catherine's running efforts

We had errands and yet more unpacking today, so it was almost 7 when we were ready to head over to the gym. We called first and found out that it was about to close, so we bundled up to head outside for our runs (I only wanted a couple of miles, so Eric was going to run with me until I was done and then continue on his own). It felt warmer than it was last night, and I was ready to buckle down and just get it done, but the sidewalks were super icy and I'm pretty afraid of falling down. Or tweaking my back. So I turned around after about a block. I'm counting it, though. And we're going to post a gym schedule in our apartment. 

At the gym with Eric after work/school. Alternated .5 walking at 4.0, .5 running at 6.5 (my confidence is shot after Friday night's debacle). We might turn into evening runners this semester. It's harder to fit around eating, but it's easier than waking up at 4:30. 

3 miles running, 3 miles walking at 4.0. I was just going to do 3 miles running interspersed with 2 miles running, but Biggest Loser was on and that show makes me want to stay on the treadmill like nothing else. 

You know the random pains? At our appointment yesterday the doctor said that if I feel them when I'm running, I should stop running. I'm 92% sure they're GI related, though (and 4% sure I'm making them worse in my mind than they actually are), so I'm trying to work that part out before I really stop running. Except with all the walking I've been doing, haven't I stopped already? I feel like such a poser posting walking miles on here. But it's so depressing to only post the running miles.

One mile running, 3.2 miles walking. 

Two miles walking at 4.0. 

On the treadmill at the gym. I've never been into the Bachelor/Bachelorette shows, but somehow the new one makes the treadmill time go quickly. Alternated .5 walking at 4, .5 running at 6.5.

I figured out the GI stuff (for now), so I think that was what was causing the random pains, but I still get some weird tightness.  The Internet makes it sound like it's the fake contractions, and it seems like it's normal and stuff, even at 18 weeks, but it's unnerving. I'm thinking about switching to swimming and cycling. But I don't want to be a swimmer or a cyclist...

Walking on the treadmill at the gym. 2.5 miles at the 8.0 incline, then .5 at 10.0 incline. I caught the last 30-40 minutes of Biggest Loser. It's so crazy to think about losing 12 pounds in a week. 

Just a mile walking at the 12 incline. I got to see a little bit of that Live to Dance show, though. 

Nada. 

(I wrote it in Spanish because I'm working on a Spanish survey at work, so I'm practicing. I only know a few words. (Someone else is doing the translating.))

50 minutes on the elliptical, then fake pullups and dips. 

Good luck to everyone who's racing today!

Yesterday I noticed the tops of my thighs touching, so I have a renewed commitment to work harder at whatever feels like a good idea. 30 minutes on the bike (I was still in bed for the 8:00 spin class), 30 minutes on the treadmill walking at 15%. I had to remember to keep pushing on the bike (it helped to watch the cadence thing), but overall I think it was an okay workout.

It was about 9:30 tonight before we were done with everything, and I still needed to go to the gym. I kind of didn't want to go, but then I thought, "What would Nan (or Allie or Melody or Lily or any number of people on the blog) do?" Probably they wouldn't have waited until it was so late to go to the gym. But if they *did* find themselves in such a situation, I'm sure they'd go. So I went. It was fine. I walked (semi-briskly) for 30 minutes at the 12% incline, and based on my heart rate and how much I sweat I decided it was similar to an easy run. That made me feel better. 

Then I did fake pullups and dips, and Eric helped me with the bench press. My goal is to be able to lift the bar on my own. :)

I'm so lucky to have a spouse who will fit his gym time around my schedule. It makes it a lot easier to go when I know he needs to go too, and it's nice that he helps me lift the weights that are too heavy for me right now. 

An hour on the treadmill at a 12% incline, alternating between two brisk walking speeds. I can tell it's an okay workout because it's hard enough that it makes me want to quit early. I tried .25 of slow running at the end, and I think that the jiggling of my belly is maybe what makes the tightening come. Unfortunately, I'm not big enough yet for the support belt we bought.

I also did the incline bench press machine since I don't want to be flat on my back and the empty bar is hard enough that it's pointless to try to do it at an incline. It turns out that the machine without any weights is just the right amount of resistance as long as I do my arms separately. Yes, my arms are that wimpy.

And I got the waterproof mp3 case from Bonnie in the mail today! She's the best. I'm so excited to try water jogging.

An hour on the treadmill at 12%, alternating between the two walking speeds again. I think that tomorrow I'm going to try the whole hour at the faster speed. I was going to try the water jogging with Awesome Bonnie's waterproof mp3 case, but I had to get home to finish some grading (one of my goals for the year is to stay on top of that), so I'll probably wait until Friday when I have more time to do the whole clothes-swimsuit-clothes thing. 

