31w3d
Haven’t blogged in awhile … crazy busy here, especially at work.
Running was going pretty well up until Thanksgiving. We went down to Illinois to see both sets of parents for the week. Up until that point, I had been running before work and getting in an 8 mile run on the weekend. The first weekend we were gone, I got in an 8 mile run at my parents. I managed to get lost while running, and had a panicky couple of minutes were I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find my way out despite having a GPS-enabled phone and then worried that my diversion had added on too many miles. I skipped out on running the following day because of rain, and then missed the next day because of a sudden drop in temperature. I had brought some cold weather clothing with me, but the forecast had been for warmer temperatures than what it was. I then ran twice at the Engineer’s parents’. The first run was great because it was in the 50s (or something) so I got to wear shorts! The next day it was colder and on the verge of rain. I was going to run the 3rd day, but the temperature there had dropped and there was ice on the ground. I’m not allowed to run outside if there is ice.
By the time we got home, the mild temperatures had gone away and full on winter had come. Between the cold and the dark, I would have to be inside. I can’t remember what was going on that week, but I just really didn’t want to run on the treadmill. I started having the debate on whether it was worth it to continue running. Running makes my hips hurt and running on the treadmill gives me braxton-hicks (BH) more than running outside does. But I ran up to the end with Little Miss so it feels a little like wussing out… I ran that Friday on the treadmill, and while it wasn’t terrible it was not enjoyable either. And that really sums up 3rd trimester running: something to be endured.
I’d intended to run at least some, but that was 3 weeks ago and I haven’t run since. I think that weekend was when the first round of snow came, keeping me from going outside. Then I came down with a stomach bug that took a couple of days to get over. THEN we got a massive 15″ snowstorm that sealed my fate for going outside. I may try running again this week, but I have to say that I’m liking the elliptical better. No BH, no needing to pee, but still getting sweaty. And I don’t have to be as wide awake as I would need to be for the treadmill.
Side note: December has been completely ridiculous for snow. We’ve gotten 41″ total so far, which is about the amount of we typically get for an entire winter. The piles from clearing driveways / the plow are super huge.
So that’s where I am at right now. Less than 9 weeks until my due date, less than 6 weeks to be considered full term. I’m a little disappointed with the lack of running, but I’ve found a second pregnancy to be so much more tiring than the first. Part of it’s having the toddler, part of it’s that I can’t do things when I necessarily want to because of said toddler (bed times and wakeup times), part of it’s from having much more work stress, and part of it’s from just being bigger this time around. I’ve already gained more weight than I did for my entire last pregnancy, and had been gaining more even back while I was still running 5 times a week. It was a little baffling, since I wasn’t eating more but was definitely running more.
25w5d
Well, so much for NaNoBloPo … although is it just me, or does it seem like rarely anyone is doing that anymore?
I was doing pretty good at blogging after Little Miss went to bed. Then we had a night where she just would not go to bed and I didn’t update. I was going to cheat and backdate an entry but then got busy. And so it goes.
I am trapped in the clinic lobby for my gestational diabetes test. For those lucky people unaware, you get a really, really sugary drink and they test your glucose levels an hour after you drink the stuff. Some places use orange, but the one here tastes like flat, syrupy Sprite. Luckily the test here doesn’t requiring fasting because I can’t imagine what that drink would do to an empty stomach. As is, it gives me a headache. I can’t wait to eat my string cheese when my hour is up.
I got in a good 8 mile run on Sunday. I only had to stop twice – my bathroom stop at 4.5 mi and a stoplight about 7. That’s pretty good for me lately as I tend to get crampy and need a little pause.
We had snow on Friday. It was raining in the morning but by noon it had turned to flurries. No one expecting it to stick since it had been warm earlier, but enough stuck to lightly cover the grass. It rained again Saturday and I went outside to run. I could have used the treadmill but the Engineer was still sleeping and he hates treadmill noise. If the weather was really bad he would have had to just deal with it, but it wasn’t too terrible.
24w3d
Ran 3 miles this morning. Daylight savings worked out in my favor, as I was able to run in the sunlight a little after 7. I’m thinking I may get at least another week of outside early morning runs in before it’s too cold and dark. I am thinking I must have both run slower and took longer breaks yesterday – my splits this morning were 10:46, 10:55 and 11:15. I don’t know what the deal is, but I was having a good amount of cramping/tightness in my lower abdomen. I had some of that yesterday, too. Maybe it’s stretching? It may be time to look into some kind of support.
24w2d / Bear Creek 5
I did end up running the time prediction race this morning. And wow, I sucked hardcore at predicting this year.
How this race works is that they have a clock at the start line that counts down from 75:00 (the time limit). When your predicted time comes up, that is when you start. Everyone should catch each other at the finish line. Watches, iPods, phones, etc are all banned and there is no display clock at the finish line. The winner is the runner that comes the closest to 0:00; anyone that finishes before the clock reaches 0:00 is disqualified.
Outside, I’ve been running around 10:30-10:50/mile, but I also tend to stop every once in awhile to stretch. So I figured starting at 55:00 would be sufficient time for me to run 5 miles and take a few short breaks. It was on the chilly side this morning, with a pretty strong wind coming from the south.
