Weekend Update

Friday: got up and hung out with the Z.  At some point, decided that I wanted to work on raking the yard.  Put her in the moby, layed down a thick comforter in the grass and put her on it, surrounded by toys.  Raked.  It was actually kind of cool: I was raking all the leaves into the empty spa-hole, both to fill it so we don't have to buy so much dirt and so I didn't have to bag all those leaves.  Honestly, it is so much more fun to rake without having to bag!!  After P got home I told him I wanted Jax, so we went for a burger.  And that was pretty much it for Friday.  Z went to sleep and I fell asleep on P's belly while he watched TV.  He had to browbeat me to wake up and pump when it was time to move to the bed.

Saturday we woke up early with Z.  I went for a nice run along the bayou.  I'll spare you the off-leash dog rant, but suffice to say I have reason to rant!  It was a beautiful morning for a run, though!  After I got back, I told P we should go ahead and head to the grocery store early, and that way it shouldn't be so insanely crowded.  I planned out 2 work weeks' menus (Sunday-Wednesday, Thursday is always eating-out because P has school) as such:
Week 1: Lemon Fishy, Mozzarella-stuffed sausage meatballs, Slow-cooker chicken and mushrooms, Wraps  Side dishes: Garlicky cream corn and spinach, sauteed mushrooms, mashed potatoes, carrots
Week 2: Maple Salmon, Meatloaf, Chicken Ceasar salad, Wraps
Side dishes: Broccoli and carrots in garlic butter, mashed potatoes, baked sweet potatoes
I'm holding ham, roast, stew, concoction, and mulligitawny in reserve to rotate in during the Fall/Winter, perhaps instead of wraps.  And, honestly, I'd like to put the meatballs and meatloaf on a less-often rotation.  Actually, if I had enough recipes that we really liked, I'd like to go to a 3 or even 4 week rotation so we don't get sick of anything.
Anyways, the store was excellently empty at 9am on a Saturday - we need to do that more often!!  Unfortunately, that was about the last useful thing we did on Saturday!  We went to Las Cascadas for lunch, so two days of bad eating for me, and then we walked over to Once Read Twice Sold where we bought 5 board books for Zoë and 1 for Mommy.  By the way, Z's current favorite book is The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle.  She loves all the colors and the tabs make it easy for her to turn the pages.  She starts cooing the second we bust it out.  (Too bad it is a library book - might have to buy a copy of this one.)  Fell asleep on Preston for the second night in a row.

Sunday we worked around the house.  More work in the back yard, this time we brought out the big swing for the Zig to hang out in.  Laundry.  Just trying to get things done.

This week I want to try something different.  When I was preggo and all stressed about getting stuff done before the baby, we used to work for an hour after work on things around the house.  This was easy because we both knew we had a defined finish point, so we just worked as hard as we could for an hour.  I'm in the mood to try that again.  We'll see how it goes!

Net gain of 1 lb this weekend: 140.8  Bad eating = bad girl.

Wow

Dude at work that is expecting TWINS in July just turned me down for a pack of size 1 Pampers because he "rides the bus". 

I used to ride the bus, and I've gotta tell you, I'd find a way!  I'm not offering a gigantic full box, either, just an opened pack that we didn't quite get through before the blowouts got too frequent in the 1s.

Wow.  Guess I'll offer it to the lady at Mom's church that is also expecting twins.

(Not judging... well, maybe judging a little, but I don't understand people who don't accept hand-me-downs, etc for their kids.  I offered another friend some stuff, and told her she could take her pick, and she only took the unopened/unused stuff/clothes.  Seriously, your BABY doesn't know or care that someone else's baby wore it first.  Once.  Before she outgrew it.  Think of how much money you could save!!  Just sayin'.)

P90X: Day Something-Or-Other

Those first 2 weeks of P90X, I got through a few days (the work days), and let the rest slide.  So I'm obviously not doing 90 days straight of P90X like I wish I was, but at least I'm doing something!

