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What I can tell you about third trimester pregnant running

What I can tell you about third trimester pregnant running

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I repeat myself a lot these days, and one of my common refrains goes something along these lines:

pregnancy can be is unpredictable.

listen to your body.

take things a day at a time.

Soon enough, I’ll only have one hand’s worth of weeks left in this pregnancy, in theory — though of course, we know that due dates are more like glorified “guess dates,” since they’re +/- 2 weeks — and it’s around this time in my first pregnancy when I stopped running.

Strolling down memory lane for a second, in no small part due to the fact that I’m apparently nesting like crazy (and hey, that’s a good thing), thanks to some old-school running log books I found and some old blog posts I had written way back in the day, I (eventually) remembered that I ceased running around the 35/36 week mark of my almost 41-week pregnancy because of lower SI joint pain. If you don’t know what that is, please let me assure you that it doesn’t feel very nice. Imagine the sensation of what feels like bone-on-bone grinding every time you walk, and running, ha, yea right!, um no way.  During my first pregnancy, my final double-digit run was about 10 miles around 29 weeks pregnant. Most of my runs were at 11:xx pace (and through the winter and early spring in Chicago, so throw some nice elemental variation in there … think ice, wind, snow), and surely my mileage wasn’t anything beyond 20 mpw, if I were lucky and reeeeeeeally being a baller.

maybe the day? afternoon? after that final double-digit LR during pregnancy 1, we went to Vegas for a 'babymoon.' Pic is from Red Rock Canyon, not my LR in Chicago (obvs).
maybe the day? afternoon? after that final double-digit LR during pregnancy 1, we went to Vegas for a ‘babymoon.’ Pic is from Red Rock Canyon, not my LR in Chicago (obvs).

This time around — and I’ll provide another mileage recap in a few weeks — I’m continuing to surprise myself by still running in the 8s on average, ranging from 8:teens (shorter runs)-high 8s/low 9s (recovery), maaaaybe squeaking in a sub-8 toward the end of my run (and if I’m on a downhill, ha!), and posting volume each week between about 25-40ish miles, depending on my schedule, if I’m “racing” (note the quotes — they’re important), how I’m feeling, what my sleep has been like, all that good stuff.

I’m not documenting this to humble-brag or anything like that; really, I’m not much into that. My point is merely to remind you, dear reader who might be a runner and/or pregnant or thinking about starting/resuming running and/or thinking about getting pregnant, that, once again, pregnancy is freaking unpredictable and its effects on your running are as good as anyone’s guess. You might be able to run until the day you deliver, you might feel so horrible or disinterested that you don’t run a single step for 40ish weeks, or hey, maybe you do a little one week or day but not much the next. You really don’t know how things are going to go or how you’re going to feel, and I’d wager that it’s impossible to guess or to know until you’re in the thick of it. Pregnancy is an incredible metamorphosis; it affects literally every ounce of your being. Very few (if any?) things in life mirror this profoundly-altering process.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again (I told you — broken record these days): running or not running during your pregnancy doesn’t make you any “more” or “less” of a runner than you usually are. I firmly believe it all boils down to YOU listening to YOUR body (and your practitioner’s advice) and doing what is right for YOU. It’s not about being a badass or being weak or trying to make a show of your running; you just have to do what’s right for YOU, what feels good for YOU, and what your practitioner says is advisable for, guess who? Yup, YOU! That’s it. Your pregnancy is a bit of an experiment of one, and you, amiga mia, are the lone, singular test subject.

and some days, the experiment of 1 involves seeing what a plank feels like super pregnant while your 4 year-old tries to decipher what the eff you're doing
and some days, the experiment of 1 involves seeing what a plank feels like super pregnant (and in a tiara, naturally) while your 4 year-old tries to decipher what the eff you’re doing

I thought *for sure* that my running during pregnancy dos would mirror my running during pregnancy uno, and it hasn’t: at all. It has been better — faster, higher volume, better “feel,” less perceived exertion, everything. Your guess is as good as mine. I have some theories as to why pregnant running this time around, as opposed to four years ago, has been so much better, but seeing as how I’m a) not a medical professional or b) not a coach, I’ll abstain in the interest of not putting more (possibly) unfounded garbage on the internet. If you want to know, ask.

