Back at it (kind of)

Other than some yard work here and there, I've mainly been swimming for my exersize. I went 3 times last week. When I went on Monday, I forgot my goggles. I thought for just a minute about leaving, but I had just deposited the kids in the childcare and they were all happy to be there, and I was happy to be there so I just decided to try swimming without my goggles. I did a few laps with the kick board and fins which was fine, but when I got tired of that (and my feet were starting to hurt), I decided to try swimming with my eyes closed. It was really hard! BUT it was good practice for lake swimming because you pretty much can't tell where you're going in a lake except when you sight. I'd close my eyes and just sight when I breathed on my right side, so every 6 strokes or so, then I'd hurry and close my eyes again. One thing the pool has that a lake doesn't, though, is lane dividers. I would be swimming along, thinking I'm doing pretty good, and BAM I'd hit the lane divider. It was very disorienting, and I hit it pretty hard a couple times. When I was doing my hair afterwards, I noticed this lovely bruise:

The next 2 times I went, I made sure to bring my goggles! I told Pete it was so much easier to swim with goggles and he was like, "Duh!"

Friday I did 2300 yards, Saturday I did a nice easy 1250, and I don't remember what I did on Monday...


Last night I had too much on my mind to sleep very well, and when I woke up my hips and back were really sore. I was so tired, but I didn't want to go back to bed because it just hurts to lay down. For some reason, I did feel like going running, though. So, I made sure Pete was working from home, which he was, then headed out for a little run. It was probably 8:30 by the time I left, and it was already getting too hot so I took it easy and maybe went 2 miles.

Last time I went to the doctor, I asked her about running and she said that since my body is so used to running that it would be totally fine for me to start running again, even though I hadn't been for 2 months. I had gone for a little run that morning for 20 minutes, with a heart rate monitor and tried to keep my heart rate under 140, but it was impossible so I just settled for keeping it under 150. Doing a really easy run, it was at about 145. I told my doctor about this and she said that the 140 is really more of a guideline, the main thing is that I don't overdo it and get overheated. She also said riding my bike would be fine, I needed to be careful not have any sudden starts or stops. The only reason there would be sudden stops would be if I crashed, and that's what I've been worried about and why I haven't been riding my bike (other than my cruiser around town) since St. George Tri.

So today I just went out without a heart rate monitor or a watch or anything with me, and it was so much fun to get out and listen to my music and just run. I took it pretty easy, but I felt really good. My hips and back felt 100% better when I got back! I really think I'm going to start running again, but I need to get out earlier before it starts to get hot so I can go for a little longer and not worry so much about overheating. I do have a marathon planned 5 months after the baby's born, after all. I don't want to be totally starting from scratch then.