Awesome weekend planned!

I am very excited for this weekend. 

I have made plans to meet up with a friend that I have not seen since 1999.  

We first met in 1993 whilst working at the same place in Cape Town.  In 1994 we briefly shared a flat until I decided to go travelling and moved to London.  In 1997 she also decided to move to London and we once again briefly shared a flat.  I left (notice a trend) later that same year to go travelling.  

She still lives in the UK and besides a brief visit to Scotland in 1999 when we met up I have not seen her since. 

She is in South Africa visiting family in the Garden Route at the moment and we have decided to try and meet half way – PLETTENBERG BAY.  I can’t wait.  We are just going to go through for the day tomorrow but it should be awesome.  

Not only am I going to meet up with her but I also get to see one of my favourite places on earth!  I love the Garden Route and she and I used to spend a lot of time there.  It will be like old times – except that we are both 16 years older, married, she has a 6month old baby and I am 9 months pregnant. As I said – just like old times.

Reasons why I love PLETT! (photos taken when we did the Robberg Hike in Novemeber 2008)

Robberg in Plett November 2008

Robberg - Plettenberg Bay.

Exercise and Pregnancy.

I decided to do a post about exercising and pregnancy.  Now as a disclaimer before I write I want to reiterate that I am NOT medically qualified.  Do NOT take what I write as the only way to do things and most importantly before starting (or continuing) an exercise program when pregnant CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR!!! 

That said: 

Mr OL and I decided that we would start trying to have a baby after we had been married a year – which was in August 2008.  I was quite into triathlons and running was worried that if I fell pregnant I would need to stop doing this.  So I started looking online for examples of people who had run through their pregnancy, what their experiences were and how long they were able to keep running.  I also spoke to a number of running friends and found out about their experiences. 

I also found some blogs of girls that were triathletes and moms and read what they had done.  Some good examples that I found were Bree Wee, Mama Simmons and Rachel’s blog, Run like a Mother.  Bree Wee is a professional triathlete and her blog is very informative (and fun to read).  Mama Simmon’s has a few links to girls that were pregnant at the same time as her and continuted running.  I also went onto various forums to see what else I could find out.  In the mean time I started training for Ironman South Africa (and hoped to hell I did not fall pregnant as it grew closer and closer to the race).  Luckily I am good at counting so odds were against it. 

After IM we all know what happened.  One of the first things one of MR OL’s friends said to me was “now you have to stop all that nonsense.”  Cough, cough uhhh ‘scuse me!!!  No I don’t.  Just because I am pregnant does not mean that need to stop anything.  I bought James Clapp’s book “Exercising through your pregnancy” and started reading. 

Here is what I found out (remember that this is only my interpretation of what I have read).  Running is fine, swimming is fine, dancing is fine (except I have no rhythm and being pregnant is not going to help), aerobics is fine (except see previous post), cycling is fine and so is pretty much everything else with moderation.  With the exception of deep sea diving and high altitudes if you don’t already live up there.  Cycling is also not advised as your pregnancy progresses but just because your centre of balance is off and you might fall (or I might fall as I wobble a bit anyway). 

You can carry on running (or whatever) right through your pregnancy – with the consent of your doctor.  However if it is a low risk, normal pregnancy there should be no problems.  Obviously doing a marathon at high speed is not advised.  But your normal jog around the block(s) is actually recommended.  That old rule of not getting your heart rate above 140 has gone out the window.  Now it is recommend that you go on Rate of Perceived Exertion.  Moderate to moderate/hard is recommend.  Basically you should be able to hold a conversation (with a bit of puffing).  Just as well that HR thing went out the window, mine gets up there just buy walking around the block (I have a high HR what can I say). 

Now to the interesting things I found out while reading James Clapp’s book.  People who exercised throughout their pregnancy picked up less weight, delivered babies that had a lower fat percentage (but were the same size atomically) and were less likely to deliver late.  There were no instances were exercise had caused a baby to be born prematurely or that exercising had caused any other problems.  In fact babies of mothers who exercised were more able to cope with trauma’s during pregnancy like dehydration or hemorrhaging because the placenta was better developed.  The most interesting fact that I picked up though was of mothers who had exercised then stopped in the 3^rd trimester.  Their weight caught up to and sometimes exceeded the mothers that had not exercised at all.  Their babies were quite a bit fatter and they were more likely to deliver late.  It seems to me that either exercise or don’t – but don’t’ stop ½ way!!! 

