Brie Fit

I have blogged about lots of forms of exercise in my blogging career.  From what I remember, I’ve blogged about:

• CrossFit (duh)
• Running (lots and lots)
• Yoga (took a few classes back in the day)
• Weightlifting (did lots of it solo)
• Swimming (dabbled in lap swimming last year, okay but not my thing)
• Stationary biking (snooze)
• Elliptical-ing (snooze)
• Spin classes (fun!)
• BodyPump-type classes (meh)
• Kickboxing classes (fun!)
• Step aerobics classes (haaaate)

…and probably a few other things I’m forgetting. 

But I cannot, for the life of me, remember ever saying “I am going to walk for exercise.”

This is likely because, previously, I’ve always been in good enough shape that if I’m going to get on a treadmill, I’d need to run to get my heart rate up enough to make my time worth it, at least in my head.  Also, walking frankly sounds boring as shit to me.

But now, I’ve taken up…walking.  For exercise.  Someone write this day down.

Did you even know that we own a treadmill?  Because we do.  We bought it in January, from a friend who wanted to get rid of it, super cheap. 

I’ll be honest, once Tim and friends moved it out of the garage, it took me about four months to figure out where the damn thing even was.  I knew it was in our basement, which I go down to maybe once a month, but not which room in the basement.  (Turns out, it’s in what is now our second guest bedroom.)

So anyway, the point of this post is that because it’s 104 damn degrees outside, and CrossFit is getting harder, and I now have a Kindle Fire with Amazon Prime and HBO Go streaming, I’ve taken up treadmill walking.  Today, I walked 2.5 miles in 45 minutes, whilst watching vintage 16 and Pregnant.

I will be honest.  It was boring.  And also?  It was HARDER than I expected.  CrossFit is so different because you’re never doing the same thing for very long, but with walking, the repetitive motion was very different.  After awhile, my feet hurt, my hips ached, and if I went too fast my belly would cramp a bit.  And I was definitely sweaty and out of breath!

Kind of crazy to think think that I used to pound out double-digit miles at a MUCH faster pace, huh?

Anyway, it kind of sucks, but at this point, I’m just happy to be active however I can.  I’m going to keep up with CrossFit, but this will be a nice little supplement to have, and I’m sure it’ll be convenient to have a treadmill in the house post-partum, too. 

Are you a walker?

Lookit my baby shower invitations.  Aren’t they super cute?

My super crafty aunt made them and I love them!

Also, my first ever bare-belly-bump photo, taken at 28 weeks exactly, last Sunday.

No stretch marks yet (knock on wood) but I feel like they’re just around the corner.  Belly button is officially out and looks ridiculous.

Randoms:

• The nausea from last week mostly went away, thank goodness.  I am starting to get a little shaky if I don’t eat regularly, so I’m really working on regular snacking.  One morning, after CrossFit, I had to have Tim bring me a glass of juice because I got a little lightheaded while drying my hair.  Hopefully it’s no big deal.
• Daycare is a done deal.  We’ve decided and and are placing a deposit next week. 
• Registry gifts are starting to arrive!  We got the Rock n’ Play sleeper and a diaper pail and liner this week.  The amount of Amazon boxes going to the curb each week is increasing!
• I’m convinced this baby is breech by his movements.  I very rarely feel any movement north of my belly button, but feel lots of kicks and punches and rolls down low.  I’m going to ask if they can tell how he’s situated at my next appointment, in a little over a week.
• I generally feel big, and slow, and usually have sciatic pain by the end of the day, but it’s not unmanageably bad yet.  I was worried I’d hit third trimester and some horrible light switch would come on and I’d feel awful, but so far, it’s not bad. 
• Still exercising, but the frequency is decreasing to 2-3 times a week thanks to the heat, needing more sleep, and CrossFit WODs being harder on my body than usual—I need more recovery time!  If I do a WOD in the morning, I feel it in my hips and feet later that day, for sure.
• Oh, the comments.  I don’t think I’ll be able to run an errand in peace until this baby is born.  My favorite is, “I would really hate to be pregnant in the summer, yikes.”  I mean, what do you say to that?  Everyone wants to know a) when I’m due (and they cringe when I say September), b) if it’s a boy or a girl; and c) if we’ve picked a name yet.  I’m tempted to just start telling people we’re naming him Spiderman, for fun.
• Oh yeah, and speaking of the name.  In progress, but we’re getting close, I think.

And that’s one more down. Almost in the 30s now!  Yikes!

Ever since I saw this WOD on Tina‘s blog, I knew I wanted to do it!

