I guess I like some Roller coasters..

I've never really been a fan of roller coasters.. not in my adult life, anyway.. Especially since my motion sickness seems to have kicked it up a notch since becoming a mom.. I never remember really getting car sick/motion sick before, but in the past few years.. definitely not good. Right now in pregnancy? Even worse, thank you very much! So I'm not really a fan of fast moving, wiggly, jiggly rides, such as roller coasters. What does this have to do with anything? I'm making a connection, here.. give me a minute.. I was talking with a friend of mine on a ride yesterday about his upcoming 1st Ironman and as I discussed the IM ride (because I'm SO all-knowing, having done ONE whole IM and all..), I found myself comparing it to a roller coaster.. of emotions, that is.. And in how your body feels.. Sometimes you feel like you're flying and doing awesome and totally conquering this thing.. and other times you feel like you're barely moving and never going to make it to the end of the ride.. Highs and Lows.. like a roller coaster! See? Getting to my point.. What else is like a roller coaster? Pregnancy. Extreme highs and lows. Going through months on end of feeling sick, wondering if you're doing the 'right' thing and everything's going to be OK.. then, at times, feeling awesome, like you're the best, coolest, strongest baby-grower ever.. and then feeling low again, like you're never going to make it through 10 whole months of this if you already feel this crappy all the time.. Again.. roller coaster. BUT. I guess this is where the comparison ends because I don't find the end of a roller coaster to be all that rewarding.. but the finale of both IM and pregnancy are beyond compare and make you quickly forget all the low points, all the doubts, the pains.. all worth it. Long story short? Pregnancy and IM are kinda similar!.. I'm sure the comparison has been made before, but I had that thought this morning on my lovely early morning run.. thought I'd share it with ya! Yesterday was a rough one. Jury is still out on today. I woke up early because I was going to go swim.. but I kept going back and forth on whether or not I should go.. by the time I got out the door, I was going to be late, so I didn't feel like driving all the way up there to be late and then have to leave early.. Plus I was still having the lovely side effects (roller coaster) of feeling pukey and enjoying vomit-burps.. which also didn't sound appealing or conducive to a good swim.. SO I decided that an early run would be better.. afterall, it was 45 with NO wind.. you know I can't pass up the non windy days.. So that's what I did. I ran. Got 4 miles in and felt pretty good (I don't even consider nauseous runs to be 'bad' anymore.. just normal for me these days). Yesterday I started off the day with a crossfit workout.. and it was a good one, but by far the pukey-est I've felt yet. Usually I feel better once I get moving and probably forget to focus on how I'm feeling.. but not yesterday. No, sir. Through all, nearly 18 min of double unders, kettle bell swings and handstand pushups.. I was on the verge of a mess. Then spent the rest of the day not able to eat much because nothing sounded good, so I figured I should rest. Smart, right? Well..I'm not that good.. because I still kept to my plan to ride with my friends later that afternoon.. but I HAD rested ALL day.. and the way I see it, I can't exactly just lay down in the fetal position for the next 5 months.. So I just do the best I can with getting through the things I 'need' to do and things I 'want' to do and hope for the best. Well, after the great ride from last wed, I guess it's only fair that I follow it up with a crappy ride.. I had tried to quickly get some calories in before the ride because I knew I hadn't eaten well all day and didn't want to completely bonk.. so had what I thought would be 'tummy approved' items of a stinger waffle and some gatorade.. but I got to continue to enjoy those all through the ride. So at a turn point, I voiced my discomfort and, with the support of my understanding ride buddies, we opted to cut the ride a few miles short and do a short run after, instead. You see, the upright-ness of running seems to set better than the leaning over of riding. We got about 3 good miles in of running after our 16-17mi ride.. So not bad. But, again.. couldn't really eat much after, so that's never a good thing. I guess we'll find out at the next appt if this whole nausea thing is affecting my wt gain at all.. if so, I might need to figure something out, here.. Otherwise, I don't think there's much I can do. Don't work out you say? I don't really know that that would help any. Usually, when I'm running, especially, exercising is the only time I'm able to feel pretty good.. yesterday aside. That was the 1st time in a while that my pukey feeling didn't go away with activity.. which is why I dialed back my original plans a bit..cut back on the ride and run, cut out the swim today..until I can at least eat better. Anyway. I guess that's all I've got for now..

