calibrateBUMPS: Cait's Week 22-23

Happy Last Weekend of June (where has the first half of 2020 gone?!?),

Well, I knew it was going to come at some point. The week my body was going to force me to slow down. I had super low energy levels this week and my abdomen and pelvis felt strained from Monday through until Friday end of day. I think Fudge is growing! Made the most of the slower gym time in other great ways, finished a book, started and finished a second, and started a third! Not a bad week at all! I also started 2 new podcasts as they're my new go to on all my various walks.

Training - not much to report here!

Monday

2 hour walk into the studio to start the day and that's about all I had the energy for. Managed just over 14,000 steps.

Tuesday

Absolutely nothing, today I was definitely uncomfortable so I just took it super slow. Didn't even hit 10,000 steps.

Wednesday

Walked for a total of about 4 hours, didn't have the energy to do much else but I wanted to move. Hit just over 22,000 steps.

Thursday

Used the public holiday to take my reading outdoors. My husband and I walked from Pokfulam to Repulse Bay, lounged on the beach for a few hours reading, we then walked back towards Deep Water Bay beach where I stopped off for 2 hours to say hi to some of my best buddies from my rugby team. Chilled in the evening. Figured 3-4 hours of walking was good enough for the day. Hit 21,000 steps.

Friday

I thought I would have energy for a training session today but when it came time to choose between training and a walk, I opted for the latter. I still wasn't up to weights or resistance training. I wasn't even up to stretch. Hit 13,000 steps and called it.

Saturday

Valley Everest Challenge Day! The club I play rugby for decided a few weeks ago to hold a stair climb challenge raise money for people in HK adversely affected by COVID-19 (specifically: supporting a food bank and supporting a charity that works with victims of domestic violence) , the aim was to ascent the equivalent height of Everest 4 times between 6am and 6pm. Anyone who wanted to register could register and we were given a one hour block during which our individual aim was to try and climb the long flight of stairs between Oolaa on Bridges St and Caine Road. My time slot was 10-11am.

The competitive person in me saw that earlier on in the day the women's record had been set at 20 ascents in an hour and the mens record stood at 28. I decided 28 was maybe going to push it (I had promised my husband I wouldn't go into premature labour today) but figured it'd be good to beat 20. Then right before I started a 15 year old netballer set a new record of 24.

I settled for an ideal goal of 23 ascents to mark the 23 weeks I'm currently pregnant. I managed 22.

Could I have pushed to do a bit more? Probably, but as I've said this entire pregnancy, now isn't the time to try and set personal bests...

The club managed a total of 8.5 Everest ascents over the span of the 12 hours.

If you'd like to donate to the charity challenge you can find the link here:

https://www.charitablechoice.org.hk/en/campaigns/vrfc

Post stair run I actually did a fair bit of walking. I think I'll most definitely hurt on Monday...2 day DOMs are the worst.

Sunday

After an action packed Saturday and a week of not going to the gym I actually woke up invigorated. I'd done a fair bit of walking during the week and then the stair run yesterday I figured I should do a quick upper body session followed by a longer lower body stretch.

3 sets each:

A1. 10 Inverted Rows

A2. 12 Kettlebell Bottoms Up Press

B1. 10 Swiss Ball Chest Press

B2. 15 Standing Y Pulls

C1. 45s Grasshopper

C2. 15 Poloff Presses

30min lower body stretch

Life in General

Low energy levels and strain in my abdomen aside, I can't say I have too much to complain about this week! I knew the slower weeks would come and I actually really enjoyed the downtime to do lots more reading (a hobby I've kind of pushed to the side recently as I'm just too tired by the end of the day) and do a lot more walking! I'm thoroughly enjoying my stint with following up various podcasts at the moment (no, none of which are health and fitness related).

After many weeks of not feeling any kicks or movement, little Fudge is starting to become quite an acrobat. She's still quite small so it's not annoying or uncomfortable though (yet!). Also, my husband was also finally able to feel a few kicks which is amazing only because it means he can stop talking to my belly button at really inconvenient times...like when I'm about to fall asleep...

On the note of sleep, about a week ago I noticed I was starting to feel a bit of lower back pain during the day. I do have a history with lower back injury so I decided that in addition to a bit of supplemental training and mobility, I'd also take a page out of my own pre-natal advice book and start sleeping with a pillow between my legs when I'm on my side. Worked wonders!

I still don't have a voracious appetite but I also still don't have any cravings or aversions.

The one thing I REALLY need to buy soon is maternity gym shorts. I'm currently surviving on rugby shorts and 2 pairs of shorts that are slightly more forgiving. I imagine in a week or two I'll bust out of these though, a trip to the shops is definitely needed.

Finally, I promise I'm not holding back on you with regards to run ins with pregnancy brain or pregnancy hormones. At the moment my hormones kick into hyper drive at about 8pm and basically put me to sleep by 9/9:30, which is super boring because it means I don't have fun stories but it's amazing because it means I'm sleeping about 9 hours a night.

I also haven't had a pregnancy brain moment yet. I mean, I almost emptied a dehumidifier into the laundry basket the other day but it was about 5:40am and I honestly think I was just not quite awake...

That's it from me this week folks! We go for our 24 week check up next week so I'll have more Fudge news to report then!

Have an awesome week everyone!