Brie Fit

So what’s hanging out in my ute?

This pretty little thing.

(The circle on top is the yolk sac, the head is on the left, the butt is on the right.  Lumpy is leg-less so far.)

Going into our ultrasound, I was surprisingly calm.  Maybe it’s the acupuncture, or maybe it’s that I absorbed some of a church message involving “be not afraid” a few weeks ago.  But I went in knowing and trusting that our baby was waiting for me, and there he/she was.

One perfect baby, measuring two days ahead of schedule, making my official due date September 16th.

One beautiful heartbeat, flickering on the screen, measuring at 158 bpm.

I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

And then I looked up at Tim’s face, his mouth open, and what does he say?

“He’ll be starting for Mizzou!”

Then we high fived.

I never claimed we were a normal couple, but…here we are.

We got two pictures from the ultrasound tech (who was about the sweetest person ever, after the crazy heifer tech who tried to convince me “maybe your dates are just off by six weeks” when I had my first ultrasound last time ‘round, but I digress), and Tim asked if he could keep one.

Then later he texted me that he had kept Lumpy in his shirt pocket all day.  Slayed me dead.

In other week 7 news, week 6’s nausea is NOTHING compared to this week.  I wake up and dry heave.  I eat out constantly because I can only eat very specific things at very specific times, and nothing else will do.  (Like Starbucks smoothies, or McDonald’s chicken sandwiches. Healthy, no.  Do I care, no.  Eating something is better for the baby than eating nothing, and I gag on any food that is not exactly what I want at that exact time.)  Thankfully, my doctor prescribed Zofran, which has been helping keep things under control a bit.

I went grocery shopping at 7w6d and I’m pretty sure a zombie took over my cart.

Bland, noodle-y carbs.  White bread.  Sugary cereal.  Freaking spaghetti in a can (which I never did eat, but the fact that I bought it alarms me enough).  Who am I?  But literally, nothing sounds good.  Meat?  Forget it.  Veggies? Gag me.

(Side note: it felt surprisingly liberating to grocery shop in this state.  I never would have bought these things pre-pregnancy in a million years.  But when you’re wandering the store aisles, and literally have to go with the “can I eat this without puking?” test, nutritional value goes out the window and it’s really a matter of eat vs. don’t eat.  It’s very humbling.)

Oh, and exercise.  Yeah, I haven’t done that for a week.  I feel bad, but it’s all I can do to keep myself from gagging and make it to work.  I’m hoping in a few weeks I’ll be back at it?

On to week 8.

You know, I was always envious of those bloggers who really loved running (or cycling, or whatever, but mostly running) because they were excited to work out and got sad if they missed a day.

I never had that with running.  I lived for rest days, not running days.  Deep in my heart, I knew it was not something I could maintain the rest of my life because I didn’t love it.  I had to drag myself out the door to do it.

I’m so glad I had the proverbial balls to try CrossFit.  I feel like I’ve finally found something I’m excited about.  Am I super great at it?  No, not really.  But I miss it when I’m not doing it, and I feel like I have a lot of room for big gains in the future.  It forces me to work on my weaknesses and encourages me to grow in my strengths.  I love it.  All of it.

Today’s WOD:

• 15 hang cleans (45#)
• 10 pull-ups
• 200 meter run
• 30 hang cleans (45#)
• 15 pull-ups
• 400 meter run
• 15 hang cleans (45#)
• 10 pull-ups
• 200 meter run

Results?

13:40.  Not bad. 

I wish I’d gone a little heavier on the hang cleans, but I grabbed an Olympic bar and tried 65# and it was too much for 60 reps.  I feel like 55 would have been perfect.

After the WOD we did a sit-up/push-up split tabata.  I’m proud of myself for doing all the sets of push-ups on my toes.  It wasn’t pretty, but it’s a progression from being on my knees (that’s what she said) and those feel way too easy now.  I just have to keep doing the ugly toe ones until I get stronger, I guess.

I also got my official CrossFit photo taken for the wall today.  I’ll have to take a picture for you guys.  I’m sweaty and wearing hot pink.  Appropriate? 

