There's a few of us on the Pregnant Runners Club forum realising that time is running out and that we are close to 'graduating'! We thought it would be great to carry on the thread for new mums to work out training plans and the like. Hope this is as succesful as the Pregnant Runners Club!
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- fingers crossed!
What a great idea Janie.
Good luck everyone. You CAN do it.
Sequin
Looking forward to getting back into it soon x
Kit is now 3 months old and an absolute joy. I am loving being a mum: found it hard at first and it took me a while to settle into a less structured way of life, but now I find it so rewarding. He's now at the age where he gives back - just one smile can melt my heart - and is becoming a real little man with his own personality.
I started running again at the beginning of May and naively assumed it would not take long to get back to where I was before becoming pregnant. I launched straight into running four times a week, three miles at a time (which I didn't think was very much) and promptly hurt my back. Saw an osteopath to make sure that pregnancy hadn't damaged my pelvic alignment or affected me biomechanically in any way and got the all-clear - but was told to take a complete week's rest and to be much more cautious when I started back. After pregnancy the hormone relaxin can remain in your system for up to 5 months and causes the joints and ligaments to remain soft and therefore prone to injury. I knew this before I started back running but of course thought that I was invincible ...
I started back again last week, very cautiously this time. I am using a Hal Higdon schedule which is meant to be a complete novice's build-up to a first marathon over 30 weeks. The first week has you running a total of 9 miles broken down into 1.5, 3, 1.5, 3. I have really had to swallow my pride and go back to grass roots. I'm prepared to do it because I see running as a long-term thing and something I want to be doing for many years to come, so better to build my strength back slowly now than go hell for leather and end up having to take every other week off.
I am trying to look on myself as a beginner in the short term so that I don't overdo things. When I look back, the furthest I've run in the past 11 months is 10 miles and that was on the day I discovered I was pregnant. As soon as I knew I scaled back and ran no further than 6 miles at a time - and less during the very hot weather we had last summer. So I haven't done any really serious running for nearly a year despite managing to keep some running going until 32 weeks pregnant.
I'm really enjoying being back out there. For the moment it's not about PBs and racing, it's about me-time and rediscovering the pleasure running brings me. It clears my head and makes me a happier and better mummy!
Oliver is almost 5 months now. I don't feel tempted to say time has flown. These first 5 months as a Mummy have been wonderful but oh so exhausting. I never thought a baby would change my life soooo much.
I ran my first race today!!! It was a big womens fun run in Vienna. I set myself what I though was a realistic target considering I have only been out running since March and in the last 4 weeks I have only managaed to get out 5 times and still have a chesty cough clearing up. Anyway I beat my target so feel satisfied but more than that it was just great getting a bit of me back.
Good luck Janie. Not experienced to advise you on marathons. Never done one but you have to consider the high amount of training hours. You will really need the support to make sure you can get out. I guess it depends on this, your own determination and how "easy" your baby is.
Hope some other "oldies" will discover this thread.
Glad to see this thread has been set up. Like the rest of you..I cant keep up in the pregnant runners thread anymore...
Am struggling to get out running at all these days :-(
OH now works away from home during the week..so I only get to go running at the w-e..which I suppose is better than nothing. The most I've run is 6 miles..and boy is it fantastic to be out there.
Conor is 9 1/2 months now already ! Getting used to the working Mum life now ...it has taken me a while.. It is a huge adjustment..but I've realised organisation is the key !
Janie best of luck with the Graduation !!
and Happy runnings all !!!
Minks - I like your approach (and so lovely to hear about how much Kit is changing your life in the best possible way). I'm starting to think ahead to the time when I will be able to get out running again and will definitely be taking a beginner's approach. In these last couple of weeks I've started to be aware of the relaxin kicking in and feel aching in my pubic bone and a general unsteadiness. I think our pregnancies will certainly make us listen to our bodies in a whole new way.
Janie - My goal is a marathon too, and I'm going to try, once again, to get into London, so that would be about ten months after the birth; that seems reasonable to me.
We'll see!!
And thank you to all the mums who've already posted - it's really interesting to hear how people are getting on.
sb x
Didn't cry at work! however children are back tomorrow so it could reduce me to tears!
Mrs T good to hear from you
Thanks for mentioning nappies, Janie - I must dig out the ones I've got left from DS and wash them (not that they're dirty - you know what I mean!)
I will be taking the complete beginner route I think, I haven't run since around 8 weeks and had to stop pretty much everything else with SPD at 17 weeks, so have turned quite unfit whilst pregnant, but guess there is no point in damaging either the baby or yourself so have been quite sanguine about this. The treadmill will have to be my friend as it will be the cold, dark winter months and pounding the streets of Edinburgh at night alone just ain't safe anymore (even getting that way in daylight sadly!).
