Taking it outside at last

With the intention of back-packing both ways to school today, I decided to try a short and intense workout today. It was surprisingly gorgeous out, so I was able to stay outdoors.

I recycled this old faithful, but scaled for pregnancy:

Five rounds:
40 squats
400 m run
= 19:25 minutes.

Normally this workout takes more like 14 minutes, and involves sets of 50 squats. I ran as fast as I could, which was about a brisk-ish jog. (Maybe a 7 - 7.5 on the treadmill? Runs took about 2:15 min rather than the typical 1:40.) It was as hard as the usual non-pregnant version, which tells me the scaling was about right for today. :-)

And I did follow up with a second (decaf) latté.

I promise I will do some push-uppy and pull-uppy things at the park today!

Quickie

Squeezed in a simple workout on Friday when I should have been prepping for our road trip to Toronto.

Five rounds:
1 min hard row
10/leg raised-leg split squats
12 push-ups (from the knees)

Followed by three sets of 20 v-sit lateral ball touches (3 kg ball).

Still was able to hit the road straight from nursery school pick-up! Excellent weekend with Susan, Paul, and the girls. Tim didn't whine once during either 5-hour car ride. The only downside was that S&P always serve up an excellent selection of beer and wine, and I was unable to partake. Boo.

Ugh, more rowing

I have no recourse: the weather is totally shitty (too awful to consider even walking to nursery school, let alone running outdoors), and I have no access to a treadmill.

So, rowing it is. And a few other things.

Row: 10+ minutes (about 2 km)

Four rounds:
10 bench dips (feet on the ball)
9/arm bent-over rows, 30 lb
30 v-sit ball tosses, 3 kg ball

Row 5 minutes (about 1 km)

And I really did tweak my knee after a million rounds of Ring Around the Rosy last night. Nothing serious (twinges a little on the stairs, should be good by tomorrow), but I avoided squatty-type things today. With the extra weight and proportions, getting up off the floor a dozen times in a row counts as a set of Turkish get-ups.

Another day, another circuit

Once again, reused from 21 weeks. What is with these circuits I was doing? They are better workouts than anything I've been doing the past six months. Oh well, better late than never.

Four rounds:

2 minute row (about 400m)
12 thrusters - 45 lb
15 good mornings - 45 lb
15/leg step-ups

Finished with 5 minutes easy rowing (about 1000 m).

My sweetie is off to China for nearly two weeks. It will be a tiring time for both of us (for different reasons), but it will be much easier than last time, when I was totally sick and parked Tim in front of the TV for hours while I lay fetal on the floor until blessed bedtime. That sucked.

Intensity

Is it cheating to be pulling out old 21 week workouts when I'm only 20 weeks pregnant? My excuse is that the 2nd time around, you get bigger sooner, so I'm definitely 21 week size, relative to my primigravida state!

So, this workout was more intense that usual. I was more red-faced, sweaty and out of breath than I have been, and I blame it on the workout, not me. Which is good, because I need to ramp things up!

Again, mostly heavier than last time, because of a limited barbell selection...

Four rounds:

Row 500 m*
15 sumo deadlift high-pulls - 45#
15/leg split squats - 20# (10# dbs)
15 push-presses - 45#

*As hard as I could sustain - my eyes were closed and teeth clenced for the 2nd half of each row.

The circuit took about 30 minutes altogether. Also, I don't think I'll be able to do SDHP's next week! Already had compromise form to get past the belly...

To the lighthouse!

Instead of reading in the wait area while Tim attended his gymnastics class, I dressed in active-wear today and struck out on a brief run while Tim hopped, skipped, jumped, and balanced his way through the morning.

20 min = 3.5 km (Starr Gymnastics to the Science museum lighthouse), plus (after checking that everything was okay indoors), three sets of 20 walking lunges.

Hi rep circuit

Drawing on previously-planned preggo workouts is really working for me. Definitely helps with motivating myself to head down to the basement when the most I have to think about is how to adapt a workout from the well-equipped Nautilus (where I used to work out), to my still-pretty-good-for-a-home-gym basement.

Today's workout brought to you by November 14, 2008.

Four rounds:
Row 500 m (more specifically "row hard for 2:25 min")
15 presses - 15# dbs
15 squats - 45#
15 good mornings - 45#

Followed by:
V-sit ball tosses - 4 sets of 30 (did laundry between sets)
(Skipped the push-ups because of painful DOMS from Sunday's bench push-ups.)