Oh, and speaking of CrossFit and running…I’m running a Turkey Trot with my box on Thanksgiving morning.  It’s a 5K and I haven’t done any running that wasn’t more than a sprint since September.  I’m doing it mostly for fun, but also out of morbid curiosity to see a) if I still CAN run a 5K and, if so, b) if CrossFit has made me faster, slower, or about the same.  Should be a fun experiment!

Breakfast was some raisin bran, leftovers from when I was pregnant and wanted to eat cold cereal and milk (and nothing else) all the time:

For dinner I made some baked penne with chopped spinach.  Again with the “using things up” theme, tonight’s victim was a half-finished, slightly sketchy thing of ricotta in the fridge.

(Sorry so blurry!  I didn’t realize.)

I’m off to Boise, Idaho tomorrow afternoon.  Yee haw.

What do you LOVE to do for exercise?  Or are you still looking for it?

I’ve been in a car for way too long today.  A tiny shoebox car, at that.  And I’ve eaten far too few fruits and veggies.

But I’m home.  Finally.  Apparently I looked like hell when I rolled into the office around 3:30 because my boss told me to not worry about checking my e-mail and voicemail, and to just go home.

So I did.  And then I went to 6 pm CrossFit, which I missed almost as much as Tim and the pets.

We did 3 rounds of:

• 30 push-ups
• 30 sit-ups
• 30 overhead squats

I finished in 11:45.  Then we did a round robin type workout with planks, rope climbs, and burpees.

(I hate burpees.  I think they are my most reviled CrossFit exercise.)

Dinner was simple and quick: spinach salad, whole grain pasta with lean ground beef and spicy tomato sauce.

It’s good to be home.  I can’t believe tomorrow’s Friday!  Travel makes the work week fly by.

What weird things do you miss most when you travel?  (I always miss my own shower!)

So, yeah.  I didn’t make it up for 5 am CrossFit today.  You win some, you lose some, I guess?  I slept terribly last night and went back to sleep after the alarm went off. 

The important part is that I DID go to CrossFit for the 6 pm class today and enjoyed it very much. 

WOD:

• 5 hang cleans @ 55 lbs
• 5 man on fire push-ups (I think our coach made these up—basically, you do a push-up, roll over as in “stop, drop, and roll,” then do another for one rep)
• 50 situps
• 4 hang cleans @ 55 lbs.
• 4 man on fire push-ups
• 40 situps
• 3 hang cleans @ 65 lbs.
• 3 man on fire pushups
• 30 situps
• 2 hang cleans @ 65 lbs.
• 2 man on fire pushups
• 20 situps
• 1 hang clean @ 75 lbs.
• 1 man on fire pushup
• 10 situps

Extra credit:
Squat tabata, 4 min, 20 seconds squats, 10 seconds hold at the bottom

Time: 10:21 (not including tabata)

The sit-ups were better than last week!  I only did crunches on the 30 rep round—the rest were all full sit-ups.  I thought about how you all mentioned that it engages your hip flexors and thinking about using those really helped.

I didn’t find the rest of the WOD too bad.  I enjoyed lifting the heavier weights for the cleans and can’t wait to increase.

The squat tabata, though?   That was EVIL.  Try it right now, I dare you—for four minutes, do squats for twenty seconds, then hold at the bottom of the squat for 10, rinse and repeat.  Yikes.

In other news, if you haven’t already, make this now.

Ugly but delicious.  Just how I like my meals.

It’s going to be an early-to-bed night, I think.  Hoping to make it to the 5:30 class tomorrow morning…we shall see.

Are you a snoozer or a jump-out-of-bedder? 

Jet setting on the last several weekends has been fun and all, but I’ve been looking forward to this one for awhile.

Because I got to stay home.  And do stuff that needed to be done, and that I wanted to do.

When I was in Boston, I bought Tim these Star Wars pancake molds for fun.  Today, we used them.

They didn’t turn out super great, but it was fun nonetheless.  Tim insisted on eating the Millennium Falcon one.

We ate them in bed, with iced coffee, whilst watching Friday Night Lights on Netflix.  It was perhaps the happiest moment I’ve had in a few months (aside from finally reuniting with my best friend at the airport).

I spent the morning doing random things around the house that have needed to get done for weeks…but haven’t been, because I’ve been gone so much.  I shredded every FAFSA worksheet or financial aid notice my mother saved since 2002 (and recently gifted me) and it took over an hour.  I also gave Milhouse a bath and  scrubbed the master bathroom clean.  Not fun, but oddly soothing.

