Almost 37 weeks & Gear West Duathlon - I wish it was a race report!

I wish I could say that I raced the Gear West Duathlon this past weekend but I didn't...however, I did have a great time volunteering and watching Derek race as well as my fellow teammates and other racers.

I can't seem to sleep in these days and got up at the butt crack with Derek on his race morning. I knew I had to be out of the door by 6:45 so Owen and I could get our coffee and smoothie. I always envied those people at races who were drinking their latte's and this time that was me!

It was a hot morning already and you could tell it was going to be a challenging day for people on the course. Owen and I were ready with the cowbell and every time a wave of people came by Owen was all about ringing it. Next up is the Buffalo Triathlon for Derek and for me to be the sherpa. I won that race last year so it is kind of bittersweet that I am not racing in it this year. A good friend of mine the other day told me to take it easy though because this time won't last forever and there are always more races but you will never be able to snuggle with your children forever.

Baby boy #2 is moving like crazy and I thought I was ready to go into labor this last Friday. I felt miserable and I think he was doing somersaults in my stomach! The baby room is going to be finally done this weekend, I think we had the baby room for Owen done like 2 months before his due date! Poor kid I have only take two pregnancy pictures of myself this time around, and with Owen I took one every week. I am not going to the Dr. this week because she told me if I didn't feel any different there wasn't a need for me to come in. The next time I see her will be week 38 - let's hope I feel different by then!

More Ice Cream Please

At my last doctor appointment yesterday I had an ultrasound to see how the baby was growing. The little guy - aka "Spike" (this is the name Owen has picked out for him) is doing great and is almost 5lbs. The doctor was shocked that he was that big already - she told me I was hiding him well. I was told to not run anymore and that is a killer for me. I can do the elliptical still and bike and swim but since running is an impact sport and I am already dialated to a one at 34 weeks I need to make sure he doesn't move down any lower and we make it to 37 weeks. With Owen I delivered right on my due date and he was 7lbs 14oz - so I am capable of having a big baby! I am also eating ice cream at least 3 days a week - I have discovered Sebastian Joes Oreo Ice Cream and it is a new love of mine.

Spike moves around like crazy - at 3am I can see my belly moving around like there is an alien in there and yesterday at the ultrasound I finally saw what he is doing to me! I could see his hands punching my stomach - it was pretty cool to finally realize I didn't have an alien in me but my very active son. I guess he gets it from me!

My mom is doing good but we still do not know what caused her to have a mild stroke. They have ran all sorts of tests but cannot pinpoint the exact cause.

I am volunteering at the Gear West Duathlon in a couple of weeks and then going to watch Derek and cheer on some fellow triathletes at the Buffalo Triathlon and Manitou Triathlon. It's going to be hard watching and not racing...I am a very competitive person and have to remember there is time to race later this year and next year. Derek was complaining about a workout he had to do... I told him to suck it up because I would love to be able to do his workout. I can't wait to get a heartrate above 140 beats per minute!

7 more weeks - I think I hit the crazy stage!

It's been an emotional last two weeks for me. I think the hormones have hit and I am a full fledge crazy pregnant women! We put our house on the market a couple of weeks ago and have had some hits but decided that if it does not sell by the time the baby comes then we are fine with that. It is not like we have to sell the house and we really like where we live, our location and our house.

Owen came to my last Doctor appointment with me and I told him if he was good then we could go and get ice cream. The Dr. again told me to eat some with him! Here is a picture of Owen after ice cream - he really wanted blue ice cream so the only place I knew to go to was TCBY....mmmm I love that place!

I have made some changes to working out. I no longer do flip turns in the pool and feel really slow stopping but I figured that the baby probably doesn't like doing somersaults anymore. I also cut down the mileage on running to 15-17 miles a week instead of the 20-22 miles I had been doing. I feel as though the baby is doing great - he moves so much and I am trying to figure out what body parts are jabbing me.

I wanted to get my certifications done before the baby is born but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. I am not able to take one of the tests until July and I do not know if I can be away from him for more than 3 hours only 3 weeks after he is born so I am most likely going to wait until late July or August. I am so ready to be done studying and just need a break from it. It is hard to get the time in to study when I am home all day with Owen and work a couple nights of the week and then when I am not working I want to spend time with Derek. I sometimes wonder how the heck am I going to do this when I add one more to our family, but where there is a will there is a way.

