Here is what the ninth week of training looked like!
Monday – Plan: 7.5 mile run w/ 6 X 30 second strides Actual: 7.5 mile run (9:00 pace)
This week was a total washout on the weather front. Living on a dirt road during a rainy week is problematic in and of itself, never mind trying to run on the road! I spent some quality time on the treadmill at the beginning of the week. I got my miles and strides in on Monday afternoon during my lunch break while Ward napped. The run itself was a bit of a struggle. While I am so thankful to have the treadmill as an option when the weather is bad, I just really couldn’t get into this run. Running outside is so much more enjoyable. I didn’t specifically track the strides, but they definitely felt much, much harder on the treadmill than they do outside.
Tuesday – Plan: 8.0 mile run w/ 2 X 1.5 mile tempo Actual: 7.5 mile run (7:30 pace)
Given Monday’s blah-ish treadmill run, I was really hoping to be able to get outside for Tuesday’s workout. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. The workout was written as a two and a half mile warm up, a mile and a half tempo, a four minute recovery, a mile and a half tempo and a two and a half mile cool down. I had to get myself to a good place mentally to even attempt this one and having a good playlist definitely helped! I kept the same schedule as the day before and headed down to my “she shack” during a break from work while Ward napped.
Thankfully I was able to settle into a good rhythm early on during this run! For the warm up miles, I started at 10:00 pace (6.0 mph) and increased the speed by 0.2 mph every two minutes. This has been my standard treadmill warm up over the years and it really helps to make the time pass by quickly. From there I went straight into the tempo miles without giving it a second thought. I started those miles at 6:40 pace (9.0 mph). I played with the speed a little bit throughout the tempo as well, bumping it up by 0.1 mph every so often. I felt so good that I decided to skip the recovery altogether. I knew this wouldn’t change the intent of the workout and honestly, the thought of stopping and starting back sounded much harder than just running straight through! Ha. I ended up with splits of 6:30, 6:23 and 6:13! I was really surprised and very pleased with how this run went!
Wednesday – Plan: 7.0 mile run Actual: 7.25 mile run (9:15 pace)
I paid the price for Tuesday’s hard session on Wednesday evening. I had to go in to the office Wednesday and I definitely didn’t have my ish together enough to get a run in beforehand. Morning schedules are so much trickier with a little one. Goodness gracious! Also, side note: how in the world did I go in to the office every day for over a decade?! I am so spoiled with that WFH life now. I’m sure many people can relate on that front! I was |thisclose| to skipping this run altogether. I was worn out from commuting, having to be “social” for much of the day and on top of that, it was supposed to rain again any minute. I was also pretty crabby and I knew that if I just got out even for a few miles that I would be a much more pleasant wife and mother. My legs were tired and heavy, but overall I am so glad that I sucked it up and ran (of course!). I did get sprinkled on a tiny bit, but that actually felt wonderful! You never regret a run, right?!
It was back to monsooning on Thursday, but it was an elliptical day for me anyway. Thursday seemed to be one of those days where things just don’t quite go according to plan. I was only able to get 30 minutes in on my home elliptical before a work call, but then I found myself with another small window a couple hours later and I decided that I might as well go ahead and do the other 30 minutes. While perhaps not ideal, sometimes you just take what you can get!
Friday – Plan: 7.5 mile run w/ 6 X 30 second strides Actual: 7.5 mile run (8:45 pace)
By Friday the rain was done! Praise the Lord! I got out and got a sailboat loop in before the traffic got too out of hand. I got a few more strides in on Friday as well. There isn’t really much to these, but I think doing them throughout the week is helping my leg turnover on the harder days.
Saturday – Plan: 11.0 mile run Actual: 11.4 mile run (8:30 pace)
The weather for Saturday’s run was about as perfect as it possibly could be for the end of May. The dew point was in the fifties, which is unheard of for lower Alabama! I didn’t have any specific pace goals Saturday, so I kept it in my typical easy run range. I am so happy to be able to easily get in some double digit runs again!
Sunday – Plan: 3.0 mile run Actual: 4.0 mile run (8:30 pace)
This week was my first week of adding back in a sixth run. Woo! It’s so much fun to reach these little milestones along the way. Sunday’s run was extra special because I got to run with my friend Rebecca! We have run thousands of miles together over the years, but it’s harder to make that happen now that we both have kids. I really enjoyed catching up with her for a few miles.
