26 week update

Still keeping at it! I feel great for workouts but the shortest of stairs take the wind right out of me. It must be the triple digit heat. ?

Here's this week's update straight off my notepad. 

Week 26

M - 1350swim

200 free

200 kick

200 pull

200 1 arm

2 x 200 pull

150 free

Yoga challenge - eagle twist

T - plank 1:35

W - AerialTone yogax2 headstand/

forearm handstand/split, plank 1:40

Th - swim 1600

200 free

200 kick

200 pull

200 free

200 1 arm

5 x 100 timed free

100 easy free (hey, that's a mile!)

Yoga challenge - deep lunge

F - bike 13.5m - flat tire at last mile :(

S - yoga - standing split with foot grab (translation: intense ham string stretching & warming up to even attempt this contortionist move) I'm calling this a leg workout considering how sore I still am. 

S -yoga - lotus & final day of challenge. We did it!

Here's a pic of the final #YogainSpace challenge for June. A nice meditative lotus position amongst blue trees. 

I feel like I've come so far throughout the month, testing my physical & mental  ability in working through these poses. 

It's been really fantastic to see that I CAN do it if I just give it a try & work through it.  I'm especially grateful for the bonding time between my 11YO daughter & I. She's really enjoying yoga & is pushing herself daily (hourly) to go further. Hence, why we are embarking on continuing with the July challenge as well (#Yogangsters). This should be interesting especially since I'll be between weeks 27 & 31 of the pregnancy!  

Stay tuned to see my progress & some, what will sure to be, blooper attempts at these poses later in the month. :)

Happy Monday & cheers to a short week! 

Poof, there goes week 18!

Just like that, another week has gone by and I am beginning to finally see a bump and also...FEEL pregnant.  Just last night, I jumped out of bed to check on the baby and whoa, Nelly!  My hip popped and my legs felt like they weren't attached to the rest of me.  I needed a few steps to um...wobble into a normal stride. Oh boy.

Nonetheless, I will continue to keep my fitness levels in check but most importantly, read the signs of my body and know when to pull back and take it easy.  Here is the run down on how last week went:

Mon - I had an early doctor's appt so I had to pass on Aerial class so I went for a 5 mile run after work.  For the 1st 5k of it, I ran with my son and pushed the baby in the jogging stroller.  I found a nice perk to this is that we could take turns  pushing the baby and he now has a new found respect for his mama...that thing hinders speed FOR SURE.  (Hence why he only hung for the first 3 miles...he was pooped!)

Last Monday, at 18wks2days, baby bump still in hiding...

Tues - off

Wed - Aerial Tone at lunch...I had the instructor all to myself so she was able to do extra modified moves just for me...like a private lesson! Sweet!

Thurs - I did double duty here...Lunchtime Yoga at work (I was the only one in class that was able to do the "Side Crow"...on both sides!! Yay!!)  and then Aerial  Tone in the evening.  My daughter's first words when I got home from work were "are we going tonight?!"...she pumped her brother up about it and really, I had no choice.  I was a little nervous about bringing them both and having them be a distraction but ironically enough, the threat of NEVER, EVER coming back there if so much I heard a peep from them kept them on their best behavior for a solid hour.  I couldn't help but enjoy the play time and monkey swinging free time at the end of the session with them.  Honestly, although my body was pooped, the time I spent with them is absolutely priceless.  ...my sister thinks I am the coolest mom ever and by the way my kids have told all their friends, I'm thinking they do too. :)

My favorite pigeon pose on the top right and some fun moves at the end of class with the kiddos (while I can)...I spy itty bitty baby bump! :)

Fri - off

Sat - off and the 1st time I felt HUGE.  My jeans felt tight and my hubby grinned all day about how my belly bump was protruding. We were supposed to go on a family bike ride (the weather was AMAZING) but our errands consumed the day and before we knew it, it was time for IRONMAN 3!  Fun!

Sun - Another gorgeous day and I was feeling antsy that we wouldn't get out there again because of a soccer game right smack in the middle of the day.  Getting 5 people in sync for a bike ride outside the neighborhood takes some juggling and when the baby fell asleep for a nap, I thought my outdoor activities were doomed for  the day. Luckily, my awesome husband stepped up and offered me a golden ticket..."you go, enjoy it, I don't want you to feel bad" I was hesitant and guilt started to wash over me but when he said "you better go before you run out of time!" I quickly packed up my gear and headed out.

I took Blu (my beloved road bike) out for a gorgeous ride from the club onto the trail and ran into a couple of friends that are training for a long ride next weekend.  They were on their way back and had already logged in 42 miles! ...I decided that at 8 miles, it was as good time as ever to turn back and ride with them for a bit.  I totaled 14 miles back to the club and quickly changed into my swim gear and worked on my laps.

Those first 10-15 laps are the hardest.  The water is cold, my body was cold and I was just plain 'ol tired.  But once I got warmed up, the laps came easier and easier.  I was shooting low because of the bike ride but managed to keep it at 50 for a 1250m swim.

My friend and I upon meeting on the Terry Hershey Trail. (I need a new helmet) 

Not bad for a prego mama, huh? Hopefully, I can keep it going!

