I wish I had done differently and changes I plan to employ going forward. When I first became pregnant, I immediately changed my exercise intensity intentionally, but unintentionally also decreased my frequency due to fatigue. The amount of calories I took in probably decreased from baseline (though I wasn't keeping track) and my hunger level definitely decreased which made sense given my decrease in exercise. But I didn't play close attention to what I was eating and aside from keeping up my running mileage enough to complete my marathons, I didn't have specific exercise goals. Looking back, I should have started tracking what and how much I was eating more closely and set some specific non-running goals for myself. And I should have incorporated more weight training (but that's the story of my life, in general, not just during pregnancy!)

My 2nd trimester started off well with another marathon but quickly deteriorated from a physical fitness standpoint as I took a few days off from heavy exertion for my amniocentesis. Then some unanticipated concerns about our baby's health (don't worry, everything ended up okay) made me pretty sad for a few weeks while we were in medical limbo and I just couldn't force myself to stay as active as I should have. And I definitely wasn't paying attention to what I was eating. For the past few weeks, things have been going well. I feel great, babybison is kicking away in there, all is good. And my 45 in 45 goal (45 minutes of exercise for 45 days in a row) has really helped me to stay active. Eating wise, I have tried to not go crazy, but I have definitely been paying a bit less attention than usual to my intake. But my 14 lb weight gain at my last appointment (though I was wearing heavy boots, I like to believe it was only 12!) was shocking. But the number was less disturbing to me than the fact that I feel and look out of shape. I'm happy to gain weight in the fetus and the uterus and the amniotic fluid, but I really don't appreciate weight gain in my legs....or back....or arms. That is not pregnancy weight gain- it's complacency. And I will not continue to be complacent.

So I decided to look into the data. What is the pregnancy weight gain breakdown? How much is actually required? Where do these guidelines come from? And what do I need to do in the last 3 months to ensure the health of both my baby (weight gain) and me (no excess weight gain and the barest minimal of fitness loss).

First, a bit of history.....

Prior to the 1930s, there was a societal belief that excessive maternal weight gain led to obstetrical problems and women were actually advised to not gain more than 15 lbs. In the 1970s a few studies indicated that maternal dietary restriction correlated with low birth weight babies and the weight gain recommendation changed, somewhat arbitrarily, to 20-25 lbs. Note that all of these "studies" including the one I go into detail below are observational studies- it is not ethically possible in the modern age to rigorously study maternal weight gain. A high quality study would be one that randomly assigned some women to the currently recommended weight gain (25-30 lbs for normal weight women) versus less weight gain, and then compared outcomes. Not many women would volunteer for such a study and even if they (and their physicians) were willing, there would be no way to truly control each woman's weight gain, let alone control for all the other factors that go into maternal and fetal health (smoking, drinking, exercise, medical problems, etc).

The current weight gain recommendations come from various bodies such as the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The IOM guidelines were updated in 2009 and, interestingly, the update focused mostly on avoiding excessive weight gain particularly in overweight women.  They discuss how many women go into pregnancy already overweight and how they need to carefully limit weight gain and how women who go into pregnancy with normal weight end up gaining way too much and often don't lose it postpartum (thus remaining overweight or obese for the rest of their lives). They recommend many women spend time losing weight PRIOR to getting pregnant so as to start from a healthy weight. So we've come full circle from asking pregnant women to restrict weight gain in the 1930s to asking them to gain in the 1970s to asking them to carefully gain and even consider pre-pregnancy weight loss.

Here are the official weight gain guidelines from the IOM:

Just to give you a sense, a 5'5" woman who weights 150 lbs has an upper limit of normal BMI of ~25. More than that= overweight. Note that 27% of women of childbearing age are obese, not just overweight, but obese!