I recieved some other news that has stressed out as well about my Mom whom I talk to every day and even though she is my mother she is also my best friend. She and my sister are the ones I call to complain to, to share my good news , and just to hear their voice. My sister called me while I was actually picking out a Mothers Day card at Target with Owen and I could tell something was wrong in her voice. She told me everything was OK but Mom had a minor stroke. I couldn't talk for a second and just said what, I don't understand. I quickly paid for my things and left to go to my sisters house. Derek was doing the Ironman Minnesota Bike Ride so I couldn't get a hold of him and I felt so alone driving to her house. All of these thoughts kept running through my mind of her in the hospital and wondering how this could have happaned. My Mom is home now and they ran all kinds of tests on her but couldn't pinpoint the reason why she had this minor stroke. She was planning on coming up here when the baby is born but it scares the heck out of me with her driving if this could happen again. Thank goodness my stepdad was with her and took her to the hospital right away. We should receive more information later this week but please say a prayer for her :).

Happy Easter...10 weeks to go!

A lot has happaned since I last blogged - I am in my 30th week of pregnancy and still active but had to slow it down this week as I got the flu. It was pretty bad - I was in bed all day - poor Owen kept coming into the "germ room" bringing me books to read and playing instruments to get me up. At my last doctor appointment I was told to go home and eat some ice cream but I go and loose about 5 lbs! I gained the weight back pretty quickly, especially with the three cinnamon rolls I ate this morning! No one else in the house has gotten the flu so that is good - I thought for sure this was another case of the Owen supervirus which Derek and I got when Owen brought it home from daycare a couple of years ago.

Some other exciting or perhaps stressful things that are going on is that I finally convinced Derek that we should do some house hunting since it is a good time to buy. I have been telling him this for the past 6 months, but now that I am a couple months away from having another baby he thinks it is time to buy! We have looked at a lot of houses but nothing is standing out to us and we really like our house and area but going to grow out of it and would like other options with a bigger house. We are now in the process of looking at some lots to possibly build. What I love about Derek is that he is determined, hard working and reliable. He is researching these lots like a mad man, talking to builders, etc.. there will not be a piece of information missing, stone left uncovered, etc... in that case I do not need to stress. However, if we put out house on the market right after having a baby may make me a little stressed out.

I am registered for my NSCA strength and conditioning certificaton for April and can't wait to have that over with. It is interesting information but will be nice to just read a normal book at night and not a book on the antagonist of muscles! I am then planning on taking my personal certification test in May - hopefully the baby won't be born early so I can get that done.

I know I am biased but do believe I have the best little boy and so glad to be done with my part time position as an Administrative Assistant a couple weeks ago. Not having to run around to take him to daycare in the morning makes both of our lives easier and I love being able to go to the zoo with him, run to the library, take him swimming, etc... I want to spend as much time with him before the next little man comes into my life. Here is a picture of him collecting Easter eggs and a picture of me with my belly. Hope everyone had a great Easter - it is beautiful out there!

25 weeks!!

I haven't posted any pics of my pregnant belly and so I thought it was time. I am 25 weeks pregnant so 15 more to go and I feel great. The other day I ran 9.3 miles on the treadmill at a 8:36 pace - I can't believe how good I feel when I run and my heart rate stays low. I make sure not to go too high on the HR and if I am doing intervals I make sure I rest more to get my HR down. I am still biking and swimming too but had to change over to my road bike a couple of weeks ago because my legs keep hitting my stomach and I didn't want to change up my form on the bike and want to make sure I am still keeping my knees in.

It is funny in the picture I am holding a zebra because Owen and I were playing cowboys and I couldn't find a horse so we used a zebra! I sure hope his baby brother will like playing Star Wars and "Bad Guys" because Owen is ready for him to play now!

I have signed up for a couple of races for the summer. I am doing two or three in August and then two or three in September and want to try my hand at cyclocross - at least one race. Derek does them and tells me how much fun they are and he thinks I would like it. I don't have the right bike for it but going to perhaps borrow a bike from a friend or just switch out my tires on my heavy mountain bike for one race. I also am planning on doing the Twin Cities 10 mile if I can get into the lottery and also another half marathon in October.