This week, Preston started doing it with me.  So even though I didn't work Monday, I got up with him and got in Chest & Back and also Ab Ripper before he went to work.  I was really excited about my performance on Monday: I was pushing an extra 5 push-ups!  And after only 2 weeks!  Very cool.  Then Plyometrics on Tuesday and Arms & Shoulders on Wednesday.  Plyo continues to be a legs/ass kicker, and I really like the workout.  Arms & Shoulders is my favorite, though.  I'm not sure why... it just makes me feel good.  Perhaps it is because my arms were so weak before so I feel like I can actually *feel* the strength gains.  It feels so good to work them out.  Thursday calls for Yoga in the classic plan, but I want to try some of the other videos and based on the past 2 weeks, it is a safe bet that Thursday will be the last day this week that we do any P90X.  Therefore we skipped ahead to Legs & Back this morning.  I'm not sure about this one yet.  I'll have to try it a few more times... it was definitely really hard on the legs.  Like tapping-out-early hard.  But I think it may also be a little hard on my knee, so this one might not make it into the weekly repertoire. 

Speaking of the knee, I haven't really had any trouble with it since I've returned to running/working out post-partum.  I feel it twinge occasionally, especially near the beginning of a run or in jumping sections of P90X, and I felt it a little on some of the lunges this morning (especially when I wasn't focusing on form, bad Amber!), but it always goes away and hasn't been a problem.  But it lets me know that it's there enough for me to continue to baby it a bit.

I also think I'd like both Chest & Back and Legs & Back better if I had the pull-up bar installed (PRESTON!).

Doin' my best and forgettin' the rest. :-)  Onward!

On Babies and Mornings

Or, what I can learn from the Kid.  Or what I'd like to learn from her.  Or, what I really really love about my daughter.


I hate mornings.  It is no secret.  The irony, of course, is that for years now, I've been getting up at the crack of dawn.  Scratch that: before the crack of dawn.  I get more done before the sun even thinks about peeking over the horizon than many people do all day.  I've even re-arranged myself to a work schedule that takes me in earlier and earlier.  But goodness help you if you try to speak to me in the mornings.  Just don't.  Don't try, don't bother, don't smile and sing-songily say "Good morning!".  If you value your head, don't.  Wait til I've had my cup of coffee, and my workout, and til I've been at work for at least an hour or two.  And even then, tread lightly.

Zoë on the other hand loves her some mornings.  She wakes up, coos and talks to herself in her crib, drifts back off, wakes up, coos some more, maybe talks a little louder to let us know that this time she is really awake, wiggles around, plays with the sides of her crib, and just generally has a good time while she waits for attention.  When I go upstairs to get her up, she turns her head towards me and smiles the biggest sweetest smile for me.  I say, "Hi, good morning!  Hello!  Good morning!" and rub her little belly and she wiggles and kicks and smiles and looks so happy to be awake and to see her Mommy. 

If I could learn anything from her, right now it would be to greet the day and those I love with such unbridled and unfiltered joy.  Waking her up is literally one of my very favorite things.  Ever.

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Preserve the Uterus

I don't talk about work much on here, but every now and again, we open a new library.  I love going out on the day that the new books are delivered and helping to unbox them and get them on the shelves.  It is hard work, very physical, and it is wonderful because it is so very different from sitting at my desk all day, which is what I normally do.  Today I asked for volunteers to go out and help on delivery day, and my oldest staff member volunteered.  By oldest, read: older than 70.  I went to her and thanked her kindly for volunteering, but told her I'd rather she didn't go as it would be very physical.  She told me she could do anything I could do, and that actually, she should go *instead* of me because I shouldn't be doing any lifting so soon after giving birth, I need to "preserve my uterus".  I (lied and) told her I'd check with my doctor to make sure it was ok.  And that she could go out the following day to help with the shelf reading.

But, seriously?  Preserve my uterus!  At 5 months postpartum??

