hills are my friends

I’m feeling myself again and getting back into a workout routine. This week, my 4th week post pregnancy, I’m aiming to do some cardio every other day. I’m hoping that over the next couple of weeks, I’ll add a day a week to get up to 5 days a week of some activity by my 6 week doctor appointment where hopefully I’ll be cleared to run. Today I managed an hour, doing 40 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes walking on the treadmill. I’m trying to mix it up, not doing the same machines two days in a row, alternating between the stationary bike, stair stepper, elliptical and treadmill, hoping that this will keep me from getting too bored in the next few weeks when I’m stuck inside. I have to say, this is a good time of year to not be allowed to run, it’s so darn hot out there, I don’t think I’d be very happy running anyway.

I did order some new running shoes for my return to running in a few weeks. They should arrive by the end of the week and it’s going to take a lot of willpower to not take them out for a test run. I may be a little overly excited about getting them, but to be fair, this is probably the longest stretch of no new running shoes I’ve had in many many years, they’ll be my first new shoes in about 9 months.

He’s arrived! After a wonderful, who-knew-it-would-be-so-last minute, baby shower on Sunday, I went into labor on Monday night, and on Tuesday morning gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy! I can’t resist posting a picture of our expanded family from our first day home:

So now to learn about his routines, hopefully influence them so I can get some sleep and figure out how to get back to exercising. Right now (day 5) I don’t feel like doing much of anything. I’m sleeping when I can, which has involved a couple of naps a day, and trying to get out for a short walk (a couple of blocks) to keep my sanity so I don’t go stir crazy in this apartment. When I met with the doctor for my discharge from the hospital on Thursday, she said as long as I don’t do anything that causes lactic acid to build up in my blood, I can do non impact cardio as soon as I want to. So for now, I’ll take it easy, but will be back at the gym as soon as I feel the motivation for it.

An added bonus of his early arrival, I’m hoping to be able to make it out to the NYRR Club Champs to cheer on the PPTC runners and show off my baby at the mini-picnic we have afterwards. He’s gotta learn to cheer on the runners at road races sooner or later!

So tomorrow is the first day of my 36th week of pregnancy. Yikes, its gone by fast and I can’t believe I’m so close to the finish line. I’m not running but I have been sneaking a few steps in here or there when I walk. I’ve been getting to the gym 3-4 days a week to get in some cardio and keep my sanity. I generally do around 45 minutes of a combination of elliptical, stairmaster, and treadmill running depending on what I feel like doing. I’m definitely outgrowing all of my workout clothes and must look pretty funny slogging along on the machines at my super slow pace, but its keeping me upbeat and it still feels good so that’s all that matters. Just a few more weeks to go!

Since I’m not doing any running, and its really boring to write about doing cardio at the gym, I’ve been slacking off on my blog. I’ll still try for occasional updates here but I’m also starting a new project.

As I’ve written about during past summers, B and I are members of the Garden of Eve CSA which conveniently delivers amazing organic produce and eggs to our neighborhood weekly. The much anticipated 2011 season kicked off last weekend with our first pickup. As we start the new season, I was reminded about how enthusiastic I am at the beginning of the year, but how that motivation begins to wane as the weeks go by and I tend to get worse and worse about using all the delicious produce that we get. So in an attempt to be a little more accountable, and to expand my use of all the sometimes strange veggies that we get, I’m going to try to document our CSA experience this year. I didn’t want to clog up this blog with posts totally not running related, as hopefully I’ll be posting regularly as I use all of the veggies each week and with any luck, I’ll get back to running before the CSA runs out and have plenty to write about here as I make my come back. So, if you want to follow my CSA adventures, you can do so here: www.rebeccagorges.com/csa

B and I went to a good friend’s wedding near Chapel Hill NC over Memorial Day weekend and decided to turn it into a vacation since he had a conference for work in Fairfax VA the next weekend. Since we were headed to barbecue country, we took full advantage of it and it became the focus of our trip. We drove around, from pit to pit, eating sandwiches like these from both the Lexington area and farther east.

Delicious!

To make all this pork eating possible, we tried to get out for at least some physical activity most days. This ended up being walks in the evening once the temperatures outside cooled down or trips to gyms when they were included with our hotel stays. We did make it out to some trails in the Chapel Hill area on Memorial Day and I had a fantastic walk, during which I felt so good, I just couldn’t resist jogging a little, for about 15 minutes. I found I was much more comfortable jogging along at my slow pace on trails than I am on the roads, must be something that change about my form when I’m on soft surfaces that makes it easier on my body.

