Monday, June 04, 2007

Goodbye, Flip Turns

Today I swam a measly mile.

Sigh.

It was fun though, and I could have gone farther but ran out of time because I was gabbing with my lane mate, Canada Jenn. She's moving in 2 weeks and I'm so sad. She was the first person I met at the Second Sole Training Day back in December 2002. I almost didn't go...I didn't know anyone, and thought it was only fast people. Matt convinced me to try it, so I went. I walked in at the same time as Canada Jenn, who had moved from Alberta just a month or so prior. We struck up a conversation, and the rest is history. We've made it through many good times and some bad, always able to run together no matter what pace or circumstance. We did the Flying Pig Marathon together back in 2005, which was her first and my second. I'm really sad she's leaving, but we knew this was a 5 year gig as her husband is a radiologist. I just didn't realize how fast five years could go.

Sigh. :(

So, to make an already long story short, one of my closest friends is leaving and this is one of the last Monday swims I had with her, so the yardage can kiss my arse. Priorities, you know?

I learned today that apparantly, for me, at 22 weeks, I must say goodbye to the flip turn. This is quite hard, because I've been doing flip turns since I was 7 years old. It's like when you're so used to riding a bike with clip-in shoes, and then you ride one without...and it's almost like you FORGOT HOW TO RIDE A BIKE WITHOUT YOUR SIDIS OMG HOW DOES ONE FUNCTION WITHOUT CLIPPING IN?!

That's kind of how I felt.

I guess I could still do flip turns, but it looks pretty ridiculous. I sort of somersault in a seated position. The Ayatollah Belly gets in the way. It's not pretty. So I'm trying to master the touch and go.

I don't like it.

It slows me down. But, alas, I really shouldn't be worrying about slowing down at this point in the game. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to run, either. My friends are going to laugh their tails off this weekend when I have a girls' weekend with my Nutter chicks. I just saw them for the Indy Mini, and since then I feel like I've doubled in size.

I'm starting to (finally) make peace with this tri season. About going slow, about riding inside (it still stinks, though) and about possibly having to stop running soon. You know why?

Because Kid Z will NOT STOP KICKING.

I'm serious. This kid is doing some kind of conga line in there.

Last night Matt got to witness the acrobatics. He was out of town for a bit, so he didn't get to see my new favorite game I play before I fall asleep. It's called, "Watch-your-stomach-move-and-feel-butterflies-at-the-same-time-but-have-no-control-over-it." It's SO. BIZARRE.

I think he was pretty amazed.

TriShannon has been asking to see some pics, and so has my friend Sammy. I just really haven't taken any because I don't like how I look right now. I'm sure I'll take one someday. It's kind of like how there's no pictures of me from 1988-1990. Those years, you really don't want to see me. I don't want to see me. I'll just remember what I want to remember from those years, and not how horribly awkward I looked.

But I did get a really cute tank top on sale at DueMaternity. It's black and says in white cursive, "dying for a drink," which I just thought was pretty funny because I didn't realize how much I'd miss beer. Not 18 beers...just a nice cold beer at the Tribe game or on a cool evening. Please enjoy one for me. I'd buy you one if I could.

So that's the closest I've come to fashion-wise embracing this bump. I do like the bump, but more for the scientific aspects of it. I'm a gigantic science experiment. That's pretty sweet. But I don't want everyone staring at it. So Shannon, I'll just have to email you a pic, unless I get brave and post one here later.

WHOA there goes another strong kick. Kid's gotta good set of legs in there. I wonder if there's a way to hook up a PowerTap in utero...

16 comments:

Michele said...

giving up flip turns is a good thing to me. I hate them.

You have to take pictures, one day baby Z will ask about when he/she was in your belly and will want to see. My kids both love to look at the big, fat, huge pictures of me.

TriShannon said...

Sounds like the game was fun! Sorry I didn't get a chance to call you back. One of these days we will actually connect. :-)

Every once in a while I attempt a flip turn, but it always goes terribly wrong. I'm a touch and go swimmer.

21stCenturyMom said...

Wait a minute - you mean a flip turn is NOT supposed to look like a somersault in a seated position. uh oh.....

Wes said...

Ain't nuthin hawter than a pregnant spousal unit :-) Seriously. Babies make your skin feel so hot!! LOL. Not to worry. The baby factory is closed here!!

Jennifer P said...

