Sweat

Can someone please return my motivation? I seem to have lost it. I’m feeling much better, still pretty tired in the evenings, but otherwise OK. I don’t really have an excuse for being such a lazy bum. And yet I am. A lazy bum. So, I’m going to start kicking myself in the butt and getting down to the basement to get a workout in a few times a week. I’ll report back my progress.

I’ve done it. I’ve got a new goal. Well, several actually.

Goal #1 - Don’t go completely jello-like during this pregnancy. Get back to exercising regularly so cardiovascular health and stamina is kept at tolerable levels.

Goal #2 - Make time for myself after the baby is born to get exercise in. This is of course easier said than done when you have two children wanting your attention plus a third infant child who demands your attention. Luckily with Kris home during the days on my 12 week maternity leave I should be able to carve out 1/2-1 hour 3-4 times a week for myself. It’s when I go back to work after the 12 weeks that it will really be a struggle. Ugh.

Goal #3 - Get into good enough shape to race in the 2010 Minneapolis Duathlon on August 29th, 2010. I officially signed up yesterday. (Use the code Champ2 by 11/6/09 and get $4 off the registration fee plus a free bike jersey!!) Kris has a bike jersey already and they are super cool. They’re pretty and I want one too! So now I have one. Well, I’ll have one after they ship it to me. Plus I ordered a medium which is what I fit into in August when I tried one on at packet pick up for the 2009 Minneapolis Duathlon. Now, I’m not going to kill myself to lose enough baby weight to get back down in my medium jersey by the duathlon next summer. But it will be a goal of mine to eventually lose the baby weight and be back in it for the 2011 duathlon. It’s good to have goals, right?

So, those are my goals. Now go sign up for the race so we can all do this together! (A couple friends have already signed up. Kris will sign up and my brother is excited to come to Minnesota to do it as well. The more the merrier! Come on! Do it! Peer pressure!!!)

I did it! 30 minutes on the elliptical that is! After a 9 week hiatus (ouch!) I finally exercised last night. The last time I did anything? The duathlon on August 30th at 5 weeks. Yesterday I was 14w2d and finally did something. Yes, I could blame that on first trimester woes but honestly? I’ve also been lazy and using the pregnancy as an excuse. Blah, blah tired, nauseous, blah, blah. So, now that I’m back you have to help keep me accountable, OK? I’ve asked Kris to keep Mondays and Wednesdays as Kristina’s work out days and he can have Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays after work. Then we can each do our thing on the weekends as schedules/bodies/motivation allows. I’m sure he’ll keep me on my Mon/Wed routine because otherwise he’ll be annoyed that he couldn’t work out that day and then neither did I.

So, about that workout? I took it fairly slow. I wasn’t wearing the heart rate monitor so I’m not sure where that was at. I’ll wear that from now on. I made sure to not get out of breath (on orders of my midwife) but I could feel my pulse rise and I was sweaty afterward (although not as sweaty as when I’m going all-out running). Having the heart rate monitor will help me next time I think. I’m probably being to cautious but whatever.

Oh, and I hate the elliptical. I would so rather be running outside! I probably could have done that yesterday but pretty soon it will be too cold or icy for me to be doing that. Wuss out I will! So the trainer and the elliptical will have to do for a while. It may be time to update the Netflix queue with movies/shows I can watch while on the elliptical.

It feels good to be back though. I gained another 2 pounds and promptly freaked out. The baby is the size of a lemon, why have I gained 8 pounds already?!? *Breathe* *Breathe* *It will come back off, calm down!*

I’m having a hard time with this pregnancy. And it’s not because of the nausea or the heartburn or the exhaustion. It’s because of my weight gain. Today I’m 11 weeks 4 days along. According to Babycenter’s week 11 information most women gain 2-5 pounds during the first trimester. Me? At a week and a half left in this trimester, I’ve gained about six pounds. I started around 148 (give or take a half pound) and this morning I was at 154.2. It’s stressing me out people. And I know it shouldn’t. But I’m still so tired in the evenings that I fall asleep early (last night around 8pm on the couch) and have no inclination to work out. And sometimes I’m still a bit nauseous (like tonight) and have no inclination to work out either. And while I haven’t been throwing up this time (yay!) I have been eating ALL THE TIME. I have to keep food in my stomach at all times in order to make the nausea less severe. Of course all that food and no exercise is causing me to gain weight. So, what am I going to do? Try and make good food choices. Yes there was ice cream tonight but that was my only indulgence today (and ice cream always calms my stomach). Otherwise it’s been cheese and oatmeal and granola bars and grilled chicken.