For those interested here is one of the more recent, sub-optimal, study the guidelines are based on.
This study followed ~3000 women in Brazil in the 1990s, with results recently reported in January 2013. They followed womens' weight gain in the 2nd and 3rd trimester and compared them to the 2009 IOM recommendations. What they found was interesting:

• Roughly 50% of women had "excessive" weight gain in the 2nd and 3rd trimester
• Women who were obese prior to pregnancy were at higher risk of gaining excess weight.
• Mean weight gain was higher in the 2nd trimester than in the 3rd for non-obese women (good news for me, hopefully the vast majority of my weight gain is behind me!). Obese women just kept gaining.
• "Insufficient" weight gain (defined as below the minimum as recommended by 2009 IOM) was correlated with a lower risk of c-section (statistically significant) and higher risk of pre-term birth (not statistically significant). However, note that "insufficient" weight gain during the 2nd trimester only was predictive. Being below the average during the 3rd trimester did NOT have detrimental effects. 
• "Excessive" weight gain (defined as above the maximum as recommended by 2009 IOM) correlated with higher risk of c-section and large for gestational age babies. "Excessive" weight gain during both the 2nd and 3rd trimesters was harmful.

(Data obtained from PLOS Jan 2013)

Another interesting point is the variable weight gain recommendation in other countries. No surprise that they are lower elsewhere as compared to here in part due to smaller frames of women in some Asian countries and in part because Americans tend to think more and bigger is better (often to our detriment).

• Japan weight gain for normal weight women- 15-26 lbs
• UK weight gain recommendation is up to 27 lbs (Interestingly, one site's first comment was "first and foremost, it is important to accept that you are going to put on weight during pregnancy", quite contrary to the American view of "woo-hoo, bring on the ice cream, I'm eating for two!")
• France- 19-26 lbs
• S Africa, Ghana- 24-35 lbs

Finally, here is a estimated breakdown of where pregnancy weight gain goes. Not sure how they came up with this but I doubt is was from rigorous scientific study:

• Baby: 7-8 pounds
• Placenta: 1-2 pounds
• Amniotic fluid: 2 pounds
• Uterus: 2 pounds
• Maternal breast tissue: 2 pounds
• Maternal blood : 4 pounds
• Fluids in maternal tissue: 4 pounds
• Maternal fat and nutrient stores: 7 pounds

Source: American Pregnancy.org

Bottom line for healthy weight women: Stick with the recommendation, but feel comfortable that it's perfectly safe to stay at the lower end of the weight range. 

Bottom line for overweight and obese women: Plan to lose weight BEFORE becoming pregnant. Get healthy first before bringing a little one into the mix! If you do get pregnant while overweight/obese you must calorie count and stay active and be vigilant about minimizing weight gain.

Bottom line for me: It's normal to gain the most during the 2nd trimester. So I should be/can be careful from here on out. I'm up 14 lbs now. As long as I ensure I do not gain more than 1 lb a week b/t now and the end, both me and the baby should be a-okay. While I'm not going to start weighing myself daily, or restricting my food intake, I AM going to start counting my calories from time to time as a way to keep tabs on things and just keep myself in check. People in general (and me in particular) tend to eat more reasonable portions of healthier foods while tracking their intake. So that will be my step to avoid complacency during the next 12 weeks. That and continuing to have aggressive exercise goals (though they will change probably on a weekly basis), including my least favorite workouts of all- weight training. If I can turn some of this new found fat into muscle it will still be weight gain, right? :)

I'm the Girl Who Cried Wolf (Week 6 of 45 in 45)

First off, thanks to those who have reached out with encouraging words during my "down" exercise days. It's nice to have folks recognize the effort I'm putting in day in and day out to not become a couch-dwelling pregnant slug. Which is a bit harder than the effort to not become a couch-dwelling non-pregnant slug!

But I feel a little bit like the boy (or girl) who cried wolf. You know the story. The shepherd boy keeps scaring the villagers by claiming a wolf was nearby eager to attack the flock of sheep. The day the wolf actually comes, he cries "Wolf, WOLF" but no one believes him since he's fooled them so many times before.

Well, I keep "crying wolf" by over-reacting every time I have a failed work-out. I let myself catastrophize the situation thinking I'll NEVER have another good run (while pregnant), or my running days are over (for this pregnancy), when in reality I'm experiencing likely normal ebbs and flows in my body's tolerance of running and exercise in general. Bad days are often followed by good days, often multiple good days in a row. So next time I have weird pains that cause me to bail on a run or anything else I will do my best to not freak out, and just hope the next day is better!