So, I tweeted the coaches at my box, pleading "but it’s my birthday!" last week, and they put it on the schedule for this week.  (Thanks, Brian, Manny, and Dustin!)

And this morning was the morning!

We split into two teams–there were 14 people in the 5:30 am class, so 7 each (my team had a half-person advantage due to Lumpy, obvs).  The task was to draw a distance and a heavy object, and move said object said distance with a partner.  Only two teams from each group could be working at a time, so 4 people.

Objects included sandbags, a giant tractor tire, squat racks, weight benches, loaded and unloaded barbells, kettlebells, medicine balls, a giant whiteboard, and the full water jug.

Distances were creative—everything from 25m to 400m to Pizza Hut (pretty far, probably 800m) to Gator’s (the dive bar across the parking lot).

The winning team was the one that could complete the most rounds in 25 minutes.  It was a lot of fun and kind of chaotic working with so many different things!  I got stuck with the tire, twice—the rule was that you could roll it for half the distance, but had to flip it for the other half.  I wound up doing over 100m of tire flips today!  Yikes.  But this was a great workout and I didn’t feel like my pregnancy interrupted anything besides slowing me down a bit.

(PS: Tire flips make you dirty.)

I was on Team 2.  We lost and had to pay a 15 burpee penalty.  But it was fun!

Happy belated birthday to me!

Last day to enter the Under Armour giveaway here! 

So, I’ve gotten a few comments along the way talking about how I should do the daily food blog thing again.

Honestly, I quit doing it because I got sick of the "and then I had this for lunch, and then I made this for dinner" format.  I’m just not thrilled to whip out my camera before I eat.  I tried for awhile, it was a fun experiment, but not for me.  Plus, I have negative zero interest in pursuing pretty photography or creating my own recipes. 

But point was taken that it might be interesting to see what a large pregnant lady who tries to eat halfway decent consumes in the course of a day, so here you go.  One day only! 

Breakfast: Raisin Bran (probably a double serving) with 1% milk

Logic: I’ve been going more for cold cereal lately because it’s hot. I like Raisin Bran, and the fact that it’s high fiber is a major plus in pregnancy.  Trust me.  Also, I drink all the milk, because, you know, the baby needs calcium and all.  I went to the dentist early in first trimester and the hygienist scared the ever-loving shit out of me about pregnancy dental care and how the baby steals all your calcium.  These teeth are mine, kid.  Get your own.

Timeout: Can we discuss the fact that I had to stop at a donut shop on my way to work this morning for work-related stuff and didn’t get a donut?  It smelled basically like heaven.  But I behaved.

Morning snack: small glass of OJ, purloined from the remnants of a work meeting and a light string cheese.

Logic: The OJ was an impulse drink.  Usually I just have the string cheese–it holds me over and has a decent amount of protein.  And usually I get the full-fat kind, but Tim did the grocery shopping when this was on the list, so, good try Tim.

Lunch: Spinach salad (with almonds, dried cranberries, and a drizzle of light balsamic dressing); peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat bread, a peach, and a VitaBrownie

Logic: Spinach is delicious, and really good for pregnant women because of the iron.  PB&J was because we are low on groceries and I was too lazy to hard-boil some eggs.  I got a bunch of VitaBrownies on a Living Social deal awhile ago and I’m trying to clear my freezer out a bit.  Peaches were on sale this week and they’re fantastic

Afternoon snack 1: fruit salad

Logic: If I don’t eat SOMETHING roughly every 2-3 hours, I get shaky and nauseous these days, so I try to spread it out a bit.  I prep all my fruit for the week on Sunday and combine throughout the week.  This week, it’s pineapple, cantaloupe, and cherries, which were really disappointing for being $4.99/pound.  Sigh.

Afternoon snack 2: cereal bar

Logic: Usually I go for something with more protein and healthy fats, like a KIND bar, but we’re out.  I usually keep these around the house for pre-workout–I can’t do CrossFit on an empty stomach anymore, and these are light and sugary enough that I don’t feel sick.

Afternoon snack 3: a handful of salt and vinegar chips

Logic: I get home from work every day famished, so I usually grab a little something to hold me over until dinner.  We eat pretty late because of Tim’s schedule.

Dinner: breakfast for dinner.  Omelet (two eggs, one white) with cheese and spicy hash browns.

Logic: It’s 105 degrees out and I refuse to turn on the oven.  Also, it’s easy.  I have less interest in cooking fancy meals these days, because I’m more tired when I get home.

Dessert: ice cream.

Logic:  It’s delicious.  See also, calcium and keeping my teeth argument, supra.

