Chug-along-chica!

I did my yoga class again today, so yea me, I guess.  Tomorrow I die, for tomorrow is my "body pump" class which is basically a weights class set to music.  Hooooooo-boy.

This is me doing yoga at 4 1/2 months:

Wow, that image turned out inexplicably humongous.  An insult from the universe, no doubt.  What is it trying to say, that I look FAT?!?  How dare it.  (Some people have said that I am a teeny bit touchy while pregnant.)

Body pump class today.  Cool music, painful routine.  You spend a WHOLE SONG just doing squats at various speeds (slow hurts the most) with weights over your shoulders.  Ow.  Then there is the biceps song, the triceps song (that is the one that killed the most), the pec song, the shoulder song, the hamstring song, the back song, and the ab song (I had to modify the movements big time for that one).

My body had the following things to say about it:

Quads:  How could you DO this to us?  Haven't we served you well?

Biceps:  Why do I need to be strong anyway--do you want to look like a guy?

Triceps:  You will pay for this...

Shoulders:  Good luck brushing your hair tomorrow.  HA ha HA!

Hamstrings:  We are for sitting on.  This is ridiculous.

Etc. etc. 

And I should tell you that every single chica in that big, sweaty room could beat me to a bloody pulp if she wanted to.  It was filled with she-beasts, I am telling you.  Lotta muscles on those ladies. 

I, on the other hand, can not even open my own bottle of gatorade. *Blush* It is true.  I once melted a hole in the lid just because I couldn't get it off.  This will be interesting...and good, I am sure.  I don't want to be practically disabled by wimpiness anymore. 

I did my yoga class today, and it killed more than usual.  Of course it killed.  My legs are so sore from my weight class yesterday that I can hardly lower myself to the toilet, let alone do the Hindi squat for any length of time.  But it was beneficial, I am sure.  It felt good to do the stretching portions.  Today I wore my fancy new yoga outfit, which makes me look about 3 months further along.  So I was like a big letter P in class, but whatever, I got my darn workout in.

Friday is my ultrasound.  Please, if there is anyone out there who cares at all, PRAY I WILL HAVE A GIRL.   It's not that I don't want a boy.  I have nothing against adorable little boys. It is just that I really want a girl.  I'm outnumbered here!

20 min. on the treadmill (walking fast) followed by 20 min. on the elliptical.

Then I did all the weight machines I could figure out.  I basically set them each to a weight that was fairly difficult, and then did as many reps as it took to get a really good burn.  But I only did one set. 

Four days in a row!  That a record for this pregnancy, and I have the blog to thank for it!  So thanks, blog.  You make me want to work out much more regularly.

P.S. Tomorrow is the day!  Oh please oh please oh PULEEEEESE!

IT...IS...A...GIRL! 

See, she is waving to her adoring fans...

Can you BELIEVE it?!?!  Miracles will never cease.

And I'm off to do my 30 min. yoga DVD.   It is hard, but short.  In general I've been trying to do at least an hour a day, but something's better than nothing.

Yipee!  I had a perfect week--or at least I worked out every day.   And even better, I got GREAT NEWS!  Happiness surrounds me.  Today I accidentally triggered a little bout of road rage.  You know, when they lay on the horn like BEEEEEEEEEE-I-HATE-YOUR-GUTS-EEEEEEEP!!!, complete with nasty look.  Well, I was so happy I just smiled at the guy *dork!* like he was my long lost best friend.  Bet that got his goat.  Hehehe.

I did my yoga class at the gym today, and I am pleased to report that I can already tell a BIG difference in both my strength and my stamina.  When I first started just over a month ago, I could barely do about half the moves, and I always took the easy option.  Today I was able to do the ENTIRE routine and I did the advanced option almost every time.  I am a yogafying FOOL!  I looove yoga.  My back already feels MUCH stronger.  I don't get that uneasy feeling that something might slip out of place if I bend over too many times.  My back actually feels better now that it did when I wasn't pregnant.  Go figure!  

Well, I didn't exactly miss yesterday...I'b zick.  Yesterday I was REALLY weak/tired/shivering/achy, but today, although I still feel dad-burned rotten, I reckon I can at least go out and get a walk in.  I'm telling you, Sasha could probably still run a sub 2:30 marathon feeling this way.  I'm not quite there, but I will commit to 30 min. of pedering around outside.  It's a beautiful day, and so far all I've done is sit around and shluck down steaming honey-sweetened lemonade.  Yum.

P.S.  If I look back on my blog, just about every time I say something like "hooray!  I had a great exercise week,"  I end up getting sick the next entry.  Glub. 

Great yoga class today.  My legs are totally shaking.

A lady came up to me afterwards and commented on how well I did the moves BEFORE she asked me how far along I was.  I liked that.  It made me feel like really giving my all in every class.  Everybody is always staring at me anyways (or it seems that way) now that I am getting more obvious.  I'd rather they notice that I am doing the moves really well than that I look slightly larger every single class.  *Sigh*  I don't know why I struggle so much with feeling yucky about getting a huge tummy during pregnancy.  Where else is the baby going to go?  I'm a shrimpy person--it has to go out, and out, and OUT.

Ug.  I did my "body pump" class today, which is the killer one with the weights.  On of the 2 instructors was 8 months pregnant.  And she was a beast.  Everytime it would start to really hurt (after 5 billion reps) she would get this crazy look in her eye, like she really enjoys pain.   My legs are really really weak now.  Actually, have you ever done weights until your limbs are useless?  That is where my legs are.  They buckle without my permission.  In fact, I had a huge embarrassing moment as I was putting away my weights.  I lost my balance and crashed into one of the few guys in the class.  I shall burn in shame forever whenever I recall it.

