Our permanent company arrives

After 14 hours of contractions, 1.5 hours of really strong contractions and 20 minutes of pushing, Hannah Taylor entered the world on August 12 (right on time...1 day before her due date).  Labor is a truly physical activity and I cannot begin to imagine how someone does it when they don't exercise for the whole 9 months.  For 12 hours after delivery, my legs felt shaky and weak as if I had done a strenuous workout (which I guess I did)!

For the first 2 weeks I didn't even care to find time to leave the house. I got out for maybe 1 walk, but I was just loving every moment of being Hannah's mom.  It is also hard being her food source, to be away from her for any period of time, being she doesn't have a routine.

By the end of the third week, I was feeling the need to move.  I found time for a walk (20-30minutes) on most days.  I wasn't feeling guilty leaving because I knew she was well taken care of by her daddy AND I now always leave at least 3oz of pumped breast milk in the fridge.  It allows me to leave Hannah without stressing and it gives her daddy a chance to feed her too!

Prenatal Yoga

Something that has probably been most important in getting ready for the arrival of Baby Zopp has been prenatal yoga.  I started weekly prenatal Kundalini yoga classes at 25 weeks.  Kundalini yoga focus on the chakras, meridians and breathing.  There has also been gentle stretching, but a sole focus on breathing.  One of the best exercises we do in class is creating discomfort through postures that require small repetitive movements.  My favorite one to breathe through has been arms straight out to the sides and flapping them for 3 minutes.  All of the exercises we do to simulate a contraction are 3 minutes because no contraction is longer than 3 minutes.  With eyes closed and looking upward it helps to focus the mind and open communication with the baby (working on meridian lines).  I have also taken this practice into my swimming.  It helps to practice working through discomfort and fatigue.

Now, at 39 weeks, it's waiting for the little one to arrive.  I hope that all I have been doing will make labor manageable.  Nick and I took parenting and labor classes when I was about 30 weeks, but I feel that the education I have learned in yoga will serve me much better.  It has been helping now, as I've become anxious to meet Baby Zopp.  She will come when she is ready, but I hope it is soon!

No more running, but becoming a gym rat!

The last few weeks have been great!  Feeling great, getting in a workout everyday, and she's growing!  Summer hasn't been too hot, but I've always liked the heat.

It's been great having Nick home this summer. We've been sleeping-in until about 7:00-7:30 and then usually heading to the gym.  Spending some mornings swimming anywhere between 1800 and 2800yds.  Swimming feels great, and swimming fitness hasn't changed much in the last few months.  We also spend some mornings lifting.  This is the most important to me, now in the final stretch.  It's something I often neglect, but it's always better with a partner.  Cardio has been good too!  I love the AMT, I can still get me heart rate up for a good workout. The elliptical is also good, but doesn't seem like it is as much of a workout.  

I've found a new joy for walking, it's one of the few ways to get outside these days, as I had to stop running in June :(. Running was great, but it was pulling on some of those supporting muscles that were holding up baby Zopp would be sore for days afterward!  So, sore it made sitting and standing uncomfortable.  It's my own fault because of being so busy with work I didn't have time to run regularly and couldn't keep up the strength of those muscles, over relaxin hormone being released.  If only I now had a dog to take on my walks!

I've also put away my bikes, those tiny seats were also leaving me sore and uncomfortable.  It's probably also partially due to my head telling me that if I can't be outside on the open road, and don't need to be on that tiny seat, then it's not worth the time.  I have started riding the bike at the gym (the ones with the comfy seats!)

Also, still finding time for some open water swims...my favorite part of this summer!

On the baby front, her room is coming together. We are so lucky for the friends and family that have helped us get things ready. It's been a lot of cleaning and organizing to make room for this new tiny life!  Our friends have been so generous to pass down their used baby items, crib, car seat, bassinet, rocker-sleeper, clothes, advice and support!  We are so lucky and she is lucky to have great people around her when she finally arrives!  Less than 3 weeks!

(37 weeks, 1 day)

Summer is here!

Being a teacher, the month of June gets super busy!  Between trying to get everything at school wrapped up and organized for my leave replacement in the fall, there wasn't a lot of time/energy left for working out. Now that school is over, I can get back to the gym, lifting regularly, and getting in cardio on a more regular basis too!

I've also started doing open water swims!!  I didn't think I was going to get in any water this summer because I wouldn't be able to fit in a wetsuit. I was wrong!  I can swim without my protective suit and be just fine. Which really is a big deal for someone who grew up hating swimming in lakes for fear of what might be in there that I couldn't see.

