Tuesday, April 13, 2010

20 weeks 3 days pregnant

By the end of this week, I will be half way through my pregnancy. Depending on what time of day you weigh me, I've gained 7 or 8 pounds, I've managed to maintain a fairly decent physical activity level running anywhere from 40 - 55 miles a week, and all my prenatal doctor's visits have gone well. Including my "big" ultrasound, which indicated we'll probably be having another baby girl! Girls rule, boys drool! Just joking...The thought did occur to me (briefly) if we had 3 more girls, I could fulfill my dream of being a girls cross-country coach. There are probably easier ways to become a girls cross-country coach though, right?

Overall, the pregnancy seems to be going well. Oh, and I can still fit into almost all my pants which is always nice (the low waist styles of today can take credit for that). The only thing driving me mad is that I'm not sure if I've felt the baby moving yet. I'm pragmatic enough to attribute anything that could be baby movement to gas. This should happen somewhere between 16 and 22 weeks (the baby moving, not gas). I don't remember when I could feel Kaylee moving around. I'd feel a lot better if I could just feel that kid squirming a bit. I can be seen talking to my belly from time-to-time, "baby can you hear me...hey, kick me in the kidneys already!"

Being almost half-way through my second pregnancy, I thought I might share a bit of my preggo exercise philosophy with the blog-o-sphere. When I was pregnant with Kaylee, I was averaging 9 hours of cardio exercise a week. This was split evenly into running, the stationary bike, and rowing. I kept that level of exercise up until just over 8 months pregnant when I had a sudden run-in with asthma. I didn't know at the time it was asthma though. I stopped exercising almost all together. I simply couldn't breathe, but I didn't understand what was going on. I thought it was just being so huge and pregnant. I did wind up going to the doctor for it and it took a few weeks to get it under control. My peak flow was less than half of normal when it was at its worst. Once I had things under control, I went back to walking and biking for the last two weeks. During my first pregnancy, my exercise philosophy was inspired by The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy. A book where the author suggests that exercise during pregnancy was risky, gaining 70 pounds was inevitable, and nobody looks good while pregnant so why bother type of book. It powerfully motivated me to prove her wrong. I also already knew from research and my doctor that exercising (for me) was perfectly fine.

This pregnancy I've had a slightly different motivation. I read Exercising Through Your Pregnancy by James Clapp as soon as I found out that I was pregnant. Don't judge the book by its ridiculous cover. It's really quite good. Clapp included a number of studies that indicated that running through pregnancy had a number of benefits to both the mother and baby. The studies he conducted found the most beneficial exercise was actually weight baring versus non-weight baring (i.e. running versus biking). As a result, during this pregnancy I've been less focused on overall cardio time and more focused on running, which works out for me because I enjoy running the most anyway. None of Clapp's running subjects had low-birth weight babies. All the babies were within the normal weight range, and all were healthy. He did, however, find a correlation between increasing or decreasing running mileage during the last trimester with birth weight. Basically any increase in mileage correlated to slightly lighter babies, whereas any decrease correlated to slightly heavier babies. Again, all the babies were within a normal weight range. Knowing that, my plan is to start decreasing my mileage somewhere around 30 weeks. I've been averaging approximately 45 miles a week during this pregnancy. During the last 10 weeks I'll slowly cut back to perhaps 35ish miles a week. This, of course, assumes that I'm still healthy and able to run. Anyway, I'm predicting a 8 pound, 6 ounce baby. (Kaylee was 8 pounds, 4 ounces.) Any predictions?

Now that I've bored you with all my preggo talk, I might as well share how last week's running went. Running last week was great. No aches and pains. I had one 8 mile run where I averaged 8 minute pace and it was easy. Not too shabby. The deal with that run was it wasn't on the treadmill. With the treadmill, I feel compelled to be conservative. I almost never average anything faster than 8:30 pace, and often I'm a bit slower than that, but outside I just run how I feel. This almost always happens to be between 8:00 and 8:20 pace. I haven't been outside much though.

So there you have it...my preggo running philosophy and last week's running.

