Wednesday, April 24, 2013

running again

Walked another 4 miles yesterday and then decided to try running the standard 4 miles again today.  I ran pretty slow in hopes that it would make it easier on my body (I'm due in 3 days), and while the run itself was fine and I really enjoyed it, the pain hit about 8 hours afterward and has been absolutely miserable--by far the worst that I've had in the last couple of weeks.  So...I don't know if I'll run again.  I didn't have any nerve pain during the 8 days that I was walking instead of running.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

catching up

Didn't do anything on Friday because we had family in town for Abigail's baptism (ditto for Saturday, but both days I was completely exhausted from everything else we were doing, so...).

Walked about 2.4 miles on Sunday with the kids.

Walked 2 miles on Monday with the boys in the morning, then was getting ready to run in the afternoon & got a message from my best friend (who moved to Iowa a month ago) saying to call her, so I ended up walking 2 miles instead while I talked to her, which was much more fun than running would have been!  Then I spent 2 hours mowing the lawn that night (part of it with an old-fashioned non-gas-or-electric mower) and was completely trashed so I went to bed at 8:30.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

4/18

Really struggled on Tuesday with debilitating pain after Monday's run.  I did an hour of yoga on Tuesday and it didn't help at all--everything just ached so much.  I was literally unable to sit in my chair by dinnertime because the spikes of pain through my thighs and hip flexors were so bad.  I finally spent a couple of hours in a super-hot bath and that seemed to stop the involuntary muscle spasms, but it was still a painful evening.

So on Wednesday I decided to walk instead of run.  I walked the standard 4 miles and while I still had some hip-spasms, it wasn't as unbearable as with running.

Walked 3 miles this afternoon and then another 2 miles this evening, most of it at 17:08/mile (warm-up and cool-down were slightly slower).  Stopped when the pain in my bad ankle was too bad to continue; took my sock off to see that it was swollen to at least twice its normal size.

Pregnancy is awesome!

Monday, April 15, 2013

4/15

Tough run today--the nerve pain in my leg is getting really bad and hard to run through.  I kept having to grip the treadmill every few minutes so I didn't fall over.  Speed varied a lot--I had to take one walking break @ 17:08 pace, running pace varied anywhere from 15/mile (trying to go REALLY slow and seeing if that helped with the pain--it didn't) up to 10/mile.  Overall, for 4 miles it took me just under 50 minutes.  I think I pulled a muscle in my back during the last half-mile; between that and the awful leg pain we'll see how the next session goes.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

38 weeks

I meant to run or walk yesterday, but it was SO busy and by the time everything was done (10 PM) I was exhausted and my back hurt so much that I couldn't sit, stand, walk, or lie down without it throbbing.  So I didn't run.

Kind of an interesting workout today--I really wanted to run outside, but I also wanted to spend time with everyone as a family before Neil went to work.  So I ran the 1.25 miles over to a nearby nature center, we hung out there as a family, then we walked the mile loop through the woods, then I ran home.  Then after everyone ate lunch, I washed the dishes, put Luke down, read to the kids, and then hopped on the treadmill  & ran another 1.5 miles and walked .5 miles.

The first 1.25 miles I ran today were really painful--it was GORGEOUS outside but the nerve in my right leg kept dropping me every couple of minutes, so I had to walk every so often for 30 seconds or so until it was bearable again.  It seemed to be worse on the uphills, didn't bother me much when we were walking around as a family, and then was at a low enough level that I could ignore it on the way home, so I could run that one the whole time (except for the occasional sudden  careful walk through giant boggy puddles).  I got home totally mud-splattered but thrilled about having run outside!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

4/11

No yoga today, but I walked a couple miles tonight after everyone was asleep (2 miles @ 17:45/mile).  I've been having some swelling that isn't very fun--my bad ankle, of course, but when I walk and let my hands hang down, my fingers swell enough that I can't clench them into fists (which is actually kind of entertaining given how skeletal my hands are the rest of the time).

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

4/10

Better!  Tired today, so I debated between running tonight & taking a nap in the afternoon, or just running in the afternoon...decided to run because the kids were playing with a noisy game and I figured I might as well.

Started out with some cramping, so after I'd run 4 minutes I walked for 2 minutes, then started up running again and ran until I hit 2 miles.  Stopped for water and decided to see what would happen if I cranked the pace up (I was running about 11:19/mile).  So I started up at 10:00/mile and thought I'd just take the pace down every minute or so in order to not get exhausted--I dropped down every minute until I hit 10:31/mile and then realized I wasn't really tired, so I went back up to 10:00/mile for another 6/10 of a mile or so, then stopped again for water, and started again at 10:00/mile.  This time I did drop the pace every 2/10 of a mile by .1 so that I could start to cool down a bit.

