Ottawa Race Weekend

translated from my french blog

It was Ottawa's Race Weekend, I was 24 weeks pregnant and I ran a 10k!! Ok, I only ran for about 2-3 minutes on the course, but the rest of the way, I walked "fast".

We arrived to Ottawa by train on Friday afternoon - traveling by train was perfect, S and I got to relax and chat without having to drive all the way. When we got there we took a taxi to the hotel - that's when we realized what a good idea not having to drive in Ottawa was - there are lots of one way streets and lots of winding streets in Ottawa, would have been confusing...

We arrived at our hotel, relaxed for a few minutes, and then we walked to the "Fitness Expo'' to get my race kit. It was a good 8km to and from, so we walked at a relaxed pace - I didn't want my legs to be sore for the race! It was nice to walk all along Bank Street and see a bit more of the city :)

The day of the race, we walked around the ''By Ward Market''  a bit, and then we went back to the hotel to relax a bit, the race was at 6h30 pm.

Here is the obligatory belly/pre-race shot...

 

Wow there was a ton of people at the start line!!

 

My official spectator :)

 

Who is also my official photographer :)

 

I didn't put too much pressure on myself, just an ideal time to finish the race in 10 minutes per kilometer. I was happy to notice a lot of people who looked like they were there to walk the 10k - they had walking sticks and everything... It was kind of encouraging to think I wouldn't be the last to cross the finish line and/or the only one walking... 

My heart rate was much better this time, better than at Harry Rosen's 8km, but my legs - they worked hard, I felt my calves and thighs getting tired real quick... At the 2k mark I though -woah, will I be able to do this for 10km?!! But kilometers passed and my legs got used to the feeling... Enough to change my mind as of km #6 where I thought - pffff I can totally do this!!!!

Just like at Harry's 8k, S came to meet me on the course at around 9km - oh how good it was to see him and also to realise that I was almost done!

 

The only weird thing or 'discomfort' that I felt during the race came at around 6-7km - it was really warm outside, I had been walking for more than an hour... MY HANDS!!! They swelled up like balloons - I could not recognize them anymore! They reminded me of that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry was uncomfortable dating this girl because she had man hands!!

 

Ok, Maybe it's not that obvious here but trust me, my hands are usually slimmer than that. I'd say they are a third bigger than they usually are - I asked S and he says they were 37% bigger ha ha ha! It took a few hours before I could put my rings back on... I was so glad I had decided to remove them before the race!!

Official Results:

I was the 8275th person to cross the finish line out of 8497 runners

My 'Gun Time' is 1:46:56

My 'Chip Time' or 'real time' is 1:39:32

(99 minutes 32 seconds - mission accomplished!!!:)

In my category I finished: 831/845

and for women overall, I finished: 4839/5020

Not bad at all!!!

On Sunday morning, before leaving for Toronto, we had the chance to see some of the marathonand half marathon runners, from the comfort of our hotel room - the view from our room was fantastic!

 

I want to say a big congratulations to Laura who ran the 10k in Ottawa ''for real'' this weekend. 

BRAVO LAURA!!! :)

A few questions answered...

Things are moving along here. I am now 20 weeks and 5 days pregnant and I am starting to feel the baby a little bit. Not consistently yet, but still, there was a moment today when I felt something and it was clearly the baby moving for sure... I am a whooping 30 pounds heavier already - that's scary because that means I'm back to my pre-WW weight. And I know that it's more than the recommended weight gain.... more on that in an other post... :)

I wanted to go back to the questions that you asked a while ago. I haven't been blogging very often, but I still had these questions on my radar, I am going to answer a few now. Thank you so much to the readers who submitted questions!!!!! :)

How am I preparing for the baby:

To be perfectly honest, I have not really started to prepare for the baby much yet. Getting the right medical care and figuring out how to handle being pregnant has taken most of my mind until now. We have just started to think about the nursery and the items we will need once the baby arrives. We're going to build a Babies R Us registry soon for our friends and family - we have a really small house and I want to avoid people getting us too much stuff....

I think that it's starting to feel more real now that I have a bigger belly and that I'm starting to feel the baby, and I think that's going to give me that push I need to get things done. I still have some time though! :) I'll definitely post about things I prepare as I prepare them, so keep visiting for updates:) I plan to post a little more often from now on (at least once a week...)