And I’m going to start exercising again. I have an ultrasound on Friday (the nuchal translucency screening) and I plan on taking the afternoon off after it. If I need to, I’ll take a nap and then it will be time to hit the elliptical. And it will be my goal to work out at least 2 times each work week plus at least 1 weekend day. That’s a minimum of three days/week. I think that should be manageable. And even if I continue to gain a little too much weight at least I’ll feel better about it because I’m not being a complete slacker. Because that’s what I feel like right now.

So, why have I fallen off the exercise wagon? I’m pregnant. And sick. Ugh. I hate feeling nauseous 24/7. I’m 10w1d today so hopefully this crappy feeling will start to go away soon. But, because I’ve been feeling pretty crappy, I haven’t had any inclination to work out. Kris cleaned up the basement today and rearranged the workout equipment and put some carpeting down (remnants from my dad’s house so it’s like a couple big area rugs) so it will be a little nicer down there to work out now. I was hoping to get a workout or two in this weekend (elliptical probably) but instead felt like crap last night and fell asleep on the couch at 8pm. I’m not feeling so hot today either. Blah.

Anyway, I do intend to exercise during this pregnancy and I hope to restart soon.

You knew that though didn’t you? That when I don’t write here it’s because I’ve hit a slow patch? No worries though. I’ll pick it back up again. I just need a break right now. I want to wish my friends who are running the Women Run The Cities 10 mile race this weekend good luck. Have great races lady!

Kris has been doing a lot of training lately including most week nights after I get home from work. I don’t know if he’s trying to make up for lost time when he had to take a couple weeks off for his surgery or what but he’s been going crazy lately. He might do a duathlon the first weekend in October in Osceola, Wisconsin. Maybe it’s time to set up another schedule (Tues, Thurs mine; Mon, Wed, Fri his?) so I can’t come up with more excuses? Even if I don’t have any races to officially train for? Time to go ponder…

I know most of you are hardier folk than I. So I’m here to admit that when I set off on my first run during the duathlon last weekend that I choked up a bit. It wasn’t because here I was in another race and race day is always so exciting and my children were here to cheer me on this time. No, it was because I was running outside. And I knew that my outdoor running time was limited. Here it is after Labor Day now and while it’s still warm outside today, the weather is going to turn soon. I could run outdoors all winter long like some of you do. I’ve done that in the past (my marathon was in January of 2003 so there was outdoor cold weather running). I remember how it could be cold out and I’d just put on a headband for my ears, some mittens for my fingers and an extra layer or two and out I’d go. I specifically remember a time I was running around Lake Calhoun and could see my breath as I ran. And that run went great too if I remember correctly. Not this year though. I just don’t have it in me this year. The sidewalks around my house are not well maintained during the winter and I don’t really feel like falling on my arse. Maybe once in a while, if there’s a warm streak and the ice and snow melts off the sidewalks I can make a quick jaunt outside. I’ll enjoy it while I can and then I’ll make friends with Mr. Elliptical and Mr. Bike Trainer and keep my cardio up until next spring when I can hit the pavement again. Sigh.

I did it. My third duathlon if the summer. The 1st Annual Minneapolis Duathlon is in the books. Did you know it was America’s Largest Duathlon this year? And that if you register for the 2010 event before September 12th (and are one of the first 750 to register) that you can get a Minneapolis Duathlon bike jersey? Even though my racing wasn’t very good yesterday (see below) I’m thinking of signing up for next year’s race now just to get the jersey! It’s a $50 jersey and the race entry fee is $65. That’s practically a steal!

Anyway, race day. It was an early morning. And I had to get the kids up early too. They came along to the race and Gimpy, I mean Kris (I shouldn’t be mean to Kris. He was so sad yesterday to not be able to race. I felt so bad for him.), watched them while Dusty and I were racing. We left the house shortly before 6:30am and arrived on site, found a nearby parking spot (score!) and I was getting my timing chip by 7:10am. Parked my bike in the transition area, used the restroom and was ready to race at 7:15am. My wave went out at 8:15am. I, uh, had some time to kill. So I danced with the kids to the music.

Around 8am Kris and the kids went to the start line to stake out their spot. Dusty found me and we chatted for a bit then Dusty’s wave started at 8:10am. There were 1200 registered participants so they started us in waves of 100. At 8:15am my wave of women took off (age 30-34). Um, they were all faster than me. All of them. I was last of the pack for the first mile or so. Maybe they just started fast because it’s race day and there’s adrenaline and whatever. I chased down a few of them. At least I wasn’t the last of the women when the wave of men that started 5 minutes after me caught up to me and passed me as if I was standing still! Ugh. I was a little slow on the first run. I blame it on all the eating I did the night before at a party. No drinking of course but enough corn and ribs and chips and dessert to slow me down!

