Third trimester so far has been awesome. I still have SO MUCH energy. It is a WORLD of difference from when I was pregnant with Boo. With him, I was already so big that I couldn’t sleep at night, and I hated being on my feet, and everything was just an atrocity. This time around, I’m active, I usually get a decent night’s sleep, and I’m very mobile. I obviously feel heavier, because let’s face it, I am carrying a watermelon on my abdomen, but aside from that I feel very much the same.
I must admit, at the very beginning of my third trimester, my running shirts started to not cover my belly. I was so sad. But then I found this insanely awesome running tank that says “Running for Two” from For Two Fitness. I really wanted it. But it was so ungodly expensive. So I basically put it off. But it got to the point where my running shirts were severely ridiculous. I found a coupon code and ended up buying it. So here’s the caveat… to get my money’s worth and to enjoy the amazing fabric and fit of this tank, I continue to run. Might be a silly reason to keep going, but darn it, it’s working! Here’s the link if you’re expecting and interested. They have all sorts of awesome maternity sports apparel, not just this running tank. I kinda wish they made regular sports apparel too because it’s so comfortable!
Aside from the awesome tank and the desire to not gain ten million pounds this time around, I’ve had two additional motivators. One is there is an annual one-mile Mother’s Day race that we run every year with friends. I will be 33 1/2 weeks on Mother’s Day. Second is this fantastic group I am a part of called the 250/500/750/1000 Mile Challenge. It has been ah-maze-ing. Granted it is online, so I haven’t technically “met” anyone in person except for one (yet), but I post my miles and they post theirs, and we basically root each other on. It is a 100 person strong group which means I have had 99 cheerleaders along the way! It doesn’t matter how you get your miles in (run, walk, bike, ski, swim, whatever!) but the fact is that you are motivated by yourself and others and you get your butt out there. (I started with my goal of 1,000 miles and halfway through pregnancy realized that was probably slightly unrealistic. My goal is now 500.) I am truly thankful for this amazing group of people, and I can’t wait to meet some of them. I honestly don’t know where I would be today with my running and mileage had it not been for this amazing group of dedicated and athletic people.
So thanks to all of these various factors, I have been able to keep up my training, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it! I should add that I’ve also scoped out various mother-runner blogs and even though I’m not anywhere near where these distance runners are in terms of distance and time, they were all very inspiring in their own right.
Overall, continuing on this path will hopefully lead to a shorter labor and delivery, and a quicker recovery time. I am signing up for a 5k in September and have a wedding in October and another in November, so my goal is to be back in shape much quicker than I was with Boo. I’ve got my overly large eyes set on a possible half marathon in October, too. Likelihood of that happening? Minimal. But it’s still a nice goal to have!
Plus, there is plenty of research showing that babies of pregnant exercisers sleep much better than babies of those who don’t, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that that holds true. It certainly did for Boo, and I was only power walking then!
In short, here’s a very brief synopsis of my average training. Some days and months were better than others. I must say, looking back at my running record, I’m pretty damn proud of myself. I never thought I would make it this far!
First Trimester Training:
November: averaging less than 2 miles per day/2-3 times per week. I attribute this to pregnancy fatigue.
December: stepped it up to just over 2 miles per day. Still 2-3 times per week.
During the 1st trimester I had to drop my speed down considerably. At first I was not happy about that at all, but then I realized I could go farther and run longer than I had been, so it ended up working out really well.
Second Trimester Training:
January: 3-4 times per week, 2-3 miles per day. Not too shabby!
February: same as January.
March: started back to 2-3 times per week, averaging 2 miles per day.
Third Trimester Training (so far…):
April: 2.25 miles per day, 3-4 days/week.
I’m still running more than I am walking, but there is a considerable amount of walking going on. The last .25 miles is a nice cool down, but I still count it because something is better than nothing while pregnant!
I’ll keep updating as I go. I wish I had kept a more detailed account throughout pregnancy, but I had to deal with some other unfortunate stuff along the way. Thankfully I have kept my eyes on the prizes!
