Active Recovery (I'm trying to be good!)

Free image by David Castillo Dominici via www.freedigitalphotos.netI know I'm tired when I don't want to go running. 

My legs are tired. My arms are tired. My eyes are tired. I'm just plum worn out. 

I stayed up until past midnight watching the Olympic opening ceremony, then the baby has been teething so we're getting no sleep, then I woke up Saturday and ran ten miles, plus I worked two hours organizing a storage unit, and then stayed up late  Saturday night watching the Olympics again. All of that after a week of amping up my strength workouts and fatiguing my body means I am just really, really tired.

It happens. But I still want to keep training because I'll get mean and cranky if I don't! BUT, if I keep this up I'm going to get injured and not be able to train at all. So, I am trying to be good and listen to my body and get some rest. When I got up this morning to workout, and the whole time my run was just looming in front of me like a big boulder that I had to climb over, I listened to that little voice in my head telling me it's okay to not be a machine every day. 

I hate that voice.

But it was right. I finished my strength workout and put my running stuff away. I got on the elliptical and did intervals, which was also good cardio and a nice break. Maybe I'll run tomorrow. 

I'm really bad about overtraining. I just go go go and never give myself a break, and then I get so tired that I can't function at all, which pretty much cancels out all of the great training I did. So, these tips from Women's Health were a perfect reminder for me today that active recovery can be a great way to give your body the rest it needs without feeling like you're slacking off from your workout. It's great for people like me, who like to feel like we're giving it our all every day, even on days when we shouldn't.

Get out there and get healthy today, even if it means doing nothing!

The Rule of the Belly: Workouts

Okay, I promised not to constantly bore you with the details of my pregnancy (although it is thrilling and I could talk about it for days) but so many have asked how I am coping with changing my training routine to suit my new maternal state.  So, get ready for some ME TIME!  And by "me" I meant specifically me.  Everyone listen to meeee!

To be honest, not much has changed although you wouldn't know it to hear me complaining every day about how lame I feel as a benchwarmer.  I am still running, but I've started doing mostly 3 minute run/1 minute walk intervals and have decreased my frequency from 4-5 days a week to just 2-3.  The frequency decrease was more related to achilles tendonitis than being preggo, but it suits me better now.  So, my mileage has gone down from 25-30 miles a week to more like 12-15.  Replacing those runs has been time on the elliptical, which gives me plenty of time to examine the state of my butt in the gym mirror.

When I got pregnant I announced to a friend that I would have the best-looking pregnant butt ever seen.  But for some reason I still have the same butt I had before I got pregnant. Strange. It's looking better these days, though, because I've been swimming.  Once the temperature gets over 80 degrees and the sun comes out, I cannot resist the lure of chlorine and lane ropes.  So, about three days a week I've been swimming laps for 30 minutes.  I'm planning to continue this until they close the pool in October (gotta love Florida) or I start shivering, whichever happens first.  Check out some pregnancy swimming guidelines here.

Finally, weights.  Yes, pregnant women can lift weights! I have a great trainer who has completely embraced my challenge to keep my arms and legs toned and muscular even though I am gaining fat, and he is definitely delivering.  Three days a week I am doing total body resistance training, mostly compound exercises, just like before I got pregnant, just being sure not to overdo it.  So far so good!  I miss my plyo and speed/agility workouts but I've found I am able to do those vicariously through my preschooler, who has experienced a sudden surge of physical activity now that his mom is an athlete in exile.

Not overdoing it is the hardest part.  I love training really hard and being completely fatigued at the end of a workout but those are on hold for a while. Right now my goal is 60 minutes of decent cardio five times a week, weights three times a week. Luckily, I have a great gym buddy who has generously offered to pick up my slack, and by the looks of it he is going to be totally ripped by the end of the summer.  David, you're a machine!  A very sweaty machine. LOL  Preggos, read about the signs that you're overdoing it in the gym when working out for two.

I hope that in a month I can report the same - still active, just modified!  At almost halfway though (cannot believe that) all signs point to yes.  It's a good thing too, I'm eating all of those burned calories!  More on that later.  For now,

Good day!