Run 1 (5K) time: 33:59 (10:57 pace)

Kris and the kids were waiting to cheer Dusty and I on at each transition. That was so great! As I ran into T1, I had to search for my bike for a bit. There were 1200 registered racers after all! And hey, there were a lot of bikes still there waiting for their riders when I arrived! (At least that’s what I’m going with, not that those bikes were done racing for the day and their rides were off running again…)

I found my bike, grabbed my helmet, took a swig of Gatorade and speed-walked my bike the 1/4 mile to the bike mount area. It was a big transition area.

T1 time: 2:38

And off I went on the bike. Now, I haven’t been on my bike, on the streets, since the last Duathlon in June. Since then I had been training for the half marathon. I’ve been running all summer! After the half marathon I did two or three training sessions on the bike trainer indoors but never rode outdoors. Let’s just say it took me a bit to get the hang of it again. I couldn’t figure out how to place my hands so my wrists wouldn’t hurt. My butt hurt after 5 or so miles. I had 13 more to go! It was exciting watching all the fast people sail by me though on the out and back route. Even more exciting? My slow ass passing other really slow people! I did indeed catch a few! I liked the route - West River Parkway from Broadway to almost Fort Snelling and back. There were a couple hills but I made it up them easy. Shocking really! I even passed one woman on the biggest hill of the course! Score! By mile 10 though I was ready for this bike ride to be done. My butt was sore. I was standing on my pedals whenever I’d hit a small downhill to ease my poor butt. I just wasn’t really enjoying this anymore. But what was I going to do, give up? Unlikely. So I kept pedaling, trying to keep my pace up, my cadence up, hearing Kris in my ear coaching me. I was really glad to see the orange flags up ahead though marking the end of the bike course. I waved hello to the kids and then dismounted and walked my bike back to the rack.

Bike (18 miles): 1:14:47 (14.4mph)

I took my time in the second transition. I walked my bike back. Racked it. Took off my helmet. Took another swig of Gatorade and then walked back out to the start of the run.

T2: 3:25

I could tell this run was not going to go well. My legs were shot after that bike ride. I was not prepared for this race. But as soon as I hit the start line I started jogging. I had to at least try. I jogged for the first mile, hoping my legs would recover from the bike and figure out hey, we’re running again! And I did feel a bit better after that first mile. The first mile is always the hardest. But I was still shot. My right ankle was hurting. My left knee was hurting. My legs were jelly-like. I just didn’t have anything left. So I just jogged. Just keep jogging. Don’t worry about time. I was so happy to see the orange flags marking the finish line. I was so happy to see Kris and the kids and Dusty and even Jon there cheering me on. And I was so glad I was done.

Run 2 (5K) time: 35:23 (11:24 pace)

Overall time: 2:30:09

After the race was over I sat down to stretch my butt (ouch!) and then we grabbed my bike, loaded up the truck and got out of there. I was done and seriously needed a nap!

Hopefully next year I can do a little better. There’s plenty of room to PR this race!

(And Kris did take pictures but I don’t have them off the camera yet and I can’t be bothered tonight to do it. I’d much rather sit on the couch next to Kris and watch the Vikings. Sue me.)

Guess what? Kris had his appendix out tonight. Guess who’s not racing in the duathlon on Sunday? Kris!

Guess who will be? Me (probably), Dusty, and Kris’s surgeon! Funny coincidence, no?

Ha!

I say probably for me because I haven’t trained at all this week and am feeling very unprepared. Kris still wants me to do it though and, well, I did pay the $65 entrance fee (so did he) so I might as well. I’m just not feeling it right now.

I’ve slacked off lately. I admit it. I haven’t exercised since last Thursday. Wrong! Bad! Lazy! OK, but there’s also reasons! Last Friday was spent new vehicle shopping. And Saturday morning was spent new vehicle purchasing! And then Saturday afternoon was spent driving to Iowa in said new vehicle. And then Saturday night was spent spending quality time with family in Iowa. And then Sunday morning was spent getting the kids ready for church (and nephew’s baptism – our reason for being in Iowa) while Kris went out running and then going to said baptism. Sunday afternoon was spent celebrating said baptism with said family. Sunday evening was spent driving home where we arrived at 9pm and finally got kids in bed by 10pm. There was no time for exercising then!

I could have exercised last night. I didn’t though with no real good excuse. Is being tired an excuse? Well, it is although probably not a good one. What can I say? It was a late night Sunday and an early morning Monday with disrupted sleep due to the two year old. By Monday night I was tired.

I got decent sleep last night though so tonight I will get a bike or run in. Probably a bike on the trainer after the kids are in bed. That’s the plan anyway. I think I’ll go for a run tomorrow and probably another bike on Thursday and then rest Friday and Saturday in preparation for race day on Sunday! Third duathlon of the season coming up!