And now, we dance

..and by 'dance', I mean 'rest. So I was looking at a lovely forecast of "maybe it will rain and storm all day...or.. maybe it will be fine out.. good luck!", so I figured I'd check the ol' hourly forecast at about 6am and go from there.. it said I had until 7:30am until the heavens would open up and, with 100% certainty, it would start raining. Well.. I know they usually aren't super accurate with weather reports, but 100%? Can't really argue with that. So I got up and dressed and planned to run from 6:30-7:20.. get my 5 miles in and avoid those storms ('thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightning!'.. that was pretty much my soundtrack for my run, thank you, random songs that pop into my head). And guess what..that's exactly what happened! I got my run in (though I kept thinking I saw lightning.. I think it was just a glare off a street light bouncing with my run, but I was on high alert!), felt pretty darn good (aside from a few vomit close calls.. but if you try to tell me that my pb/choc sugar cookie bar creations aren't the perfect pre-run fuel, I'll smack you right in the mouth.. because you're just wrong.. It really is pretty much the same as a bar or other manufactured 'thing' that we all swear by.. though maybe more fat, but other than that, I'd guess it's pretty similar.. So BACK OFF), got in.. low and behold.. 7:33.. RAIN! Go me. Go weather team. Feeling very good about this, for some reason.. Word must have been out about the storms closing in, because I saw a few other runners out and about, too. I might have even had to pick up my pace a bit to avoid that '1st pass' I've been so worried about.. you know.. the 'aw, look at the slow runner.. don't give up' sad eyes as they cruise on past? At least they would have been running and not the 'walk pass' I've been just sure was about to occur on a few of those 'death march' runs.. But I wasn't ready to give in to being a slow, passable runner just yet, so I plugged along and kept ahead of 'em 'til our routes split (thank goodness.. definitely felt that pick-up later!). And now, with a rainy weekend ahead, I do believe it is time for me to rest.. a bit.. I got in my 20 mi running for the week.. and 3 swims.. but only 1 bike. Oops! But it was a really good bike.. does that count for extra? I was originally going to ride today and tomorrow.. but with rain and other things taking up my time, I don't think it'll happen. If the mood strikes me tomorrow.. the weather is beautiful and someone calls up and says "lets ride!".. I will.. But mostly, I think I'll be laying low. I think weather should be good for the race tomorrow morning, so that should be fun to get out and watch all the excitement. I'm looking forward to that.
I also got my 4 crossfit's in, though yesterday was pretty much a 'wash' because my pregnant brain can't count past a hundred?! It was an AMRAP (as many reps as possible) of 4 different movements (toes through rings, squats, burpees and double unders) for 2 minutes each.. I had been told that keeping a running tally would be easiest.. so just keep the count going up through the whole workout.. Well, after I hit 100, I started to get confused on what # I was on.. and then it was completely gone. No clue at all.. Ah, guess that one was just for fun, then! Oh, well.. it's all just 'for fun', really, so no real loss there.
Anyway.. that's all I got! Now we wait to see if my little guy will get to play in his 1st soccer game of the season, or if the rain will cancel it. Hopefully he won't take it too hard if it gets called, because I kinda have a feeling it will.. I'm sure he can be easily distracted with playing cars, or some other super exciting activity! And that's all I have to say about that!