Announcing the news to S:

We were pretty much "actively trying" to conceive, so we were both following the signs closely. I was sad when 'TOM" came, but when it stopped a couple days later (and was very light) I was suspicious (My TOM is usually pretty heavy and lasts forever, 8+ days at times...) So I did a test on a week day morning, before having a shower and heading out to work, and well, it said I was pregnant! I was shocked - I knew how little chance there was that we would be lucky enough to become pregnant on the first try! I wanted to tell S right then and there, but I had to finish with showering and I wanted to come up with a clever way of saying it. When the time came I opened the door and asked him:

"Do you know anyone who's a 'Virgo'?"

He said he didn't. That's when I pulled out the stick and showed him: "Well, you will in September!"
He had a big grin on his face, I think he was really happy. We were both really happy to know that quick that we were successful, we were going to have a baby!
That day was the longest work day ever, I was distracted all day!!! :)

S is English, Cinemarie is french...

S and I always had an understanding that my language is extremely important to me, and that our children would speak french fluently as much as they would speak english. There's no question in my mind - I want them to speak french not as a second language, but as their own language. I want them to think in french. We've been talking about having kids for a long time (I think we were talking about it in the first few weeks of our relationship, almost 8 years ago...) and I've always said that I would speak to our kids ONLY in french, and that he could speak to them ONLY in english. That way they have an easier way separating the languages.

I've read a lot about the subject and it looks like most people say it's the best way to go. I know it's going to be slightly challenging because S doesn't speak french, and also because the world around us is all in english, but I am going to try my hardest to never switch to english.

One thing that is going to help us is that we also plan to sign with our baby. Ever heard of that? When I heard of signing to your baby and saw that very young little girls and boys were signing way before they had the capacity to use words I was fascinated. I bought a book about it last weekend because I want to get a head start in learning the signs. This is the book: Baby Sign Language Basics: Early Communication for Hearing Babies and Toddlers, New & Expanded Edition PLUS DVD! So far it's great. It comes with a DVD where they sign all the signs from the book, so you can clearly see the proper way to do it. I played it once and I already have most of them memorized, well, most of the important ones (I memorized important signs like 'careful' but not all the signs that are less important like the ones about farm animals...) I'm really excited to start signing with our baby!! I can't wait!!! :)

The one good thing about this book is that they use actual ASL signs which are used all over the place. The great thing about ASL and signing in general, in our bilingual family, is going to be that the signs will kind of act as a 'bridge' between the languages. The same sign will be used for both a french word and an english word... I think it'll help S learn a bit of french too!! :)

Harry Rosen's 8km Race Recap

Sorry it took me so long to update - here's my recap:

I was 16 weeks pregnant and I raced for 8km - WOOHOO!!!!

*****all photos are by my mother:)

That being said - it was the slowest race I ever ran!! Here are the official results:

I was the 2186th to finish the race out of 2208 runners
My chip time is 1 hour, 13 minutes, 57 seconds.
My pace was 9:38
I was the 1067/1080 woman
and the 226/227 woman in my age group.


Hey, I wasn't last!!!!! :)

I didn't push too much, with a baby in my belly, I didn't want to risk anything. I read a lot about exercise while pregnant a few days before the race, I was getting more anxious as race day approached. A lot of sites said to keep your heart rate under 140. However, that number seems to be from old sets of recommendations that were changed in the 90s. Now, most of the sources say to go with the 'rate of perceived exertion' (RPE) . Basically, you go with how your body 'feels' rather than your heart rate.

There's a good article about it on Baby Center. According to them, while pregnant, you should work out between 65% and 75% effort (100% = exhaustion)

Some places (including my midwifes) say that you should be able to have a conversation without being completely out of breath...

Armed with all that info, I still wore my heart rate monitor and also planned to listen to my body. Before becoming pregnant, if I ran at my normal pace, I would easily hit peaks of 185 bpm, but I would usually maintain it around 175 bpm.

I started the race with an easy jog and quickly my heart went up past 175... I slowed down a little... but I felt alright... so I continued and found that my 'sweet spot' was to slow down and start walking whenever I hit 185... When I went back to the 160s, I would jog a little... It was a bit frustrating, but again, it's no time to risk things, so I kept it safe and I ended up walking most of the way...

Close to the end (I'm pretty familiar with that park so I knew exactly what was coming, a big hill and then the finish line) some more 'regular' people were walking on the path and I was trying to avoid them. I saw someone coming in the distance, in a blue shirt, and proceeded to walk towards the other side, when I realized it was S! He had walked back to find me!! :) He walked the rest of the way with me, that was so nice :) I went up the hill walking, and then sprinted to the finish line.

In the end I felt pretty good that I walked/ran for 8km, the farthest I've ever gone. It felt really good.