No Internet

3:30am, pumping. Why isn't the Internet working? Don't the Internet gods know that the wee hours are prime "feeding" times?

Fine, I'll draft my weekend update and post later. I'll even rotate my iPhone and type with two thumbs, the way P says you're supposed to.

Friday was a bad day. It is hard to explain, and it sounds evil, but I just wasn't into being a mom that day. I was letting Z's saucer do some babysitting for me while I ate lunch and watched tv. At some point she got really quiet. I figured she was bored and so got her out to hang out on my lap (where my grand plan was to dangle toys in front of her for her to grab and drop), and when I picked her up, there was poop everywhere. Everywhere. I felt like such an asshole. I wanted to give her a bath, but I had never done it alone and I was scared. After beating myself up over what kind of crappy mom can't even give her kid a bath, I did it. I just held her while the water was running and I ran around collecting the necessities. Then I sat on the side of the tub and bounced her on my knee while I drew the water. Once she was in, the only major change was always keeping a hand on her, and skipping her back... Then I sacrificed a towel to total wetness so I could use it as a grip for picking her back up. It worked, and I was so glad, because that had been the part I was really scared of.  I still wasn't feeling it for the rest of the day.  Even after the poo-tastrophe, I still wasn't as "involved" with Z as I normally strive to be.  And it didn't help that she was hardly napping.  By the time P got home, I was all, "here, take the baby".  Ugh.  And trying to fit in the thrush meds was difficult and frustrating.  And I breastfed her twice, but it was hurting, so I wanted to pump, but I never can figure out what to do with her while I pump.  So I waited til she napped.  And lo and behold, she literally napped just long enough for me to pump.  And therefore I had no break from mommy stuff.  It was lame.  The whole day was just lame.

So Saturday I told P that maybe it'd help me if we got out a bit.  He tried to take Z as much as possible, and we headed to Red Lobster and then BRU.  I knew what I needed/wanted at BRU: some pumping stuff, breast pads (disposable, so as not to encourage the hanging around of thrush), and baby bows and shoes.  We still dropped $100 there, though!  I don't know how it happens, but I need to stay away from that place: I can't get out of there cheaply.  Ever!  Then that afternoon P needed to nap because he was going into work at 9pm for a shutdown.  I did well, Z and I went to Target and played around.  Then he was back with me to get her down for bed before he went to work.  I think it was the first time I had been "alone" in the house since the Zig was born, and by "alone" I mean that I could reasonably expect that she wouldn't wake up.  What did I do?  Pumped and watched tv for 45 minutes, then crashed at 9.  Sad, really.

Sunday morning, I got up with Zoë and went into the livingroom as soon as she woke so P could sleep.  She didn't want to go back down, and she didn't want to lay on me, so finally she went into her floor gym where she zonked.  I removed the toys and just left her there and I napped on the couch.  I managed to stretch her til 10:20 when we finally woke P up for pancakes.  Then we decided to have a picnic because it was such a beautiful day.




Getting out of the house into some sunlight was perfect for me.  Of course, after getting these precious pics in that precious outfit, she promptly shat all over it!

Monday P decided to call in, and I had already decided to take a holiday, so we were all home again.  We lazed around, cleaned some, and generally tried to have a good time.  We also did P90X that morning, and surprise, I can do more push-ups than I could a week ago!  P90X works!

Current weight: 139.8 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Thrush situation: Z has still not shown any signs, but we're still treating her.  I improved for a few days, but seem to have stalled.  I'm not in terrible pain, but I'm not back to normal either.  I'm thinking about calling the doctor to see if I need to change anything.

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Not gonna lie

It isn't pain-free on the right yet, but it is miles better than it was Monday night.


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Yes!

We can still breastfeed. At least on the left. And it doesn't hurt, thank goodness!


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Thrush Update

I think I feel a little better this morning.  Pumping hurt a little less.  And my supply went back up a bit, probably indicative of the reduction in pain.  Still scared to try breastfeeding, but hoping to maybe give it a go tonight.  Maybe just once on each boob today.  No need to rush into things...  And maybe the left first.  It was the one that hurt less...