Glutton for Punishment

What can I say.. I can't help myself. I do not learn from just 1 bad experience.. unless you count a refusal to give in.. a bull-headed determination to try the same 'failed' experience again, without really changing anything that might help to ensure a better outcome 'learning', then consider me brilliant, because I pretty much wrote the book on that one. Most, however, consider that to be the definition of insanity.. 6 of 1, 1/2 a dozen of the other.. whatever floats your boat. But sometimes it works out for me. A lot of times I find myself disappointed and wondering why I really thought anything would be different. But this time I tempted fate, looked that bad, mid-day, stroller pushing run right in the stink eye and I said, "you will be mine". It's a lovely day.. mid 50's, sunny, and for the 1st time in as long as I can remember, there's NO WIND!! It's been 10-20mph winds for months, it seems, so I was not going to let such a day pass me by.. But my only option for today was to try the ol' mid-day stroller run again.. the one that left me wondering what the hell I was doing out there yesterday? Yeah. But I saddled up, bundled up (Mason did not require the full body cover up this time.. much fewer 'judging eyes' this time around) and decided to take on not only the same time of day, but also the same route! Which includes a few more 'inclines' than I usually do when pushing Mason around. I know.. all kinds of caution to the wind today. But I'm happy to say that today's run went much better. I still wouldn't say I felt like I was floating on clouds or anything, but I felt like I was actually moving forward and much less like I was dying! Didn't feel like I was dying at all, in fact.. major success! I also swam this morning, so that could have hindered me a bit.. but I guess today was just my day. Yesterday..not so much. I shouldn't be so dramatic, I suppose. I had a decent run on monday and a great 'moonset' run on tuesday, but MAN can a suck-ass run really pull you down quick. Lucky for me, I get right back on the ol' horse. My legs are a lovely shade of SORE again today. Not sure my hamstrings ever actually recovered from last friday's crossfit workout, but today it's more the quad area that's screaming at me. But that's a-ok with me! And yes, for those keeping score and shaking your head in dismay at my lack of balance, that does mean I have run all 4 days in a row, thus far, this week.. but I plan to take tomorrow off of running, probably run a few on saturday, then probably take sunday off of running.. may or may not get a ride in somewhere.. we'll see. This weekend is all kinds of non-training related things, which I'm trying to remember that this is the time to embrace those kinds of things, since most of my summers are consumed with trainings and racing.. But I still have a longing to ditch some of my more relaxing, 'mom' type duties in leu of a nice ride or something.. BUT, I plan to lay low, relax some, enjoy Mason's first 'soccer' (I use that term very loosely.. it's more like 'running around, pushing kids, falling down, sometimes chasing the ball, but mostly running aimlessly and pushing kids.. then my mom yells at me not to push, so I don't for a minute, but go right back to it when I think she's not looking or maybe has forgotten that she doesn't want me to push'.. but I guess it's easier to call it soccer) of the season, go on a date night with Matt (not really any furniture to buy this time.. what ever will we do with ourselves?!), help out/coach/cheer at the first tri of the season.. and fit any riding or running in there that I can without cutting in to the other things going on.. Wish me luck!

Ah, Redemption

I just had to check in real quick to let you know of the slight upswing in my workouts..and I really needed it, after my sucky run earlier today.. So I did stick with my plan to ride tonight.. It was a nice, crisp evening..and it felt so great out! I even noticed I had a little 'rose colored glasses' thing going on out there..sky is blue-er, grass is greener..and I can still ride like I'm not slowly morphing in to slow pregnant lady! I went out with a couple riding buddies and I was really starting to worry about me being too much of a burden to ride with.. Slowing them down too much and all, but for probably the first time this season, I glanced down at the trusty ol' speed-o-meter to see that I was cruising around 20mph.. And NOT down a hill! That's better.. I really needed a good workout.. A 'win' in my training log book, if you will.. So it felt good! Now let's see if I can keep it up.. Much like this angel-like impersonation my son is taking on this week..this, too, I'm sure will pass.. But let's enjoy it while we can, shall we?! Sounds like a plan! Operation 'not feeling like I'm slowly drowning' in the pool tomorrow morning is ON.

Don't Fail me NOW?!!