And I got my first race medal!! wheee! :)



Here's a video of the race. You can see S (not very well) at approximately 1:04:40 (he's on the opposite side of the path from the camera and there's someone between him and the camera... he's wearing a blue shirt and black shorts) You can see him again and me (pretty well this time) at approximately 1:31:10. I think you can tell which one I am, I'm the lady with the bigger belly... ;)

Watch live streaming video from canadarunningseriestv at livestream.com

Guest Post: Cinemarie's Husband's 8k race recap:)

***Cinemarie: Photos added!



***S with my mom who was visiting from Montreal that weekend - she took all the photos:)

Harry’s Spring Run-Off 2010

So I’ve been running with Marie for the last year and this year we’re a little more organized for the season and decided we’d do the Harry Spring Run-Off at High Park. There is a 5k and 8k version of the course – and since you get a medal for the 8k we figured “okay – bring on the 8k”.

Winter training has been treadmill and soccer and where 5k is pretty comfortable, I have run 8-10k outdoors last year, but in a random hap-hazard (getting lost on a trail) kind-of-way. Now it was time to play with the slightly bigger boys…

The race was on Saturday so on Thursday night I did a treadmill run – found my pace and ran a really comfortable 6k with a half kilometer sprint at the end (I really like end sprints).

Friday – feeling good – not much soreness from the run the day before so I wasn’t worried about soreness.

Saturday!

10am race time – 2700 runners in the 8k course with corral starts. I respect the runners who are runners and stay out of the first two corals. Since I like to pass people I figure I might as well start in the last coral – plus it gives me a chance to make sure my iPod-do-hickey is working before the start. Marie and I pretty much start at around 2400^th place which will take us 3-4 minutes to cross the start line. A quick shot of power-gel should help me work out any sore muscles early on.

***S and I at the start...

So in case you’ve never been to High Park – this course is hilly – like death-march hilly. Paired with some pretty narrow parts – it makes it fun to pass! (sarcasm).

Start: iPod working – nice pace – and I find a side where I can slip by people. 1.5 kilometers – find a pace buddy and we’re running well. See a bunch of people pull off to go to the first set of port-o-johns (note to self: don’t have coffee before a race). The hills are pretty moderate to start – long and gradual – so no major problems – my knees are a little sore, but I think that’s just from not stretching completely – plus switching back and forth from running on grass (to pass people) and on pavement.

2.5km: nice big downhill with lots of pace and lots of passing, followed by a very long gradual up-hill – too long in fact. This hill took about 1.5km – enough to feel a couple chest cramps and the delightful feeling of lethargy in my hips.

4km: Water station – Gatorade to drink and a water to dump on my head – LIFE!! After walking through the water station I had momentum again and started passing. Sometimes I’m motivated to go faster just to get away from all the people spitting on my legs (by accident of course!). This was supposed to be the only water station – so I made sure I was well hydrated to the end (no water packs on me for this race).

4-6km: Friggin’ downhill of death. The amount of people flailing their arms and running out of control down this hill was nuts – not to mention I was still in a pack so if anyone stopped – there would be about 30 people on top of them. Stay to the outside and jump into the bushes if things got out of hand. Hips definitely hurting now. I presume from the steepness of the hills. Normally I get some soreness the day after a race – but never on the day of. Need to focus and find a running pattern.

6km Surprise water station! This wasn’t supposed to be there – and judging by the randomness of water being handed out – I don’t think the organizers knew it would be there either. Anyways, it was a nice find with 2km left to go – so the slight wait to get water was worth it.

6-6.5km: Nice moderate run through the south end of the park. Tight trails though so there was a bit of jostling. By the end of it the hills started and mid-way up the hill there’s a damned French-Fry truck smelling like a deep fryer – mmmm lovely fries – I wonder if I could eat fries and run?? Sorry no money on me (thanks running shorts) so I had to continue up the hill. A long km of rolling hills finally gave a little space to pass people. Knees, blisters on the right foot, shoulder cramp and of course sore hips was making this arduous – but not as arduous as this…

7.5km Hill of death climb: Who the hell puts a giant friggin’ hill on the last stretch of the course!?! Forget sprinting – most people were walking up this hill. I had moments of passing people, but it was like night of the living dead on that hill with everyone moaning and expressionless.

Eventually I made it to the top and finished with a time of around 50min. Slower than my 5km pace and a lot sorer. I was never really out of breath on the course – just sore.

***That's S in the Blue Shirt at the finish line! :)

A few things I would change for next time: Take a Tylenol/Aspirin before the race- to thin the blood and get more oxygen to my muscles. Stretch my back and shoulders – they were stiff at the end of this race. Run in short-shorts – based on the temp – I was too warm and needed to cool off a bit on the long hill climbs. I need to find something for my iPod that tells me my pace – when I race I get too aggressive at times and need to avoid burn out.

