August 10th - 16th
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Lunch Run, Teach TBC PM
Wednesday - After Work Event (no workout)
Thursday - Lunch Run, Teach TBC PM
Friday - Walking Chicago (no workout)
Saturday - Treadmill Run
Sunday - Rest
August 17th - 23rd
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Teach TBC
Wednesday - Swim
Thursday - Lunch Run, Teach TBC PM
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Treadmill Run
Sunday - Rest
August 24th-30th
Monday & Tuesday - Family in town, no workout (I know this is a lame excuse)
Wednesday - Swim
Thursday - Teach TBC
Friday - Run
Saturday - Spent day at farmer's market and night canning 50 pounds of tomatoes (on feet all day!!)
Sunday - Went to the State Fair
Posts like the above stopped because just after the above collection of dates, I started getting pregnancy fatigue and morning sickness. And while I was hiding it somewhat well while I was teaching TBC classes, my overall workout routine was definitely suffering. So, if I were to document my average week during that time frame, it would have looked like:
Average Workout Week - Early Pregnancy
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Teach TBC (at 50% capacity)
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Teach TBC (at 50% capacity)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Rest or half ass a run some race
Sunday - Rest
And actually, my true report may have even worse than this, since I had to call in a few emergency subs at TBC. Because the gym floors had been re-sealed. And the smell ... aside from making me ill, I doubted it was good for me to hang out in while pregnant.
Luckily for me, now I'm through the first trimester and starting to feel better. This means I'm able to get back into somewhat of a more normal workout routine. Obviously, it's still at a reduced capacity, but my schedule for now looks something like this:
Average Workout Week - Post Morning Sickness
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Teach TBC (at 50-75% capacity)
Wednesday - Swim
Thursday - Teach TBC (at 50-75% capacity)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Teach or participate in a race (at a reduced capacity for either)
Sunday - Rest
** I'm hoping to find some other things to do on my "rest" nights that are lower impact, such as cycle class or more swimming. I just haven't integrated those quite yet, as I'm still figuring out what my body is OK with and trying not to overload myself.
A lot of people might read the above schedule and say - that's more than I do on an average week, and you're pregnant. Are you sure that's safe?
My short answer to that is - yes, it is perfectly fine.
My long answer to that is - I have had several discussions with my doctor and nurse at my OB. They are fully aware of how active I was before pregnancy, and are in 100% support of me trying to maintain as much fitness as possible while I grow into my pregnancy. The thought being that both myself and the baby benefit from me being active, and that the muscle tone I keep throughout will only serve to better assist me on the big day (but let's not think about labor and delivery too much right now, ok?)
Plus, I do want to add in here - it's not the 70's!! Modern research has shown it's perfectly OK for pregnant women to remain active their entire pregnancy. I mean, just look at track star Alysia Montano, who was still competing at 8 months pregnant.
This being said, there are some obvious changes happening in my body. And I'd be a fool not to acknowledge that. So trying to do all the workouts I once did, at the exact same intensity ... that would just be plain dumb. So for now, my focus on working out is - what does my body say is OK to do, and what does it say ... eh, not so much to? After listening to those inputs, I started modifying my routine.
A few of my current modifications are - no long cardio sets (hence the 1/4 to 1/2 mile run intervals at a time), no deep lunges (as the muscles in the front of my hip and along my abdominal wall feel strained when I do so), and only modified abdominal work (for obvious reasons). Of course, this is not the entire list of my changes, but they are the first ones that come to mind, and the ones I know bother me the most when I try to ... not modify.
And as for my racing, a lot of people wonder if my race recaps are a thing of the past while I grow a baby. Well ... I have a response for that too:
So - here's to a healthy and active pregnancy! And, maybe a few funny resulting race recaps, too. :-)
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