post-partum fitness

or lack thereof....

i don't remember it being this hard to get back into shape last time! i know it took me a solid 3mo to lose the remaining 8lbs of my baby weight, but it didn't feel this hard.

perhaps it's because i gained approximately 25lbs more during this pregnancy than i should have (50lbs!!!) oops. i have since lost all but 15lb of it. but MAN it feels like i'm running with a 15lb weight vest on. my boobs actually BOUNCE now when i run, which is new.

speaking of which, i am waiting for this fabled 'weight loss from breastfeeding' to kick in. so far, 16wks out, i think it's a lie.

i know i know, cut myself a break i just had a baby. i'm not obsessing over it. i know i'll lose it eventually as i keep eating well and exercising. it's just weird. going from the best shape of my life during IMLou training, to wearing a 15lb fat-vest (more like fat-pants but whatever).

anyways, i've been trying to figure out how i'm going to train for the Paris marathon, breastfeed, watch an infant and a toddler, and take care of a house. something's got to give, and since it's a comeback race for me, i figure the race is the one. i'm still going to run it, but i won't be going for a PR or dedicating as much time to training as i have for previous 26.2's.

anyone out there ever done abbreviated training for endurance events (max 3-4d a week of running) or tried the crossfit endurance programs??

i think imma try THIS ONE

Baby surprise #2

is a BOY!

Kaspar James was born last Saturday around 9am, after 8hrs of labor, weighing 7lb 8oz, and measuring 20in long. He was a trooper during a very fast active labor (~2hrs) and a faster pushing session (20 minutes). Night and day different from the way his brother came into this world (36hr labor with 2hrs of pushing...oy.)

little man and i are healthy, the husband is being a rockstar supporter, my mom is here and being an absolute ANGEL, and all my friends and family and sisters and aunts at home are making me feel the love.

because the labor was so much shorter this time, my recovery has been much faster. i already feel ready to run! i won't though--don't want to mess with the whole uterus-returning-to-it's-natural-place/size/position business. but i did go for a walk today, and it was glorious. 

here's to happiness, and to being the queen of a family of all BOYS.

the most common question i get these days:

have you had that baby yet?

oui oui croissant

though it took an hour on the phone with BoA to convince them it was okay for us to make a purchase in France...

we did it! the hubs and i are officially registered for the 2014 Marathon de Paris!

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my AMAZING parents have already agreed to come out and spectate babysit.

time for me to learn some french words other than: oui, croissant, and bonjour!

HOLY CRAP - Oh putain de merde !

i got a Paris Marathon 2015 spot!!!

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now .... do i take it??

i have until May 4th to decide. 

pregnancy cravings + "workouts"

the foods.

this pregnancy is very different from my first. granted, i was quite ill with ulcerative colitis during that pregnancy, but still. with my now 2 year old, i gained about 28lbs, had minimal morning sickness, and craved mostly salty & spicy things to eat. cravings with him went something like this:

• potato chips
• peperoni pizza + jalapeños 
• crispy peperoni
• sriracha on anything/everything
• sea salt on anything/everything
• jalapeño potato chips
• jimmy john's tuna salad unwich + spicy peppers
• french fries

now, i didn't eat these things constantly--i just WANTED them constantly. 

this go around, i'm much healthier than before thanks to new meds, i've gained more at 7mo than i did my ENTIRE last pregnancy (and still growing), had increased morning sickness that has returned for the 3rd trimester (hooray), and crave mostly sweet / sour things. though, truth be told, this mama is one hungry hippo and will eat pretty much anything that is put in front of me. most oft craved foods this cycle: 

• Nerds, Nerds rope, anything Nerds.

• Sour Patch Kids. 
• dark chocolate salted caramels from Whole Foods (THE DEVIL I TELL YOU)
• peanut butter and chocolate melted together in the microwave
• Wendy's chocolate frosty
• garlic mashed potatoes
• lemon juice. i may have desperately squeezed the juice of an entire lemon into my mouth whilst leaning over the sink during one particular nap time. hypothetically. 

