Post-Baby Marathon Training Log: August 13, 2009 - Running Pre- and Post- Pregnancy

Since we flew back to Kansas City for the weekend to show off baby Jaelyn to Jason's family and friends, I missed a lot of work and am now very behind.  I work from home (which is a blessing) and need to work on Saturdays and Sundays to keep up with the demands of my clients.  That did not happen this weekend.  So while I have no time to write this blog, I'm going to do it anyway!

Lately, I have had several women ask me what it was like running during pregnancy and right after I had Jaelyn, so I thought I'd write about that experience from my perspective.  Keep in mind that every woman is different and may or may not have the same fortune and lack thereof that I did.

Whoa, why did I post a large picture of a pelvis??  Well, this is the little rascal that kept me from running until the day I gave birth, like some superwomen do.  I got pregnant at the end of August and kept running 4-6 days a week for 3-8 miles at a time until about January.  Around then, I started feeling a really sharp pain in my pubic symphysis (of course I had no idea what it was called until I looked at this picture).  It felt like a stress fracture.  Actually, maybe it was the pubic crest.  Well, somewhere in the area!  It hurt the most when I would try to stand on one leg to put on pants and when I would wake up at night to walk to the bathroom....I would almost fall down in pain.

Finally, it got painful enough that I cried "uncle" and started walking for my exercise.  This somewhat demoralized me.  I felt like I was handicapped or something.  And I had to walk for at least an hour to feel like I got any kind of a workout in, and that got old really quickly.  Then, it got too painful to walk for that long anyway.  So I started using the elliptical.  The elliptical is really a great invention; almost no impact, so the extra weight I was quickly packing on suddenly didn't feel so heavy and my pelvis hurt less when I was exercising on the elliptical than when I was walking! Plus, i could jack up the intensity and get a good sweaty workout in in about 30 minutes while watching Dancing with the Stars or something.  The only thing that hurt was the walk to the fitness room.

I think it was a blessing in disguise to have to completely stop running.  I never would have given myself that break otherwise and I really needed it, physically and mentally.  Your body can only take so much pounding and my mind needed to break loose from the "I have to run today or I'm a loser" mentality.

Like I said, I packed on the pounds pretty quickly when I was pregnant, especially after I couldn't run anymore (the elliptical is great, but nothing burns calories like running).  And as you can see (here, pictured on the beach with Jason two weeks before giving birth to our baby girl), I carried my baby very much out front, so by the time I was 8 months pregnant, walking anywhere for any amount of steps was painful on my pelvis.  Talk about feeling handicapped!  i couldn't wait to start losing the weight (55 pounds!!) and getting back on the road.

I ended up having a C-section, which normally means you have to wait even longer to resume exercise.  At the very least you're supposed to wait until your 6 week postpartum checkup.  Well, not that I'm endorsing this, but I did my first run 3 1/2 weeks after Jaelyn was born.  I'm no doctor, but I do know my body, and I was ready.  Amazingly, my incision had healed up very quickly and wasn't even pulling when my cat would accidentally jump on it.  I had been walking for 30-40 minutes at a time and not getting too tired, so I thought, "what's the difference between a 40 minute walk and a 10 minute slow jog?" I figured if I could do one, I could do the other.  

So I went out for my first run since the end of January.  I tried to keep it a secret from Jason so that he wouldn't argue with me and try to convince me it was too early.  He knew something was up though, especially when I came back in all sweaty. "Did you get sweaty from walking?" he said.  "Nope," I said, grinning.  "I knew it!!" he exclaimed.

It was a long 10 minutes and I barely made it 0.8 miles in that time.  I felt sooooo heavy and my lungs were working hard.  It was as if I hadn't gotten off the couch in a year or something! The next day, I ran 10 more minutes, and it was just as rough. Jason "raced" me that day so he could have his one chance to say he beat me.  What a cheapshot!  And now he won't take a rematch!  A few days later, i ran a full mile. Still, very slowly.

I made progress though.  I started to breathe easier.  Some runs felt terrible because I was sleep-deprived and would have a headache or just be worn out.  I only made it out 3-4 times a week for a few weeks.  Nonetheless, I actually looked forward to my runs for the first time in.....I can't even recall seeing a run as anything other than a necessary means to a goal in my whole life until now.  I never ran "for fun".  It was always a task, a challenge, an assignment.  Now, I don't "have" to run, I "want" to...most days.

Now, the baby is almost 12 weeks old and on Saturday, I'm going to finish off a week of a total of 37 miles with a 14 mile long run.  I've been working gradually on the long run, 1-2 more miles each Saturday, starting at 1 mile that first week.  I can hardly believe I'm actually making this progress and starting to feel like my old self again, physically.  When you get so far removed from it, you think you'll never see "that girl" again.

The ultimate goal is to surpass "that girl" and go even further, which means running the Chicago Marathon on October 11th.  I entered it in April, paying $125 and having no idea what it would be like to try to get in shape for this thing so shortly after having a baby.  But I can confidently say that, barring any unforeseen injury or illness, I will be ready to go when that day comes.

So to anyone concerned that they'll never be the same after having a baby....you're right, you won't be...you'll be better!  I look at my scar and the fading stretch marks on my stomach, and I smile a little bit thinking about the little girl I kept safe in my womb until she was ready to meet the world.

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• Marathon, Running, Sports, SportsPLUS, Family/Parenting, Health & Fitness, Exercise

There are 2 comments on this post. Join the discussion!

karalynn26

This blog has just cheered me up considerably! As a former collegiate runner myself, I was determined to run through my whole pregnancy and be one of those women that other pregnant women envy-- with a cute little baby bump,a weight gain of 25 pounds exactly, and running a 6-miler the day I delivered. Ha! What a joke! I quickly developed intolerable calf pain, followed by intense knee pain, and was forced to stop running altogether at around 27 weeks. The elliptical isn't the same, and I'll probably end up putting on about 40 pounds, (I've gained 30 and I have 6 weeks to go...) a good 15 over my "goal"! It is really encouraging to hear from someone who had a similar experience and who is making it back! Thanks for making my day!!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 2:43pm PDT

anngaff

I'm so glad this helped you! Stay tuned for my next post, which I'm writing today, about the journey that is losing weight post-baby...

Monday, September 7, 2009 at 2:42pm PDT