Wait until you're too big for a touch and go....wait, maybe that was just me and my fat ass.
Take pictures. It might hurt now, but you'll wish you did. Hubby and I had professional maternity portraits done for an insanely expensive price, but it was worth every penny. It's hard to feel beautiful while knocked up, but I look at those pictures and remember only the good pregger memories...all three minutes of them.

Janet Edwards said...

I think you are not giving yourself enough credit. Ya look so cute with your lil prego belly and not huge at all!!!

I am still betting your "slow" swimming belly moves through the water faster than mine!!!

greyhound said...

No flip turns? Now you know how the grown up swim lesson crowd lives.

And not to be creepy, but you should totally post some pics.

Kim said...

flipturns?! you expect swimmer you! i never learned how to do them. sad :( i passed my coworker that awesome maternity website... she was peeing herself about the "dying for a drink" shirt :)

and i bet you look fantabulous pregnant!

ShesAlwaysWrite said...

Even if you don't feel up to posting them, you should definitely take some pix of yourself pregnant. You're freakin adorable and probably look ten times more so with a baby bump! (I'm going for the full-on pregnant photo session when I get big enough.)

I'm SO GLAD you put up a link to that clothing site - I was wondering where the world was hiding all the cute maternity outfits!

I'm just starting to need them - today someone said to me "hey, you look pregnant now!" Clothes that fit (outside of my drawstring yoga pants) are becoming a crisis situation.

As for flip turns... I'm considering the pregnancy a good excuse to continue putting off learning how to do them : )

Laurie said...

Take the pictures and keep them for yourself. You will be glad you did.

Unknown said...

You'll take a pregnancy photo that you like and we'll be happy to wait until you do. I bet you look fantastic.

Tough and go swimming, for me, ensures I swim more...with less push off the wall, more like I'd do in open water...plus my flipturns are pretty unattractive!

Cara said...

Good to know about the flip turns! You're almost exactly a month ahead of me, so I'm using you as a gauge for when I can expect to stop being able to do things. :) I think your flip turns might have lasted longer than mine will, though. I felt horribly ungraceful at the pool yesterday. I didn't count, but I'm SURE I didn't even go a mile!
You can actually SEE the baby moving!? I don't know why that possibility never occurred to me before. That must be incredible! All I feel at this point are faint flutters and taps. Actually I'm freaking out right now because I haven't really felt anything for a few days and I'm terrified that something is wrong. Friday can't come soon enough!

Cara said...

P.S. www.cafepress.com has some cute maternity-slogan t-shirts. I want the one that says "Does this baby make me look fat?"

Fe-lady said...

You HAD better take photos...you will regret it later on if you don't!
The kicking...it only gets better too! Ha! Maybe baby Z is doing flip turns instead of you!
Oh, and the maternity clothes they have out now...CUTE! I wanted to buy one of the tops today at Target. You, my dear, CAN! (And will look adorable in it!)

Rae said...

No pics??? Come on,I'll trade you a few mullets for a few bellies. It's a piece of your history and I guarantee you are adorable as always!!!

Laughing Anne said...

okay, I don't know if this will work, but I was looking for an e-mail address for you and didn't see one, so will try commenting instead! This is an ancient post I'm reading, but maybe the comment will work anyway! :)

Anyway, I just wanted to write to let you know HOW MUCH I appreciate all the blog posts you wrote while pregnant last year. Oh, man, they have helped me so much. I am a triathlete also and am now 17 weeks pregnant. For the last couple of months I've been reading your old posts from when you were in your first trimester and they have totally helped me keep some sanity and perspective, knowing that someone else has had the exact same feelings! (whew)

So now I am at the point where I am freaking out about how much weight I've gained and getting used to seeing a new body shape in the mirror and knowing (gulp) it gets so, so much bigger from here... oh man. So anyway.

I was wondering, what did you do for swimsuits as you got further along? I have been looking for lap swim suits but the "maternity" kind of sites only show "fashion" kind of swimwear, which is not practical for actual *swimming*. Did you just buy larger sized lap suits or what? I am so perplexed by some of the logistics of this whole pregnancy thing.

Anyway if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. My e-mail address is anne at timpany dot com.

BTW I have been reading your blog for a couple of years, cheering you on for IM MOO and everything else, but rarely comment, pretty much a lurker. :)

But I just wanted to write and say THANKS for all your posts, now that I'm going back and reading the archives I have to say they are lifesavers, thank you so much.

Did you say you've lost all the weight you gained during pregnancy? I am holding that as an inspiration! That and your rockin' run times and recent bike speed, too! WHEW, I've been freaking out about losing fitness this year. Gah.

Thanks again, you are appreciated!

anne