• tuna salad on spinach with lots of black olives

• wasabi flavored seaweed chips

again. things i crave, not necessarily things i eat all the time. i have had each of them at least once, though, and daydream about nerds pretty much constantly. 

the 'workouts'

workouts gets real quotes and air quotes. i did really well doing either jogging, the elliptical, or the spin bike 3-5x per week plus weight training 2-3x per week and prenatal yoga 1x week up until about 2 weeks ago, ~31 weeks along. 'tis a far cry from IM training, but still quite active, when you consider i also spend 8+ hrs a day chasing around a FAST, never-stationary 2 year old.

then came the hot-poker-to-the-vagina/cervix (i can't really tell?) - pains. everything is fine, kid is just sitting low and bounces up and down on my ladyparts. and boyhowdy, that gets my attention. since these pains only happen during jogging, fast walking, and the elliptical, i've been forced to spend most of my time on the spin bike. i can't ride my bike on the trainer bc the belly is too big and i ninja-kick it with my knees. i can't ride the regular upright spin bikes bc my ass is so damn huge/heavy that my whole lower body falls asleep within 15 minutes, which is (surprise) counterproductive. so basically i ride the dorky recumbent bike ~3x week, stretch, do weights 3x week, and go to prenatal yoga 1x week. 

i've tried barre a couple of times this pregnancy, and it makes me feel super strong, but so many of the poses are non-pregger friendly or require such extensive modification that it's getting to be not worth the trouble for now. i've got a great DVD that i plan on using for the post-babe toning. 

post babe plan?

i've been thinking (read: obsessing) lately about my hugeness and how i will get back into shape after the babe. i'll probably do some sort of low carb, paleoesque, whole30ish type approach to food at first. walking, barre and the elliptical will be my go to exercises until i get the go ahead to run around 6 weeks. 

and if all goes well with recovery, weight loss, breastfeeding, rearing two chiclets at the same time (no big, right???!), etc., then i'll even try to train for a fall half marathon. Cape Cod Half Marathon is on my radar. i'll either be posting about it in october, or posting a self-effacing excerpt about how overly ambitious/optimistic/ridiculous i was (am) being in this post. 

10 things NOT to say

to someone who just DNF'd an IRONMAN (or any race, for that matter.)

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each one of these was said to me within 24hrs of my DNF at IM Louisville last year, from (probably) well-meaning people. this post sat in my drafts section for some time... it seemed too bitter to post some days, and not bitter enough others. so, without further ado:

#10 "Ouch. So what did you do wrong?"

sometimes the person didn't do anything wrong, other than just be incredibly unlucky. and there's going to be a time and a place for reflection post IM DNF. 24hrs post-race is not the best time to pose this question, if you value your life.

#9 "No big deal, just sign up for another one!"

wrong! very big deal! this person in all likelihood spent 8-10 months of their life training, and they probably dropped thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours away from family and friends to do it. some of us just can't afford two $700+ race fees in a year, either.  and some of our bodies (and brains) can't handle that commitment more than once a year.

#8 "So, when's your next race?"

not a huge no-no, especially if you wait a while to ask it, but still not a great thing to hear a day or a week later. i don't fucking know when my next one is, i have to mourn the loss of this one first. thanks.

#7 "What's DNF?"

oh please, yes, let me explain to you in excruciating detail what DID NOT FINISH means. jesus even my 80 year old grandmother understands how to 'google' something. think-->speak.

#6 "My cousin did one after only training for 4 weeks. Do you want me to call her so she can be your coach?"

nononononono. no. because one of two things is true here. either 1) you and/or your cousin are massive liars, in which case, no, i'll pass. or 2) your cousin is a genetic freak and will have nothing to offer a normal person like me.

#5 "You're still an IRONMAN to me!"

no, actually, i'm not. you only get to say that if you cross the finish line. this isn't like elementary school these days where everyone is a winner and we all get a blue ribbon with a #1 on it at field day. this is real life. i'm an adult. i did not cross the finish line. therefore, i am not an IRONMAN. don't placate me!