He also found that exercising moms coped better with labour, but that it did not affect duration. 

The risks people associate with exercising are that the baby will overheat or that when you exercise your blood flows away from your internal organs.  Apparently your body is designed to cope with these and protects the baby.  It appears from their research that exercising moms are more able to cope with heat than non exercising (benefit to me seeing as I will be pregnant in summer) and that yes, the blood does flow away from the internal organs including the womb, but in exercising moms the placenta is better developed, the babies heart rate also increases but not dangerously so, and the baby slows down its movement while you are exercising as if to conserve energy.  From all their tests there were not instances where this caused trauma or distress to the baby. 

Obviously there are quite a few exercises and conditions in which you should not exercise, like in excessive heat or that yoga done in a hot room and stuff like that.  You also need to make sure that you don’t dehydrate (good advice for any athlete).   Also if you are a competitive athlete you will need to cut back, but for the general recreational athlete, in consultation with her doctor it seems as if running (or jumping up and down in an aerobics room) is fine.  They do recommend that towards the end you use some support of some kind because the reason most women stop is comfort.  

Now my personal experience: I was running up till 6 weeks, in fact the morning I found out I had been for a 10km run and felt great.  However the next week morning sickness hit and I just did not feel like running or doing much of anything.  So I stopped.  I have since been walking quite a bit, including a 55km 5 day hike and been for a few shorter slow runs.  I feel a lot better now and am missing it a lot.  I will start again slowly and have set myself a goal (I don’t function without them).  As far as cycling goes – I stopped the day I found out.  I don’t want to take the chance.  I am not the best cyclist and although I have not fallen a lot, I have fallen so with my balance off it would be too risky.  I might get on the stationary bike at the gym when it gets too hot to run outside.  I also can’t wait for the weekly sea swims to start again but am worried that I won’t fit into my wetsuit.  I HATE cold water.  I am going to try and run/swim for as long as I can.  Hopefully throughout my entire pregnancy.  I will let you know how it goes. 

As for my goal – it is a triathlon 2 months after the baby is born.  It is a very short one – even shorter than a sprint.  I will see how I feel (I might not want to sit on my bike just yet). 

There is so much more that I could write and probably should, but for now I am going to stop there.  If you have any questions please feel free to ask ….. your doctor!!  Or me if you want.

If you are pregnant and want to know more I would seriously recommend reading Bree Wee’s blog about when she was pregant and what she did.  Her child is now 3.

Just a few

Here are a couple of photos that I took with my digital camera.  I can’t wait to get the others developed.  For now I am going to leave you with this and a promise that I will write more detail shortly!!

Looking over the Breede River Valley

 

Looking over the De Hoop Nature Reserve toward the sea.

 

Whale watching from afar

 

Walking towards the 3rd hut.

 

Cormorants nesting - with chicks (very cute)

 

Some whales - not cooperating!

Back in town!

I am back and everything I have ever read about the Whale Trail is true!  It is FANTASTIC.  I had an awesome time and would well recommend it. 

I will post pictures and more info shortly.  All I will say for now is it must have some of the nicest and best equipped hiking huts in the country.  The staff are so friendly, helpful and knowledgeable and the trail very well maintained. 

We left PE on Wednesday and got back yesterday.  It is quite a drive (7 hours) but not unbearable.  You don’t walk on the first day so that is fine, but yesterday was a bit of a rush.  It might have been better to stay another night in the area and only drive back today, but unfortunately we could not because of leave constraints…. 

I took my old film camera so will have to wait to get the photo’s developed….  It’s been a while since I used it but it is a better camera than my digital so I thought I would try it out again.  It was actually quite fun and will be interesting to see how the pictures come out.  I am so used to instant gratification of the digital that this is quite novel.  I hopefully will be able to convert (or at the worst scan) some of the photos so you can see how beautiful it was. 