Other notes:

• What I eat is heavily impacted by the fact that I have a job that I’m at 9 hours a day, plus a commute each way.  I keep it simple and have to deal with what I’ve packed.  In first trimester, I wished more than anything else I had access to my pantry and kitchen all day at work so I could make what sounded halfway appealing.  But that’s the reality of an 8-5 desk job.
• I am not counting calories.  I try to keep one step ahead of my body’s hunger cues so I don’t get shaky and nauseous.
• I have gained what my doctor considers a “normal” amount of weight, and they are not concerned.  If they’re not concerned, neither am I!
• I passed my gestational diabetes test by quite a bit.  I think my blood glucose was in the low 70s, and it needed to be under 130.
• Drink-wise, I had 3 or 4 refills of my 24 ounce Camelbak bottle at work, plus a caffeine-free Diet Coke at dinner.  I gave up all caffeine in the beginning of pregnancy due to miscarriage paranoia, and haven’t really picked it back up, though I’ve had a little here and there.  I do like caffeine-free pop now and again for variety, though!

And that’s that.  One day of food blogging. Enjoy!

Today was a good day at CrossFit, which is nice, because I’ve had a few bad days lately.

We started the day off with some heavy lifting, finding our one rep max on the bench press.  I’d never done this before, so it was fun!  We always find our one-rep max by doing sets of 3-3-3-1-1-1, with the idea being you start lighter and move heavier by the end.  We started out with lots of shoulder mobility work to loosen everything up, which was nice.

My results wound up being 45-65-75-85-90-90, meaning I maxed out at a 90 pound bench press.  Honestly, the hardest part was hoisting my giant pregnant ass off the bench!  90 pounds felt comfortably hard, but I would have probably pushed it to 100 un-pregnant.  Someday!

The WOD today was super fast, and designed to give us a baseline we’ll re-test at the end of the summer.

I suppose mine is going to be kind of a reverse baseline…we’ll see how much slower I get by the time summer is over!  But anyway, it was a nice, quick workout and I was able to push reasonably hard.  I did the 400m sprint in 2:30, and finished the squats/sit-ups (actually reverse leg/arm extension things)/push-ups (knees)/pull-ups (jumping) in another 3:05, for a grand total of 5:35.

I also sported my brand new Charles River CrossFit shirt today, which my bestie sent me for my birthday last week!  It’s actually long enough, which I love, because not much is these days.

Anyway, my shoulders are already aching from today’s effort, but it feels good to hurt a little!  I’m exhausted and looking forward to a relaxing night at home, though.

Yesterday, I had my first CrossFit DNF.  Sad face.

The WOD was 3 rounds of:

• 1 minute SDHP 
• 1 minute jumping lunges
• 1 minute pull-ups
• 1 minute kettlebell snatch
• 1 minute rest

Normally, something I’d knock out, no problem.

Except yesterday, not so much. 

Halfway through the second set, my left arch began to cramp painfully, and by the time the set was over I was limping. I started the third set, but the cramp started to radiate up my hamstring and I knew I was done. 

Ultimately, I think it’s related to the sciatic pain I’ve been having on that side—if the nerves are all pinchy, obviously things aren’t working well.  I’ve switched to a more supportive shoe in hopes that would help, but apparently not.  The extra weight and different distribution (heavy front load) are messing with my balance, and my feet just can’t keep up, I don’t think.  I’m going to keep trying with CrossFit, because I know some WODs will be fine, but it’s still a bit sad.

In happier news, we started the day doing 3-3-3-1-1-1 of clean jerks.  (Think: barbell from floor to collarbone, then collarbone to overhead.)  I maxed out at 92#, which I’m pretty sure is a personal record, and I think I could have put up another 10-15 pounds if I didn’t have to hold the bar so far away from my body to accommodate the belly! 

Still time to enter my Under Armour giveaway here!

I’m at a point where I kind of have to scratch my head and be like, "what week am I?"

But yeah, week 27, also known as the beginning of third trimester.  Whaaat?

The highlight of this week was taking my gestational diabetes test.  And by highlight, I mean, "it really wasn’t that bad, so stop bitching about it, collective of pregnant women out there."

My instructions said to avoid "concentrated" sweets the day before, and not to eat anything after I’d had the drink.  I started the morning with a protein-packed breakfast.  I know eggs would have been the easy option here, but they’re really the only food I’m still kind of finicky about.  I like them hardboiled, and not in the morning.  So I went with something more palatable: almonds, cashews, and string cheese.