Whew. I sit here.. wednesday.. after what feels like must have been my worst. run. ever. I know I had made the revelation that early am runs are the only way to go for me.. but with the reappearance of 30 degree mornings and the added bonus surprise of a missing daycare provider (I'm hoping we just forgot that she told us she'd be gone?? Very strange.. hoping it's just my memory that's missing, not their family!), my early morning run plan was foibled (is that a word? I wanted a better way to say 'messed up'). But, I figured.. oh, well.. we can still try to get a few miles in later either on the treadmill or with Mason in the jogger.. So off to crossfit, because wednesday workouts are my favorite.. usually a longer list of several different movements.. nice to have some variety and get every part of you into the action! This one made me more tired than usual.. I'm going to attribute that to my continued state of non-stop nausea and my growing mid-section that I'm sure makes jumping and what-not more difficult. I was probably only 10 or 20 calories (different way of measuring how far you have to row.. instead of counting the distance, it calculates how many calories you've supposedly burned through.. I feel that my metabolism must be slow because it takes me so darn long to get through those 'calorie rows'!) in to our 50 calorie row and I was already winded.. Great, since that was the 1st thing on the list for the workout! but I soldiered on.. wallballs, check.. box jumps.. starting to get harder, but check.. and so forth and so on and then finished off with 40 burpees and 50 double unders. All said, took me about 25 minutes, but I was sweaty and a bit winded at the end.. I'm sure none of that had anything to do with my piss poor run that followed the workout.. why would one have anything to do with the other? Anyway.. So my plan was to run a few with Mason in the stroller when we got home from the workout.. and when I make a plan.. I usually stubbornly stick to it. So we bundled up and head out. First, I might add that the temps had only risen to mid 40's, so I had Mason very bundled and had a blanket over most of him.. then with about a mile left to go, he said his "mouth was cold", so we pulled the blanket up to his little face and only his eyes were peeking out. He was laughing and was fine.. then he decided he'd pull the whole thing over the top of his head so that he could eat his snack under the warm comfort of the blanket. Again.. he was fine and enjoyed himself, but I'm sure I was quite the sight with my 'struggle bus' face trudging along into the cold wind with my completely bundled up child in the stroller.. If CPS isn't already on the way, I'm sure the GCS (Good Common Sense) Police should be here any minute. I swear, though.. he wanted to go on the run.. and he was fine.. Anyway, where was I. I guess I can wrap it up with saying that the run was the longest 30 minutes of my life. I know I was going super slow, but those 30 minutes felt like 30 miles, so I'll compromise and just count it for 3.. so far 12 miles for this week.. dang it, I wanted to be to 15 by today, but I might be able to do a decent run on saturday.. I'm sure it will all work out just fine..
Tonight, though again.. common sense would say to be done, already, with the workouts.. I have a ride planned and, depending on how things work out with my riding buddies and with Mason and Matt.. I'll stick to the plan. It's what I do, ya know..
Not much else to report.. except I suppose I would be remiss not to mention how, after the huge meltdowns of Easter, where Mason pulled these holy terror fits where I literally looked at him and said "who are you?" and he then proceded to hit his father like a punching bag, thus causing him to lose ALL of his Easter treats (?! I know.. way harsh.. but at least I kept Matt from throwing them out and talked him in to letting Mason try to earn them back).. well, so far this week? He's been an absolute angel. He's earned a few of his things back and is always very excited and surprised (he thinks the Easter Bunny, which he also thinks he's being clever to call him 'bunny', is bringing them back.. we might be playing along with that idea just because it's cute) to get something back and hasn't been really asking for them.. just happy to see them again when they appear.. it's been such a treat! I hope this can hold up..though I know I can't be that lucky.. but I'll enjoy it while I can! 3 yr olds.. so up and down.. tell me 4 is better??! Actually.. just keep it to yourself.. I know what's comin..

Easter message.. enjoy the sunrise!

