Workout goals for August

I used to be a fairly serious runner. I wasn't that competitive (I'd do the occasional race, mostly for fun) but I ran a fair amount, could handle serious distances (there was a time when a "short run" was anything less than 10 miles), and I was reasonably fast, at least for short and middle distances. My last real race was back in 2009, when I did a 10 miler at 7:54 pace, which I think is respectable.

Anyway, I didn't run when I was pregnant with H because I'd have serious BH contractions and they alarmed me. Then I ran a little after he was born, but never really got back into it regularly, being busy with my clinical year of vet school, first year of work, and having a baby. I was just starting to train again when I got pregnant with E, so instead of trying to run, I'd take H on long stroller walks, usually walking 4-5 miles on most of my days off, and incorporating a playground stop, so we both enjoyed them. :)

When E was about 8 weeks old I started trying to run again, and OH MY PELVIS - ligament laxity is a serious thing, man. I'd do 2 slow miles and feel like someone had taken a sledgehammer to my pelvis. I'd limp around for the next 24 hours with pelvic pain and then days would go by before I'd work up the courage to try again. I didn't have that problem after H, and I don't know if it's because that sort of thing gets worse with each successive pregnancy? If I had a third baby, would it be even worse? Or is it something that is totally variable with each pregnancy? It seems like it would continue getting worse each time, but I don't really know.

So I figured out that I could do about 1.5 miles before my pelvis started complaining, so I tried to get into a routine of doing a very short little jog 2-3 times a week, hoping that would help my body adapt faster. It seems to have helped (or else it was just a coincidence and everything was slowly going back to normal on its own at the same time), and the other day I ran 4.5 miles without much trouble. I'm very, very slow. Like, hovering-around-the-10:00-mark slow. But I really love running for relaxation and for enjoying time outside in beautiful semi-wooded scenery, so I care more about being able to do distance right now than speed. I have no racing plans in the near future (even if I wanted to, either MM or I work almost every single Saturday, and I'm not going through all the trouble of finding a babysitter and paying an entry fee for a race short enough that I could handle it soon). So my goal for now is to regularly run a reasonable shortish distance (maybe 3-5 miles) and enjoy it.

I also started swimming again, when we joined the Y so that H could take swimming lessons. I LOVE TO SWIM!!! I love how relaxing it is, how meditatively monotonous it is to swim lap after lap, how silent it is under the water, how great a workout I get with no impact, the feeling of gliding through cool water, how spent I feel when I'm done with no physical after-effects like crippling pelvic pain! I didn't realize how much I missed it. It's been . . . . . . . . at least 8 years since I did any actual swimming, and I only learned how to swim - meaning do an actual stroke with semi-proper form - as an adult, so I was never that great at it to begin with. And now I'm really slow, and I can feel that my technique is poor, but it's still so relaxing that those things don't really bother me. And they'll get better with practice. I've gone swimming maybe 4-6 times since we joined the Y, and I would like to go more frequently.

So, workout goals for August:
Run twice a week, for an average of 4 miles each time
Swim 6 times, for an average of 1200 yards each time
Go to at least one Bikram yoga class
Do at least 3 strength workouts at home