Then, one hour before my appointment, I drank the glucose drink they’d given me to take home at my last appointment.  I did this in my car, before visiting a daycare.  No big deal.  It tasted like flat Sprite.  I went for the chug approach and it worked just fine.

I visited the daycare (which is nice, and uses cloth diapers, and made me happy to realize that it’s not staffed by axe murderers and the children appeared happy), then went to my appointment.  An hour after I chugged, they drew my blood. 

The worst part was waiting for the doctor, who was running behind due to a delivery, after the blood draw for 45 minutes.  Boo.

Baby was agitated by the glucose and kicked the shit out of the Doppler wand a few times, but his heart rate was 144 and just fine.  My pee was clear, my blood pressure was fine (117/74 or so?), I’m gaining weight appropriately (on the high end of normal, okay, but not too bad), and according to the old tape measure, my fundal height is right on track for 27 weeks.  Maybe this won’t be a giantoid baby after all!

Anyway, I passed.  I was nervous, because I have a family history of diabetes, which is a risk factor, but it all wound up okay in the end.

Randoms:

• I’ve had an unfortunate resurgence of nausea/morning sickness.  God, it kills me to type this.  But I think I am at a point where the baby is just running out of room, and just kicks the shit out of my stomach and guts, and it makes me kind of queasy, and I am generally kind of uninterested in food lately.  It’s worse on an empty stomach.  I hope this goes away, but I’m not convinced it will.
• This week, my baby shower invitations went out!
• This also means that the first few items have been purchased from our registries.  Yes, I’m a shameless registry stalker.  What?  Amazon sends me an e-mail every time someone buys something.  It’s thrilling!  It appears two Baby Containment Devices have been purchased, which is good, because those are high on our priority list. 
• I am kind of reducing the frequency of CrossFit to about twice a week.  As much as I love it, it’s not quite as fun when I have to find a way to modify pretty much everything, and any running makes me cramp up pretty regularly.  I’m making up for it by trying to walk more with the dog in the evenings.

Oh, and hey, it’s a bump.  At what point do we just refer to it as a mountain?

God bless the co-worker who told me that I’ve only gained weight in my belly, and the rest of me doesn’t even look pregnant.  I’m pretty sure this is the #1 best thing you can ever tell a pregnant woman, ever.  FYI.

Happy birthday to me!  (And Tina, and Hillary, too.)

Today I am twenty-eight years old.  Does that mean I officially enter my late twenties now?

Twenty-seven was a year of very high highs (Tim got a job!  I found CrossFit!  We bought a house!  I got pregnant and stayed that way!) and very low lows (job hunt strife, a miscarriage and hospital stay, another miscarriage, two totaled cars in the span of a week).

If nothing else, it was memorable.  I can’t wait to see what this year brings!  (Although I can guess, and it starts with b- and ends with -aby.)

I started the morning with CrossFit.  I’ve missed it so much while I was out of town.  And despite the fact that it SOUNDS like a great idea to visit a CrossFit box while traveling, when you’re crammed into back-to-back work sessions with no car, it just doesn’t work.  And, oh, yeah, I would have loved to see a coach’s face if I plopped down a drop-in fee with my ginormous belly.

This was not so much my favorite workout.  It just felt kind of odd and disjointed to me.  KB thrusters!  Diane!  Run!  Rest!  Blech.  But it felt good to move, nonetheless, although I am slooooow these days.

(However, I have put in a request to play Heavy Shit Roulette as a belated birthday WOD this Friday.  Exciting!)

My co-workers treated me to a birthday lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, and I shared a piece of this amazingly indulgent Godiva cheesecake with my boss.  Yum.

My birthday gift? 

A Kindle Fire!  I have a Nook, but I wanted something backlit that was a little more tablet-like for late night nursing sessions.  A case is on the way, too!

Anyway, it kind of sucks to work on your birthday, but such is life as a grown-up, eh? 

So, here’s a toast to 28 being a good one!  Someone have a drink for me, please.

