27 weeks, 4 days

Yesterday's day off served me well. I feel great today! After a bit of cardio, I did some upper body lifting. I've become a superhuman version of myself in the weight room. It must be from lifting Zoey all the time. It is awesome - I'm lifting more than I've ever lifted before and it doesn't feel like I'm taxing myself at all. I'm interested to see what happens when baby #2 emerges and I have more time to focus on fitness. I'm slowly becoming awful at cardio as I become more pregnant, but my lifting is really taking off! It's exciting. I got the results of some blood work taken yesterday. Unlike the last pregnancy, I'm not anemic, which is great. But, I have low sugar levels this time. Also, I was strongly advised to eat more protein. YAY! Steak for dinner tonight! Brad's grilling :-)

Elliptical: 30 minutes
Bike: 10 minutes
Lift: Upper

27 weeks, 3 days

Day off.

We had a Dr appointment and then plans with brother Luke in the city. All went well at the Dr's office. Baby is measuring large, just like Zoey did. The amount of contractions I'm having is totally normal for a second pregnancy. At this point, I'm having 1-2 per hour. I have nothing to worry about until we get to above 4 per hour. So, all is fine.

27 weeks, 2 days

I cut today's gym session short because I was having a couple of contractions during my workout and they were getting annoying. So, 45 minutes on the elliptical, followed by a day of rest. Stretched my legs in the afternoon when we went veggie picking, but that's about it. Was planning to lift today but will try to get it in on Thursday instead. Tomorrow, we have an early start to the day, so I won't have time to get in much of anything!

Elliptical: 45 minutes

27 weeks, 1 day

A hard 1 hour on the elliptical. Felt great exercising, but having lots of BH contractions these days, so am going to see if there is any correlation between exercising and contractions, which I doubt.

Elliptical: 60 minutes

26 weeks, 6 days and 27 weeks

26 weeks, 6 days
Easy 50 minutes at the gym on the elliptical while daycare Wendy taught Zoey how to string toys on a shoelace.

Elliptical: 50 minutes


27 weeks

Well, today was a bit of a bust. To say this pregnancy changes day-by-day is totally an understatement. Some days, I'm so eager to exercise and my body responds. Other days, I want to exercise and my body isn't having it. Today was the latter. So, after 15 minutes of uninspired cycling, I called it a day. Exercise bust. On the flip side, however, we're making ground in every other aspect of life today. Brad is almost done with the plaster repair in one of the girl's rooms. I scheduled our housekeeper for the next few months. We lined up some babysitting gigs so we can plan on a few date nights. I finished a report for work. Brad finished his grad school readings for the week. Blah blah blah. Still, it's nice to feel productive in some parts of life. We're having a visit with some friends later this afternoon, so I'm going to maybe go for a little walk before they come over. Besides that, we'll enjoy a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Day off

26 weeks, 5 days

Weirdly, I feel most normal each day when I'm exercising. Perhaps that's why I love doing it so much. Or, perhaps it's because it is my 1-2 hrs each day when I can be alone (sort of). I had to cut my exercising short today, as Zoey had a little incident in the gym's daycare so I had to go pick her up :-) Regardless, it was still nice to sweat, feel physical, and zone out for a bit.

Elliptical: 40 minutes
Lift: Upper (hard)

26 weeks, 4 days

We had an u/s yesterday that showed us that the baby is measuring a little over 2 lbs, is totally healthy, and is doing everything she's supposed to be doing. That was great feedback, given that our doctors have been worried about me delivering pre-term again. We're taking measures to hopefully prevent another preemie, but we just don't know enough to be able to ensure that I'll carry to full term. Having said that, no doctors have told me to stop exercising or pushing myself - they all just advise me to listen to my body, stay hydrated, try not to overheat, etc. So far, so good.

Elliptical: 60 minutes hard
Lift: Legs

26 weeks, 3 days

I had a great session today. After a bout of cardio, I lifted hard. And it felt goooooooood. I'd been steering clear of lifting too much, given everything I've read about only lifting moderate amounts when pregnant, but I think I can do more than what I was doing without compromising the pregnancy, so I'm giving it a whirl. It felt great to burn.

Elliptical: 30 minutes
Bike: 15 minutes
Lift: Upper

26 weeks, 2 days

My upper abdomen is still bothering me, so I'm not running at all, but I seem to be okay at the gym. That's pretty good news, actually, as that's where I'd prefer to be right now.

