What I thought my fitness would look like during pregnancy vs. REALITY:
Like I said in my last post, I so wish I had made a plan, found a workout buddy, and stuck to the plan! I knew I wanted to keep up with my running as much as possible. I even snuck in a few bike rides here and there. I had already signed up for a few summer season sprint distance triathlons prior to becoming pregnant and I didn’t want to back out on my commitment to those races, so I knew I had to try to keep myself as active as possible during those early weeks. Even though those early weeks is when I started to feel my worst! The slightest smell of garlic, onions or meat…ugh…I would start gagging and sometimes even throw up. Not ideal conditions for anything let alone working out. I have to say it was hard staying motivated!
Luckily for me, I have a few awesome friends who are just as into triathlons, running, and all types of challenges as I am. Even though we live miles and states apart, we kept in touch via snapchat or text messages daily to hold each other accountable. This is vital for me to stick to a plan and accomplishing any goals I set. Having this type of support is tremendously important to success! My friend Kayla and Tammy signed up to do a local sprint triathlon (Kayla flew in from Colorado and Tammy came down from Orlando) beachside in Melbourne. We all kept each other motivated in the weeks leading up to the race to make sure we were in enough shape to survive the event, which took place August 1st meaning it was 150◦ of pure hell outside. Not surprisingly, we all placed in our age groups! (Kayla and Tammy are badass) I was 13 weeks pregnant at the time of the race and placed 3rd in my age group! I guess technically that means that Rylee placed 3rd and I was 4th! Regardless, I felt great at 13 weeks and was able to perform just as well I could of ever hoped or expected. I totally envisioned the rest of my pregnancy being a breeze, fitness-wise.
BOY WAS I WRONG! I kept up with running until the end of September. I started getting a nagging groin pain that I just attributed to the extra LBS I was putting on. My running pace definitely slowed down a bit, but that wasn’t even the frustrating part. It was more so the uncomfortable, achy, and sore joints and extremities I was experiencing. It got so bad that I can remember trying to get up one of the million times during the middle of the night to pee (thank you Rylee for resting on my bladder), that I physically could not put weight on my leg. It felt like I broke my hip, it took all I had to make it to the bathroom and back. Let alone getting back in the bed! (our bed is about 4.5 feet high….it’s like climbing on a Clydesdale horse just getting in bed) Needless to say I decided to just stop running at that point. It wasn’t worth it to me, I was in so much pain and I figured if I was in pain…baby was trying to tell me to stop.
Once I stopped running, slowly my weight work outs fizzled out and next thing you know the only “extra” activity I did was daily dog walks. Next thing you know the holidays were here, I ate all the foods…especially the sweets. Then next thing you know, the New Year was here and BAM our due date arrived anddddddd then another week passed and I WAS STILL PREGNANT! Ouch. I increased the amount of walks I was doing during the day and tried all the “MUST-Dos” everyone tells you to naturally induce labor, but ultimately baby comes when baby wants to come. Well that and my doctor didn’t want me to go beyond 41 weeks so I had an induction scheduled to speed things up.
As I look back at the months leading up to my pregnancy vs the months after pregnancy, I wish I had done things a lot differently. Its just in my head I had this vision of attempting to be as healthy as possible through my pregnancy which included staying consistent with my workouts. In reality the moment my body wanted to quit, I gave in and just stopped doing what my body needed. If I had a do over, I would have continued to listen to my body, scale back on the running yes, but instead would have just done more modified workouts. I’ve always been an all or nothing kind of person and I think it kind of hurt me in this situation. If I wasn’t running hard, or working out hard I just assume don’t do it at all. Terrible philosophy I know. And trust me, now I am paying for it! But what’s more important is I’m even more motivated to get back to my old routine and sign up for more races! I might be slow at getting back to it, but that doesn’t matter to me.