The bullet points for week 26:

• Movement this week is becoming clearer and clearer.  I have a feeling that the baby was sitting breech for a few weeks, because I’d only feel motion down low.  But I felt some pretty epic flip-like feelings, and now I feel motion high above my belly button, on the sides, and all over. 
• Hands down, the weirdest feeling I’ve ever experienced is the sensation of waking up in the morning, only to realize that the baby is already awake, has had his morning coffee, and is leisurely practicing his handstand push-ups in my uterus.  Like, what?  I’m asleep, kid.  You don’t get to wake up before me yet.
• Exercise-wise, this week was a bit of a wash.  I went to CrossFit once, but I’ve been traveling for work so I’ve been mostly doing lots of walking.  Which is a bit weird, because if I get too speedy my round ligaments hurt.
• Food-wise, this week has been terrible because of gross conference food.  No major cravings to report. 
• This week, we ordered the glider for the nursery!  We ordered this one (Best Chairs Quinn, highly reviewed by my bible, Baby Bargains), in a color called Dolphin, which is basically a charcoal gray.  It’s very soft and squishy and big enough for Tim, who is 6’2” (-ish).   The glider is our “splurge” item in the nursery—we ordered an inexpensive but sturdy crib, and bought our dresser secondhand.  After we ordered it, I freaked out that we didn’t buy the ottoman, too, so I’m going to order that soon.  It should show up at the end of July sometime.
• Speaking of the dresser, how about a little HGTV-style before and after?  Before…

and after!

I am not handy in the slightest, but I used this tutorial and banged this puppy out in a weekend.  It’s certainly not perfect, but it looks pretty damn good in my opinion.  We went with a bright white finish to match the crib, and I picked up some cute red glass knobs from a craft store to finish it off.  Total for the dresser, including supplies, was less than $200!  I’ll take it.

So, thus ends the second trimester.  Whaaaat?

I remain constantly flummoxed at how the first trimester just absolutely crawled by, but the second trimester was over in the bat of an eyelash.  In the first trimester, I was mostly completely miserable.  I was scared and had trouble connecting to the fact that this could be real—like, for keeps real—and so I just sort of felt like I had this odd illness for an extended period of time.  I felt like I had a six week long hangover, I hated food, and I couldn’t poop.  It was terrible.

But second trimester was everything everyone on the internet promised and MORE!  You hear the stories about how that light switch flips on somewhere about week 12 or 13 or so and suddenly you feel normal again.  And I did!  And it was exactly as fantastic as I’d hoped. For much of the second trimester, I felt fantastic.  Sure, I had a few issues—like slightly out-of-control asthma, and sciatic pain, and “no, it’s not twins” giantoid syndrome—but most mornings, I’d wake up, stumble into the bathroom, and do a double-take in the mirror like, “hey, who’s that pregnant lady?  Oh right.” 

The only thing about the second trimester that I’m not totally wild about is that I’m rapidly approaching my heaviest weight ever—the point at which I saw pictures, grimaced, and then lost 50 pounds.  And that is a scary thing for me, mentally.  I huff and puff my way up hills and stairs, and it’s a real reminder as to WHY I lost that weight to begin with.  No, I wasn’t 100% successful in keeping it off, but being back THERE again is frightening.  And it’s kind of renewed my commitment to want to get back in the best shape possible after the baby makes his arrival. Except doing that with a baby?  Oy vey.  I don’t know how I’m going to do it.  But I’m going to do my damnedest.

Onward to third trimester! (holyshit holyshit holyshit)

Soooo…I’m in Washington, D.C. this week.

My last work trip until 2013!  Hard to believe.

Anyway, exercise this week has been unofficial—I’m doing lots and lots of walking, which is interesting considering the humidity and the fact that going too fast gives me round ligament pain.

Here’s how traveling is different when visibly pregnant:

• Airport security is way better.  I try to pick a line with a sympathetic-looking female TSA agent, exaggerate the waddle a little bit, and I get waved through the metal detector line.  No weird body scans, no pat-downs. 
• Strangers become talkative.  Particularly old ladies.  I’m going to pin a sign to my front that says “September 16th, it’s a boy, yes I know it’s going to be a long summer.” 
• Everything is slower.  Instead of speed-demoning it to baggage claim, it’s more of a leisurely stroll while my hips and lower back crack twelve times and I try to shuffle the baby off my sciatic nerve.
• No drinking.  Which is basically one of the few things that makes work small-talky receptions and late-night flights bearable. 
• Less exercise pressure.  Instead of worrying about when I’m going to fit in workout sessions this week (which is good, because there’s no hotel gym and this room is the size of a postage stamp), I’m just walking extra and calling it a day.  And I don’t feel a damn bit guilty.
• Swelling.  Between flying, being on my feet a lot, and DC humidity, my wedding rings no longer fit and my toes look like wee sausages. Hooray!

Honestly, I get a lot of fun, easy work trips, but this is not one of them.  It’s been/going to be a long, grueling week, and I can’t wait to go home Saturday night!

Anything else to add to my list?

(PS: Comments on my last Under Armour giveaway post were wonky yesterday, but they should be fixed now.  Weigh in here to win cool stuff!)