Elliptical: 30 minutes
Bike: 15 minutes
Lift: Upper

26 weeks, 1 day

I planned to do an hour of elliptical-ing and lift, but Zoey pooped in daycare and that interrupted my workout. As soon as I go into the gym's daycare, there's no leaving without Zoey in tow. So, just a short workout today.

Elliptical: 45 minutes

26 weeks

My upper abdomen is annoying me again, so I took it easy at the gym. I've talked to the doctor, and it's a pretty typical occurrence in pregnancy, but it doesn't make it any less annoying to deal with.

Elliptical: 45 minutes

25 weeks, 6 days

Easy 60 minute elliptical at the gym. We hosted a graduation party today so I didn't really focus too much on exercising.

Elliptical: 60 minutes

Vacation

25 weeks, 2 days

Elliptical: 60 minutes
Lift: Upper

25 weeks, 3 days
Wog (walk/jog): 2ish miles with massive hills in Newport, RI

25 weeks, 4 days
Wog: 3 miles with massive hills

25 weeks, 5 days
Run: 2 miles
Plyos

I chose to not prioritize exercising over other stuff that was happening each day, so I grabbed a couple of miles early in the morning each day and didn't give it a second thought!

25 weeks, 1 day

While I'm missing running consistently, I'm not missing how I feel during and even after running. During running, I'm feeling pretty hot and uncomfortable, which is much different from how I felt during the last pregnancy. I have to think that it's largely because I'm trying to run in the middle of July now, whereas before, I was able to run in beautifully cool temperatures. I've noticed that, after running, I'm experiencing increased pressure on my abdomen, especially in the top right corner. I've talked to the doctor about this - its apparently a pretty common nerve thing that affects women and is aggravated by exercise, but it isn't anything to really worry about. It's just uncomfortable. When I elliptical or bike or do something less weight bearing, I don't feel the pressure as much. I felt this pressure during the last pregnancy, but the difference is that I could rest after exercising during the last one, while I am on-the-go with Zoey all the time during this one. As much as I love running, I don't love it more than time with Brad and Zoey, and I'm definitely not willing to let it interfere with the rest of my life right now. To that end, I hit the elliptical again today. After 45 minutes hard, I lifted legs. It's feeling great to re-introduce lifting back into the equation after a couple of months of not really doing it. I'm lifting low weight/high reps, so I'm really behaving myself. It's more for the feel of it than for any real training benefit. We're going on vacation this week, so I won't have access to a gym, meaning that I'll likely do a few days of light running in a row. We'll see how that goes.

Elliptical: 45 minutes
Lift: Lower body

Bunch of days

There really hasn't been anything noteworthy to report these days about exercising while pregnant. Everything is slightly uncomfortable, but I still love working out. I haven't been using my belly band, as it's been pretty hot out. A few things have happened in the world of running, however, that deserve attention.

First, we lost a member of our running community a couple of weeks ago in a very tragic way. The full story is here.

Second, we had another member of the running community show the world just how amazing women can be. Story here.

Third, a good pal is in the running for best name in running - Gretchen Speed. She's a finalist, alongside Tripp Hurt. Obviously, vote here for Speed.

Now, onto completely unimportant stuff - my daily exercising, plus whatever notes I thought important each day.

23 weeks, 3 days
Elliptical: 60 minutes

23 weeks, 4 days
Run: 5 miles
Lincoln trail run. Nice and cool.

23 weeks, 5 days
Elliptical: 60 minutes

23 weeks, 6 days
Elliptical: 60 minutes
Zoey in gym daycare

24 weeks
Elliptical: 60 minutes

24 weeks, 1 day
Elliptical: 60 minutes

24 weeks, 2 days
Run: 5 miles
Lincoln trail run. Started with Brad and then he dusted me.

24 weeks, 3 days
Run: 2 miles
Aquarium and splash park day with the family

24 weeks, 4 days
Run: 2 miles
Lift: Upper
Date morning with Brad

24 weeks, 5 days
Run: 2 miles
4th of July play date x 2

24 weeks, 6 days
Elliptical: 30 minutes
Bike: 30 minutes

25 weeks
Elliptical: 40 minutes
Crazy step machine: 10 minutes
Lift: Upper