This improvement is after 2 pills and 3 topical treatments.  And laundering everything that ever touched my boobs on hot (Hot HOT), and switching to disposable nursing pads, and going into a sterilization frenzy.  And I do mean frenzy.  The steralization on my dishwasher means nothing to me.  Steralization bags, nope.  Only boiling water for 20 minutes will do.  So I've basically got a pot boiling almost all the time now, pump parts are going in after every pumping, bottle nipples are going in after the dishwasher.  My family thinks I've gone nuts, but I don't care one single bit.  I want to kill this yeast, and I want it dead now and forever.  I think the best chance to prevent a recurrance is to go at it hard and overboard this first (and hopefully only) time.

Ziggy is still asymptomatic, but we are treating her as well.  Since she doesn't appear to be in any pain or discomfort, I figured her stuff could wait until today, but anything that ever touched her mouth or her drool is going to receive the sterilization treatment today/this weekend.

An interesting result of all the bottle-feeding that has been going on is that I know (finally) about how much Z eats in a day: Tuesday she ate 37.5 oz, and yesterday 34 oz.  She consistently takes 7 bottles per day, but the amount she eats in each bottle varies widely.

I'm working shortened days because I can't sterilize properly at work.  That's only for this week, assuming we get better, and then I'll go back to full days, but I think I did the right thing with that.

Thrush

Or, my breasts have some kind of vendetta against me.

On Sunday night, breastfeeding started to hurt again.  Badly.

I thought maybe it was a fluke.  Or a bad latch.  Or something.  Until it still hurt the next morning.  I powered through the whole day, until finally Monday night when Z woke up for an unusual 10:30 feeding, I could barely feed her.  It was like a return to the early days, only worse because the pain persisted through the entire 20 minute feeding.  I felt nauseous, dizzy, and awful.  Not like I was ill, but like I was in serious pain.

I called the OB first thing Tuesday morning.  By noon they had finally called me back and asked me to go in.  After 80 minutes of waiting, the doc walked in, talked to me for about a minute, took one look at my boobs, and said, "Oh, yeah, babe, you've got thrush."  Just like that.  Prescription for oral and topical treatments for me.  Call to Pediatrician for oral for the Zig.

Started taking the meds last night, but haven't noticed any improvement yet.  Have been doing some reading on the Interwebs, and find that I need to be sterilizing the hell out of everything.  Have seen some home remedies I might also add to the regimen.

This blows.  This is the first time since the beginning that I've seriously considered weaning.  But the difference is: now I know what breastfeeding can be, and now I don't want to.  I think it would be suckier to wean now than it would have been in the beginning when pain was all I knew.  I started crying last night in a panic that maybe I nursed her for the last time and it was that horribly painful god-awful 10:30pm feeding.  I DO NOT want that to be the last time I nurse my baby.  That is just wrong.  And I am still scared that that might be the case: even though I'm being treated, I'm exclusively pumping until the pain subsides.  What if she forgets how to latch?  What if it hurts when we start back up because my nipples have gotten a rest?  What if...?

Ugh.

Race Recap: Piney Woods Trail 5K

Or, my first trail run!

I signed up for this one to satisfy my desire for one race of at least 5K per month this year.  I chose it because I had never been to Lake Houston Park, and it seemed like something we should take a look at now that we have Zoë, since it is so convenient.  This is also the only 5K that I know of in the area that gives a tech T!  And they had BBQ for after, sounded good to me!

The internets told me that it should be about 45 for the start of the race at 9am.  Packet pick-up was morning-of.  Well, when we got there at 7:45, the car thermometer said 26 degrees.  Not good.  I walked the half mile to get the packet and then back, and I felt frozen.  All my exposed skin was red and alread wind-burned, and I couldn't imagine taking off my big bulky jacket on purpose!  I seriously considered DNSing.  I mean, seriously.