We also checked out the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC since it was on our way. It was a lucky find, we just happened to drive by the entrance one day and stopped in. We saw some really interesting exhibits, the trains being my favorite part, about the changes in transportation over the past hundred years and how they effect peoples lives for all different reason. Here I am in front of one of the old steam engines they had on site.

Overall, it was a great vacation and I’m glad we could take the time for it. It was nice to be able to have some downtime before the craziness of new parenthood that I can’t even begin to imagine starts in just a short time.

I’ve decided its time to make the call to be done running for the duration of my pregnancy. I had two runs last week which were very uncomfortable, and they left me feeling worse than before I went out. So its time to listen to my body and call it quits for now. I moped around after each of these runs and through the weekend. Today, however, I gave an elliptical machine a try and am happy to say that my 40 minute workout caused no discomfort at all besides giving me tired legs since I haven’t been on an elliptical for a couple of years. I’m going to join a local gym and see how the next couple of months go. I’m proud of the running I’ve been able to do and that I stuck it out so long. Running through 31 weeks of pregnancy isn’t so bad…

Looking back, here’s how the months went:
Month 1 (Nov):107 miles – Including the NYC marathon, oops..
Month 2 (Dec): 88 miles
Month 3 (Jan): 57 miles
Month 4 (Feb): 40 miles
Month 5 (March): 45 miles
Month 6 (April): 57 miles
Month 7 (May): 34 miles

Can’t complain about that!

I’ve found that in the last couple of weeks, I’ve slowed way down. Obviously its because of my pregnancy but I think its also that being pregnant is making the transition to running in the warmer, pollen filled weather harder than usual. I’ve noticed that on warmer days, my runs take a lot more effort. I’d be interested to learn more about this – if its just me or if others have noticed this effect too. I’m also thinking this may mean that I should try and switch to morning running in order to keep running longer but so far I haven’t had the motivation to get up early. We’ll see.

Last week was my highest mileage week in awhile. I hit 15 miles in 4 days of running and felt good. Although it may have been a little too ambitious for me – I got hit with a cold in addition to my seasonal allergies this week so it may be a sign that I shouldn’t be adding running days, even if I’m motivated to get out there. Going to try and stay more balanced in my exercise, going to try and set the goal of doing yoga and my prenatal aerobic workout once a week in addition to the running. It’ll be important for me to have non-running goals through the next couple of months so if/when I decide that I have to stop running altogether, I won’t feel like I’m completely giving up on my fitness.

So today marks the first day of my 3rd trimester. I got to “celebrate” with a 3.7 mile run during lunch. So glad I can still get out, especially as its finally feeling a little like spring here in Brooklyn. I’m hoping I have many more weeks of these easy runs in me but only time will tell. Can’t believe that time is going by this fast.

Today I made it out to the PPTC Saturday group run. The group generally meets at GAP and then heads down the hill on Union Street into Carroll Gardens before heading out the to Brooklyn Bridge, if I run up to meet them and then turn back around, but the time I get back in my neighborhood its almost a 4 mile run. Since about 4 flat miles is my regular run these days (forget about that hill up Union), I’ve decided the only way I’ll meet up with them is to meet them at Union and Court, so that’s what I did today. It was nice to get in around 4 chatty miles, down Court, to Cadman Plaza and up over the Brooklyn Bridge and then back home. Beautiful sunshine, I felt good and had the added bonus of good company, doesn’t get better than that! I do really miss running with the group, I know soon enough I’ll be back to the regular miles and group runs, but these next couple of months are going to be tough. Glad I could take advantage of the beautiful day and get out there.

And tomorrow, I get to do another “group run”, the JFK Runway 5K. My goal this year is to pay attention to how I feel and run around 30 minutes. To contrast, last year I ran a post college PR with my sub 20 minute run… Hard to get used to this new mindset, but I’m getting there… I’m loving these spring days and each time I go out, I remind myself to just enjoy the run.

Last week I hit 13.9 miles. While that doesn’t seem like much, its big for me, I haven’t broken the 12 mile mark in a few months… I’ve been feeling really good on my runs lately and have been more excited to get out the door, guess that combination gave me a couple of extra miles. I know this won’t last long, so I’m going to take the comfortable miles when I can get them! I’ve had a few friends say that around 7 months is when they felt like they had to give up on running, I’m getting close at 24 weeks, so I’m going to make the most of the next few weeks and just try and enjoy my running as long as I can.