I think the one thing that is starting to bother me about being pregnant is that everyone is signing up for all of these races and training hard and I have to just take a step back this year and prepare more for next year. I have been studying really hard for my Strength and Conditioning Certification with the NCSA and I was reading about detraining the other day and started freaking out because they said that within 1-2 weeks of not working the body you loose fitness (cardiac output , stroke volume, accelerated HR, etc). With my first pregnancy I started back into working out about 4 weeks after having Owen but not in the same way I would want to now. On the other hand I am in much better shape this pregnancy and wasn't running or training the way I am this time around, so we will have to see how I am doing after 3-4 weeks after having the baby.

I have so many plans for the next three months before the baby is born and I hope to get them all done. At the top of my list are my certifications so I can start helping people with their fitness and goals. I am planning on taking my first test for Strength and Conditioning in early April and then the next one for Personal Training in early May. A fellow triathlete and really good friend of mine Suzie Finger and I are planning on working together after I get all of my certifications. She is a personal trainer already and just started her own blog on her races and her awesome smoothie and juice recipes. She is the one that convinced me to buy a juicer and it is one of my favorite items I use! I will try and continue to post some more pics of my growing belly. It is funny because the second time around you kind of forget to do these things. I think I took a picture of myself every week with Owen!

It's a Boy!

We found out today at our 20 week ultrasound that we are going to be having another boy. The ultrasound tech tried hiding from us the fact that we could see body parts by saying that certain parts could be the umbilical cord but at the end of the appointment she confirmed to us that we were having a boy. I am really happy because I think him and Owen will be great pals and Derek is thrilled that we don't have to buy all new things for the nursery and clothes!

I haven't written in a long time becuase things have been crazy in the Haag household. Owen has kept us busy pretending that he is learning to be potty trained. He tells me all of the time that big boys wear underwear and babies wear diapers. I then ask him if he is a big boy and he responds with an enthusiastic “YES”, however, I inform him that he still wears diapers. We had so much momentum in January with him going on the potty but now he wants nothing to do with it. I think he is trying to establish control with us, because he also likes to tell Derek and I that after we pray at dinnertime he did not say Amen!

I have started studying for my NSCA – CSCS certification and hoping to take the test in early April and then take my CPT certification test in May. It is something I have to get done before the baby is born and it is tough! I know I only work part time but now I feel like I work full time. I don’t know how full time moms do it with keeping the house clean, feeding everyone and still having time to work out!

I am feeling great and still exercising and training. I am definintely slowing down though. I came home from the pool today and Derek asked me how it went. I told him fine but I can tell that I am slower, he then informed me that well you are 20 weeks pregnant! I think it is hard for me to accept that because I am such a competitive person by nature so when people are passing me in the pool or when I am not making times that I use to in regards to swimming and running it frustrates me. I need to be happy that I can still do all of these things and that I will come back stronger . I think it is a good idea to always set goals for everything you do and I have been doing that the last couple of years with the sport of triathlon. This year my number #1 goal was to have a healthy pregnancy, and then #2 was to be able to race by August. I think #3 was to be able to achieve race times similar to last year. This year triathlon will have to get my body back in shape and I am accepting that… but it’s still hard!

We leave for Florida in 12 days and I can’t wait to get out of this cold weather. Owen is so excited to go on a plane too because he knows that he gets to watch a movie on it! It will be so nice to be able to walk on the beach, eat fresh food from the farmers markets, and just relax!

I had a baby shower for a good friend of mine a couple weeks ago and
tons of friends from college were here to help us celebrate - here is a picture of all of us at my house. You can't see my tummy in the picture but I will take some soon and post them.

Thanks Santa!!!

This weekend we went and picked up my new bike at Gear West. It is so awesome and I love it! I rode on it on the trainer this morning and I can totally feel the difference from my old bike, just the smooth shifting and the feel. Too bad I won't be able to probably ride it until July. When the weather starts to get nicer I will be too pregos to go out on the road with it. We were at Gear West a couple of hours yesterday so I could get fitted on it - thanks to my sister Rachel for watching Owen for us because I don't think he would have been able to be there that long. He loves to go to the store though and ride the kid bikes but that wears off after about a half hour!

I am feeling great and not showing, but to me it looks like I'm just chubby. Still training and doing everything, just not with the intensity that I'm use to. I've learned that if you are in great shape before being pregnant you can do everything you were doing before, you just have to change things up a bit. I have also decided that I would like to get into doing some type of personal training with pre and post natal exercise, so I'm going to work on getting that certification before the next baby is born. I have so many ideas running through my head lately that I can't seem to sleep at night. I think about the baby, work, preparing for the next baby, racing next season, etc... I know it will all work out and to trust God in that area.
Owen has worn this Darth Vader costume now for three days in a row - the kid is obsessed with Star Wars and goes around the house telling everyone he rules the galaxy. It will be interesting when his new baby brother or sister may rule the galaxy for a while!