Yesterday, we went for the standard 2nd trimester ultrasound. It's so exciting to see the little runt on the big screen! What we saw was very reassuring: big, healthy, proportionate (maybe the femurs were a little long, Kelly-style), and adorable. And you'll notice that I've updated the colour of this blog appropriately. ;-)

Birthday run

The rain held off, and Dad held down the fort (sawing logs on the couch)(kidding, Ken doesn't snore)(much). So I enjoyed a little outside action.

An easy run, with 10, 6, 10, and 10 bench push-ups (the 2nd bench was really low, and it was really close to the first bench!). About 7 km in 50 minutes (including the stops for push-ups). Also, I had to stop and walk a couple of times (and once stop and just stand still) to let contractions pass. Sometimes I can run through them -- they don't hurt -- but sometimes it's just too... weird, and I have to pause.

Finished with two sets of 20 walking lunges.

Okay, I actually finished with two pieces of double-chocolate birthday cake!

Squats and more squats

Once again, inspired by a workout from last time... But what was up with 65 lb squats? I upped that a little today:

1000 m row

Alternating sets of:
95# squats - 10, 10, 10
@170# calf raises (single leg, holding a 30# db) - 8/leg x 3

Alternating sets of:
30#/arm bent-over rows - 10, 8, 8 (per arm, per set)
V-sit lateral ball touches - 20, 20, 20 (couldn't improv back extensions thanks to fetal bulge!)

And, since I don't have a treadmill, I added alternating sets of:
45# squats - 20, 20, 20
45# presses - 10, 10, 9

Finished with 1000m row.

I won't be able to get in a workout next Monday, as it's Ultrasound Day!

As promised

I based today's workout on one I did at 19 weeks while pregnant with Tim. (Hard to be believe Tim was once a thought in my belly, just as it's hard to fathom that this belly will yield a real person like Tim!)

I'm surprised that my weights today were (mostly) more than last time.

Four rounds of:
12 deadlifts - 95#
10 presses - 20# db (40# total)
40 V-sit ball tosses - 3 kg
15 ham curls (reverse bridge on the ball)(awkward - baby doesn't like being upside-down!)

Finished with five intervals on the rower of 1 min fast/1 min easy (10 minutes), and more stretching than usual (which still wasn't enough, but there was laundry to do.)

Following along with my previous gestational program might be the way to go. Would make all those blog posts worthwhile! I think the biggest challenge will be finding the time to get in as many workouts...

Easter sun(day) run

After a completely gluttonous Easter Sunday brunch and a nap (for 2/3rds of us -- the male fraction), we headed out for a family run. Thanks to Sweetie McPie for pushing the jogging stroller and going my pace.

52 min = 7.4 km

It was a very nice, easy pace, enabling us to chat the whole way. Even on the hills (which I did not have to walk). I'm pleased with the distance, because I haven't run that far since probably before Christmas. And it felt good.

I promise: weights/circuit tomorrow!

Still just jogging

With the bulk of the house stuff (hopefully) behind us, I was able to move a little more vigorously today. A combination of returning home from dropping the car off at the garage (good-bye winter tires), and some squats:

Run 1.7 km
50 squats
Run 400 m (not that fast)
50 squats
Run 400 m
= pooped. Gotta get back into this!

Saving the rest of my energy for the 2 km of walking/backpacking to nursery school and back later today.

16 weeks

A total write-off, unless you count walking up and down the stairs one hundred and thirty thousand times.

We put our house up for sale and it was A LOT of work getting it cleaned and reno-ed. But worth it as we immediately received two offers, accepted one at above our asking price, found the perfect house, and had our very-low bid accepted without counter. Now we await acceptance of inspections and financing...

Also! Pre-natal check-up. All is well, of course. Weight check: 142 lb. (That's +8 since day one. I expect to gain a pound per week over the course of the 40... but a little slower at the beginning and a little more at the end, so I feel right about on track.)

Long time ago run

I did squeeze one more workout into 15 weeks: a short-ish run (25 minutes), plus bench dips at the park (3 or 4 sets of 12). The run was cut short by my sudden need to pee, which is no laughing matter when your bladder is being slammed by a baseball-sized fetus while jostling up and down! So I had to loop back home, and then it was only a short distance to the park...