Oh, and I started running a little because yesterday's .25 was okay, but then the tightness came so I stopped. Also fake pullups and dips. My shoulders were a little sore from yesterday's fake bench press thing. 

And really, Live to Dance isn't great. And I think that real lindy hop should mostly be a club/social dance, not a performance dance.

I was all sorts of cranky about a kid who plagiarized in one of my classes and then dropped the class when I confronted him, so I wasn't really in the mood to go to the gym. But I knew I'd be glad I went, so I ended up with an hour walking on the treadmill at varying speeds and inclines. Then I worked on the fake bench press machine. 

I think I'm getting burned out on the walking on the treadmill thing. *So* excited to try the pool tomorrow. 30 minutes on a bike, 30 minutes walking up a fake hill. 

Also, I know I'm supposed to gain weight because I'm pregnant, but I feel like mostly I'm just getting fatter. I feel bad for eating more, especially since I'm not running, but I'm just so hungry...

And Eric did *great* on his first-semester grades. We should all congratulate him for his hard work while still running and spending time with me at home. :)

One time I did a sprint triathlon. It was a bunch of years ago, and I can't remember why I wanted to do it. The swim part was in a lake, and I think I had gone swimming maybe twice in preparation. I started swimming like everyone else, but there were so many people that all the thrashing kind of threw me off. Then something touched my leg. Anyway, I got tired after about 30 seconds, so I started dog-paddling. Then I got more tired and decided I didn't care what people thought, so I alternated between the paddling and kind of a back stroke. A race volunteer came over in his canoe to make sure I was okay. I told him I was just slow. I think I was second-to-last overall. 

So I'm not a swimmer. But guess what? There's a lot else that I can do in a pool that still feels like a good workout. Thank you again to Bonnie for helping introduce me to something that makes me hate being pregnant a little bit less!

I wasn't exactly sure how water jogging would work, but Eric said something about needing weights. I started with one of those ankle weights on each foot, but they weren't quite weighing me down enough. I put another set on, but I was still just kind of prancing around. It was better in the more shallow part, but for 3/4 of the length of the pool I could just bob around on my toes. I think our regular gym (pool was closed today in AF) has waist weights, so I'll try those on Monday.

I didn't want to get my head wet (and plus I'm still self-conscious about regular swimming (my swimmer brother is going to give me some lessons)), so next I grabbed a noodle and started kicking back and forth. That actually made my legs feel really good and tired, so I did that for about 15 minutes. But I wanted to work my arms, too, so I switched the noodle for those weird foam barbells and did little tricep thingies as I was kicking. It was awesome. I was visualizing how ripped I was going to get. Then I realized that was probably unrealistic, but I think it'd definitely help me be more toned.

So...best day at the gym in a long time. Yay.

Another attempt at the pool running, this time after reviewing the things that Bonnie posted. The video helped a lot. I think I was successful. Eric wasn't so much. He thinks he's too tall. I think he needs to watch the video.

I also tried regular swimming. It kicked my butt. I could only do four laps before I felt super out of breath. Eric says it looked normal, so I think I just need more practice. I like that it makes me tired, though.

Today I was more stressed about not getting caught up on work stuff than I was about not going to the gym, so I skipped the gym. I'm glad I've been being consistent, but I also don't like waking up every day and feeling like I'm more behind than the day before. 

I felt super dumpy after missing two days at the gym. Plus, last night my muscles were doing this really weird thing where if I flexed them (like if I pointed my foot hard or tried to flex my calf) they'd seize up and hurt. And then I was all antsy during the night, so maybe my muscles started to atrophy or something. 

So tonight I decided that I was going to run. I walked on the 12% for a mile, and then I ran a mile very slowly. No tightness. Then I walked at 12% for half a mile, and then I ran another mile. I sped it up after the first half and got some tightness, so then I went back to the very slow run.

Our 20-week appointment is on Tuesday, so I'm going to ask about the tightness again (again). It doesn't at all hurt (though sometimes I'm sore like an hour later), and running just feels really good in the rest of my body. And it's going to be warmer outside soon.

Really Friday's entry should have been on Thursday, and this entry is for Friday. Anyway, Eric picked me up from work so that we could go to the gym before going to the gymnastics meet (go Utes!). The Sugarhouse gym is weird. It's like a dungeon with mirrors. I hung out on the treadmill walking up a fake hill for awhile, and since there was a mirror right next to me I spent some time thinking about whether I'm noticeably losing muscle tone. So then I did the quad machine for a bit. 

I pulled out the belly band, and it fits now. Yay. So I tried running a really slow mile to see if I got any tightness. I don't think so, but the band was on kind of tightly. It's kind of like the question of whether I feel any pressure. I don't know what's pressure and what's needing to go to the bathroom. Or what's crampy from gas and what's crampy not from gas. It's all very confusing. 

It felt good to do the mile. I really like running. The Bachelor was pretty good, too.