Week 21: The five-minute workout

I wish this post was about this amazing five-minute workout that keeps your body totally hot during pregnancy. This post is far from that. It’s about the fact that I am trying extremely hard to keep up with my workout routine this pregnancy. It usually goes pretty well except for ONE thing, the fact that I have to stop every five (or three) minutes to use the bathroom. With my first pregnancy I didn’t workout out, other than walking occasionally.
At the beginning it was a piece of cake. I continued to run my normal three miles about four or five times a week. At about 12 weeks, it became a little more difficult. I realized it was becoming harder to breathe while I was running. I also realized this just walking up stairs! That’s when I started to scale my running back. I started mixing walking and running together. Things were still going great. I was still able to make it through my entire workout without stopping once.
It was probably around week 18 that I realized my workouts were only going to get harder. One morning I was planning on dropping off Addie Rivers at school and going to the park for a run. I used the bathroom before we left the house. I had to go inside of the school to use it and then again when I got to the park. I ran less than a mile and had to stop AGAIN. I decided that day to go home and from then on I have only been running on our treadmill. (Thank goodness for the treadmill!)
On the days I don’t run I try to do a small arm and leg workout. It’s the same workout I was doing before pregnancy just a little less strict. The thing about the workout now is I get tired after about five minutes with my 3 lb. weights. I even started doing a 10-minute prenatal workout a few days a week on the days I don’t feel like doing the treadmill. I remember the first time I did it I thought, “Wow was that it?” Now at 21 weeks, it kills me!
My doctor warned me of this at my first appointment. He said, “You should continue working out as long as you can, but you have to realize it’s going to start getting difficult.” I listened to him but thought I would be doing my same workout routine until I went to the hospital to have the baby. Yeah right!
At 21 weeks my weekly workouts consist of running/walking about three or four days a week. Now when I say running, I pretty much mean a slow jog. I run for about half a mile and then jog a half of a mile—for a total of two to three miles. Some days I only do my 10-minute workout, but at least it’s getting done. And some days I even have a cute little workout partner who joins me!