I'm in the home stretch with about 6 weeks to go!!

Racing and Mother's Day

We did our first race a few weeks ago, and then another for Mother's Day.  Going into a race with the mindset that you can't go fast and that it really is just another training run, makes race day much less stressful!  Each time I started in the middle of the pack, and enjoyed the relaxed pace and people around me.

Our first race was the Rye Derby 5 mile, on a beautiful, sunny morning!  We were the 7th Female, 2nd Female 30-39, with a time of 40:29.

Since that first race was so much fun running with people around, I wanted to celebrate my first unofficial Mother's Day with a Mother's Day 5K.  It was hot and humid, I'm glad it was only a 5K.  I was 9th overall and 1st Female 30-34.  A great start to the first of many Mother's Days!

Workout attire

As the body goes through changes as does my wardrobe. Ironman weight and pregnancy weight seem to distribute things very differently...duh!  My biggest issue is finding bottoms that don't put too much pressure on the abdomen. It's uncomfortable and she seems to kick a little more because it's putting pressure on her already cramped space. But my abdomen has been the most sensitive to pressure since the very beginning.  It now makes sense because that's where the little peanut has situated herself very comfortably.

I refuse to buy new bike shorts since they cost a fortune in the first place, so I've been figuring out which pairs feel the best. My most favorite pair are my Coeur Trishorts (http://www.coeursports.com/collections/triathlon/products/sea-glass-triathlon-shorts).  Not only is the chamois super comfortable, but the waist band doesn't put any added pressure and seems to keep feeling great as the baby bump gets more pronounced.  Also, the band isn't too low that I don't feel like I'm sticking out and covers the belly nicely (not maternity style, but just right)  Thanks to a teammate (Amy Farrell) who is on the Coeur Team I was able to get the shorts at a very reasonable price when I was in Kona.  I never wore them before being pregnant, but I can assume they feel just as great during Ironman weight.  Kebby (the owner) seems to really understand women and always has a smile!

My other favorite shorts are the Zoot Performance Trishort (http://zootsports.com/womens/apparel/w-performance-tri-4-short-s14).  The waistband and legs feel fantastic. Sometimes the chamois seems hurt a little with my growing hips, but overall very comfortable.  The waist band seems to roll down slightly as my bump gets bigger, not sure how much I like that.  I wore these through Ironman training, and they were one of my favorites, not a surprise I still like them a lot.

The worst shorts from the very beginning have been the Betty Designs Trishorts (http://www.bettydesigns.com/collections/triathlon-1/products/garden-party-womens-tri-short)...these aren't the exact shorts I have, mine are the HPT custom design, but similar style.  The waistband digs in and doesn't give myself or the baby any room to breathe!  I didn't like them much at Ironman weight, always lots of chaffing. I was shocked at how uncomfortable they were in the first 6 weeks!

I have an older pair of Pearl Izumi shorts that were fine for the first 4.5 months, but the waistband is too low and just doesn't feel right anymore!

I write this as I'm getting an easy ride on the trainer :)

(Not wearing bike shorts for tonight's 30min ride...ouch!)

Training During 5th Month

Energy levels are way up, the weather is getting a little bit nicer and it seems I'm in better shape.

In the last 2 weeks (weeks 19.5-21.5), my heart rate during workouts seems to stay below 150bpm much easier, my running pace has dropped about 30 seconds per mile and she has started moving around (such a cool feeling).

Saw the doctor for the Anatomy Scan at week 20 to make sure all organs and limbs were developing properly, and everything is right on target!  She's also super flexible. She was showing off with her feet over her head. And yes, it's "probably a girl".  I don't think doctors like to give a definite diagnosis on anything in fear of being sued!  My weight has also been increasing appropriately. I've gained about 21 pounds since the Ironman.

With the baby's measurements on target, my steady weight gain, and her jabbing at me when I'm sitting around being lazy are all signs to me that the training I'm doing is just right!

I'm averaging 2 bike rides per week (on the trainer of course), 3-4 days of running totaling 18-22miles (my long run is 8.5 miles, I'm hoping to work to 10 miles), 2-3 days of swimming 3000yds/session, and lifting 1.5hrs/week (I'm going to try to work that up to 2.5hrs/week, I want to stay strong).  All for about 9-11hrs/week of "training".

Almost a bump!

Can still see my feet (week 21).

