Good news for baby

I've read and read and read about exercise during pregnancy.  Even after making the decision to continue to run and bike while pregnant you still question the decision with each little ache and pain.  I read something in the New York Times today that makes me feel even better about the decision.  So, not only is it good for mommy and make for easier delivery and labor, but it could be beneficial to our babies heart - win, win!  :-)

Preggo running take 2

I was 26 weeks on Wednesday and I'm still running.  It's getting less and less comfortable, but mostly due to the constant need to pee.  I'm definitely not ready to throw in the towel though.  Since it is only pressure on the bladder, I've been trying mind games to keep me from thinking about it so much.  I figure I'm going to have to get pretty dang good at the mind games if I intend to do this whole "natural birth" thing.

When I look back over the past couple weeks I'm really pretty pleased with my performance.  There have been set backs and I haven't always met my self imposed goals.  However, that's the nice thing about this pregnancy thing - my REAL goal is to have a happy, healthy baby.  That means it doesn't matter if I run 4.5 miles or 6 (as happened this morning since I just wasn't feeling it).  Pretty sure one reason I 'wasn't feeling it' was because I rode 22 hilly miles on my road bike last night (and did an hour of spin yesterday morning & commuted to work).  It's always a challenging course, but it's more so when pregnant and having that constant need to breath and stuff.  Not losing your breath on the hills is a challenge, but doable if you have really low gears.  I do, and I use them.  And, I ride smarter than I have before.  I give a kick on the down hill to make sure I have plenty of steam to get me up the next one.  It works.  More legs, less lungs.  

Wednesday I was able to run 6.  Tuesday was spinning.  Monday I felt off and skipped my run, but still did our Monday night chill ride (only 8 miles, slow on trails to encourage beginners).  Sunday was 2 hours of mountain biking - pretty easy single track - preggo friendly.  Saturday was only 4 miles and riding to and from prenatal class.  The week before looked fairly similar. There was also the occasional yoga (twice a week) and daily commuting.  How can I not be happy with that.  :-)

Gotta run

(forgot to hit "Publish Post" so I'm posting this delayed)

Yep, I'm still running.  However, I don't go out with the intention of running 4 miles, or 6 miles.  My intention seems always how to get to the nearest bathroom.  And, my criteria for what constitutes a bathroom is changing..  For instance, the bathroom on the Monday 4 mile run was behind a building in a park.  Generally this wouldn't be acceptable, but when you gotta go it works.  The 6 mile run on Wednesday I only stopped once at the Y - that's pretty impressive for me.  Today, I ran 6 of Brooke's 12 with her.  We had one stop at her house, then one impromptu on the side of the road with her and Greyson standing guard.  Unfortunately, I was in such a hurry I forgot I had tucked my gloves in my shorts so they are now MIA, but it was worth it.
Overall, I can't complain.  I'm 24 weeks and still able to run and this makes me happy.   I have no real idea the pace I've been making Brooke run the past couple weeks, but I know it's not speedy.  It's sure nice to have company though!