For a late lunch, I had a tasting plate of sorts, a la Meghann.

This was kind of a “finish the last of the produce” plate: slightly past-their-prime strawberries, a slightly mushy white nectarine, baby carrots and hummus, a toasted pretzel bun, and a tiny cheese.  It was pretty light and just what I wanted after a somewhat heavy breakfast.

Then I engaged in cat photography for awhile, because Buckley was just, you know, chillin’ with his tongue out.

Then, I went on my biannual Sephora trip!

I try to stay out of Sephora as much as possible because I have no willpower around pretty things.  I have recently decided that twice a year is the way to go—in between trips, I can replenish the necessities (foundation, mascara) that run out, but that’s it.

Anyway, I was out of a bunch of stuff, so I wound up getting:

• Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Dollface
• bareMinerals Mineral Veil
• Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion (this stuff is incredible)
• Buxom Insider Eyeliner in Amethyst
• Lorac Starry-Eyed Baked Eyeshadow Trio in Star Struck

And now I will not buy any more until 2012.  Womp womp.

And then I got my hair cut.  My usual hairstylist was out sick, so I had someone new, and she cut it a tiny bit shorter and styled it a wee bit spikier than I like.  But, I could not wait another day for a haircut, let alone a week (my beloved Mandy is only in on Fridays and Saturdays—sigh), so…it is what it is.  It’s hair, it’ll grow, and it will probably look better when I style it my way tomorrow.  Whatever.

I went home and made a quickie dinner.

We usually get something out on Saturdays, but since we ate out a lot last weekend, we stayed in tonight.  I did a quickie chicken parm served over whole wheat pasta and it was pretty yummy.

Then I hauled my butt to Target to do some shopping for the week.  I was going to wait until tomorrow, but the thought of going to the grocery store on Sunday afternoon when it is one zillion percent humidity and 100+ degrees out sounded less than appealing.  So I did it.

Now, I’m enjoying some Edy’s S’mores ice cream and we’re watching Scott Pilgrim Versus the World.  (It’s just okay.)

The only thing that would have made today better would have been a more palatable temperature (100+ is not okay with me—a little run might have been nice) and having my usual hairstylist.  But alas.  I will not complain.

What would your perfect Saturday look like?

After all the birthday indulgence this weekend, I just wanted fruits and veggies today.

Lunch was a giant spinach salad, carrots with hummus, watermelon (I WILL CONQUER YOU), and a mini Babybel.

There will be a lot of Mojo bars on the blog in the coming weeks.  They were giving out $.50 off one bar ($.99 each, normally) coupons at Target, and I stocked up.   Today I had a Peanut Butter Pretzel one.

For dinner, we had some whole wheat cheese tortellini with tomato sauce, and I had another giant bowl of watermelon.  I can’t get enough!

So, I didn’t work out today.

Okay, so this is kind of hard for me to talk about.

I have a chronic skin condition that I’ve never mentioned on the blog.  Sometimes, I barely remember I have it and feel fine.  Most days, it’s bothering me a bit, but doesn’t interrupt my daily life.  Once every few months, it flares up, is incredibly painful and impairs my ability to move without serious pain.

Today was one of the latter. 

I finally buckled down and made an appointment with a dermatologist today.  I’ve seen doctors before, but never a dermatologist because of insurance issues.  The doctors have pretty much told me, “Well, live with it, or get a really invasive skin graft that will give you lots of scars and force you to take a ton of time off work.  Oh, and it might not work anyway.”  Which…I’m not willing to go quite that far, yet.   But I’m hoping that the dermatologist will have other solutions I can try.

I wanted to swim today, but putting a swimsuit on was out of the question.  And I can barely walk without without pain, let alone run.  I could probably lift, but today I was just hurting (think: a million tiny papercuts with every step) and wanted to relax at home.

I don’t know if this is going to turn into a full-on rest week, or what.  If I’m all better tomorrow, maybe I’ll hit the gym, but I’m just going to play it by ear.  Please don’t worry about me—this isn’t, like, curl up in agony pain, and it’s certainly not fatal or anything, but it does really kind of suck.  On top of everything else, I feel kind of guilty for not going to the gym, even though I know I just need to chill for a few days.