I don’t have a ton to say about the running part, since it was just a run. I thought I was just running a relaxed pace, and I stopped after a few of the hills since I was getting kind of crampy. I started getting passed by some of the faster runners with maybe a mile to go, and I just figured that they were running too fast. That is the most frustrating aspect of the time prediction race – when people pass you, are they going too fast or are you too slow? If you catch up to someone, are you running too fast?
The last half mile, we were bunching up a lot. I ended up finishing right after a big pack, with no clue of how close we were. After the awards, I got to see the results list. I ended up finishing 37, which was 2:3x too slow. Wow. The previous two times I ran this I was in the top 20, and less than a minute off. But here’s something interesting: only 2 people DQ’d this year. The first year I ran it, there were 41 official finishers and 38 DQ’d. The second time, there were 33 official finishers and 27 DQ’d. So I probably should have run a little faster, especially at the end, but I think I kind of assumed a lot of people were just going too fast. I am confused about being 2:3x off – that means my breaks were a lot longer than I thought they were (always a possibility) or I ran much slower than I thought I was. Without having time data, I’ll never know. I’m going to assume it’s option 1, though, since I don’t think that I’ve reached the 11:00/mile point yet.
24w4d
This morning, daylight savings was great. I planned not to run, but I woke up on my own early enough that I could have. Little Miss stayed asleep while I got ready for work. It was actually bright out while I drove to work.
Daylight savings is a failure at night. It’s dim when we drive home from work, which really sucks since the light is out in the garage. And Little Miss refuses to go to bed. I don’t get it – it should feel like an hour later to her, so she should fall asleep earlier.
24w1d
Still haven’t made up my mind about running the prediction race tomorrow. It’s kind of a pain to do … it’s across town, and I’d have to be there by 8:30 for a 9:00 start. I probably wouldn’t get back home until around 11, which is when the Illinois game starts and when we’d start figuring out lunch plans. But then again, it’s pretty rare I get motivated to leave my house by 8:30 on my own so it’s not like I’d be done with running that much earlier if I just ran from home since I’d also probably run farther.
24 weeks
24 weeks is a pretty big pregnancy milestone, as the baby is considered viable at that point. It wouldn’t be a good thing to have a baby at 24w, but there’s a decent chance they’d be survive.
I got outside again this morning. It was a little colder, but not too bad. My watch functioned correctly and I was slightly less crampy – I remembered my water bottle today, which probably helped.
The time prediction run is on Saturday. I ran it in 2004 and 2007, so in “theory” I am due to run it this year. I kind of want to, but part of me thinks it’s kind of dumb to pay money to just go run. I can just run from my house, or even just go over to the bike paths on my own for a change of scenery. Another con is that the inlaws are coming up Sat morning, so the Engineer and Little Miss wouldn’t come, and then I’d really feel like I had to rush back to the house. But in the pro column, I like the idea of repeating the 1 pregnant race I did last time. I’ve got tomorrow to decide.
23w6d
Despite all my doom and gloom yesterday about the cold, it was just above 40 this morning so I went outside. It definitely beat the treadmill, although I got a low battery warning after 1 mile. I’m kind of confused by that since my watch had been on the charger since Sunday. luckily I had my phone, which has the RunKeeper app. it’s not my favorite, but it’s good for things like this. (also not my favorite – this wordpress app doesn’t automatically capitalize the start if sentences). I’ll have to figure out later what I actually ran.
run was decent this morning. I didn’t take my water with me, and I think maybe that’s why I had more cramping issues. or maybe it was just a sidestitch since tightening my stomach muscles helped. it’s so hard to tell what is going on in the belly area.
23w5d
I hate running on the treadmill, but it’s pretty much guaranteed now that any pre-work runs will have to be done on it. It’s been completely dark for my entire run for several weeks now, but I was still going outside to run. The neighborhood has a decent number of street lights, so it was pretty safe. But then it started getting cold, and cold and dark is a bad combination. Last Tuesday, I lucked out and it was in the 50s. However, big winds came in that day (gusts up to 60 MPH were expected, I don’t know what they ended up) and by the time I went to lunch it had dropped to 45 and it dropped again to 40 while I was at lunch. It’s been in the low 30s or high 20s every weekday morning since.
The only good thing about the treadmill is I get a chance to catch up on TV.
23w4d
It’s November, so I assume NaNoBloPo or whatever it’s called is happening again. I did it while pregnant with Little Miss and it’s nice to be able to review those posts now even if they aren’t super exciting.
I ran 8 miles on Sunday, in around 86 minutes. My long run routes are solely planned around available bathrooms. I usually end up stopping at the athletic club, but that’s gotten really old plus it means running home uphill. I mixed it up last week by running on the DT and stopping at the dog park. the DT part was fine, but the portapotty at the park isn’t my favorite.
yesterday I decided I wanted to minimize the number of hills, so I decided to run through Big Blue and go to McDonalds. Not a bad route, except for a small hill on the way back. I’ve been feeling not too bad while running, although my feet are pretty tired by about 6 miles.
I was telling the Engineer yesterday that part of me wishes I could be a typical American and be totally lazy while pregnant. Or that I hadn’t run throughout my entire last pregnancy, because 1) now I know I can and 2) I know the benefits. Granted I don’t have to be running 8 miles, but I figure if I can then I should. The weird thing (to me) is that despite running so much more than last time, I’ve gained more weight. I’m not worried about that because it came off last time and it will come off this time. I am only nervous that since I started off a few pounds heavier than last, I might go into a weight range I’ve never been in and don’t particularly want to see.