#4 "My uncle almost DNF'd when he had a (heart attack/stroke/shark attack) but he kept going."

props to your uncle. he sounds crazy and/or badass and/or a genetic freak and i would like to take him out for a beer (or soda water if he had a stroke?) but yeah, was that supposed to make me feel better? because....no.

#3 "I almost DNF'd. But then I rallied. Oh and I qualified for Kona. Again! Yay!"

i nearly punched this person. and she said it with a straight face, before she skipped off to go claim her Kona spot. i'm glad we've established this is all about you. this is MY pity party. stabstabstab.

#2 "You should have just stopped before _____ so you could do another one this year and not waste all that training."

the same response as to #9 applies here, but I included this one because the condescending tone just boiled my blood. oh yes. please tell me what i should have done at my one shot at this for the next 5 years. i'm all ears, really. don't mind the ugly crying, shaking, and snot.

and my (least) favorite...

#1   "CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!! :) :)" 

posted on social media for everyone to see, sent in texts, IMs, chats, emails, and other messages. hey, thanks for thinking of me, but congrats for what, exactly? not finishing? failing at a huge life goal? thanks? for fuck's sake, people. check the results first. 

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and that's all i have to say about that. 

i will eat all the things

a soon-to-be dad created a tumblr with some hilarious GIFs / captions about his wife's pregnancy. many of these have actually happened at my house. this one made me laugh hard enough i snarfed my fizzy water:


"When my pregnant wife wants a snack and I suggest having fruit, she’s like:"

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post-ironman projects, aka life

life post-IMLou DNF has been humming along.

i have been working on one small project these days, which has meant i've made slight adjustments to my training routine:

• no more cycling (outdoors, that is)
• no snowboarding with the hubs (i probably shouldn't do this anymore EVER, since i'm almost guaranteed to get some sort of long bone fracture)
• less swimming (it's really hard to swim without a gym and a pool and all the ponds have frozen over, i've found)
• more jogging, less running
• no zone workouts, lactate threshold tests, or VO2-maxin'

the aforementioned small project also has me eating a bit differently--less caffeine, no sushi -->insert uncontrollable sobbing here<--, no deliciously squishy cheese, no deli meats, less wine. 

i'm not on a cleanse; i'm not dieting; i'm not giving up contact sports or the best of exercise.

instead, i am making another person. INSIDE OF ME. it's baby time round two, folks!

the hubs and i quit birth control the day after IMLou, since we knew thought we wanted another kidlet running around. now with a kid officially in the terrible two's, i'm beginning to wonder what on earth got into us. we wanted another one of these?! i digress. last time i went off BC it took a good year for my cycle to get itself right. well, not this go 'round. this bad boy showed up exactly 3.5 weeks after IMLou:

the midwife tells me i probably got pregnant 2-3 days post-IM. ha! 

i spent the majority of September and October feeling like i was about to vomit. things perked up in November when we went on an extended vacation that looked something like this:

BOS-->SFO (CTO work conference) 4 days

SFO-->Kauai (vacation and baby brudder's wedding) 10 days

Kauai-->AUS (family visit and bestest friend's wedding shower) 3 days

AUS-->BOS (home again home again jiggity jig)

of course i went back to work the next day. can't recommend that. 

December meant family time in Dallas for the holidays, and January has meant getting back into the regular exercise routine, with less treats. not NO treats, of course, just less ;)

i'm due early June with the kiddo, and no, we won't find out what kind of kiddo it is until we meet him or her. if you'd like to pass on name suggestions, please feel free, as everyone else seems to, up to and including the cashier at Stop-n-Shop, the gas station attendant, and kids at E's daycare... 

for those very VERY few of you who followed me for training/camaraderie purposes, please feel free to delete/unfollow/etc now that this has officially become a training blog involving a baby. i'll continue to post about workouts, and other things health related, the posts will be at least somewhat baby related--and often completely about baby--until the kid is actually on the outside. eventually i'll be un-pregnant again and training for a comeback race (taking suggestions here too: marathon? Chicago? Houston? triathlon? IM is a few years away yet) i can't seem to decide on one. or, coincidentally, how to end this post! so.... 

happy training, y'all!