A number of friendly folks have asked how I'm managing to do all this training and racing with a baby - and first and foremost I have to give a shout out to my amazing husband and family who are so supportive and care for Elly when I'm out doing a longer run or at a race. And I'm only working about 10 hours a week, in the evenings doing math tutoring, so I certainly have much more time than a mother who is also working full-time. Many days, I can bring her to the "Kids Club" at the gym - - - but the last two weeks she's had a cold off and on (that I'm pretty sure she caught AT the gym) so I didn't want to bring her and infect the other kids, so I've been going to the gym after my tutoring sessions in the evenings. And that's why this evening I arrived at the gym at 9:10 pm, and left (just 10 minutes before closing time) at 10:50 pm - and why I'm still sitting here in my sweaty workout clothes typing this at 11:30 pm. I need to get to the shower so Savva doesn't kick my stinky self out of bed when I try to get in. I am going to be SO TIRED tomorrow.
So the Friday before last I did something that I never really thought I'd do - I met with a personal trainer at my gym for a one hour personal training session. Brian is a very cool guy who also does stand-up comedy and is a magician - seriously! He taught me a dynamic warm-up (a bunch of movement exercises that challenge flexibility, strength, mobility and stability all at once) and a sequence of strength training exercises using some of the free weights and some of the weight machines scattered all over the gym. I was SO SORE the next two days, and that was with only doing two sets of the exercises he taught me, when he told me that normally I should do three sets. So it was with quite a lot of trepidation that I began my first solo strength training workout EVER on the next Monday - I've always been intimidated by the large grunting men in the weight room, and the Evanston Athletic Club has them just like anywhere else. But the second time around it was actually a lot easier, and I wasn't sore at all the next day. Yay! Getting stronger, hopefully...
Last but not least, there's a big change in my diet happening right now, and I am curious how it will affect my physical fitness - well, okay, really I'm wondering how it will affect my weight! See, when Eliana was just 3 months old she was diagnosed with a cow's milk protein intolerance, which meant that since I was breastfeeding her (definitely the healthiest and best way for her to get her nutrition), I needed to cut all diary out of my diet. No sour cream. No cheese. No yogurt. No cream in my coffee in the morning. No milkshakes or chocolate ice cream. It was ROUGH. But I think it really helped me lose the pregnancy weight - I gained a nice healthy 32 pounds in those 9 months, and when I weighed myself at 6 weeks postpartum I was still 15 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. Without really trying too hard (but weighing myself regularly to make sure I was on track) I lost those pounds in the next 9 months, and I attribute the ease with which they came off to the lack of diary in my diet. But most kids outgrow this protein intolerance by 1 year, so Elly's pediatrician told me to start dairy now and we'll see how she's doing in two weeks at her 1 year appointment. Today my dad came over and made me a croque monsieur for lunch - basically an amazing grilled ham & cheese sandwich with an extra cheese sauce on top - yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. Did I mention that Dad is graduating from culinary school in two weeks? Yum yum yum yum yum.
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