And it lived up to its name – we saw LOADS of whales and some of them were really close in to shore.

General Update.

So I thought I had better do a general update post – what is going on!! 

Well I suppose the quick answer would be nothing much.  Which is probably why I have not been posting?  But seeing as have a blog I suppose I had better put something on it!  I have been blogging for nearly 3 years and besides when I am on holiday and don’t have access to the internet this is the slackest I have been.  Yes, the guilt is setting in. 

So – update…. 

I am 9.5 weeks pregnant – not far at all.  I put on a bit of weight initially (the only way to keep the nausea at bay was to eat) but seem to have lost it again.  Besides the nausea and fat (possibly bloated) stomach is the only different I have seen is my boobs!!!!!  I have a cleavage.  Quite a substantial one!  Wow….  Let’s hope they don’t continue to grow at this rate. After nine months I won’t be able to stand upright.  People are going to start calling me Pammy for another reason besides it being my name. 

In other news, I am going hiking soon and can’t wait.  It is still a couple of weeks away but I am really looking forward to it.  We are going to do the Whale Trail in the De Hoop Nature Reserve in the Western Cape.  It is whale season, so hopefully we see lots of them.  I am also hoping it warms up slightly!!  It is 12º Celsius in Port Elizabeth today.  I know that is not that cold to people living in some other places but we are not prepared for weather like this.  We don’t even own a single heater!!!  Lots of layers of clothing are required the minute we step inside the fridge that we call home. 

I have been really slack on the exercise front as well.  I have just been feeling so listless and nauseus and cold that the last thing I have felt like doing was going for a run or a swim.  I WILL start again soon.  I bought a book called Exercising duing pregnancy but have not read it yet.  There are certain smells that make me want to gag at the moment – mostly chemical smells – and that book has it.  I tried to start but it was not pleasant.  Maybe in a few weeks time when the nauseas abates….. 

Hmmm, any other news??? Nope, not really.  I am still here, still alive and everything seems to be going well.  I have another appointment in 2 weeks time and then another scan at week 12.  boy, oh boy am I glad that I decided to add the saver section to my hospital plan this year…..

Tsitsikamma Hike

Ok, so I am going to try and load more photo’s.  For some reason I could not get all of them posted last time.

Tsitsikamma Mountains

Cooling off

Plett - in the distance

Tsitsikamma Hike

 So I am back at work.  At least it is a VERY short week.  I might just manage……I had a fantastic time off though and it was a great break.  Of course the best part was seeing my sister, but the rest was pretty good too. 

 

Other than Ironman, we ate lots of sushi, went to a spa for a massage and went hiking.  We should perhaps of had the massage after the hike but still, it was great.

 The hike was interesting.  We did the Tsitsikamma trail, starting at Blaauwkrans Hut.  Unfortunately we received a phone call from the trail director a few days before we set off saying that they had a fire in the area, and although it had died down it might still affect our last couple of days.  Apparently fires can lie smoldering for about a week?  He said that if we had hot windy days it could flare up again, but he would stay in contact with us and let us know what was going on.

 We set off with this in our minds.  The weather was fantastic for us, but not for the fires.  It was hot!  Luckily it would not affect our first few days and it made for good hiking weather.  We dunked ourselves in every pool or river we could find and it was awesome.  Pretty unusual for the rivers still to be as warm as they were, but then, after the temperature of the sea water last month, most water would feel pretty warm.

 On the 3^rd day, as we approached Heuningbos Hut we started to see the smoke and it looked pretty damn close!!!!  I got out my cell phone and called Graeme (trail director).  He said we should not worry about that night, we would be fine as the wind was blowing in the opposite direction and there was indigenous forest between us and the fire but we would not be able to hike the following day.  He was actually on his way to evacuate the people that were staying at the next hut.  Yikes.

We had to cut our hike short by a night and headed back to Port Elizabeth the following morning.  It was a pity, but not something we had any control over.

I was also pretty surprised by my legs.  I handled the walking and even carrying the pack fine.  I thought I might battle a bit doing it so close to IM but no problems. 