So I had a few more thoughts about Easter and other random things.. like to hear it, here it goes (I keep trying to use that 'In Living Color' quote.. not sure anyone knows what I'm talking about, but that's hardly anything new). So, I'm not a hugely religious person (after all, I am the creator of the 'easter-beer hunt', which started our junior yr of college and then continued our senior yr.. we all celebrate in our own way!), but I do feel like I have my faith and I go about it in my own way. We have become 'regular' visitors at our church.. by that, I mean that we go every Christmas and Easter.. regularly! BUT, I don't feel like that means that I don't 'worship' and appreciate the lord in my own way.. and the (at least the part I heard) message at church on Easter supports my view! I've always liked to say that my worship happens when I'm out for a nice ride or run (or swim, when our outdoor pool is open) and that's where I do my best thinking and sometimes those thoughts go toward being thankful and grateful for what I have.. isn't that what we are supposed to be doing when we attend church? just with less 'chanting'.. oh.. I mean, 'reciting' of the creeds and whatnot. Our paster noted that "if you spend too much time looking down, it's easy to miss the sunrise".. He was speaking of when folks look too much at the negatives and the things they aren't sure of or are worried about, they miss the good things going on right in front of them.. What I heard? Was affirmation that my enjoying my sunrise running IS my church! Of coarse, I agree with both the Pastor's meaning and my understanding.. just thought it was nice to hear that the pastor is picking up what I'm throwing down.. ya know? Anyway..
So today has been so far, so good. It's gosh darn windy again, but that didn't bug me too much on my run today. We had a good workout at crossfit.. 12 min worth of wall balls, burpees, box jumps and pull ups/dips. I'm starting to really notice the growth going on in the ol belly these days, but not too much.. just might have to start altering things a bit. For example, as much as I enjoy box jumps and can still do them fine, I noticed they hurt the belly a bit today. Probably will give it another try before I throw in the towel and lower the height, but those might be the next movement to bite the dust.. fall prey to the growing wee one.
Speaking of the wee one.. got to hear the heartbeat again last week! Doc was able to look right at my belly and knew just where the nugget was hanging out and got a nice, strong, 160 heartbeat.. always good to hear that and know things are going well. Count down to 'operation gender determination' is ON! We get our ultrasound appt 3 weeks from thurs.. so let's go, little one. Prepare to be seen and you best be ready to show us what you're working with so we can get going on getting ready for you! Mason will be coming with us and I'm already trying to talk up what he's going to see, so he's appropriately excited about it.. Not sure it's working.. so far I just get 'm', as the answer.. "won't it be exciting to see your baby brother or sister in mommy's tummy?".. "m", then quickly moves on to something FAR more exciting, like 'playing truck', where's my airplane, remember when we saw the easter bunny at pancakes (breakfast.. he always gets pancakes, so just calls the place 'pancakes').. Not too interested. As long as he doesn't freak out and cry or something.. it's all good.
My run today was a pretty decent one. I like to start the week off with a nice, 6mi run.. mission accomplished on that today and it actually felt pretty good. My legs are still sore from the whooping of last friday's crossfit (it actually felt great at the time.. the effects didn't settle in until some time on saturday.. I think I knew by the time I woke up on sat that the hammies were 'can't straighten your leg out right' sore), but other than that, it went well.. when I wasn't being blown backwards by the winds. It's actually good I ran early, though, because the winds are really whipping now! We had thoughts of a ride this evening, but I'm actually glad that no one could join me, because.. as much as I'd never bail on a ride JUST because of wind.. this one would have been pretty brutal.. they say gusts are in the 30mph range.. that's enough to knock a sister off the bike, if it catches you at the right angle at the wrong time.. definitely don't need that! So I think I'll go and enjoy a lil swim before I coach for the TEAM tonight. My 'plan'.. I seem to shoot for 2k these days, as that seems like a fair distance, given that swimming sure takes a bit out of me these days! So I'm thinking 'broken 400', or short ladder, how ever you want to look at it.. but 25, 50, 75, 100, 75, 50, 25 each of swim, pull, breast, back, kick.. 2k, right? So that's the plan.. we'll give 'er a go! Speaking of.. I'd better get going..

ah, Easter..

