Training for two: week 26

Here are the workout details from week 26...
The good. The bad. The track... and a huge break from baby-book reading.

Friday: 3 mile walk + prenatal yoga video

Brick sidewalks in downtown Annapolis, MD

Saturday: stroll around Annapolis
(Not exactly exercise, but not exactly slouching either... Just ignore the supersized ice cream and bucket of crustaceans I ate...)

Sunday: REST

Monday: 3 mile walk

Tuesday: 3 mile walk + prenatal yoga video + strength training

Wednesday: 2 mile walk + prenatal yoga video + TRACK WORKOUT!

400 warm up (walk) + 400m run + 4 x 200m with equal rest intervals + 400m cool down (walk) = 1.75 miles

Last week I was worried about whether or not it was time to quit running for the rest of this pregnancy.
This week I re-discovered the track.
The soft surface is easier on my joints. I can run 200 meters and then walk a lap. No matter how slow I go, I don't have to worry about being left in the dust by my running buddies - they're never more than a few hundred yards away! And restrooms are always within sight!

Thursday: 3 mile walk + prenatal yoga


THE TALLY:
14 miles walked  + 1.75 mile track workout + 4 prenatal yoga sessions + 1 strength training session


WHAT I LOVED READING THIS WEEK:

It's time for another break from baby-book reading. In fact, I've been in need of some grand adventure reading, so I picked up two non-fiction / memoir books:

• Becoming Odyssa: Epic Adventures on the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Pharr Davis (holder of the women's record for fastest thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail)
• Pretty Woman Spitting: An American's Travels in China by Leanna Adams

Both books were quite different but shared the theme: dive-in-and-do-something-scary. They also both rang true, as both authors admit to moments of happiness, anger, frustration, fear, and disgust on their journeys.

(That both books cost less, on Kindle, than a grande mocha at Starbucks didn't hurt, either...)


Davis' book is one of the better thru-hike books I've read (maybe better... nay definitely better than Cheryl Strayed's Wild). Davis doesn't sugar coat the rough patches of trail, nor does she hide her enthusiasm on the good days. She also doesn't document every step taken on every rainy day. The book is a brilliant balance between trail memoir, coming-of-age story, and action/adventure tale. The book is frank and (frankly) funny at the same time that it's inspiring.

On the other hand, it took me awhile to get wrapped up in Adams' book about her year of teaching English in China. Early on Adams admits to a level of culture shock that I found off-putting. (In the first few pages, I found myself wondering "Really, did you know anything about China before you got on the airplane?") But within a few chapters, those early pages seem like a jet-lag induced bout of crankiness. Adams is refreshingly open to immersing herself in a new culture while also acknowledging her own cultural bias and the difficulties she faces trying to fit in. As someone who has moved around quite often in my own life, I empathize wholeheartedly.



Public Service Message from Captain Obvious: These posts are not intended to be a set of week-by-week pregnancy workout guidelines. Every woman needs to do what's right for her and her baby, with a doctor's guidance, of course. I'd just like to keep y'all up to date on how things are going in my little world.