Mommy's Muscles

Today Orange Seed and I swam for 40 minutes. (No, I did not take pictures of myself doing it. I am cheating and using an old photo from my first - okay, and only - triathlon)

Other than the fact that I now feel like my arms might fall off, it felt really good. I was out of commission for two weeks with a nasty cold and sinus infection (Apparently being pregnant also leads to a swelling of the nasal cavities, making you more susceptible to sinus infections. The fun never ends.), so after the miracle Z-pack, I am just finally starting to get back into some sort of workout regimen. I've been trying to stick to a regular workout schedule throughout the pregnancy. Before I got pregnant, I'd been planning to train for a marathon and was working on upping my mileage while scouring the Internet for training groups I could join. Needless to say, that plan died with the arrival of Orange Seed, so now I'm setting my sights on smaller goals. Despite what some of the women on Running Mamas might tell you, running long distances while pregnant isn't all that easy. It's been hard to realize that I can't quite do all that I could do pre-pregnancy. My beautiful 7 mile average has taken a major nosedive and 4 seems to be about the going rate nowadays. That's definitely partially due to how tired I was during the first trimester, but I think it's also just my body's way of saying that now is not the time to be ramping up my activity level. In all honesty, I really can't complain. I'm still running 3-4 times a week, going to yoga 2-3 times a week and, now that I've joined a gym, I'm back to weight training and now swimming. So really...Orange Seed and I are doing pretty darned good. I like to think that Orange Seed enjoys the exercise as much as I do. We have little talks while we run - "Okay, now you know that mommy wants to make it 4.5 miles today, so you just hang in there and if you're REALLY unhappy, okay, let me know, but otherwise, just enjoy the ride. It's probably not as bumpy as riding in that jogging stroller I'm getting you will be!" The baby seems to get it. I think we're on a level.

I don't know how other people feel, but I know I would go crazy if I didn't feel well enough to get outside and stretch. I have so much respect for all these women who are horrendously ill throughout their first trimester or who wind up on bed rest for months at a time. God bless them for learning how to make it through that. Myself, I get bored watching two TV programs in a row - too much downtime - so I am very grateful to Orange Seed for letting me feel well enough to keep up my active lifestyle. Fingers crossed that I can do it all the way through to Week 40.