All-in-all, I would do this race again. The competition in the 8k is a lot harder than the 5k, but the scenic nature of the run made it enjoyable. It’s not a spectator race though – since about half the course is run through the south end of the park – it’s hard to access.

Need to run tonight and try to stretch out the muscles – I’m not usually this sore after a few days (though it’s all in the hips).

S.

***Cinemarie: I will add photos to this post tonight and post my own race recap with my thoughts on how it felt to be pregnant and run a race, tomorrow! :)***

Exercising while pregnant - my perspective...

I read a lot about pregnancy these days and I see everywhere that it is recommended for pregnant women to exercise - to do moderate activities every day... Things that are most ofthe time in the safe to do list:

• yoga
• walking
• dancing
• swimming
• some strength training
• etc.

There are many conflicting ideas about running - though most sources I read say that it's safe so long as you were a runner before becoming pregnant and so long as you get the ok from your caregiver - which I do...

Now, I am still registered to run for Harry's 8k on April 3rd, and Ottawa's 10k on May 29th (I registered before becoming pregnant...) and while I have not moved much for the first 3 months of my pregnancy (the 24/7 nausea from hell preventing me to do LOTS of things, or at least making it very unpleasant and uncomfortable to do anything) I have started again recently, slowly, to exercise, as my symptoms seem to, somewhat intermittently, want to subside.

I ran this weekend for the first time since January - it was interesting... I tried to keep an eye on my heart rate monitor to avoid running for too long on a high heart rate. Well, I ended up running for 3 minutes then walking for 2, and starting again... At this point I am thinking 2 things:

1. I am rusty just the way I would be even if I wasn't pregnant and hadn't run for months, and I need to build up my strength again, gradually...
2. Maybe I am not that rusty, but I just can't run that much anymore because I am pregnant...

So I ended up doing the safe thing midway into my running session - walking fast and not running anymore... I figured that if I go to those races and have to walk fast the whole 8k or 10k, well I'll just do that...

Results: it took me 50 minutes to do 5.21km. Now I'm not that great at math, but I think it means that, at that same pace, I would do an 8k in about 76 minutes, or roughly 80 minutes (1h20 minutes...) I used to run 5kms in 33 minutes approx. (53 mins for an 8k at the 5k pace...) so that's an extra 27 minutes... not that bad I think... but I would like to push some more - I would like a better time than that... (Don't worry, if I don't 'feel right' I'll walk the whole time, I don't mind at all... ) Right now it kind of feels like I'm being extra careful, maybe too careful...

I was thinking of that this weekend and remembered how Jess from 21 days, ran during her pregnancy and was pretty successful at it. I went back in time to read how she felt about the whole thing during her first trimester... I came across this interesting post:

''Doing my Research''

So I think I am going to try and push a little more. Now I am realistic and realize that we're very close to April 3rd and probably won't have a fabulous time at the end of the race (Especially since I know that the race course is really hilly...) But I will certainly train on my treadmill and push it a little more, and try to be as 'well trained' as I can be for the 10km in Ottawa...

That will be my last race before I have a baby! I'm kind of sad to have to skip racing this year - I wanted to try and do a half marathon at the end of this year, I was psyched to train really seriously and run more and farther... I guess I have to postpone that! In the meantime, I am going to train and run for as long as I can. And on alternate days, I will try other things that are part of the 'safe to do' list :)


Still to come: How I am preparing for baby - How I announced I was pregnant to hubby and how I plan to raise my baby given that we are a bilingual household (very good question - thank you Tash!)

14 weeks and 4 days... Eating...

I got a date for my next ultrasound today: April 26th! I can't wait. That's when I will probably find out if it's a boy or a girl...

What I've been eating: I have been eating a very 'varied' diet lately that includes anything from McDonald's Chicken McNuggets to quinoa salads. I have tried to include more vegetables in my diet, as recommended, but I find that the veggies I usually go to and love I currently do not enjoy (nice way to say that just thinking about them makes me gag...) Things like broccoli for instance, that I used to love... now? ewwwww! :) I basically stick to tomatoes and cucumber for now. I am however, having lots more fruit - kiwis, apples, bananas, grapes, watermelon, strawberries... Fruit is great and easy and makes fabulous snacks!

A thing I realized is protein seems to help with my nausea. So I've pretty much had my favorite quinoa salad for lunch most days of the week at work for the last 4-5 weeks - it's really yummy and I can feel it helps my nausea pretty quickly. And it's got a pretty decent amount of protein in it!
