I suspect the day will come when all I can muster is my one mile a day. But until I have a week of consistently bad work-outs, I will not cry wolf, I will not jump to any conclusions about pregnancy work-outs being over, etc, etc. Even when I'm not pregnant, I've had 'bad' weeks due to work or illness where my total workout time for the week was a paltry 7 miles. So I need to give myself a break. At the same time, though, I need to start watching my dietary intake like a hawk so that if/when my exercising decreases my eating decreases proportionally. (Stay tuned for a post on pregnancy weight gain.)

With no further ado, here's the breakdown for 45 in 45 week 6:

Day 1: 1 mile run (10 mins)
Day 2: 11.5 mile spin, 1200 yd swim, 1 mile run (85 mins)
Day 3: 5.1 mile run, 1 mile hill walk (65 mins)
Day 4: 1 mile run (10 mins)
Day 5: 1 mile run (10 mins)
Day 6: 2 mile run, prenatal training (70 mins)
Day 7: 11.5 mile spinning, 1 mile run, 0.7 mile hill climb (60 mins)

This week: 310 out of 310 minutes (RIGHT ON TARGET!!)
Total deficit: 225 on going deficit. At least I didn't add to it this week!

When I first start this 45 in 45 challenge (take 2) the goal was to exercise 45 minutes on average for 45 days. Day 45 is two days from now and I'm behind by 225 minutes. Now if only I had a marathon to run I could knock that 225 out in one fell swoop! But I don't. So, strictly speaking, this challenge was a fail.

But I really don't want to call it a fail, because it kept me motivated to at least attempt a full 45 minute workout everyday (with a few exceptions of long days at work). It took me time to get into the swing of things, but my workout deficit time became smaller each week and this week I did indeed reach my goal. So maybe with a few more weeks I could make this a true success.

So, like a 6th grade teacher whose prize pupil claims the dog ate his homework, I'm going to give myself an extension. I'm going to extend the challenge for 4 weeks- to March 14th, to try to work down that deficit and make the final average 45 minutes a day of exercise. So what if it will be 45 in 73 instead of 45 in 45. It's keeping up physical fitness that counts! And not giving up.....

Fun and Food in San Francisco

Sara and I

Two weeks ago I traveled to San Francisco! The primary reason for my trip was a work related conference but I chose this conference in particular because my dear friend Sara lives in SF so I headed out a couple days early to hang with her. Our first order of business was to decide b/t driving up to Lake Tahoe for cross country skiing vs hanging around SF and Sonoma County for some spa-style relaxing. A quick look at the weather, and the expected 60 degree and sunny forecast for the city itself made that decision an easy one! So after luxuriously sleeping in, we had a late breakfast and headed up to Indian Springs Resort and Spa in Sonoma. Indian Springs is a resort originally built in 1913 with many upgrades since. Part of its claim to fame is the large mineral pool fed from water from 230 degree hot springs and geysers nearby. So you can bask year round in this beautiful, warm pool looking at the surrounding mountains. The water was roughly 92 degrees so even this preggars gal could spend a limited amount of time in there (though I mostly floated on a raft just dipping my feet in).

After we were nice and relaxed, we moved on to...well..more relaxation. In the form of massages. This was my first massage while pregnant and I was interested to see what, if any, modifications would be made. Basically, in short, when I was laying stomach down I was on a soft wedge device that allowed my abdomen to push down as far needed to be comfortable. No big deal. The message was good. I'm so spoiled with a husband who is a better masseuse than any professional I've encountered but it was still nice with the music and the smells and the pre-hot tub and the post- fabulous dinner at Solbar. It was such a great day!

The next day, we started with a great 5 mile hike on Mt Tamalpais in Marin County. While the day was overcast, and constantly threatened rain, the most it did was spit a bit. The temperature was nice- mid-50s- really excellent January hiking weather! There was enough elevation gain that we required frequent breaks to "look at the views" (read: catch our breaths) so as a bonus I could count part of this wonderful walk with a friend as exercise! And we saw an unidentified animal that I really think might have been a bobcat, which made this nature-lover's day:)

Me and 25 week babybison.