How do you folks get your babies to sleep? Are they falling asleep on their own accord á la Gina Ford ie. put sleepy baby in a dark room and they drop off? I have struggled and went down the rocking baby in arms path. Now increasingly turning to the dummy (and popping it out of his mouth a little bit later) which I am not comfortable with. Thinking about trying the controlled crying thing at around 6 months if things don't improve.
Re: sleep
I made a very big mistake with my first of not allowing her to cry to sleep, as a result she didn't sleep thru the night til she was nearly 5. During that time I was trying to drag myself to part time work on 4hrs sleep if lucky. With the second we never rocked her to sleep and she was not allowed to fall asleep on us, we let her cry (you know the differece between the cries as they get older)sometimes is was hard on the nerves but by 12 weeks she slep all nigth and 6 months 12 hrs a night. DS now sleeps 12 hrs a night appart from odd occassion of losing dummy and we took same approach with him. Whenever things got tough we always kept in mind it only takes 14 days to cement a new routine in a baby/young childs mind.
Hope this helps
I was advised to do nothing with impact for the first 6 weeks, only mild toning exercises and a lot of walking. I did teach aerobics classes after the first child from 2 weeks but I basically walked the routine til 6 weeks and pointed and gave directions.
It is tempting to do a lot but it only has a negative benefit doing too much. I exercised til the day all mine were born and was lucky to have 3 relativly straight forward labours so it is a real shock to tone it down to the minimum. If you do too much your milk supply is affected and your ligaments are not strong enough to cope, not to mention pelvic floor muscles.
At 6 weeks I ran a mile and although I could have done more I did not. Each week I added a little more distance or some other acticity like aerobics, swimming, cycling, weights. Now at 7 months I am back doing all the activities I was doing before. I still have a little weight to loose and I'm not as fast as I was and I can only run a max of 8 miles but within a year it will come back.
Must go as DS is crying
Re sleep.. We dont have trouble putting him down to sleep most of the time..
We have been following the baby whisperer...and she says follow baby signs..so as soon as we see the baby yawn/rub his eyes we know we have to put him down. When we do put him down..we just sing "twinkle twinkle" once or twice..put his mobile on.. and then leave him in his cot..and he is usually asleep within 5 mins.
He is used to this routine now and he is tired at the exact same times every night and knows its going to sleep time once Twinkle twinkle starts.
(Even for naps during the day we follow the same routine and it works a treat)
There have been times when we missed the window(his yawning/rubbing eyes)and rather than put him down then(when he is overtired/cranky etc), we play with him for a few mins..make sure he's in good form..smilling etc..and then we put him down..and he's fine.(we may have to sing twinkle twinkle a few more times, but he usually nods off by himslf)
We have been lucky in that he has always been a good sleeper tho
Best of luck with it.It just takes time to figure out what works for you and your baby
So when DS hit 6 months DS got me a baby jogger (you can't use it till 6 months due to seating posn)and I have found it really easy to run with. I have taken times of all my routes using this and can even jog up the bridges on my route(although slowly). I jog on uneven roads, pavements, sea front and the river path and found the harness good and he pushchair very easy to push and stable. I even made it around the block with my 6 year old sat in although she wasn't strapped in and I went round a corner real fast and nearly threw her out as the pushchair spins on 2 wheels to change direction very easily.
The only drawback is the long wheelbase makes negociating Tesco or the school playground interesting. But then it is not designed for that.
Must go a bedtime story to do
My local gym has shut our creche so I do most runs,4 out of 5 are now with the pushchair when my girls are at school and nursery. I used to go to the gym rain or shine as the girl loved it when they were little and it was precious me time. The gym creche shut when DS was 5 weeks old how is that for bad luck.
My work is sporadic and on a casual basis so running in the day with my jogger is the only way I can get out, or as happens in school holidays I have to go after all the kids are in bed.
My DH has his interests, the girls their dance, gym, swimming etc..So as a mum you usually come last on the list.
I have my first Tri on Sunday since having DS 7 and a bit months ago so I will get a real test of how much fitness I have regained. I expect a reasonable swim as I only stopped swimming for 4 weeks while I had blood loss, cycle will be hard as I stuggle to find time to go out but DH has just got me a cycle trainer so I can cycle in the garage with the kids in bed, nap times or while DH is out training or teaching TKD. Running I am slower than before, not a lot cause I've never been that fast and still 7 lbs over the heaviest weight that I am happy at. One day I wish to try for a marathon but the most I've ever done is a half in 2 hours and 1 min.
Must go again as oldest has heard a strange noise in her room. Probably the wind or a fly.