And Then the Second

So, the first trimester was a physical success, so to speak. I still felt strong, although I really did miss my sprinting and jumping. I was ready to continue my pursuit of being as strong and fit as possible through the whole process.

With the beginning of the second trimester I noticed a few changes. The little nausea I had (it felt more like car sickness) was gone, I didn't feel as exhausted even during my workouts, and, most notably, I was growing. I noticed my belly the most during the leg swing warm-ups (my legs would hit my stomach...quite hilarious actually) and side lunges, where my belly seemed to protrude a ridiculous amount. I could tell that my growing belly would probably create some funny obstacles in the future. (One obstacle happened to be that my workout tops weren't quite long enough anymore and I had a goofy, unattractive gap between my shorts and tops. A little white trashy, but it made me laugh...)

ONE BIG CHANGE
Up to this point I was still doing everything that felt comfortable during the first trimester. I ran about once per week, and strength trained with either free weights or the TRX about three times per week. When I was about 17 weeks along, I went out for a run with the goal of running 4 miles. I kept thinking that I would be able to post "4 miles at 4 months!" when I returned. However, this was not the story. After one mile I experienced some lower abdominal cramping that became pretty uncomfortable. I jogged off and on for probably a total of 3 and a half miles that day, but I realized that running was probably no longer part of my routine. Sad day. I may have tried jogging one more time after that, but that was really the end of an era, for the time being. No more running for me. Maybe I wasn't going to be one of those pregnant women that runs well into her third trimester. I'm ok with that, I suppose.

After that, I set up my road bike on my indoor trainer with the intention of riding it for about 20-30 minutes once or twice a week. In all honesty, I have maybe only hopped on it 3 or 4 times up to this point, but it is a good option. I have used it as an intermediary mode of exercise in between strength circuits, hopping on it for 2-4 minutes between sets. I can see how I probably won't want to touch my bike with a ten foot pole after I give birth, but hopefully running will come back into the picture.

TODAY'S WORKOUT
As I am now nearly at the end of the second trimester (27 weeks, 1 day) I will share with you the workout that I did this morning alongside Scott's workout. (I did drool slightly as he sprinted on the treadmill.)

Dynamic Warm-Up:
Leg swings forward/back & side to side
Split squats
Side lunges
Single leg dead lift with forward reach
Tall plank with hip flexion
High knee marching
Straight leg marching
Quad stretch w/ floor touch
Leg cradles
3-step lunges

Strength Circuit 1 (3X through):
Staggered single arm overhead press, 20 pounds, 10 reps
Contralateral rows, 20 pounds, 10 reps
Lat pulldowns, 110 pounds, 10 reps
Tall mountain climbers on med ball, 15 reps each leg

Strength Circuit 2 (3X through):
Walking lunges, 12 pound dumbbells held at shoulders, 20 steps
Single leg dead lifts, 15 pound dumbbells, 10 reps
Side planks w/ reach throughs, 15 reps

Foam rolling and stretching to finish. I stretched with a rope while laying on my back, which does make me out of breath after a bit. However, I still feel the most stretch with this method. The larger I get I may have to change this.

We'll see if I'm sore after this one. I did a workout earlier this week that really torched my glutes and hamstrings, and I had only done 2 sets. I may not be walking tomorrow, but it felt good today. I worked up a slight glisten (I can't really call it a sweat) and had to make sure I didn't overheat. But overall, a good workout. This felt like a 5 on an exertion scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the hardest.