SLIDER

on fitness during pregnancy

9.12.2017

Most of you also know that my "fitness journey" has been a bit interesting. When Craig and I first met, it was super involved in triathlons. (In fact, our first date was quite late, starting at maybe 8pm because he had a long bike ride scheduled for that night!) I swore I would never do a triathlon and yet one year later I had completed 5 triathlons, 2 half-marathons, and a 15k race. But then we moved to New Haven and that all came to a screeching halt for both of us. The weather wasn't conducive to working out outside and cycling in the area was horrendous. I did a bit of yoga in New Haven but honestly, my health took a turn for the worse during those two years.

For the past 18 months or so, I had been teaching Barre classes at the gym we belonged to in Charlottesville. I started going to Barre classes when we first moved to town and found out that the current teacher was going to be moving. I inquired about becoming certified to teach and it didn't end up being a tough process. I have LOVED teaching my Tuesday night ladies and it was bittersweet for me to say goodbye to them when we moved.

So my pre-pregnancy routine would be to teach 1-2 days/week and then TRY to get in some additional activity - a long walk/hike with Haven on the weekends, an at-home video, or yoga.

Within the first few weeks of this pregnancy, I could do nothing. It was a miracle that I actually was able to keep up with teaching because I had no energy. In fact, I cut WAY back on how much I participated in the class because I just physically couldn't. I also started showing super early as well and ended up telling my class that we were pregnant around 10 or 12 weeks.

When I did feel like I had energy, all I could muster was a long walk with Haven. The doctor recommended getting my heart rate up for at least 30 min/day and honestly, a brisk walk around the neighborhood did just that.

As soon as we arrived in San Francisco, I got on a real fitness kick. I think because I've been growing so quickly, I'm really motivated to stay active and keep up my strength. Obviously, we do a ton more walking here and with the hills, that is an intense workout (I'm basically wearing a 20lb weighted vest all the time). I've also been really into prenatal pilates as well as prenatal yoga. I've attended a few traditional Barre classes in the area but honestly, I just have to modify so much of the class already that it's not really worth it. I got into pilates a little bit in Charlottesville and I love that I found a studio that has prenatal specific classes. I'm still able to get a great workout while doing exercises that accommodate the tiny humans inside of me.



Prenatal yoga is also great. I'm not sore or achy yet but just taking some time to move, bend and stretch feels good. It's also a great way to meet people. In the 2 weeks that we've been living in San Francisco, I've already been to 8 classes and walked to each one! I'm hoping to stay really strong and fit as long as I can to help with the recovery on the other end.

that one time it was 97 degrees in our apartment

9.06.2017

Let me preface this by staying, the dramatic weather we experienced here in San Francisco pales in comparison to the devastation in Houston and I am very aware of that. This blog is a light-hearted space for me to jot down memories and keep you all updated. If it sounds dramatic or whiny, please just take this with a grain of salt. 





Some of you may know that San Francisco experienced an insane heat wave over Labor Day weekend. It rarely gets above 80 in the city and yet on Friday and Saturday, we saw 107 degrees which apparently is an all time record, like ever. 

Now, you might be thinking, so what? You two use to live in Dallas and it's certainly hot (and humid!) in Virginia. Here's the kicker - they don't have AC in San Francisco. Apartments don't come with AC. Restaurants and coffee shops don't have AC. I called one of the local libraries, they don't have AC. It's just not something you ever really need here. 

Here's what that means. It means that by 10am on Friday, it was 92 degrees in our apartment. We luckily already had a fan but it hardly did any good to combat the temps. By the time we went to bed on Friday night, we were miserable. I managed to get about 2 hours of fitful sleep. I attempted to sleep with wet washcloths covering my basically naked body. On top of that, I felt so bad for Haven because there was hardly any way for us to keep her cool. Around 3am I scoured the internet for a hotel but given the holiday weekend, there was nothing. 

By 7am on Saturday morning, we were at 89 degrees in our apartment and just all together miserable. The temperature hardly dropped overnight. We ended up taking the dog down to the beach for a bit to try to help her cool off and then decided to just get in the car and drive. Believe it, our car because one of the only reliable places to cool off! We decided to drive about 2 hours north (where it was 112!) to Healdsburg to visit a winery that allowed dogs inside and had AC. We ended up having a great time and I know the pup was glad to escape our hellish apartment. 

When we returned home around 6pm, it was still up in the 90s in our apartment but it had started to slightly cool off outside (like it was 87 instead of 96). It was more bearable at this point to be outside than in our apartment so we headed out in search of some food - anything to kill some time before having to suffer in bed. 

Luckily, I managed to get some sleep Saturday night and Sunday morning was cooler (71 outside, 81 inside our apartment).

In the end, what we've learned is that a warm, super sunny day is going to drastically heat up our apartment because we have old windows that have no insulation. Keeping the blinds closed makes little difference. I'm glad this type of weather doesn't still around long in these parts and you better believe I was praying the fog would roll in thick. 


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