Hung out in the car with Z and P while Z took a bottle and I half-heartedly put on my bib and chip and waited.  Finally with about 20 minutes to go, I went to the (flushing!!) restroom, and like a miracle, it was probably 15 degrees warmer, and the sun was shining brightly.  So the race was on for me!

Then I had a clothing conundrum.  Because it was cold as hell, I actually added the race t-shirt to the 2 bras, sleeves, long-sleeved tech-t, and jacket that I was wearing.  I only had capris on bottom.

I walked the half mile to the start line quickly, but with the goal of getting there just in time.  It was a nice little walk that included a really awesome wooden bridge over a creek that looks excellent for future toddler wading.

The 10 milers went off, then the 5Kers.  I started out very near the back, since it was my first trail run, and I didn't expect to be breaking any land speed records.  It was kind of a cluster at the beginning as everyone got into double file - like cattle being herded to slaughter.  Pretty soon we hit the first of several mud pits that everyone re-routed around, and that spread the field out.  From that point on, I only passed people, but was never passed.

Running on trails is different... I was excited to be out in nature, but I spent so much time focusing on my footing that I didn't quite get to enjoy it.  The ground was very leafy, and the leaves were dry and therefore "slippery", and they also hid roots quite well.  I ended up falling twice and twisting my ankle on a hidden root twice.  I know this will sound strange, but the falling... it was the first time since I found out I was pregnant over a year ago that I fell without having to freak out about it.  It was almost liberating.  And strange.  But in a good way.  The other thing is that I wore my Garmin, and every time I glanced at it (not often because of the footing situation), I was going so much slower than I felt like I was going!  I expected to go slower on trails, but I guess I didn't expect it to seem just as fast.  I was terrified of being alone and missing the trail, so I was working to keep the woman in front of me in my sights.  So that was also different.

A note: I passed 3 different runners wearing headphones.  I have a new pet peeve: headphones at trail races.  TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE.  Now, I wear headphones when I'm training.  All the time.  I don't like to race with headphones because I've paid for the experience, and I want to hear it.  If I had a choice, no one around me would wear them either, because they kill camaraderie.  But that's me.  I do understand them and would wear them myself in the last miles of a marathon, because anything that helps at that point would be nice, you know?  So we've established that I'm not anti-headphone.  But I'm super anti-headphone at trail races.  When you're running on a single track trail with your music so loud that the person trying to pass you can hear it clearly, you won't be able to hear that person, and you might just weave at the wrong moment and cut them off and cause an accident.  Just sayin'.  (Yes, this was the cause of one of my falls.  And no, the runner didn't even notice that I fell.)

Around 1.5 miles in I shedded 2 of my layers.  And I was HOT.  So I'd do that differently.

Running trails is so mentally taxing that I'd look down at Garmy and I could hardly believe I hadn't travelled farther.  But before I knew it I was done.

Post-race party had BBQ, nomnom.  The chicken, especially was soooooo good.  We hung out a bit with the Z, dancing and enjoying being outdoors, then headed home.  I'd definitely come back to the park to enjoy some outdoors.  I'll definitely be doing some more trail running.  And I'd definitely do this race, or its 10 mile version, again!

Me and Z after the race.

And my favorite pic of the Zig so far: you can see me in her eyes!

P90X: Day 4

Day 3 calls for Ab Ripper X.  Didn't happen.  (I did do 100 crunches, though.)  It was my first deviation from "the plan" laid out in the P90X literature, and I felt kind of bad about it.  THen I berated myself for being stupid, because when I started on Monday I had no intention of following the plan religiously!  I get so caught up in things sometimes.

This morning called for Yoga X.  It is a 90 minute DVD!!  Yeah, I don't ahve 90 minutes on work mornings.  I barely have 60.  And this morning I felt like hammered poo, so I was super slow waking up, super slow getting up, super slow pumping, etc.  So I only had 30 minutes, so 30 minutes of Yoga X is what I did.  From what I did, though, it looks like a really good yoga session.  Really good.  And tough.  Hopefully I'll make it all the way through at some point.  When I have 90 minutes.  Right.  Anyways...