How do you deal with not being able to work out? 

Ninety-six degrees today.  The hell?

We went straight from winter to summer this year and I don’t like it.

Anyway, for as much fun as the conference was, it was really nice to have a day off today.  I got up early with Tim to go pick my car up from the shop before he left for work, and wound up unintentionally skipping breakfast.

So, I had it for lunch.

Eggs and cheese, a pretzel roll, and cantaloupe and cherries.  I am so glad summer fruits are finally here and on sale!  I was getting desperately tired of apples and oranges and bananas.

Seriously…I bought a two-pound bag of cherries at the grocery store last night and it’s almost gone already.  I blame Milhouse.

(That electric white in the upper right hand corner is totally my leg.)

Milhouse has been too funny lately.  He’s appointed himself Southie’s guardian and spent all afternoon trying to protect her from Buckley.  This involved not leaving my side, as she spent her day on the back of my chair gazing out the window.

She’s doing much better today.  She hogged down a whole lot of raw ground beef, so I think we’re going to switch her right into raw feeding since she seems to prefer that to canned wet food.  I also caught her grooming one of her paws and kneading a bit, which are both good signs that she’s feeling more like herself.

She wants you to know that reverse legwarmers are in style this summer, too.

This afternoon, I mostly accomplished stuff around the house.  I steam-mopped, and did laundry, and cleaned our microwave for the first time in a very long time.  Notably, I did NOT work out, as my knee is still bothering me, and most of my options for working out at home (running, workout DVDs) aren’t very knee-friendly.  I think I’ll swim tomorrow.

I also prepped a roast to cook in the crockpot tomorrow, and made a very delicious dinner!

Since we went to dinner at Portobello at Downtown Disney, I’ve been dying to try my hand at a good Bolognese sauce but kept, you know, forgetting.  I used this Molto Mario recipe as a guide, but adjusted it based on what I could find in the grocery store, halved it, upped the veggies, and reduced the amount of oil.

• 2 T. butter
• 2 T. olive oil
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 large garlic clove, chopped fine
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 24 pepperoni slices, chopped fine
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup white wine (I used pinot grigio)
• 2 t. salt
• freshly ground pepper, to taste

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large stock pot, and cook the carrots, onion, and garlic over medium heat until transparent (about 10-15 minutes).  Add the ground beef and brown.  Once the beef is cooked, add the tomato paste, pepperoni, 1/2 c. milk, and 1/2 c. white wine.  Simmer on low for as long as possible, slowly adding in the milk and wine as the sauce reduces.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve over pasta.

This was really good!  Tim and I both liked it, but if I made it again, I would reduce the amount of oil even more, since it seemed a little greasy with the pepperoni added in.  I’d also like to try a healthier version with just olive oil and no pepperoni.  We had it alongside spinach salads with a simple balsamic vinaigrette.  (Spinach was BOGO at the grocery store this week, so expect to see a lot of it.)

Anyway, I’ve kind of slipped off course with my eating and working out lately.  I haven’t counted calories in a few weeks, and it’s been a nice break, but I’m ready to rein things in again.   I’ve already tracked my eats for tomorrow, and it should be a good day.  I’m looking forward to being back in the old routine!

Also…12 days till my birthday.  Just sayin’. 

What’s your favorite Italian dish?

Today I accidentally kind of ate the same thing for two meals in a row.

It wasn’t really planned, because this was the lunch I was supposed to eat yesterday, but bailed on in favor of delicious chicken and hummus.

Greens+Annie’s Bernie-Os+Greek yogurt for lunch.

Then there was trail mix mid-afternoon.

And also way too many undocumented swipes from the giant bag of pita chips in the break room.

After work, I tried to work out.  But it was just one of those days where it wasn’t clicking and everything felt off.  I lifted, allegedly, and my knees felt weird and my shirt was itchy and it was hot and I kept coughing.  I don’t know.  I did some squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses and rows, half-assed the elliptical for awhile and headed out. 

You can’t win ‘em all, folks.

Dinner was a repeat of lunch, kind of.  Greens and pasta.

Still delicious, though.  I’ll plan better tomorrow!  I have grand plans for a fun homemade lunch.  We shall see.

I just booked my flight to Boston to see my bestie in July—I can’t wait!

