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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.

It’s one of my fav days of the year – Marathon Monday

It’s one of my fav days of the year – Marathon Monday

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Happy Marathon Monday!! Below is a guest post I wrote for The San Francisco Marathon’s blog. I’m not sure if the race will end up using it, but I didn’t want it to go to waste, so I’m posting it here. It has been so fun to track so many friends working their asses off out between Hopkinton and Boston, and I am so ridiculously proud of so many people… and the results are still pouring in! All my love to all my runnahs this morning. Boston is no joke — I know from experience — and I am just THRILLED for you all. xoxo

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From everyone here at The San Francisco Marathon, we hope you are thoroughly enjoying Patriot’s Day – or perhaps you better know the third Monday in April as Marathon Monday, or Boston Marathon day. Today’s a special day for the running community.

TSFM-and-Boston-2010-medals

A quick primer: the Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon – held since 1897, in fact – and is arguably the most prestigious footrace in the world. Entrants can participate in the majestic and grueling footrace through the small Massachusetts towns of Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, and Brookline, before finishing in Boston, only by way of qualifying at a previous year’s marathon or by fundraising a substantial amount of money for a deserving charity. If you’re toeing the line in Boston this year – or any year, for the matter – congratulations on earning your spot at our sport’s most hallowed grounds. You are a big deal.

with John and Stacey in Hopkinton before the start of Boston '10
with John and Stacey in Hopkinton before the start of Boston ’10

Boston Marathon Monday is important for those of us who will be anxiously toeing the line in Hopkinton, but it’s also quite special for the rest of the running community. Boston Marathon Monday mattered for the running community for the century and decades preceding the 2013 bombings, and Marathon Monday will continue to be an even bigger deal for our community forevermore, in the subsequent years since the atrocities took place.

It’s a day on the calendar, of course, one that affords schoolchildren and many businesses in Massachusetts a day off from studies and work, but for the running community, it’s a day that unites us each year. It’s one where we’re reminded of big goals and the work necessary to realize said goals, and it’s one that reminds us how utterly magnificent the running community is.

yup. (pc: https://twitter.com/OnlyInBOS/status/584415157415256064)
yup. (pc: https://twitter.com/OnlyInBOS/status/584415157415256064)

What I find really compelling about endurance events like the Boston Marathon, and even our own San Francisco Marathon (or half marathon, or ultra, or 5k), is that while our sport might be a bit individualistic on its surface level, at its core, I’d argue that running is a communal endeavor. The running community is what makes racing and training day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, so special.

I argue that running is a communal endeavor because I firmly believe it’s the running community that enriches the experience for everyone. When I think about racing, I think it is absolutely incredible that we runners – the 99.9% of us who do this stuff for kicks, just as a way to blow off stress or give ourselves some sort of physical accountability – get to run the same exact races that the pros do, the people whose very livelihoods depend on their race day performances. I will never be as fast as Kara Goucher, Desi Linden, or Shalane Flanagan, but you know what? I’ve run many of the same race courses as them. In few other sports can amateur athletes say that they played at, or participated in, the same games or venues as the pros.

That shared experience between amateur and professional in the running community – the fact that both you **and** the pro runners had to deal with subpar weather conditions, for example, or a course that was incredibly fast and flat or hilly and quad-breaking – that shared experience is what binds the running community together. It’s very cool and very humbling. Naturally, we each have to run our own races – I can’t ask Kara, Desi, or Shalane to go knock out 26.2 miles on my behalf – but the fact that we amateurs get to run the same exact pavement, on the same exact day, as the people who get paid to do this? That’s pretty cool.

You don’t have to be a marathoner to appreciate the enormity of Boston Marathon Monday because if you’re a runner – and if you run, regardless if you’re posting 5 minute-mile or 20 minute-miles, you’re a runner – you get it.

You get what it means to put yourself out there each day of training, never knowing what will happen on race day, if you’ll be able to run the race you’ve trained for.

As runners, we value and appreciate the emotional investment our running compatriots have put into their race day – whether it’s in Boston, today, or here in San Francisco, in July – and we know how quickly and easily we can find ourselves being calmly confident or panic-stricken in the days and hours leading into our goal race. Our heart skips a beat when we learn that our running friends have secured that personal best race performance they’ve been working toward for months, and similarly, our soul aches when we hear that our friends’ races did not pan out as they desired.

We’re runners; we get it.

On this Boston Marathon Monday, if you are racing across the country in Massachusetts, are in the beginning stages of your San Francisco Marathon (or half, or ultra, or 5k) training, or are just now considering lacing up for the first time, know this: you’ve got a huge community of supporters behind you.

We’ve got your back through the highs and lows of training, through the emotional uncertainty leading up to (if not also on) race day, and through the race aftermath, when all you want to do is celebrate when things went well or analyze and return to the drawing board when things went poorly.

We know what you’re going through, and we get it.

training with these ladies for Boston '10 -- almost everyone's first Boston experience -- has been one of the highlights of my marathoning experiences. so awesome. so cool.
training with these ladies for Boston ’10 — almost everyone’s first Boston experience — has been one of the highlights of my marathoning experiences. so awesome. so cool.

Have an amazing Boston Marathon Monday, and many heartfelt cheers and fistbumps to our community members out there rockin’ the streets between Hopkinton and Boston. Be swift like Atalanta; remember all that you’ve accomplished during your many months of training; and don’t forget to smile because you are accomplishing something truly life-altering and, in the process, are reminding all of us what it means to work our asses off to chase down our race goal unicorns.

We couldn’t be prouder of you today, Boston Marathoners.

All our love from The San Francisco Marathon & the greater running community.

About:

Erin Mink Garvey has had the pleasure of running 25 marathons, qualifying for the esteemed Boston Marathon 13 times (including at TSFM ’14), and running Boston twice since she began running marathons in 2007. Besides running, Erin digs spending time with her husband and young daughter; writing on her blog; or cooking and baking vegan deliciousness. She and her family recently relocated to San Jose, California, after living in Chicago for more than a decade. Connect with her on her blog, runningruminations.com.