We are taking off to IL this next weekend to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family. There will be tons of cousins there for Owen to play with - maybe one of them will show him how cool it is to use the potty! This is one thing that we have not mastered yet!

Another one on the way

It has been a busy month with Halloween and Owen's birthday party. Owen was Mr. Incredible for Halloween and then the next day we celebrated his birthday with family. He had a Star Wars birthday party because he is obsessed with it! Derek loves it that he has a Star Wars buddy and I am glad I am not forced to watch the movies.

We also found out a couple of weeks ago that I am pregnant and due on June 17, 2010.
I knew I wanted more children I just wished that it didn’t take 9 months to be pregnant. I went back and forth on when I wanted to be pregnant. After my Rookie year last year I knew I would like to have one more summer of racing while I was in good shape but I didn’t want my children to be too far apart. It would have been nice to have the baby in early spring so I could get back to training and doing some races later in the summer but I think I could still do at least 3-4 and then some running and duathlon races in October. Owen will be 3 ½ years old when the baby is born and I think that he will be a great little helper. I am feeling good and getting over being nauseous all of the time and starting to get my energy back. I am planning on keeping up a good training program and doing all of the things I would normally do – I just think I will be a little bit slower!! One thing that I think will be good to do is swim and since swimming is such a technical sport – the bigger you are doesn’t really make too much of a difference – heck I will be able to float!

Updates - Pigman 1/2 Iron, St.Croix Valley Olympic and Peregrines Charities Triathlon

It has been a long time since I have blogged because 1) Life gets busy, 2) I was so upset after what happened at Big Creek I didn't want to write about racing and 3) I wasn't sure if people actually read my blog! However, after getting some emails from friends of how I did in some races I decided to do a recap of what has been going on in the last couple of months, hopefully this won't get too long.

In August I did my second 1/2 ironman distance and placed first at the race - it was called the Pigman Half Iron. It was a crazy day for the race though, with 40-50 mph cross winds that practically blew people off of their bike. I somehow managed to bike my way through it and came off the bike in first. This is an unfamiliar place for me because I am usually running people down, however, people were trying to run me down and it is not a good feeling being the chasee. Once I entered the park though and made my way to the finish line it was a great feeling knowing what I accomplished that day. Here are some highlights about the race from Jerry MacNeil's blog:

http://minnesotatrinews.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-touch-was-pigman.html

http://minnesotatrinews.blogspot.com/2009/08/kortney-conquers-porcine-man.html

Pigman Half Iron

I needed some time to recover from Pigman so I didn't race until September 6th. The event was called St. Croix Valley Triathlon - Olympic Distance. I really like this race and do not know why more people don’t sign up for it. The course is tough but really scenic and in Hudson, WI which is right on the St. Croix River and only about 30-40 minutes from our house. Derek and I both were able to race that weekend because my sister in law was in town for a wedding and she and her husband watched Owen in the morning for us. The start of the race was a little chaotic because all of the men went in wave 1 and then all of the women started in wave 2 and it was a two loop course. On the second loop I got myself involved with the first wave and had to go around a lot of the men but I came out first for the women – probably the one and only time that will happen! I did have a decent swim – 24 minutes – which is the best I have done for an Olympic course. I felt like my sighting was good and I was pushing and building the whole time. I came off the bike leading the race and since I didn’t have any women to catch, my goal was to try and catch Derek. It was hard to get motivated because I seriously didn’t see anyone on the run. No one passed me and I didn’t pass anyone, it was really lonely. The only tme I started seeing people was when I started making my way back to the finish line. I crossed the finish line about a minute after Derek (women started about 3 minutes after the men). I thought it would have been funny to see us both sprinting to the finish against eachother. There would have been no way I would have outsprinted him though!