Average pace for the 4 miles, including walking, was right about 11:00/mile (close to 12:00 for the first two and close to 10:00 for the second two).  I feel much better about this run because of the negative splits for the second half.

Walked 6/10 of a mile earlier with the kids; hopefully if the rain stops we'll get out for another walk later.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

4/9

Trying to work the nerve pain out--yoga this morning and 2.2 miles power-walking this evening.  Hopefully I can run tomorrow...

Monday, April 8, 2013

4/8

Weird workout today.  I didn't really have time to run and shower because I had an appointment early this evening, so I walked 2 miles this afternoon (not all consecutively since I was constantly having to stop to help the kids with things).  Then this evening I walked another half-mile with the kids around the block, then I did some walk/run stuff tonight where I ran half a mile, walked a couple of minutes, ran another half-mile, took a water break (that extended into a way-too-long email-checking break), then ran another mile, then walked another mile.  I have REALLY been struggling with nerve pain lately that just drops me in my tracks when I am walking/running/standing/sitting/you name it.  Totally agonizing and I haven't figured out any way to get relief (I went to see a massage therapist today but it was still awful tonight).  It's bad enough that if it hits when I don't have any support around to grab, I'll just fall right over because my legs literally go out and there's no muscular control from my brain.  Weird and not fun and very painful.

Totals for today were 2 miles running and 3.5 miles walking.  I have to say that I am really not thrilled with myself right now...I weighed myself today and I weigh 6 pounds over my standard "delivery" weight, and I've gained 30 pounds total from where I was when I got pregnant, which is by far the most I've ever gained with any of my babies.  So depressing when I couple that with how unfit I feel right now...today I just feel old and fat and very pregnant with still 3 weeks to go.

Friday, April 5, 2013

37 weeks

Kind of a bizarre workout today; I had really bad contractions after my run both Monday & Wednesday and then HORRIBLE stomach cramping that put me on the couch for 4 hours straight yesterday, so I just sort of decided to do whatever today and get in 4 miles somehow.  I stopped every 10 minutes for water because I think part of my problem has been dehydration.

First 10 minutes I ran only 1 minute; contractions were really bothering me.

Second 10 minutes I ran 6 minutes.

Third 10 I ran 7 minutes.

Fourth 10 (plus a few) I ran 8 minutes, walked 2, and then ran another 2 or 3.

Fifth 10 I ran for...I forget...four or five? then walked for 2, then ran to finish out the rest of the 4 miles.  I think in total it took me about 54 minutes, which is a long time, but...we'll see if it makes the rest of the night any easier because I am not a fan of the contractions every 8 minutes and the unbearable backache that accompanies them.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

4/3

Yipes!  I don't know if I should keep running or not.  I'm back at the stage where I feel great while I'm running and the energy boost is lovely afterwards, but then I have a good 8 hours of hard, regular contractions afterwards.  I never ran faster than 11:31/mile today because that was about as fast as I could run through the contractions themselves (about every 6 minutes or so?).  Stopped at 1.5 to check on Luke (his monitor was shorting out and I thought he was crying), then at 2 for water before finishing out the 4.

So yeah...we'll see what happens with running.  I feel like I'm walking the fence between running keeping my endorphins high and my mood good so I'm pleasant to be around, but on the other hand, on nights like tonight where I have to go take a bath right after dinner to get the achiness soaked out and slow the contractions down, it seems kind of counterproductive.  Ho hum.

The other super awesome thing I'm dealing with right now that's making running a little more exciting is that my super-powered heartburn has progressed to random and spontaneous vomiting.  Nothing like running merrily along and all of a sudden your mouth is full of stomach acid and you're gagging...

Monday, April 1, 2013

36ish weeks

So Monday & Wednesday's runs went well, although I didn't run on Friday--my family was in town visiting and we took the children to Indianapolis to go to the Children's Museum.  It was a full day and totally wiped me out!  We hiked for a couple of hours on Saturday so I did get a bit of cardio (not very intense, but it was something).

Ran 4 miles today and it felt really good--I started out slow to warm up, gradually increased, and then spent the last couple of miles hovering around a 10:50 mile.  Slow, but hey, I'm going!

My mom commented several times over the weekend that I am the most agile and energetic 8-months-pregnant woman she's ever seen.  It's good to realize that even though I'm not very fast right now, there are lots of other benefits that I'm seeing from running--I didn't really think about that before, but while I'm slower, my range of motion is just about what it is when I'm not pregnant.  So if all these miles are doing nothing other than making it easy for me to pick up toys, swing my kids around, and get up off the floor easily...hey, it's worth it!