I did sign up for the 5K on Saturday, so I'm thinking I should just do an easy bike tomorrow.  Then the 5K Saturday, then pick back up with P90X.  Not sure if I should just proceed forward with the program pretending that I'm not skipping days... I think that's what I should do.  The other option is doing whatever is called for on a particular day regardless of whether the day before was skipped.  I could do some of that too, when it suits me, I guess.  But for now I like the idea of doing everything in order because it will hit all parts of my body.  I'll still be stronger for it.  I want to be running on warmish afternoons, too.  We just haven't had any of those this week!

Still sore.  Mom asked me last night what wasn't sore: everything from the chin up, and from the knees down.   Everything else is sore.

I got another Moving Comfort Fiona sports bra from Amazon delivered yesterday.  I love these bras!!  If you're a bigger busted woman, this is the sports bra for you!  I buy one size down for maximum support, and pair with a nursing bra for obvious reasons, but I've got rock solid boobs when I work out.  These sweater puppies aren't moving an inch!  I've also got another style from Moving Comfort, the Grace, on the way from Sierra Trading Post where it was on super sale the other day.  I'll review it when I get it.  When that one arrives, I'll officially have more sports bras than nursing bras for my new "girls".  Shows you where my priorities are at!

Weight this morning: 141.6 (On Monday I saw a 140.4.  I knew it was a fluke, but downward trends always begin with a fluke like that, so I still got excited.  I also got excited because I might just see a 13x at some point in the next few weeks.  I'm going to lose my shit on the day that happens, fluke or not.  I CANNOT WAIT to have my weight start with 13.  Seriously.  The difference in my psyche is enormous.

P90X: Day 3, Morning

OmgIamsosore!! I think my biceps are the only muscles in my whole body that don't hurt. *looks at schedule* Arms and shoulders. Of course. Must kalla to every. single. muscle. before the yoga "rest" day. Awesome.

Update: Omg, my arms!!  How am I going to pick up the Zig??

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P90X: Day 2

Subtitle: Holy shitballs, everything below my neck is tapped out.

Soooo.... I asked P for P90X for Christmas.  And he got it for me.  I have a good history with workout tapes.  Or DVDs, whatever.  When I first started trying to lose weight in 2007, I started with Tae Bo.  And it really helped me.  Eventually it got too easy and became my "fun" workout.  But I was always (and still am) glad to have it on tap for rainy mornings, or freezing cold mornings, or bored mornings, or short-on-time mornings.  I also have a yoga DVD that I still pop in on occasion.  And I love it.  It is my go-to for stretching.  In fact, the day after the EP5K?  Yoga DVD.  For a triathlete, there is something really nice about not having to leave your bedroom to get a workout in.

Anyways, I had seen the infomercials for P90X, and I had been intrigued.  For a long time, in fact.  Then I talked to a guy at work who dabbled in it, and he had nothing but good things to say.  And P had a buddy at work that said good things too.  And I want my old body back.  Or better. ;-)  So I asked for it for Christmas.

I haven't tried it until now because I'm in terrible shape.  I think I could have done great things with P90X before I had the Zig.  But now?  I struggle to complete my 100 crunches.  And I've always had a weak upper body.  And my legs were on vacation for 4 months, and I only started trying to get them back for real last month.  I read the book when I got the DVDs and figured I was in no shape to start.  I was really disappointed, actually.  But I didn't want to get hurt.

So last month I focused on getting something back.  I'm nowhere near where I want to be, but the other day I just got this itch in me, and I really wanted to try P90X.  So I did.  I started with no expectations.  I knew I wouldn't be able to hang with the whole DVD.  I have no real intention of doing the full 90 day program at this point.  As we learned last month, that kind of commitment is not flexible enough for me at this time in my (Zig's) life.  But I reckon I can add it to my morning rotation.