I'm not really that happy with my exercise this week.  My kids have been sick, so I haven't been able to go to the gym as much as is recquired.  I'll get a class tomorrow, I am sure, but still, that's only 3 in a week.  Ideally, I'd like to have at least 2 weight classes and 3 yoga classes a week.  Plus I should walk.  I really should.  I should walk in the evenings.  However, I don't.  I need a buddy...and it would be best if she had a cattle prod.

Well, would ya believe that I am just the teesiest bit sore?  And by that I mean that I can't even walk normally.  If I had my quads all surgically removed and had to walk straight-legged for the rest of my life, it would look a lot like how I am walking today. 

I opted out of my yoga class because there is a whole song (4-5 min.) where you stay in a wide squat position for the entire time and never come back up.  You do all these crazy things with your arms to distract your brain, but the workout is that your legs just burn and burn and burn and you never straighten them until it's over.  I just couldn't do that today.

The mission today was to get over some of this soreness and possibly get in some cardio.  I biked for 20 min (which didn't hurt as much as I thought--it is the impact that kills, I guess), then I did the elliptical for 20 min., then I walked on the treadmill at a fast-ish pace for my broken, shrimpy legs, which was about 3.5 mph.  My heart rate was between 130-140 for the whole workout and it felt pretty good.  Afterwards I stretched a lot.

So, 60 min. of exercise and 15 min. of stretching.  Soreness is improved, hmmm...30 %, I 'd say.  That's a good start.  Happy weekend, all.

I'd like to dedicate this workout to Wildbull, since I've been reading about his spinning workouts forever...but it wasn't that super of a workout, so don't be TOO flattered, Bull.  But also don't take it personally, because a little bit of flattery is intended.

So I tried "spinning" today at the gym.  It's a bike class.  Good cardio, right?  The instructors tell you when to crank up the resistance on your bike, and they urge you pretend to go up hills, and sprint, and do little modifications with where you put your arms, alternate which leg you push harder with, stand up and pedal, encourage you to yell and make other guttural noises and "give it all you've got" etc. while loud music that you don't like POUNDS in your delicate, classically trained ear.

I was feeling shy, so I walked in and told the instructor that I was new (i.e. I didn't even know how to adjust the bike).  I didn't want to be too conspicuous, so I told the perky guy I didn't want to be in the front row.  He smiled and took me over to a bike on the far side of the room.  Almost everybody was on the other side, directly facing me, so instead of having one person behind me to witness my ignorance, the entire class stared at me for the whole workout.  Backfire! 

Oh well, I tried to look like I knew what I was doing, but the fact was that I spent most of my mental energy during the class trying to manage the annoyed pain signals that were coming from my posterior region--regarding a certain hard bike seat drilling into my skeletal system.  This feeling began after about ONE minute of riding, and increased steadily throughout the 60 min. class.  Quiet desperation was the name of the game.  When will it ever END?!?    I talked with the instructors about it after.  The bubbly guy, Bob, recommended I use a gel seat cover next time.  The tough Ellenesque chica believed that I just should let it hurt for 3 or 4 more classes, and that apparently through some kind of nerve damage or bum callus, the bones in my hiney wouldn't be able to detect the pain any longer.  Hiney calluses.  Necessary for good health?  Not so sure. 

It was nice that they had 2 instructors, though, so that one could yell at you while the other one would play the air guitar to the blasting music.  Yes, this is MY kind of workout.  This is me.  Humk-ough!  Excuse me, I just puked in my throat.

So in conclusion, I hate spinning, and the only way I would EVER do it again is if there were some kind of caged lion...er...trying to get to me, and...um...the only way to try to (but not really) get away from him...was on a stationary bike*.  Then I would do it.  But don't hold your breath.

*This is a reference to the fact that before I started running, I used to tell James the only reason I would run distances like he did was if I lion were chasing me and I had no other choice.

60 min. of yoga.  Yum, I love it.  My gluts are going to be sore, I can tell.

I'm 5 months along now, yea...

An hour of yoga again, but it doesn't feel repetitive, because it's a new instructor, new songs and new routines every time.  Today's ab song was the killer.  Do I even still HAVE abs?  Where did they go?  Well, despite the lack of evidence of abs, I got a nice hard core workout.  Miracles will never cease.

I just got home from my yoga class today.  I really love the songs.  I always come out of my class with an increased awareness of my posture.  I really like that.  I hope I can avoid becoming too swayback as I get bigger.  By the way, I had my first unintentionally rude comment from a well-meaning stranger.  I was REALLY tired by the end of yesterday, and sitting around at a blue and gold banquet for my son's scouting program (all slumped over my tummy), and this lady cam up and said "Are you tired?  Hang in there, you're almost done with this pregnancy!"  I didn't have the heart to tell her I was due in JULY!!!!  Quite a few months still to go, but people think I am ready to pop from 5 months onward.  It gets sooo old to go to church and have people always saying "are you still here?  When are you going to finally have that baby?!"  *Jagged sigh.*  At least I still feel really good.  I can pick stuff up off the floor and see my toes and all.  Little things you can take for granted...

I'll try to post a pregnant picture soon--then YOU guys can help decide it I look full term already or not, and vote on whether I still have abs, which is doubtful.