Spectating can be just as fun as racing

I've always enjoyed spectating, but it's a little different when you are spectating because you can't race. Well, I guess I could run the race, but I haven't quiet built up to a full 13.1 miles yet. I'm not sure if I can or should.  I love being behind the camera and cheering on my HPT teammates, but I missed being part of the race. I thought I was not going to pay any entry fees this year and just enjoy keeping up my fitness for when the baby arrives, but I have an itch to jump in with the crowd.

Spectating is great, but there is so much down time between seeing them start and seeing them finish. So, since I'm a running addict (and so are a few of my friends), I did an 8 mile run during the race. Noga, Kristen, Matt (other teammates not racing) and I watched the race pass 1 mile, and trailed behind the pack for 4 miles up through the hills of Sleepy Hollow. We had many laughs as the race officials stopped traffic for us to cross streets, as the photographers took our "race photos" and as racers commented on how we made it look so easy!  Oops!!!  Didn't anyone notice we didn't have any race bibs on?

We got to see our teammates on a loop of the course and we even made it back to the finish in time to see all but one of our teammates cross the finish line. Back behind the camera catching teammates coming up their last hill, looking at the finish line, and capturing that look of determination and accomplishment made spectating fun!

Now I think I want to run a 10K race. The atmosphere and the people make it more fun than just training. Time to start looking. Time to get this baby to "run" it's first race!

First Trimester

The first trimester:

Really, you don’t get to see a doctor to confirm a pregnancy until you are 7-9 weeks pregnant???  So, I spent the month of December reading Exercising Through Your Pregnancy, by James Clapp and Catherine Clam, and monitoring my efforts on workouts.  My coach and I discussed that I shouldn’t get my HR up in the 180s again, but it seemed that the 150s was safe, as it seemed I was still able to have conversations with it at 155bpm, while still breaking a small sweat.  And I finally get to use all the fans I want!  (In preparation for Kona, most of my training was done in the warm studio, with NO FANS!)  It was a good thing I had been starting to learn and monitor my heart rate during the last year, it helped me to better understand my perceived efforts.  My usual tempo HR during Ironman training was about 150bpm.  150bpm during the first trimester didn’t seem like I was working anywhere near where I had been working before.  I did a lot of reading online, trying to find blogs of pregnant-competitive endurance athletes, but it was difficult to find answers.  That is part of the reason I wanted to start a blog.  Hopefully my experiences will help other expecting endurance athletes too!  Many things I read said HR should be around 140bpm, but my coach and I felt that seemed too low for the effort.  Even reading Exercising Through Your Pregnancy Pregnancy said that it is difficult to say a set heart rate for every pregnant woman, even Clapp and Cram felt that “perceived effort” was a much better base.

When I finally saw a doctor at 9 weeks, everything was looking great, right on target, but she was concerned about letting my HR get up in the 150s.  I disagreed, so she left the room and conversed with other doctors.  She admitted to never having worked with an endurance Ironman athlete before, and that as long as my overall HR for my workouts wasn’t above 140bpm, then that should be good for the baby.  I’ve been able to follow that no problem!  Considering my baby’s heart rate was 185bpm at rest, I don’t want to tax it’s little heart too much or pull too much blood away from the baby to allow my muscles to work harder.  I’m sticking with my doctor because she is willing to work with me, and is going to make sure to help monitor the baby’s growth and progress once a month to make sure the working out I’m doing isn’t causing any harm to the baby.

My husband and I joke that either our baby is going to come out loving swimming, biking and running or our baby is going to hate it!  It will be his/her choice, as long as he/she is healthy and happy that is the most important thing!

I found I felt great during workouts, even though swimming, biking and running were much slower, but then I was super exhausted!  Saturday morning I would do my modified 2 hour bike effort at the HPT cycling studio, followed by a 2 hour nap.  It seemed I needed much more sleep than ever before.  Waking up at 5am was getting even harder!

I’ve become a fan of all the pool toys to help me focus on my stroke while my body is slowing down in the water.  I had a swim analysis done by Mary Eggers (who has recently joined the HPT team) when I was 9 weeks pregnant to help give me some good things to work on.  She suggested I buy Finis agility pull-paddles.  I now know why all those master’s guys use them!  They really help with the stroke.  As it was clear in the analysis, I do a lot of kicking and miss a lot of water in my stroke, which Mary calls “free speed”.  I’m still working on making that “free speed” feel natural.  If only I had grown up swimming, maybe it would be natural!

Running has always been my favorite thing to do (I started running when I was 7), but it has also always been a struggle with nagging aches, pains and injuries.  I’ve been determined to keep it up because everyone says that running becomes the hardest as the baby begins to change your center of gravity.  My pace has slowed, but that’s okay.  I don’t want to tax the baby’s heart rate for too long and it’s always so hard to keep the heart rate low on a run without totally losing form or turning the run into a walk.  Since I wasn’t running much when I found out I was pregnant, I’ve kept mileage low, with my long run being 8 miles.