So yesterday morning I did Chest and Back X.  I felt totally tapped out as I was doing it.  I mean, after the first 20 push-ups I knew I was in trouble.  I struggled through the whole thing, resorting to only 5 "girlie-style" reps of the "weird" push-ups.  P hasn't installed my chin-up bar yet, but let's face it, if I had it, I wouldn't be able to do a single chin-up.  Instead I used a band for a lame (but still arm-kicking) modification.  My back was a little better off than my arms - I was able to do those without mods and for more time.  I made it through the whole DVD... well, I did every exercise.  What is really interesting to me is that my arms didn't really bother me for the rest of the day.  In fact, it is probably a figment of my imagination, but I felt stronger.  I knew that I'd be sore today, though, and I am.  Oh boy, am I sore!

Day 1 also calls for Ab Ripper X, which fits perfectly into my February core goal, so I did that when I got home from work.  Holy shitballs, that was a hellish 15 minutes of abs!!  I mean, I know I lost my entire core to the baby.  All of it.  But I think at my peak, when I was able to do Cores I, II, and III all in a row, I'd still struggle with this.  I mean, damn.  Ab kicker.  For serious.

This morning called for Plyometrics.  I knew going in that I'd need to mod the shit out of this to get through it because I have no intention of re-injuring my knee.  So that's what I did: as little jumping as possible.  But, holy shitballs, I still got my ass and legs kicked.  I don't think I've ever done so many squats.  When I got to work I could barely get up the stairs.  But again, interestingly, I don't feel awful.  I feel pretty good, but know I'll be sore tomorrow.

I'm curious at this point to see if I could get through a whole week of P90X, but I don't know if it is going to happen.  This morning I barely got out of the house in time, and 3:30am is about as early as my mind can handle for a wake-up call.  I think the rest of the DVDs are longer, so I don't know if I'll be able to do it... but then again, tomorrow is my last day of work this week, so maybe I can make something happen.

After only 2 days of P90X, I believe I can comfortably say that it would work.  If you do it, you'll get a good, possibly even great workout.  And if you completed the program I have no doubt your body would be better.  And more importantly, you'd be stronger.  If you're me, much stronger.  And I even think it would be great for the long term: since it is really weights and reps, you could always up your weight or reps, so it would continue to challenge you even as you got stronger.  I'm already envisioning it as a long-term addition to my workouts.  I'll keep blogging it to see where it goes.

Ab FAIL

I didn't do abs on Saturday.  I suck.  Actually, it is really stupid.  I didn't make a conscious decision not to do abs.  I didn't fail to do abs because I was sore.  I just FORGOT!!  Ugh!!  You see, I've fallen on the 100 crunches minimum a lot so far this month.  I get to the end of the day, haven't done abs, and bust out my core ball in my bedroom before bed and just do 100 crunches (which kills, btw, so even though it is a minimum, it is still a challenge!).  On Saturday I was super tired, I stumbled towards bed at like 8pm, and I just forgot.  On the upside, I ran that day, and I focused on my core, and I know I got good ab work in, but I didn't get my core specific work in, and I am disappointed in that.

Now, onward, I'm still going for the rest of the days this month.  Tonight, hopefully, I'll be trying Ab Ripper X (from P90X).  Wish me luck!

Being Mommy

I just laid flat on my back, still, with a baby sleeping on me for2 hours. I tried to sleep too, but failed, so I just laid there.

When P woke up and found out about it he expressed surprise that I could do that.

I said, "I can do all things for the baby who strengthens me."




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The Grand Plan

On the heels of Sunday's successful 5K, I think I'd like to try something I did a few years back: one race every month this year.  I'll stick to short distances (10K or less) so that I get my feet back under me and stay uninjured.  And so I can fit in training with a baby!