Taking Flight

Every time I tell someone about my Aerial class, the reaction is usually the same..."what is that?".  I try my hardest to explain it but the  best real life reference that *most* people can get a visual of is when I mention Pink.  Not the color, rather the singer with amazing abs that usually flies through the audience during her concerts.  Of course, I have to quickly tone it down to explain that is NOT exactly what I am doing which is where it becomes a little difficult to describe without visual aids and I start looking like a monkey trying to describe some of the things we do.

Aerial Yoga, Anti-Gravity Yoga, Aerial Fitness, Aerial Arts, Aerial Fabrics, Aerial Silks, Aerial Dance...whatever you call it, they all have one thing in common - Aerial.  In the air, baby!  Depending on the studio, instructor & class you'd see a combination of techniques from Yoga, Pilates, Calisthenics, Gyrokinesis and Acrobatic moves integrated throughout any given workout.  I have been following Pink! for some time now and after she mentioned (and thanked) Dreya Webber for training her, I knew I wanted to learn more.  Dreya Webber is an aerialist and one of my "personal" work out buddies in the P90X videos so I was familiar with the name. ;)  She is strong, lean and shows amazing grace (and posture!) while doing her workouts.  Why wouldn't I want to learn more about this?  Well over a year ago, I did some research on this and even "pinned" some pictures on Pinterest as motivator to find a class and do it one day. It seemed to be on the very early side of a trend then since it wasn't something that was readily available in most cities to the layman (i.e you and me) but celebrities were starting to dote about how much they loved the practice and that's usually all it takes for it to start sprouting everywhere. Case in point, AntigravityYoga , developed by Christopher_Harrison (with many Broadway accolades) has many locations throughout the country now and their site even has information on franchising. (Check them out!...I plan to visit them when we travel to Manhattan this summer.)

I found that the ONLY place in Houston that this is available at is Vault/GyrotonicHouston.  As I mentioned here, I pulled the sample week class and was all geared up to attend and the schedule never panned out for me to make it.  (I had an infant at the time, a very active tournament baseball playing son and was gearing to get back to work among other things).  After that, Aerial lost its traction in my mind and was a faded memory until I went to the Pink concert earlier this year and it sparked me once again to look up the latest  schedule at Vault.  I was lucky enough to catch it in time so that I can set it on my radar for the following month. Coincidentally, my sister (a Yogi herself) posted a picture of herself on FB doing some pretty amazing aerial tricks with a friend of hers.  I knew fate was in the cards that I could not let this pass me up again.

So, here we are.  I attended the sample Aerial Fabrics class with a coworker a few weeks ago.  It was merely a sample so we only got to learn some basic locks, wraps and terminology but did get to flip over a time or two (super cool!).  Due to that fact that I am pregnant now, I knew that I would have to look at modifications if I wanted to pursue this as an exercise regimen. Particularly since  this class required a 6 week commitment (each class builds on itself by learning new techniques).

I tried their other class "Aerial Tone", which is more of a drop in class that can be taken anytime, and knew that I had found the right fit for me (for the time being) until post baby when I can really explore the Fabrics and actually take "flight".  In Tone, we do more muscle strengthening and conditioning that most aerialists need in order to do the performances and routines that they do up "there" by using an aerial hammock. Honestly, it's quite deceiving...it starts off kind of slow with dainty stretches but I assure you, using that hammock as a resistance band makes it is a FULL body workout, everything was burning by the end and child's pose and laying in the hammock in "corpse" pose was a welcomed relief!

I am now 4 classes into Tone and I see myself making this a twice a week routine until my belly won't allow it (which gauging from the last baby was well into my 8th month...fingers crossed that this will be the case this go 'round too!).  I feel myself (already) getting stronger, toner, more flexible and dare I say...taller?  My back feels incredible relief in some of the stretches that we perform and my spine feels realigned after every class.  Enough that I feel the need to continue my stretches and yoga poses beyond class (and see improvement!).  I'll have another post on the Instagram Yoga Challenge my daughter and I have been dabbling with every night later.

Speaking of my daughter, she has been begging to join me at one of my classes.  She's seen some of the pictures and wants nothing more than to partake in the action (can you blamer her?).  They have a kids class on Saturdays that I am considering turning that into a "mom and me" time with her but before I dive into that, I brought her to my last Tone class as an observer and to talk to the instructor about more.

Here are some of the fun things she did and let's just say, she was a natural and totally hooked!!

10 year old goes Aerial

And here are some of the exercises that work the legs, arms, abs and bum (usually all at once).

The plank (top right) is killer.  That's usually incorporate with crunching and twisting side to side at the END of the workout. Ooof!

And finally, here are some of the awesome stretches and fun stuff I got to partake in with my daughter, that in itself was priceless. :)

I love the "Giselle" on the bottom left to open and stretch the hip and back.

I feel great doing all these moves even with the baby (although the bump is barely noticeable in these pics).  I was inverted for very short periods (just for pics and fun, really) and the ab workouts were modified to be less intense.  In fact, while I was rest/cool down mode in the pod or "corpse position" I felt the little fella kick quite a bit, he must have been doing his own somersaults!

A great place to chill (and potentially get motion sick if you stay too long, I've heard!)

I'll leave you with my inspiration for all this flying stuff...Pink performing 'Glitter in the Air' at her concert in Houston, TX earlier this year: