I’m 25 weeks pregnant!
I will definitely say that I’m feeling pretty good and happy. I have few complaints and know I am still so lucky to still be so active with my running, strength workouts and general walking. What I have noticed however is my recovery is a lot longer and harder.
For example, I ran 13.1 miles at the weekend and while it was tougher than what I’d have found pre-pregnancy and slower (of course) I found it OK and was happy to reach that distance. However afterwards was a different story. Instead of jumping into the day as normal with good energy levels, I found I was drained. I was definitely impacted by the distance on the day of and the day after. I felt sapped. It’s such a crazy (though understandable) change.
I’m the girl who would run 18 miles on a Sunday and then be up 5.30am at the gym the next day feeling fine. A hard marathon would make me feel this way, but not a gentle half. It’s a real adjustment to my brain. I took a rest day afterwards and napped, which really helped. It’s just about accepting that I have a certain level of energy and if I use it up on a run I have to pay for that later.
That said, I loved the run and I was happy to take it easier afterwards. I’m proud of my body and it’s capabilities. I just need to reset expectations and allow these adjustments to happen.
And I take each run as it comes. I fully expect at some point to be lowering the miles or stopping so every successful problem-free run is a gift. So far I’ve dropped my Sunday runs so instead of running around 30ish miles a week I now run 24-27 miles a week, depending how long my Saturday run is.
I love my mid-week runs. I run the same 7 mile route each time and honestly I just thoroughly enjoy it. I have a perfect pit stop at 3 miles for a lovely clean public loo, and then I’m into Old Portsmouth and running along Southsea seafront and I just adore it. Being so close to the sea (despite being very much a land creature!) is just so refreshing and invigorating.
Yes sometimes the weather can be awful right by the coast – you really are open to the elements – but when you can see the waves and smell the sea air it really does make up for it. I love it. It will make me very sad to cut back these runs as it take about 3 miles to get to the seafront so realistically I wouldn’t be able to head down there.
We can get to the east coastal area from our house in just over a mile so that’s good but it’s not a route I particularly enjoy as much. I have no idea why really as it’s a lovely route and you can get onto some trails quite quickly. I think I just really have a good association with my 7 miler as it’s the route I’ve been using since being pregnant and it just has happy vibes.
And it’s funny because I’ve been passing a building with big windows for ages and, as narcissistic as this sound, I often use it as a mirror to see myself. My changing body is just incredible for me to see, especially when I’m running, so I often look into it as I run just to see what I look like.
Anyway, inside the building they’ve been doing some work. I had no idea what for until they put a big logo and their branding on the window and funnily enough it’s called “Window into the Womb”. It’s a private scanning facility! The irony of me looking into the window to see my pregnant body and it turns out to be a pregnancy scanning facility is quite amusing.
On a non-running note, the other thing I’ve noticed is a dull period-like ache around my lower tummy. I believe this is round ligament pain – though for me it’s not painful, just achy. It makes me feel like I have a bad period. Some people apparently feel sharp pains and others more a dull ache. I just pop a hot water bottle on the area and that helps.
It’s annoying because I feel like I’ve overcome some hip pains with strength training (all about those squats, bridges and clams!) and now I have this, which I don’t believe any strength training will help as it’s all internal and to do with my uterus expanding. Though certain yoga moves do tend to ease it a bit.
To be honest, it’s not that bad and certainly manageable during the day but it’s when it wakes my up in the night and I’m lying there feeling sorry for myself then it gets annoying. But paracetamol dulls it down a bit thankfully.
Speaking of sleep, getting comfortable is tricky. I have my pregnancy pillow which is great but as a back sleeper it’s just not the same. I can drift off OK but when I wake up in the night I really struggle to get comfortable again. Very frustrating considering I want to be getting lots of sleep while I can!
But other than that, I honestly can’t complain! I’m thankful for my body and how it’s doing – it seems to be just getting on with it all. It’samazing how much my body is very much in control, rather than my mind. Previously I could get over things with some talking to’s and mind-over-matter mentality, but now it’s like “if thebody says no it means no”. And I’m OK with that 🙂
Do you have particular routes you just really enjoy and do all the time?
Do you do any yoga or stretching when you get aches and pains?