Running has been easier since I’m more in tune with my body and I’ve learned a lot about being aligned and balanced.  I started seeing Dr. Stu, a chiropractor/ART therapist/Ironman athlete, to help keep me aligned 2 years ago.  He has helped in all of my Ironman training’s, and so far in my pregnancy.  You could say, I’m addicted to feeling aligned.

My whole life isn’t about my training, I’m also a science teacher and track coach.  I love working with kids, they have so much potential and it’s great to watch them grow.  I work in a school that is K through 12 in one building, so you really get to see the whole child develop.  It’s a high performing district both academically and athletically.  Coaching and teaching isn’t just about writing and implementing plans, but it is about getting to know the kids and help them grow into people.  I love going to work everyday!

I’m one of the “lucky” ones, I didn’t have morning sickness, so I was able to hide it at work for almost 4 months.  I started telling people, not because I was showing (I’m still not really), not because my pants are tight (I’ve had to dig into my “big” pants from college and through some hair-ties on button loops to feel more comfortable at work), but because the stress of keeping something in that was so exciting was making me very cranky and moody at work.

Am I really that out of shape after a few weeks?

After taking a few weeks off and enjoying classes at the local Y, changing it up from just swimming, biking and running, I felt mid-November was a good time to get back at things.  I took enough time off of running that I was able to run pain free!  I spent the month of November making my own training plan to work back into shape.  Starting the week of November 24, a few things felt off.  My HR at the end of hard bike efforts was about 192bpm, usually my HR doesn’t go much above 180bpm.  On Thanksgiving morning I did a Turkey Burner cycling class at the HPT studio, in my comments I wrote “Hit all power numbers.  I’m clearly not in shape, my HR was super high!”  Over the next few days I kept noticing my heart rate would spike on what seemed like easy to moderate efforts.  And I was SUPER thirsty.  I could finish double the amount of water during a workout than I usually would.  And all of a sudden swimming got slow and harder to keep up with the Master’s group I usually swim with.  I knew something was up, but thought maybe this was my body punishing me for taking time off.  With December and the holidays getting near, I decided I needed motivation...I was clearly lacking motivation, that’s why I was getting slow!  So, I resorted to social media to motivated me and I posted my “25 days of Fitness” for the month of December.  I was also feeling super tired all the time, was I depressed?  Was my lack of motivation and my slowness making me depressed?  I started Googling and reading...I started putting it all together...I was pregnant!

My husband and I had discussed wanting to start a family, especially seeing so many of our teammates at HPT balance family and tri-life, we felt it was time to start trying for a family of our own.  After putting my body through the strenuous Ironman training, we figured it would take time to conceive...guess not!  Surprised, but overjoyed!  2015 was going to be the year of maintaining fitness, while preparing for our first child.

2014 was the year of Ironman

2014 was the year to get in the best shape of my life and to culminate my season at the Ironman World Championship in Kona. 2014 was a great training and racing year, I hit a marathon PR by 12 minutes, a half-marathon PR by 6 minutes and a half-Ironman PR by 17 minutes. Overall, a successful year, except I spent the 7 weeks before Kona, NOT RUNNING! I tried to not let it get to me, but it inevitably did, since I often rely on my run to make up time in a triathlon, even though I spent much of 2014 getting stronger on the bike and in the swim, it wasn’t enough to make up for my lack of running. My Kona goals needed to be readjusted, not only because of my lack of running heading into the race (I did spend significant time on the AMT, but it wasn’t the same as hitting pavement for miles on end), but the winds in Kona were some of the worst in years, that I spent 5 of my 6 hours on the bike holding on for dear life and trying not to be scared. The run hurt, I walked more than I ever have in a race, but wow, pavement is much harder than the non-impact AMT! Luckily, nothing else seemed to hurt, but the bike stress made me more tired than I had ever anticipated. But hey, I was in Hawaii, and it was beautiful, and amazing, and I was there with not only a great teammate (and role model), but also some family and friends who made the experience worth it, where I was able to finish with a smile, no tears and a hunger to tackle Kona again.

But first, my body needed some time off, and I needed to give some more time and energy to my family, especially my super supportive husband/ultimate race-day Sherpa. 2014 would have never been possible without my team, High Performance Training (HPT) and my coach Julio German, who always seems to see the greater potential and is able to push me to limits I had never dreamed possible.