I've also had lots of hard boiled eggs, and I eat lots of dairy products for calcium and protein also... I drink lots of skim milk, have some cheese (not soft cheeses though, as apparently some of them are 'dangerous'...) lots of low fat yogurt...

I have the occasional granola bar here and there...

I read in a few places that carbs and/or whole grains helped nausea - well not for me! I started trying to calm it down with some whole grains and crackers and felt miserable - I felt full all the time, but I was still hungry, still had nausea, and couldn't eat any more... I literally had to force myself to eat, it was not pretty... I didn't want to eat anymore... never thought I would ever say that! :)

So for weekday lunches and snacks I'm doing ok - it's the evening meals that are more challenging - a combination of the evening being my worst nausea time and the long drive home which means waiting to eat for a long time - it all makes it extra miserable. Having to prep dinner with all the odors and the hunger and the nausea, not good... So I've resorted to eating from the 'drive-thru' more than a few times. The idea that I only need to wait 5 minutes and it's ready to eat and warm - it's just heaven... I try to get the healthier options on the menu, the ones I am used to - like the grilled chicken burger at Harvey's, and some salads at Wendy's and McDonald's... but sometimes I just feel like fries and chicken McNuggets - what can I say! :) I think that so long as it's in the mix along with a lot of other healthier meals, it can't be that bad...

Quantity-wise, I am not limiting my intake anymore, the way I used to when I counted points, but I try and go for the healthier things when I eat more. I'm definitely not doing the 'eating for two' thing. They say you only need about 300 extra calories a day. I have quickly realized that I am used to a certain quantity of food a day - but a quantity that is meant for weight loss - I have been on weight watchers for so long! 300 extra calories are on top of a much higher number of calories than what I am used to... something like 2000-2300 (Angie All the Way explained it well in her post on Feb. 8th - did you know she was pregnant as well?! :) So yeah - I think I am eating within the range, but I have not been counting - I figure if I keep eating as healthy as possible, then everything should be A-Ok...

Thanks for your comments/ideas ladies, that helps a lot!!! :)

next up - exercises!

So I'm pregnant...

It doesn't feel really 'real' yet - well, except for the nausea and the heartburn and the weight gain... I have not 'clicked' yet - realized that this is really happening...

I waited to tell everyone until I was safely past the first trimester, the risk of miscarriage is really low as you get to the 2nd trimester... I was very scared to tell my work people, very anxious, as I am finishing a contract at the end of April, and my upcoming contract would keep me busy from the end of April until the end of February. Knowing that I will only be able to work for 4-5 of the 10 months of this contract, I was putting myself in a position where my employers might want to just hire someone else who would be able to just do the full 10 months... Anyways... There really hasn't been that much talk about 'details' yet, but they have given me enough indication that this contract was mine and I felt confident enough to go ahead and let them know... I just couldn't afford not to work starting in April. Not with a baby on the way - oy...

As for health and baby development - I think things are going ok - normal anyways... I am 14 weeks and 3 days along today, and I feel pretty miserable physically, but have high hopes that things will become easier in the 2nd trimester... I think this pregnancy will have changed the way I see food forever - My Oh My!!! I have been suffering from pretty intense 24hr nausea (I am medicated now and don't feel as bad- but I can still feel nausea a few times during the day...) Things I used to crave are now making me gag... and the only way to help it go away is eating... so I've piled up about 14 lbs so far. Yup I'm at 171lbs already. phew!

I have done very little exercise so far - I really need to improve on this. But I just feel so bad all day... I have good intentions of starting... any time now... any time...now... yeah... :)

I don't really have crazy cravings or anything like that - at least not yet - just things I can not think about or see without gagging... :) I tried to avoid reading some of my favorite food blogs because of that... it was tough! :) What's the worst is that you know that eating will help, so you try to plan what you could eat in you head, but then that makes you nauseous... ugh... a big challenge! I can't remember what it feels like to not have nausea every day anymore, I can't wait until it's all a thing of the past... :)

I'm sporting a little belly, and am already wearing some maternity clothes. Oooo maternity clothes are so comfortable!!!

I can't wait for the next ultrasound (should be in 4-6 weeks) where I get to possibly find out if it's a boy or a girl. I know a lot of people are into finding out at birth, but I just can't wait to find out!

I'll keep you posted... What would you like me to write about - do you have any questions? I'm a bit rusty, I think it'll take me a few posts to get back to my blogging rhythm - getting your feedback will help :)

I shall return...

I let my work people know about what's going on today, so I am free to reveal why I have not blogged for the last 3 months:


see you back here soon...