We then saw Silver Linings Playbook (was so-so) and popped over to a day spa that happened to have openings for both of us to have facials right before dinner. I'd never had a facial before. It was....interesting. It's nice to have your face massaged, it's nice to have fragrant lotions applied, but in my opinion it's NOT nice to have hot humid air blowing on your face for half an hour! I could barely breathe! At one point, I felt the beginnings of a panic attack as I was reminded of the last time I felt this trapped and hot, years ago in a small hut in Northern Africa......No joke.

I was visiting my cousin, Karin, who was in the Peace Corps living in a rural town in Mauritania (let's face it, all the the towns in Mauritania are rural except for the capital). She lived in a one room house, very luxurious as she was the only one living in it. One day, we were told a sand storm was coming. We did notice the wind had picked up a bit. The locals told us to go to our house and board up the doors and windows, making sure we had sufficient water and food. The sand storms can last for up to days. I was a little excited at first but once we were locked up in the suffocating hot, stagnant hut, my mind started racing with worst case scenarios. What if this lasted days? Was there any amount of money I could pay someone to drive me the hours to the capital where there were modern buildings with air conditioning and electricity to wait out the rest of the storm? (Obviously, this was a crazy thought- no one would be able to see to drive.). What if my heart exploded from anxiety? My cousin appeared calm, cool and collected so I did my best to hold it together, placing warm washcloths on my face repeatedly because the sensation of wet was better than the hot dry air. The storm lasted only 12 hours, much of which was at night so we slept through it. But, wow, it was an experience!!

So, lesson learned- facials aren't for me. But spa days and massages definitely are!

Sara and I had no shortage of delicious food during our two days together. Despite only living there for a year and a half, Sara has quickly learned the town like a local and had all kinds of fantastic eating plans for us. In total, we had four great dinners. In brief...

1. Nopa is a great spot that serves "urban rustic food" with local, seasonal ingredients. The space is cute and energetic with enthusiastic patrons and servers. To eat we started with the warm goat cheese with asian pear and fuyu persimmon- I really enjoyed this because I haven't had goat cheese in months out of concern it wouldn't be pasteurized, but this kind of place knows their ingredients well so I confidently enjoyed the creamy cheese when the server told me it was indeed pasteurized. For dinner I had the pasta dish that was so, so good but the details of which I can't remember and it isn't on the menu anymore (it changes frequently). But doesn't it look GOOD!!??!!

2. Solbar-
This was my overall favorite dining experience. A combo of the relaxing spa beforehand, being out in Sonoma County, the marvelous wine flight (don't worry- I had only 4 oz), the food, the company, our wonderful server who happens to be a marathoner (yup, I tipped well when I learned this!), the ambience-- just a great couple hours of relaxing, enjoyable, LIFE! I wasn't surprised that my food (hot and cold dungeness crab appetizer, petaluma crispy duck breast with garnet yam stew and beignets with Bailey's Irish cream sauce) was stellar- the restaurant won a 2012 open table diner's choice award as well as a Michelin star. For future reference, the spa (which we did not partake in, but looked nice though pricey) was voted #1 spa in the Americas and #10 in the world by Traveler magazine. Might be worth checking out as a weekend trip in the future.

3. Perbacco- This was a beautiful Italian restaurant near the financial district. Sara's mom was in town my last night so I got to have dinner with them both, which was great! This restaurant was oh-so-cute and the food did not disappoint.



4. Firefly- This is where we ate the first night. It is a cute, neighborhoody type place with excellent food. One thing I really appreciate about San Francisco is the neighborhood feel- so many small restaurants, coffee shops and boutiques. Definitely a great place to get into the feel of begin in SF!


Other sights in San Francisco:

On one of my daily runs!

Look at the middle pic- handheld pot pies!

This guy is wearing hooves!