Wow.. been a whole week already? Well, my original post that I dreamt up while enjoying my moonset/sunrise Easter morning run was SO much more joyful.. But then.. the day happened.. The joys of being Mom to a 3 yr old. It wasn't a 'bad' day, just.. 'up and down', as I like to say. It started lovely, as I mentioned before.. nice, early start, thanks to a 5am wakeup from our excited little guy.. fun Easter egg hunt for him, lovely run.. 5 mi to complete my 20, yet again, for the week.. Then cleaned up in our sunday bests to go to breakfast and church.. Sounds nice, yes? Too bad that was all before noon.. so much day left! Then I started feeling sick.. again.. so home to rest for me. All was going fairly well until... the fits began.. the hitting, screaming, 'that's not my child' fits. Ugh. Exhausting. But anyway, as I said.. that's life. It's not all bunnies and candy and sunshiney running.. some of it can be rough. But anyway, enough about today.
Back up to last week.. I know I got my running in, though..what did I do last sunday? Oh, yeah.. a rest day! Trying to get back to that a little bit here. We were going to ride, but the day started with rain and then we just couldn't get together to get out.. and I'm not riding solo when I'm pregnant and not training for anything.. I love to ride, but really.. it's OK to miss a day here and there, too..
The week started off fine. I won't go through all the details, but I know I started with a 6mi run on monday.. did a couple miles (yes, as in 2. 2 whole miles!) with Mason on tuesday.. wednesday started with a treadmill run, which I swore I was done with, but I woke up to thunder, so basement miles it was! I kept busy with some riveting TV..'the Voice'..I varied the speed each lap and each mile, then finished off with the pregnant version of 'sprints'.. not too bad. 4 miles in the books.. Then went upstairs to get ready for heading to crossfit or whatever else I was going to do, but it was lovely out?! What was with all the thunder earlier? Why did I just waste my time sweating it out in the basement when I could have been outside? Well, I'm not capable of letting a beauty of a sunrise pass me by when I have the time to run, so back out I went for another 3 or so miles.. it was great! I did run a few more on the 'mill on thursday, but REALLY avoided knowing how much I was running by doing some reading while running?! I never do that, but turns out, if you're running slower, you can do some decent reading.. not too bad. Friday and saturday were off from running, then my 5mi today.. I'm not going to add it up.. well, ok, maybe I will.. let's see.. carry the 1..I guess 23-ish miles again this week? I very much estimate my distance, so have no idea how accurate it all is.. who cares! So that was the running for the week.
Is it just me, or has it been windy every damn day these days? or at least windy every time I head out to ride. Or...possibly, I'm just a little wimpy about the whole thing.. But I did get 2 decent rides in outside this week. I thought about an indoor spin some other day in there, but just didn't feel like it. So just 2 rides this week. Maybe I'll fit 3 in next week. My riding is pretty weak right now, so could probably stand to work harder on it, but... I'm just riding for fun, so no big deal, I just feel bad holding my riding buddies back! Oh, well...
Got all 3 swims in this week. Still doing shorter swims and taking my sweet time in the water.. resting lots at the sides, but I'm out there, making sure I don't completely lose all the work I've done on my form.
Which brings us to crossfit. Workouts went pretty well this week.. except for one.. It was tuesday and it was a 'double under' (jump rope) workout. I thought I had worked on this skill and had gotten fairly decent at it.. but this just wasn't my day for it. It happens.. some days I 'have it', some days I don't, but it really sucks to not 'have it' on a day where you really, really...really just needed it! Tears actually welled up a bit from the effing rope whipping my leg in the same ever loving, effing spot over and over.. and OVER again until I had these huge welts on me. It hurt so bad. I had to take a moment, pulled it together and managed to do the workout, but MAN. That was not a cool moment for me. The rest of the week was fine. I'm starting to really have to cut down my weights a bit, but still get a good workout with the lighter weights. My hamstrings are actually STILL sore as I sit here on sunday night from the workout on friday. Not even the swim on saturday.. or the ride.. or this mornings run could 'shake' it out. Back to the roller for me! And back to the double unders.. But with pants on from now on! Good lord, that rope hurts.
I think that's all I got. I always have these other ideas of things I want to talk about here on the ol' blog, but then I ramble on too much about workouts and lose my desire to keep writing. Some day I'll get better at it.... Some day.. But for now.. Later!