Now for the last race of the season…Peregrine Charities in Waterloo, Iowa. I did this race last year and I thought they did a great job for their first annual race. I was hoping there would be more people this year and want to get the word out about this wonderful race and organization. The race is really well organized, the volunteers are so helpful and encouraging, the prizes and gear bag they give out are awesome, and the race director is one of the nicest people you will meet. What is fun for us about doing this race is that we went to school at the University of Northern Iowa which is right next to Waterloo and so we are able to walk around the campus and reminisce about being in college! We were also lucky that we had both set of our parents there to help watch Owen so we both could do the event. I placed second last year in this race and it was also my last triathlon I was going to do this year so I wanted to do well. The course was a mile swim, 22 mile bike and a 6 mile run. I knew there was one really good swimmer in my wave so I was hoping not to come out too far back from her, unfortunately that didn’t work out too well. I knew I was struggling in the water because I was just not staying on course. It was really hard to see because we were swimming right into the sun but my sighting really stinks! It got really bad when I saw some green caps passing me (Derek was in wave 3 and in a green cap – they started 4 minutes behind my wave), then I saw Derek passing me with about 100 yards left in the water. I caught up to Derek right out of transition and he told me to kick it into gear and so I did. The bike course was pretty windy at certain times but that doesn't seem to bother me at all and I actually prefer it to be windy because that benefits me against my competitors. I knew there were two women in front of me, I caught one of them on the bike right at the turn around point and then I didn't catch my other competitor until we were almost to T2 - about a mile away. I knew I had a decent chance of winning if I was able to come into T2 first off of the bike and then have a steady run. I pushed it pretty hard for the first three miles because I knew I needed to build a lead. When I reached the turn around I checked my watch to see how long it would take me to see the next women. I figured I had about a 30 second lead until I saw Derek and he told me I had better push it because the other girls were looking strong and fast. I was then scared and actually started pretending there were people in front of me to catch because I needed some motivation to get to the end. The run is mostly on a trail but once you exit the trail you run on a road for about a mile. Once I hit the road I looked behind me every now and then and didn't see anyone. It felt great crossing the finish line knowing that I didn't have the best swim but was able to make up some time on the bike and run and to finish the season with a win.

Picture of Derek and I after the race

It has been a great summer but I am tired and need to take some time to rest and improve. I also think Owen is tired of going to races and I am looking forward to being able to spend more time with him and not have to worry that I shouldn't chase him around the house because I have a race tomorrow and should rest! I have a great coach who helped me realize that rest is just as important as the training and quality over quantity. I have had people ask me if I am going to do an Ironman and the answer is yes but not anytime soon. I am not sure when the best time would be, but it is something I would like to accomplish. Right now I just want to be able to enjoy racing and competing like I do, but also have that balance of spending time with my family and friends. Thanks to everyone who reads my blog I appreciate all of the nice comments, and looking forward to next year already!

Big Creek Race Report - Live and Learn

I knew comimg into this race I wouldn't be 100%, since this was my fourth week in a row of racing and the week after my first 1/2 Ironman. I actually thought about not racing, just to give me another week to recoved before Pigman. I should had listened to my body and taken the week off, but decided to make the trip to Iowa and race. Big Creek is such as great race and I really wanted to do it. I felt good at the start of the race, but I knew something was a little off. The day before we spent most of the afternoon trying to fix my bike at a local bike shop because it was making some strange noises that resurfaced again race morning.
This was the Midwest USAT Championships and I saw some fellow Minnesotans at the race so it was nice to see some familiar faces at the swim start. I pretty much got beat up on the swim....the elites and relay teams all started together and we were all fighting for position. Since I am not the strongest swimmer I let people swim ahead and then worked my way into position. I had a great swim by my standards, coming out of the water in less then 24 minutes. I think I was the 3rd elite woman out of the water. There were a lot of other women that came out right after me and I knew this was going to be a close race between myself and two or three other girls. Out on the bike I just didn't feel right. I was pushing really hard, but the whole time I was just telling myself to hang on. I came off of the bike in second place, about 30 seconds back from first. I knew I wasn't doing well because I didn't have a gel on the bike (it came off sometime during the race) and I drank all of my liquids and was still VERY thirsty. As I was heading out on the run everything fell apart. I knew I wasn't on when a fellow racer told me to keep it up as I passed him and I didn't say anything back! As I approached the first water stop I grabbed a drink but most of it fell out and I drank what I could. At about the second mile, I collasped. I tried getting up but saw balck and silver spots and knew it was time to be done. I am very dissapointed because I was on my way to a PR, but now I know that four weeks in a row is not for me. Thank you to all the volunteers who made sure I was OK and to the other racers (who actually stopped during the race...one of them was in third place), I really appreciate it. I am not racing this weekend. but going to volunteer at the Turtleman Triathlon. Most of the time when I am a spectator at a race I am bummed because I am not participating - this weekend will be a different story!