Training Journal 4/5 - 4/11
Total Miles Run: 45.32
Total Time Running: 6:34
Average Pace: 8:41
Total Row Machine Miles: 5
Total Row Time: 39:10
Average Row Pace: 7:50
Total Cardio Time: 7:13

13 comments:

Running and living said...

Yay, you ran more than I did last week:) Loved Clapp's book, as you know. My little guy weighed a little less than 7 lbs, but he was so strong, the pediatrician was impressed. Oh, and I did not feel him moving until my 6-7th months:).
You'll be running Boston soon, I am sure, probably 2012? We could train together, how fun!

Katie said...

Ana-Maria: Kaylee was/is super strong too. Every single doctor she's ever seen makes that comment. I often wonder though if it's not that she's crazy strong, but more that she's just a fighter. Oh and I just looked it up, Boston will be on my birthday in 2012! Oh, a whole new level of motivation to qualify!

Michelle said...

You are still putting in more miles than I do! I am happy to hear you are doing so well.

Lindsay said...

you make me feel super slack... i haven't even been running ~50 miles and i'm not pregnant! very inspiring :)

Magic Brush said...

Wow... so I just stumbled on your blog tonight feeling all cocky that I ran my first half marathon this weekend.... and man you are IMPRESSIVE!!!!!!! That is a lot of miles at a fast pace! You go girl! So nice to meet you. Swing by my blog and see my running post if you have a minute!

Unknown said...

You just keep surprising me every week...8 miles at an 8 min. pace? Incredible! I wish more doctors knew about you and about Ana-Maria's experiences...this is fascinating!

Julie said...

Hi Katie,
Good Lord girl, you are making me look bad and feel lazy!! I am so impressed with how much you continue to workout:) The sad thing is that you could most likely BQ for Boston now! I am glad to hear that things are going well for you. Don't worry, you will start to feel baby girl #2 move any day now:) Take care!

Danielle said...

Katie--you are easily one of my inspirations in life! That is FANTASTIC how you are in such amazing shape and able to do that at 20-weeks PG. I'm not PG and am not in that good of shape. Although I have to say that I am currently in the best shape of my life...and I honestly have people like you, my syster-in-law, and Nadine to thank for that...you guys push me along without even knowing it!

cardiogirl said...

Wow, that truly is amazing that you've been exercising so diligently and without fail all the way through 20 weeks and all the way through with your first daughter.

Hey, did you ever get any round ligament pain while you were pregnant and exercising?

I was on bed rest with the first two and the not with the last one.

I did exercise with the last one until about 18 weeks (no running, walking on the treadmill, using the elliptical and lifting weights.) From 16 weeks on I started to feel round ligament pain every time I set foot on the treadmill so I stopped walking.

Yes, I gave it a try (and was in pain) for two weeks.

My guess on the size of this baby is (taps her temple) 8 lbs. 1 ounce.

Yes, that's my final answer.

Katie said...

Cardiogirl: I think the only time I've experienced round ligament pain is when attempting push ups during my first pregnancy. I didn't know what it was, it totally freaked me out, and yes I completely stopped doing push ups. Everyone is different though. I have a girlfriend who is an awesome runner, but had to stop running during her pregnancy. It just wasn't comfortable for her. She started right back at it after the baby was born and is faster than ever now. So you know...everyone is just different.

Anonymous said...

I ran through my entire pregnancy as well and loved it. It kept me sane and happy.

You are doing an awesome job!

shetha said...

hmmm -- 8-6 sounds pretty good. My first was 8-1, and my second 8-14. I didn't run at all with my first, though. I ran primarily in the second trimester with my second. Gained a lot less weight too (gained 50 lbs the first time!) I think 8-6 is a good estimate :-) Now you've got me curious about that Exercising through your pregnancy book. Should check the library for that...

20 weeks pregnant said...

I will be 20 weeks in 3 days .I have not gained any weight just lost 2 lbs. My baby is growing great and the doctor is not concerned i have a sonogram for my 20 weeks & I hear my babies heart beat everytime i go to the doc and they messure me and im growing great...