The plan so far:
January: EP5K
February: Piney Woods 5K Trail Run
March: Warrior Dash East Texas
April: Bellaire Trolley Run
May: Astros Race for the Pennant 5K? or Mud Run? or El Chupacabra?
June: Dad's Day 5K?
July: I'm sure I can find something on the 4th...
August: ?
September: I'm sure I can find something on Labor Day...
October: Monster Mash 5K/10K
November: GE Run through the Woods 5 miler
December: Jingle Bell 5 miler

And hopefully Big Bend will do another 10K in January that I can (finally) run there!

What does this say about me?

I just learned that I qualify to be a member of the Half Fanatics.

Before this morning, I had never even heard of the group.  I had heard of their "crazier" sister org: the Marathon Maniacs (and vaguely formed a desire to qualify), but never even thought about there being a version for the Half.

If my grand half plan had gone off without 2 DNS's last year, I'd even qualify to be in their second tier of "crazy".  But as it is I qualify twice-over to be in the first tier: once for the marathon warm-up series in '08, and once for the 4 Halfs in 3 months in '09 - aka what I did finish of the grand plan before I got injured and preggo (in that order).

I also have a strange desire to be in the 50 States Marathon Club.  My guest room is decorated with maps, and I've always wanted to put up a big world map and pin all the places I've been.  I want to have a special color pin for places I've run in; not necessarily marathons (as I've only run 1), but any organized run at all.  At the moment, that only includes Dallas, Austin, Houston, Galveston, San Antonio, Roswell NM, St. Louis MO, and London UK.  But every time we take a little vacation, I'm on the lookout for a race.  I love racing out-of-town; I feel like I really get to know a place by running in it.

That, of course, is ironic since I'm looking for shorter races close to home as I continue my comeback into running.  Plan to follow in the next post!

Back to the point: what does all this say about me?  I'm a little obsessive.  I go all out or go home.  If I'm going to train for Halfs, why not race a ton of them and become the best at them that I can be?  If I'm going to train for a full, why not run a ton of longer races instead of training runs on the way?  If I'm going to be racing short distances, let's do a crap-ton of them so I get faster and have ever-present looming motivation?  In short, I'm just this side of crazy.  But it works for me (unless I get injured... or preggo...)!  I love goals.  Love them.  And medals.

Abs Abs Abs

So, day 1 of February plan complete.  No ice cream.  And I've told P not to give me any, either.

And when I swam yesterday morning, I tried to think about engaging my abs.  It must have worked, because when I went to do my 100 crunches that evening, they were already sore!!

It was 70 yesterday morning when I left for the Y, and by the time I got to work it was 40.  This morning it was 20!  I'm patting myself on the back for the brilliance of going to the Y yesterday, because there is no way I'm leaving the house to exercise in this cold.  This morning I did Tae Bo (trying to think about my abs), and tomorrow morning I'll probably do a spin on the bike.

In baby news, I'm worried about my milk supply.  It seemed to take a bit of a dive over the weekend, Sunday specifically, and it hasn't really gone back up.  I don't know if nursing exclusively on the weekend actually adjusted my supply down (as I was over producing before) to closer to what Z actually needs, or if the 5K screwed me up (don't really think so), or what... yesterday I pumped exactly what she ate, and that worries me!  I tried eating oatmeal yesterday morning, but it seems to have a 12 hour delayed onset, so I filled up as I was going home.  Might try eating some tonight so I'm nice and full tomorrow at work.  I am also vaguely considering supplementary pumping on the weekends.  Before I'd do my morning pump but then exclusively nurse through the day.  It is nice to have a break from the machine!  But if I have to, I can try to pump more on the weekend to try and up my supply.  I know that I shouldn't really be freaking out yet, but it is just that when you go from oversupply to exact supply, another dive could mean you aren't making enough, you know?  I want to nip this in the bud!

I'm tired.  5-7 hours of sleep each day... I'm built for 8!

What else?  Oh, work has been frustrating.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

142.0 yesterday and also today.  Been floating around 142 for a week or so, hopefully I'll be looking at another drop soon.