Running Pregnant: Week 17

Baby Germain is the size of a Turnip-  (How many doctors does it take to figure out what a Turnip is without google?)

This weeks craving: I've satisfied my Dorito craving thanks to my moms house. I craved fruit a lot this week, so that's a big improvement! But I mostly think I've been thirsty and in need of those good sugars. Matt and I have discussed adding Salmon back since I can't have nuts, and THAT Sounds Amazing!.
This weeks aversion: Food tastes much better these days. I'm actually feeling like I can get back to a "normal for me" diet... Which I say that way because I am insanely picky as is. I never will touch an onion (and Turnips, by the way, look like onions) and I don't care for mushrooms. I'm not able to eat nuts at the moment (but after Raea's trip to the allergist, I feel confident after pregnancy I can give them a try under supervision of a doctor. So the short answer is simply: My diet is not normal so I say normal for me.

MONDAY- 75 minutes of Yoga: At Metrowest Yoga with my mom and Caroline. I felt GREAT this week! It was the first time I didn't position myself right at the back next to the exit. I wasn't the first there and everyone was putting their mats toward the back so I was forced to the front. I've gotten to know the teacher after each week of going so I didn't feel bad if I had to walk through everyone to go to the bathroom (which is why I put myself next to the door). I felt much more in the class physically and emotionally. I had an awesome flow going and it was very much needed! Sadly I'll probably have to miss next week since I wont have anyone to babysit at all after work. Everyone will be gone. 
Bathroom Breaks: 1


TUESDAY- BIG FAT GOOSE EGG!! 0 Miles!- Last week I put in a fairly typical week of training for a decent non-marathon non-pregnant runner (with the obvious difference being my pace, but effort was there). I pushed myself pretty hard to keep on adding miles and after being sick I wanted to get right back at it! My ankles and shins started hurting Tuesday of last week and I switched shoes at one point... but it didn't make much difference. My joints are more flexible, my arches are feeling a big more weight (I haven't gained much, but I've gained enough that I'm running with more weight than I've ever run with minus the first few weeks postpartum with Raea) I spent this day (and the next) reevaluating why I want to run during pregnancy so bad. Do I want to do it so that I can say yay! go me! I trained through 40 weeks of pregnancy!I Or do I want to do it so that I can stay fit and prepared for some ass kicking after the baby comes? Well, Obviously, It's the latter. Ass Kicking. I want to do some Ass Kicking. At least to the best of my ability. So, realizing that I'm likely going to lose 3-4 months of solid running at the VERY LEAST, I made the decision to focus more on strength training in my weakest areas this week. I did some serious drills for my shins and happily did zero miles. 




WEDNESDAY- 45 Minutes of Walking 2.5 miles: It was a nice day! I still wanted to be easy on my shins so I went to check out the  West Boylston Railtrail for the softer terrain. If you follow me on Instagram and checked out my lame story, you got to see the quicksandish mud I was stuck in. So I walked. #TimeonFeet. I also let Raea walk a little. God I love this kid!  
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THURSDAY- 3.2 fun Run Miles with Chrissy: Just stuck with the traditional Sandy Bar loop at Sneakerama. I got my Winter Polar Challenge Sweatshirt for doing all the fun runs this winter, and I got new Spenco Inserts for my shoes with the help of the store owner, Steve Genatossio. My feet and ankles and shins thanked me. I'm going to stick with the drills but this should give me another few weeks of painless shins so I can keep some mileage in there
Bathroom Breaks: 0

FRIDAY- 30 minutes-3.2 miles on the treadmill: This.Was.Hard. Every day this week was hard but this was the hardest. I missed too many days this week to miss another but man did I want to! Matt was gone over night so it was just Raea and I and wayyyyy  too cold to push the stroller. I didn't get on the treadmill until close to 9pm. I started at a 10 minute pace and that felt comfortable so I said to myself "just stay here.... remember, Time on Feet"... but that got boring so I moved to a 9:30-9:15 second mile, and then did a gradual increase from there for the rest of the 30 minutes ending with the last 3 minutes being at 7:30 pace. It felt hard. Very Hard. I thought "man, I'll be lucky to break 7:00/mi at the race on Sunday... but I'm cool with that
Bathroom Breaks: 1... 


SATURDAY- 3 Miles 29 minutes. FU mother Nature.. MORE WIND. It was so bad I wanted nothing to do with running of any kind today... I just wanted to snuggle Raea and her billions of stuffed animals...but I needed to get some blood in my legs for Sundays race so I thought "just 15 minutes"... and since it was so cold I thought "better do more because your blood is still ice..." not sure how much benefit I got out of this run, but I did it. 
Bathroom Breaks: 1

SUNDAY- 6 ish miles total, 5k Race: 20:04, second place female: More about this in the overall race recap that I'll try to get to tomorrow or Tuesday. But in short, I felt really good actually and wish that I thought to check the time and try to break 20, but truthfully I had a competitive race moving from 5th, to 4th, to 3rd, to 2nd gradually throughout.... so I was much more focused on place. Once I felt I had a good leg up on 2nd in the last quarter, I threw in surges to keep her from making any counter moves, but not an all out kick I kept thinking to myself "are you being irresponsible? If you red-line does the baby red-line?" So I'd say I Red-Orange-Lined in this race, but for sure had the extra 5 second effort in there that would have gotten me under 20 had I known, I just honestly had no idea I could possibly be that close! My hands and face were too cold to put the extra effort into checking my watch. Also, My husband won! WOo! Last year we were 3rd and 4th (me third) this year we were first and second! 
Bathroom Breaks: 0 in race but a bunch before and reallllly needed to go in the last mile when things got quicker! 
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*TOTAL MILES: 18ish* 


Additional Training: 
3 times a week of shin and calf drills
2x20 lateral band drills
2x20 medial band drills (sitting)
2x3:00 Stability Balance
2x20 calf raises straight leg
2x20 calf raises bent knee (soleus)
Lessons Learned:
1. Winter is not over... Looks like I'll learn this lesson next week too.
2. Listening to music helps on the treadmill A LOT!
3. I'm only 20 seconds slower than my 6 month postpartum self 

Looking Forward To: MORE BABY KICKS! This week was the first time Matt could feel the baby as well. I can see the little kicks and movements now.... but they are still so tiny and infrequent. I love feeling the movement. It's reassuring that I haven't killed the kid yet with all this running (even though I know it's fine... Sometimes I picture the kid getting whiplash or something in there...)

Gender Prediction: New this week, I"m NOT finding out the Gender. I frankly don't care. If I have a girl, COOL I don't need to get anything new... and Raea has a sister! If it's a boy, it's something different and we already are very set on our boyname (still working on the girls)... I've thought boy since day one.... but this week, for some reason, feeling the kicks I've shifted to maybe another girl... 

Applicable Movies and Shows: Also new this week but maybe wont happen every week. Matt and I just watched the movie Extraordinary Measures. Wow. He heard about the story on a podcast and what a difficult yet amazing parenting story with some serious sisu from both the kids and parents....Some tears shed with this one. I.can't.Imagine. 
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