Four in the nick

I squeezed in my 4th workout of week 19 in the dying afternoon hours, just before the gym closed. Phewf!

Workout today was based on a Crossfit Mom WOD: 21-15-9 thrusters and push-ups. (What? That's supposed to be the whole workout?)

Only, I subbed in lat pulls for push-ups, added a run, and ended up doing the push-ups at the end after all. Here's the sum:

21-15-9 reps of:
thrusters @ 45
lat pulls @ 70

Good lord those thrusters peak the heart rate. I had to take two 15 second pauses to get through the first set, and my face turned alarmingly pink. I likely grunted a few times. (The lat pulls at 70 were pretty much just as difficult, though less full-bodied.)

Treadmill:
Alternating intervals of 1/5 mi @ 5.5 mph and 1/4 mi @ 7 mph x4 (First fast interval was actually 7.5, but I had some uncomfortable lower ab -- aka uterine -- cramping, so last 3 were 7.0.)
Finished off with some steady running at 6 and 6.5 mph.

Total 2.5 miles/25 minutes.

While stretching, i decided to throw down the originally prescribed 21-15-10 push-ups because, what the hell? I managed to do the first 5 of each set regular, and switched to girlies for the rest.

Push-ups have become dramatically difficult (compared to the 20-25 regular push-ups I could do in a set just two months ago). The bridge position is very hard to hold, and I've gained about 10 pounds, almost entirely in my midsection.

And the weigh-in: holding steady at 140.

Growing muscle in my sleep

Here's a fun tidbit of pregnancy physiology: A typical non-pregnant uterus weighs about 60 g, and is made up primarily of muscle tissue. During pregnancy, the uterus grows 16 times this size to become 1 kg. Of pure muscle.

It's a body-builders dream, putting on 2 pounds of muscle in your sleep.

Anyway, at the gym today:

Deadlifts - 65 x 12, 12, 12*
Presses - 40 x 10, 8, 7, 7
V-sit ball tosses (4 kg) - 30, 30, 40
Ham curls (reverse bridge on the ball - 3 sets of 12

* These are getting a bit awkward -- I have to place my feet a little wider (and therefore my hands) to accommdate the growing belly.

Rowing - 3250 m/17 minutes (250 m intervals of slow/fast)

I was aiming for 20 minutes of rowing, but I was really tired (squinching my eyes closed and gritting my teeth to get through the fast intervals), and according to everything I've read, pregnant ladies are supposed to surrender to the tired, rather than fight through it. Which is counter-intuitive to me, but I guess I'll save it for labour.

Weigh-in: 140. I knew this would happen sooner or later. But 2 pounds of it is uterus!

The sun followed us home from Florida

I planned a run instead of gym today, to take advantage of the beautiful 20º weather. Alas! I very nearly slept through it all this afternoon! I took an early lunch, so I could digest and run in the early afternoon. "Digesting" (ie: reading on my bed) turned into a two-hour nap! A wonderful, cozy nap indeed, but still, when it's this kind of warm in November, napping should at least take place outside on the lawn!

But, I guess I needed the rest. Rested and revived, I headed out around 3 PM and jogged 5.8 km in 38:30 min. It felt great.

I feel like I've found my pregnancy pace for running, ever since I had to re-adjusted around week 13 or so. Pre-pregnancy and 1st trimester, I was I was able to do 5K in about 25 minutes; about 5 min per kilometre. Since early October, I've been averaging a pace that's more like 6 or 6.5 min/kilometre, depending on the day. (And there was one slog in there that was as slow as 7 min/km.)

Since that's a pace that many regular folks run at normally, I feel pretty good about it (I'm constantly struggling with feeling lame at the amount of scaling back I've had to do...). Because it's all about winning the race, right? ;-)

Surprise burst of energy

I went to the gym today a little pooped, but ended up getting some sort of second wind and thus enjoyed some extra time on the treadmill...

Today's pre-ultrasound workout:

Warm-up: row 1000 m (5 min)

Alternating sets:
Squats - 65 x 10, 10, 10 + finishers 45 x 18
Calf presses - 240ish x 10, 10, 10
(Compare to last time, when I had much less energy)

Alternating sets:
Bent-over rows - 25 x 10, 10, 10 (each arm)
Back extensions - 12, 12 (stopped after two as back began to cramp)

Treadmill:
1/4 mile intervals - 5.5 mph/7.5 mph x 3
Another mile @ 6 mph + some walking during heartrate checks (which ultimately failed).
Total: 2.6 miles in 25 minutes.

I was just going to do the intervals, but the 6 mph pace felt so good, I just couldn't stop. I would've kept going antoher 5 min but I really had to go to the bathroom...

Weigh-in: Still 138...

Then, off to the ultrasound, which was an amazing experience. It pretty much confirmed that those mysterious abdominal gurglings MUST be fetal movement. The kid's a g-d gymnast! Plus there are those great big farmer hands that are already practicing the flick...