But first… I wrote an article called “10 Things I Learned After 1000 Days of Parenting” and I’d love for you guys to check it out!  It’s all about how the Husband and I parent together without wanting to kill each other.  Hah.  All joking aside, you probably know what I’m talking about…

Now, onto those fitness questions!

Can you tell me about your hiking backpack?

Our hiking backpack is a Snugli, and I bought it on consignment when Henry was little for about $30.  Sadly, I can’t find it for sale online anymore, but this one seems similar.  But here’s what I like about my Snugli:  it has a fold-in kickstand in the back, so you can put the baby in it on the ground and then safety put it on yourself.  There are straps to keep the baby from falling out if you leaned over.  And it’s pretty comfortable, even for long hikes, because it has a thick waist strap and a chest strap.  The shoulder straps are super padded.  The thing that I really like about it is there are a LOT of pockets – two big ones in the back and several small ones around the waist.  It’s easy to carry baby + multiple water bottles, food, diapers, a change of clothes, and more.  We use the hiking backpack for non-hikes, too – it’s been great in airports and on travels.

Are you still breastfeeding? How did you do that long triathlon while breastfeeding?

Easy – I pumped!  I pumped in the car at 6 AM using an inverter on the way to the race.  This was about an hour before the race started, and I pumped until I was totally empty.  When I do hard exercise, I don’t produce much milk.  My body is busy doing other things!  I’ve heard people say that hard exercise reduces your supply, but honestly, that is not exactly true for me.  It reduces my supply temporarily but goes back to normal when I’m done moving.  Because of that, I didn’t get super uncomfortable during the race.  I was working so hard for 3+ hours!  I didn’t feel the need to pump again until 11:00 – 11:30 AM. 

I notice you don’t run with a GPS watch.  Why?

I have actually become pretty anti-technology about my workouts (save for music).  I use to run religiously with a GPS watch (a Garmin) and initially loved the ability to look down and see my pace and analyze my splits after.  However, when training for a big race a few years back, I ditched the GPS watch and haven’t looked back.  At the time, I was running “slow” for me and looking down to see a big pace was constantly discouraging… Especially when I actually was working as hard as I could!  I decided that I wanted to run based on how my body felt, not what a watch said.  While I liked some aspects of the watch, it also screwed with my head and made me feel bad about workouts that I should’ve been proud of.  Remember – if you’re running, you’re lapping everyone on the couch!  The bottom line is that you don’t *need* a watch to train for a race, and it’s kind of freeing to run without it.

I did 3 dark miles this morning – I am still sore from Sunday!  Ouch. 

Today’s Question:  Do you use technology like a GPS watch for your workouts? Why or why not?