At any rate, suffice it to say that I am fucking THRILLED that I can still do this stuff more or less as I wish to this far along. It is seriously like an unexpected present, and each day I get to re-open and re-experience this present — being just a little more pregnant than I was the day before, possibly a bit heavier, maybe a bit slower, whatever — it’s just the bee’s knees. To run without expectations while you’re pregnant, and to be SO SURPRISED and to CONTINUE to be SO SURPRISED by being able to continually enjoy the gift — because that’s what it is, kids — that is the ability to run warrants ALL THE CAPS because, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, it’s exhilarating. Fucking exhilarating, people!!!!!!!!!!!!!

perfection
perfection [SJ style]
this is also sufficient. (Akron-in-a-soggy-and-wet-June style)
this is also sufficient. [Akron-in-a-soggy-and-wet-June style]

Being this far along in my pregnancy, and knowing the experience I had the first time around (related to the SI stuff), I actually feel like I’m getting kinda obnoxiously excited, to the tune of when I start each run, I’m a) excited that I awaken feeling great enough and rarin’ to run; b) I wonder (when I start running) if this will be my final run or one of my final runs during the pregnancy because I never know how I’ll feel once I’m actually out there, so I kinda proceed with caution until I have a good idea of how I’ll fare; and c) by the time I finish the thing, even if the run kinda blew because of XYZ reason, I’m still Cheshirin’ like a damn fool because I JUST RAN X MILES AT X PACE AT X WEEKS PREGNANT, BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (again, all the caps. Told you).

With all of this in mind, then, as though it weren’t blatantly obvious, I’m happy to say that all is well in pregnancy and fetus land, though I’m beginning to wonder where exactly the fetus is going to grow for another 6ish weeks; much like the Bay Area housing market, my uterine rental space is quickly becoming increasingly difficult to secure. As far as measurements and weight gain and all those good variables go, everything is right where it should be (though I feel way bigger this time around than I did during #1), and in terms of the family, we’re all getting more excited with each passing day. A has it in her mind that she’s going to “catch” the baby when it comes out of my belly, and oh, by the way, she’s still pretty convinced that she’s going to be a big sister to a baby brother, who’s a girl, who’s named Aurora (the baby in her belly) or TinkerBell (the baby in my belly). Let that one sink in for a second … Oh, and on the subject of the baby’s sex, it has been almost unanimous — almost, in the sense of all but one single person over the past ~34 weeks has told me — that I’m having a boy, based on some cockamamie notion or another. Here’s the funny thing, though; that was my experience while pregnant with A as well. Just saying (though nope, I have no idea either)…

Anyway, my plan for the remainder of my pregnancy is to continue that which I’ve been doing for the past ~34 weeks — to listen to my body. If all’s well, I’ll continue to run, I’ll “race” the San Francisco Marathon’s 5k race here in a couple weeks (at about 36 weeks and change) and see lots of TSFM buddies over the course of the weekend (and Chicago Erin, who’s coming back this year to run one of TSFM races!), and no doubt I’ll continue to finish each run with that ridic Cheshire shit-eating grin.

standard Cheshire fare
standard fare

 

Much like during any training cycle, being flexible is critical, and this is especially even more true when you’re running while pregnant. That’s my MO — take things a day at a time and listen to my body. That’s really all I can do, so that’s all I’m gonna do; it’s really that straightforward.

‘for the hell of it’ miles

‘for the hell of it’ miles

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There are many things I like about running, and probably one of its biggest attributes — one of the things that has kept me coming back for more, day after day, month after month, year after year — is its versatility. You don’t necessarily have to have a race on the calendar to run, nor do you necessarily have to be “training” for some sort of timed event, like a time trial, to commit to the sport. Sure, sometimes having these obligations commitments opportunities on our calendars can nudge us out the door when it’s inconvenient to go for a run — when we’d rather be sleeping or being lazy or staying away from shitty weather, for example — but at the end of the day, I think one of the best things about running is that if you run, if you put one foot in front of the other and, generally speaking, propel yourself in a forward motion, you’re a runner. You don’t need to run a timed race (or hell, a watch or running clothes, or running shoes, or running *anything*) to make it as part of your identity. You can run for the hell of it, and that’s a-okay.

Of course, if you like to write about your running, as I do, and you’re *not* actively in training mode, it can make for some pretty long absences in your blog … or some dull reading of the stuff that you do write (and publish).   o_0

The pregnancy is moving right along, and as of now, I’ve got just two races left on my calendar before my August due date — ZOOMA’s Napa Valley half marathon in late June, when I’ll be about 31+ weeks, and the 5k during The San Francisco Marathon’s weekend in late July, when I’ll be 36+ weeks (!), though obviously both will be races in name only and not in, uh, reality, I guess. At this stage in my life, I can say that I’ve run two marathons, a 50k, and 2 5ks pregnant, but never that late in the game, so we’ll see how it all shakes out over the final trimester. It should be fun … “should” being the operative word here. 🙂 Time will tell.

