A Weight Off My Belly

Three months ago yesterday, I became a mom. I had no idea exactly how training would be once I tried returning to my favorite pastime, but let me tell you it was anything but easy the first couple months.

My doctor cleared me to run two weeks after giving birth, since I didn’t have any major complications. My first run back was 12:00 minute pace, not including the walking breaks I took during! Just to give some background I typically ran 7:30-8:00 minute pace prior to getting pregnant on easy runs. I was having a rough time breathing and, unsurprisingly everything from the waist below felt extremely out of whack. I had heard so many stories about running moms coming back too soon, getting hurt, and being out for longer so I wanted to make sure I was taking it easy while still trying to get in shape..

My mileage was a whopping 5 miles the first week and around 9 the next two weeks. During those 9 mile weeks I was having some major discomfort in my pelvis and lower back, along with some aches and pains in my shins. I decided to take the next week and a half off of running and just aqua jog to get in some aerobic work. I focused a lot on core and strengthening my pelvic area and below. The following two and half weeks consisted of averaging about 7 miles a week mixed in with a decent amount of aqua jogging. During this time I was able to get my pace down to 8:30-9:00 minutes/mile, but let me just say it was NOT easy! These runs still felt like I was racing or at the very least a hard workout effort. Slowly these runs started to feel a bit better effort wise. Over the last three weeks I started to incorporate some light workouts and built up mileage to the low 30’s. During that time I also got in lots of aqua jogging sessions to help supplement the low mileage.

Aqua jogging session

Since things were starting to feel better Jer and I decided it was best to see exactly what kind of shape I was in with a 5k road race. We were in Houston last weekend to visit Jer’s family. It was Emma’s first road trip and she did awesome by the way! I signed up for a USATF certified race in downtown Houston, Dad’s Day 5k. The goal was to be as close to 20:00 as possible, since I managed to do some mile repeats at low 6:30 pace and the latest tempo was low 6:50’s. I surprised myself, and my coach, with a 19:42 5k! It was great to be out racing again!

Almost to the finish

Tired legs

Those aqua jogging sessions are definitely helping with my return to competitive running. It’s a great way to get in a hard effort without being able to get in a ton of quality running right now. Up until this week I was still having shin issues so that’s a large part why I kept the mileage low. I’m nervous about getting stress fractures/reactions, especially since I’m still over my pre-preggers weight. By the time I had Emma I was nearly 40 pounds over my normal weight. When I started to run again I was roughly 16 pounds over, which is a ton of extra weight to carry when you’re just getting started, or in general. I’ve carefully dropped my weight to where I’m about 8 pounds over my starting weight. I don’t really like to call it baby weight though. It’s more coffee ice cream related. I have no idea how many half gallon containers I went through during my pregnancy with Emma. I knew those 30 minute elliptical sessions weren’t doing it those last few months before she was born :)

All in all I’m excited to be in a normal running routine again! During most mornings Jer and I will alternate taking care of her while the other one runs. We’ve had to allow for more time since we can’t take her out on the roads together just yet. During a few of my workouts we’ve started getting in some quality family time though. We have Emma in the jogging stroller going around the track with Jer (she still needs to be on completely smooth surfaces until her neck muscles are strong enough) while I’m huffing and puffing my way back into shape.

I’m hoping this next month will be full of momentum like the last. My goal is to get down to the low 19’s for 5k by August and get my mileage up to a reasonable level. I want to be able to run with my team this season as well as being able to put down some fast times on the roads again come the end of 2015!

Mom and her gal post race!