It was a great trip and I was SO happy to spend time catching up with Sara. But after a week on the West Coast, I was definitely missing home. And now with the third trimester just around the corner, I won't be traveling for a while! Guess I'll have to just enjoy the rest of winter in Chicago. If only we'd get some snow!

45 in 45 Week 5

(Borrowed from elsewhere- not my babybison!)

This hasn't been the best week. Two work-out fails. Yesterday, I left spinning early after only 30 minutes because I was having a weird left lower quadrant and back ache that I didn't have prior to spinning class. As I've mentioned before, one of my rules for safe exercise during pregnancy is to back off or stop if I have different or worsened "sensations" than I have when NOT exercising. Maybe I'm overcautious, but I don't think so. What other barometer makes more sense? I can't think of one. So I stopped early. The ache continued (it was so, so mild and not associated with any other symptoms) for a few hours but I otherwise felt fine and by the evening I felt totally fine and did my run and hill climb with absolutely no problems.

Just now I went to do a 3 miler outside since it's relatively warm at 30+ degrees. I was hungry though so had a sandwich and crackers a few minutes before I left. Usually, I can eat (or drink) immediately before- or even during a run with absolutely NO GI consequences. Guess I'm lucky. (I had dinner and a glass of red wine before one of my treadmill 20 milers in the past!) But I guess with the real estate at a premium in my abdomen and pelvis, I don't have the flexibility I used to have. I had to abort my run at 1 mile because I wasn't entirely sure if the pain I was having was GI vs other. GI=niggle. Other could be baby. So I stopped. Hopefully, as my body adapts to the end of 2nd trimester and the beginning of the the 3rd (can you believe I'll be in my 3rd trimester in a week and two days!?!), I'll figure out what new issues are just niggles and which are legit. Even as I write this I feel totally fine again so I'll probably head down for an arm weight w/u and swim in a bit.

Still, it's frustrating to get motivated and ready to work out and having to stop well before my heart, lung, head or legs want me to.

Just me whining.

Here are the details of last week's workouts:

Day 1: 1 mile run, 300 yard swim (20 minutes)
Day 2: 1 mile run 13.6 mile spin (55 minutes)
Day 3: 1 mile run, 1000 yd swim (45 minutes)
Day 4: 1 mile run, 2.5 mile hill climb (45 minutes)
Day 5: 1 mile run (10 minutes)
Day 6: 1 mile run, prenatal weight w/u (45 minutes)
Day 7: 1 mile run, 8.5 mile spin, 2.2 mile hill climb (75 minutes)

Total:  295 out of 310 (deficit down to 15 minutes!!)
Total deficit: 50+60+70+30+15= 225 deficit

With only a week left, I'd have to exercise for 75 minutes a day every day b/t now and next Thursday. Not sure how realistic this is. Especially when I have to stop from time to time like I have this week. This Sunday in particular is a near impossibility since I'm on Division Call.

What do you think, friends? What kind of modification should I make for myself so I can still call this personal challenge a success? Give myself an additional week of 45 minutes day so the deficit can be spread out over 2 weeks instead of one?

I'll see how the next few days go.....

45 in 45 Week 4

I feel like things went a bit better this week. Let's check the numbers...

Day 1: 1 mile run, 5 mile hike on Mt Tam (outside San Fran, will only the uphill portion as cardio- 55 mins)
Day 2: 3 mile run (30 mins)
Day 3: 1 mile run, 2.3 mile hill climb, 10 mins weight (50 mins)
Day 4: 1 mile run (10 mins)
Day 5: 1 mile run (10 mins)
Day 6: 2.5 mile run, prenatal training class (75 mins)
Day 7: 5.25 mile run (50 minutes)

Total: 280 out of 310 minutes (only 30 minutes deficit!!)
Total deficit: 50+60+70+10= 190 minutes

Yea! It was a MUCH better week. So with 2 weeks to go, I have a 190 minute deficit. It is possible I can actually reach my goal? This would entail an additional 95 minutes each week for the next two weeks on TOP of the average of 45 minutes a day. This will require some two-a-days, something I haven't done since being pregnant. But I'm feeling up to it, so I might as well give it a shot! I sure could use the extra exercise!

Stay tuned...