 Here are some photographs.

 

Tsitsikamma Trail Tsitsikamma - smoke from fire near Sleepkloof

Tsitsikamma Mountains.

Guess what I have been doing

Tsitsikamma Mountains, view from the 1st hut

Finally – some info on Ironman

The problem with being away from the internet for so long, especially when so much is going on that I want to write down everything but can’t. Also it would make for rather boring and confusing reading.

 

So, the summary is:

 

My sister arrived safe and sound.

I completed Ironman

I went hiking

 

Yes, this has been a busy week.

 

 

I will start with Ironman! 

 

WOOOO HOOOO, I think I am still grinning from ear to ear.  Although on the day before the race I was anything but grinning. Infact I was feeling rather panicked and nearly burst into tears! 

 

Everything was going fine; I did not think I was nervous at all.  I knew I had prepared well, my transition bags were almost packed and I had ticked most of the things of my to-do list and my sister and I decided to go and watch the MTN Corporate Ironman Triathlon which is held the day before the main event.  It is 10% of the Ironman distance and can be a team event.  It is quite fun to watch and we had quite a few friends that were taking part.  We figured we had better go and cheer them on because we knew that they would be cheering for us the following day.

 

Well, just as I picked up my bag and walked out the house my entire neck, left shoulder, arm and back seized up.  I had done NOTHING and here I suddenly could not move.  I got to my mom and sister in the car and I was in PAIN!  I did not know what to do, but figured it might just go back to normal.  I mean I had not done anything so it could not be an injury…… Could it?????  So we went down to the beach front and it was not getting any better.  I was beginning to get rather stressed.  I had prepared so well for this race and now….  What the HELL was going on.  I was just felt nauseous with worry and did not know what to do.  All I wanted to do was go home crawl into my bed and cry but I knew that was not going to do any good.  I also remembered that at the Ironman Expo there were Physiotherapists giving massages.  Maybe that would help.  I had also been training with a girl who is a chiropractor and knew that if I really was in trouble she would help me out.  I phoned her and asked if she thought I should go for a massage and what advice she could give me.  She said massage, stretch, ice and if it did not get better then I would see her at the race briefing in a couple of hours and we could see then. 

 

Unfortunately the massages were fully booked – more panic.  Luckily my sister’s friend is a sports therapist and lived just around the corner from the beach.  She called him and he said to come round and he would see if he could help.  Thank you, thank you thank you!!!!!  He massaged my neck and shoulder and it loosened up quite a bit.  I put ice and heat on it when I got home and figured it was a lot better.  Hopefully a good night’s sleep would help.  I was VERY worried though.  Also I felt very guilty bugging these people as they also all had to prepare for the race.

 

When I woke up in the morning it was fine…. for a whole 10 minutes and then I seized up again.  CRAP!!!  Not good.  But I figured it must just be stress, or at least that was what I was convincing myself it was.  I mean if it was a real injury then it would not have been fine when I would up???  It would be FINE as soon as I was on the start line.  It just had to be.

I can’t sleep

My sister gets back tomorrow!  I can’t wait. Truthfully I think I am more excited to see her than I am for Ironman. 

 

We have so much planned – obviously Ironman being one of the things.  But we are also plan on eating a lot of sushi and going hiking.  Although I am not so sure how wise hiking less than a week after completing Ironman is, especially not a 5 day hike, carrying a full pack.  Hmmm, maybe we should rethink that idea.  Or bribe somebody to carry our stuff for us……  Any volunteers????  Nope, I thought not!

 

Tomorrow is also my last day of work for 20 days!!!!  I have taken leave whilst my sister is here, so I can spend time with her.  With all the public holidays it makes sense.  I don’t need to use up too many leave days.  I doubt I would be very productive during this time anyway. 

 

Actually I doubt anybody is going to be very productive during this time. Can you believe that this is the last full work week for over a month?  From now on it is either 3 or 4 days a week.  Pure madness…..

 

So, my blog might (will) be a lot quieter.  I will try and get online quite often, and I will most definitely post how my race went but please bare with me on the silences over the next few weeks.