Wednesday, March 30, 2011

34 weeks

I hope this is good training for labor, because I think I'm developing some serious willpower.  That's what running is coming down to for me these days.

Today I ran 3.2 miles, then I helped Juliet turn over her tape, walked for 4 minutes while I gulped down water, and ran my remaining eight-tenths of a mile.  The first few minutes of the run are SO hard for me!  I told myself that if I still felt as tired and yucky and dragging, I could stop after half a mile, walk for a minute, and then run again.  And then, minute by minute, I just talked myself into keeping going until I hit that 3.2 mile mark (also a lot easier to make myself start running again when there's less than a mile to go).

I'm starting to really worry about labor.  It's keeping me up at night.  Hopefully I can sleep better tonight after this run, because I've been struggling the last few days.  I can't believe I still have six weeks left...this feels like the longest pregnancy ever, probably because of all the problems and ultrasounds and doctor/hospital visits during the first trimester.

But if I can make myself run for another minute when I'm tired and my legs ache and my stomach feels weird, I can make it through contractions, right?

STATS:  4 miles; 9:50/mile, plus 1 mile walking to cool down

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

33 weeks

Feeling a lot better now that I've finished those antibiotics!  Today's run and Monday's run were more comfortable, although I'm still not pushing very hard at this stage in my pregnancy. 

Ran 2.1 miles today and then stopped for a drink and walked for 4 minutes to get my heart rate down (the walking break seems to help with the pain in my hips afterwards). Ran another half-mile, then leaped off the treadmill to stop the beginnings of a temper tantrum from Juliet, then finished out the last mile and a half. Steady pace of 6.1 throughout, not my favorite, since my calves hurt more when I run slowly, but I'm really trying to go easy on my joints.

4.1 miles @ 9:50/mile

Friday, March 18, 2011

strep!

So after being all whiny about feeling awful running earlier this week, I finally went in to the doctor today, after some serious encouragement from Neil (probably brought on by the fact that I was sitting on the bed crying at 11 am in my bathrobe.  I've really been feeling awful).  I kept waiting for things to get better, but they haven't, but I also didn't feel super horrible, and I would always start to feel better by the end of the day, and then the nights were bad...yadda yadda yadda.

Anyway, I went to the doctor today, and found out that a) I have fluid in both ears b) the beginnings of a sinus infection and c) what is probably strep throat (she didn't culture it because the lab people are all out until Monday).  So.  I started my Z-pack and took my Mucinex-D and felt a lot better--surprise surprise! 

And since I felt jittery and headachy without exercise, I decided to try just a little after the kids were in bed.  The doctor at the student health center told me not to do anything other than lie in bed all weekend, but honestly that's foreign enough to my body that I think it would just make things worse, so I sort of ran very gently with walking breaks to see how it went. 

Feeling SO much better now--I ran 4 10-minute intervals (1 mile each, so I was running very slowly) with 4 minutes of walking in between to get my heart rate and breathing back down.  The coughing was a lot better with the walking breaks, and I really feel so much better after "running."  Hopefully I can sleep well tonight--I think just getting a solid 8 hours would make a huge difference, since I haven't been able to sleep more than 4 or 5 all week. 

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

32 weeks

Wow!  Proud of myself today for running--I've been sick for five or six days and after Monday's lousy run, I was not looking forward to today at all.  (But it was better than Monday--I wasn't nearly as nauseated, for one thing.) 

Stopped today @ 2.1 miles for water and walked for 4 minutes, since I was having trouble with coughing.  Stopped after another 1.3 miles for the same thing, it seemed a little silly to stop but I was glad I did since Jules came in just a second or two later asking me to get her a snack and flip her audiotape over to the other side.  Finished out the last .6 mile, then put Isaac on my bed with a snack while I walked to cool down and finished up with 5 miles (4 running and 1 walking).

Top speed today was only 6.2; I just never felt good enough to bump it up to 6.5, so I ran at 6.2 the entire time. 

STATS:  4 miles @ 9:40 (plus cool-down)

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

31 weeks

I talked to my doctor last week about running--she was surprised that I was still going, but said it was fine as long as I wasn't having any serious issues.  So I'll just keep going.  I'm starting to daydream about what it's going to be like to run after the baby is born, I've gained just under 20 lbs and it is definitely wearing on my joints to have that extra weight. 

4 miles; 9:30/mile

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

30 weeks

Oh man!  I don't know how much longer I can keep running--my joints are REALLY starting to protest.  The running itself usually isn't that bad, but I usually have to take a hot bath every night to just soak away all the achiness.  I didn't run last Friday because we were driving up to Chicago (and I knew how much I would be hurting the next day, and I didn't want to be limping and grimacing all around the Field Museum, plus the 8 hours in the car and 2 hours sitting at the temple.  And it was SO nice to have a couple of days totally free from pain.)  I'm going to talk to my doctor about this tomorrow; I can make it work with the baths and the yoga to keep the pain at a manageable level, but I don't want to do any long-term damage.  I have this nightmare vision of irreparably stretched ligaments or something like that. 

Anyway, today I started to feel a little cramping in my stomach while I was running.  When it didn't go away, I stopped and took a drink and then finished up the last mile without incident.  But it makes me worry a little about how much longer I can go.  Any thoughts?

4 miles; 9:37 mile (slower at first and then speeding up for the last mile after my break)