What meal could you eat on permanent repeat?

So, the lululemon manifesto says…

Remember how I was stressed yesterday?

The minute I laid down in bed last night, my body rebelled.  My nose stuffed up, my sinuses got sore, and my throat got alternately sludgy and scratchy.  All day today I’ve been feeling under the weather.  Boo.

Lunch:

I love PB&J.  You are never too old for it.

Snack:

After work, I told myself I could take it easy on the workout so long as I went.  So, I hit up the pool and did 600 yards without stopping, and got out.  My throat was not enjoying the chlorine, and I had a bad case of foggles (aka, foggy goggles) that I couldn’t fix.

Luckily, dinner was almost already done when I got home—I had meatballs simmering in the crockpot all day, so we just added some whole grain pasta and steamed asparagus and we were good to go.

Sparkpeople summaries:

On the Southpaw front…we are taking her back in to the vet tomorrow because she’s still not eating.  We talked to him today and we think she may need some kitty dental care.   She’s very interested in food, but it looks like she’s having some trouble chewing when we give her something soft like boiled chicken, and keeps dropping her food all over the place.  She’s also drooly, hasn’t been grooming herself, has terrible breath, and her gums look terrible.

So, our fingers are crossed that this turns things around for her. 

As for me…my boss explicitly told me that if I’m not feeling better tomorrow, to stay home.  So we shall see.  Hopefully my froggy voice magically clears up overnight.

Do you believe stress and illness are related?  Do you get sick more when things are stressful?

And my body feels absolutely trashed.  More on that later.

Yesterday after the race, my stomach was kind of meh.  I had a grilled cheese and a Greek yogurt for lunch, and then went down for a two hour nap.  It was epic.

Then I followed Tim to get a haircut because he said he’d take me out to dinner wherever I wanted.  Before his haircut, I went to Marshall’s and picked up a Nike swimsuit—originally $72, on sale for $19.99.  It’s pretty plain—just black with red accents—but will get the job done.  I’m determined to get in the pool by the end of this week, guys.  Hold me to that.

Anyway, I had a hankering for beer, so I picked Granite City for dinner. 

I started with their American Wheat.

Tasted about like you’d expect an American Wheat to—filling and refreshing. 

Tim’s haircut was delayed for awhile, so I was starving with runger by the time the waitress came.  I insisted we order an appetizer, which we never do—soft pretzel sticks with cheese.

I ate two and they were amazing.  I love all things pretzel.

I ordered chicken parmesan for dinner, but I wasn’t crazy about the pasta.  It was overwhelmingly onion-y.  I ate the chicken and went back for a third breadstick instead.

I commented to Tim—immediately after eating this huge meal I felt stuffed.  But for some reason, within a few minutes I felt normal again, like my body was metabolizing it really quickly.  Who knows if there’s anything to that, but…it was odd.

We went home and watched 127 Hours.  I hated it.

I went to bed pretty early.  We decided to sleep in a bit and go to 11 o’clock church instead of an earlier service, which was a good choice.  I had an egg sammich and coffee for breakfast.

And for lunch, I treated myself to some mac and cheese.

For dinner, we went to a barbecue at Tim’s aunt’s house, where I ate entirely too much again.  I’ve been starving and thirsty all day today.

Anyway.  Back to the “my body feels trashed” thing.

After my last two half marathons, I’ve felt relatively normal the day after—yeah, a bit stiff and sore, but nothing too overwhelming.

Today?  I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.  I slept for 9 hours overnight, then took another long nap this afternoon, and I’m still exhausted.  I think I tweaked a tendon or something in my left foot, too, because it’s been hurting to put weight on it.   My hip flexors and calves are on fire.  I can’t drink or eat enough.  And I still feel like I’m on the verge of getting the flu—generally achy, tired, stuffy and just icky.

I don’t know if it’s because I ran extra hard yesterday, or because the weather was  so cold and windy, or because I felt crappy on Friday anyway.   But still…freight train, meet Brie’s face.  Ugh.

I’m sorely tempted to call in sick tomorrow.  I feel like I need another day in bed with a 40 of Gatorade and chicken soup, even though I suppose this is kind of self inflicted?

Do you call in sick to work a lot?  What’s your policy on sick days?  Should I ?