I’ve written it before, earlier in this pregnancy, but I cannot thank my lucky stars enough that I have been feeling sufficiently healthy and strong and well enough, more often than not, to be able to continue to run through my pregnancy. I’m not breaking any records, my volume is maaaaaybe a third of what it usually is, I haven’t done a legit speed workout in forever, but despite all of this, I seriously cannot express how stupid happy-excited-elated I am at the end of nearly every.single.run I can post while pregnant. Seriously. I’m usually pretty happy after a run, but these days, it doesn’t matter if I go run 3, 5, 12 miles, whatever, because by the time I finish, I am so stupid-giddy about it that I feel like I’m doing all of this stuff for the first time again.

It’s endlessly amusing.

always with the cheesy smile during these 'running for the hell of it' miles. admittedly, I haven't been to my home hills of AR since mid-March and really need to get back before the pregnancy makes me waaaaaay too imbalanced for some good climbing action, even if only for a few miles.
always with the cheesy smile during these ‘running for the hell of it’ miles, even during a solo Sierra 11-mile summit. admittedly, I haven’t been to my home hills of AR since mid-March and really need to get back before the pregnancy makes me waaaaaay too imbalanced for some good climbing action  … even if I only go and post a few very, very slow trail miles.

 

Most of the time, pregnant or not, I don’t look at my watch while I run and instead go exclusively on feel (and by terrain — I’m a fan of working with gravity and can’t recommend it enough), and even on the days where the run is initially uncomfortable because Kiddo Dos is seemingly straight chillin’ entirely on my right side (ahem, today, hi in there! I feel you!), I’m still so happy to be out there, doing what I love, that I’m sure that the shiteating-grin on my face only distracts passersby momentarily from my ever-growing midsection that, uh, attractively, more often than not, is hanging out between the tops of my shorts and the bottom of my top because I refuse to buy running clothes that I’ll only wear when I’m pregnant.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel like I already look like a tank (ah, the joys of subsequent pregnancies and getting huger earlier), and I’m to the point in my pregnancy where my belly actually gets in the way when I try to bend over to pick things up off the floor … as well as the point when random strangers on the street either look at me like I’m crazy when they see me running [PSA: don’t be that person] or, conversely, offer me some solid fistbumps and congratulatory shouts [PSA: be that person] …  but dammit if you don’t see me running without a smile on my face because I *get* to do this stuff, still.

All these pregnant miles, these “running just for the hell of it” miles have been so good to me and for me and so mentally refreshing that I would falter more than I would be able to adequately convey my appreciation of them. I’m fortunate to not have much of an injury history, but I imagine that pregnancy miles are kinda like the coming-back-from-injury miles, when you’re just so happy to be out there that you really don’t give a damn about your pace or distance or any other metric that you’d usually obsess over. If you want to run .5 mile, 1 mile, 5 miles, 10 miles, whatever, and you feel well, you do; so it is with pregnancy running.

Each day is a new adventure, each mile some potential new opportunity, and being able to partake in new adventures and opportunities each week — regardless if it’s twice a week, seven times in a week, significantly slower or just about the same pace as my non-pregnant running — it all just effing rules. Scratch that; it’s fucking fantastic, my friends.

running on Mother's Day with my girl -- pretty awesome stuff. the best type of "running for the hell of it" miles.
running on Mother’s Day with my girl — pretty awesome stuff. the best type of “running for the hell of it” miles.

 

I don’t coach, and I try not to be too didactic with the stuff that I write on here, but I will say this — I cannot recommend having some periods of “for the hell of it” miles in your running career. I won’t prescribe if it should be every year, so many times in a given month, between seasons — all that stuff you can decide for yourself — but I will say that having this period in my running career at least twice now, during both of my pregnancies, has been deeply gratifying, refreshing and just plain fun.

It’s easy to get into nothing but grind mode and hammer-hammer-hammer every single run, every single week, and usually, that’s how I roll, too, but sometimes, slowing down, running less frequently, maybe running fewer miles, can be good for the soul. This is a concept that might sound sacrilege, and I get it — I have thought this way before, too — but truly. Consider it.

If nothing else, I imagine that it’ll give you a good reminder of why and how you became enamored with this sport in the first place and why you keep returning, running back, for more.