Totals – Running: 45.7 miles Elliptical: 5.5 (60 minutes) Walking: 8.0 miles
Thanks for following along. Catch you guys next week!
Here is what the eighth week of training looked like. Ward turned 3 months old yesterday! I can’t believe it.
Monday – Plan: 6.0 mile run Actual: 6.0 mile run (8:30 pace)
I went back to work Monday morning. 12 weeks absolutely FLEW by! I’m sure a lot of moms feel the same way, but I am so torn about going back to work. Perhaps a more accurate statement would be that I am so torn about sending Ward to daycare. While I definitely don’t want to be a full-time stay at home mom, I do sometimes feel like I could just stare at those adorable baby smiles all day long! Taking care of him felt like a full-time job most days of my maternity leave and I definitely don’t think it is possible for me to work full-time and take care of him at home. Our daycare is very close to the house and they are very flexible on drop off and pick up times, so I am planning to do somewhat of a part-time daycare situation (at least on the days when I don’t have to go in to the office).
I did go to the office Monday morning, so I got up early and got six miles in on the treadmill before work. I ran at 5:30 a.m., which is definitely the earliest I have run in quite some time! It was dark and had rained the night before, so the treadmill seemed to be my best option. I listened to an episode of “Fuel for the Sole” while I ran. I don’t even remember which episode it was at this point because I have binge listened to all the episodes to date in the last week or so. Breastfeeding while ramping back up training intensity has been very challenging on the nutrition front. I feel like I am eating so much and yet I also feel like I am hungry all the time, so I know that I am likely not getting enough. Their conversations about proper fueling for training have been super helpful!
Tuesday – Plan: 7.5 mile run w/ 6 X 30 second strides Actual: 7.5 mile run (8:35 pace)
Tuesday morning I did my standard two trips out and back from the house, with one extra mile on the paved portion of the road for the pickups. I averaged 5:25 pace for the strides.
Wednesday – Plan: 8.0 mile run w/ either 8 X 400 or 2 X 1.5 mile tempo Actual: 8.0 mile run w/ 8 X 400
I went back and forth a few times trying to decide which workout I wanted to do. My coach told me that whichever one I didn’t choose would likely show up on the schedule next week anyway, so it was more just a matter of timing. I didn’t get to the track until Wednesday evening after work and it was hot, hot, hot! It was 86℉ w/ a feels like temperature of 92℉! Whoa. Given the temperature, I settled on the shorter interval workout. My splits were 86, 84, 86, 88, 83, 84, 82 and 83 (averages out to approximately 5:30 pace). I would love to say that the pace felt easy and comfortable, but it didn’t. I was working really hard! I felt like garbage on the last two repeats, but I gutted it out. I felt even worse on the cooldown! Yikes. That was the hardest workout I’ve done in quite some time.
Thursday’s elliptical session was very welcomed! My legs actually felt totally fine, but it was nice to have a break from running.
Friday – Plan: 7.5 mile run Actual: 7.5 mile run (9:00 pace)
I ran from home again Friday morning. Nothing notable to report about this one!
Saturday – Plan: 11.0 mile run w/ 4.0 mile progression Actual: 11.0 mile run (7:55 pace)
Saturday’s workout called for a 5 mile warm up, a 4 mile progression and a 2 mile cool down. I ran with a friend for the first five miles and those miles absolutely flew by! I haven’t run with a buddy in quite some time. After that I went into the progression part of the run and ended up with splits of 7:03, 6:58, 6:49 and 6:32! The goal for the progression was 7:20s down to 6:40s, so I was actually a tad bit faster than expected. Considering that it was 77℉ w/ 100% humidity (not an exaggeration), I was elated with how this one went!
I ended the week with a very easy elliptical session at home Sunday evening.
Totals – Running: 40.0 miles Elliptical: 15.5 (120 minutes) Walking: 11.1 miles
I am so thankful that everything is feeling good and that I was able to get in such a solid week of training during my first week back to work. Thanks for following along! See you guys next week!
Here is what the seventh week of my “comeback” training looked like. I am dropping comeback from the title at this point, because I feel like I am truly back in the swing of things and it just feels like regular training at this point. Woo to the hoo!
Monday – Plan: 7.5 mile run w/ 6 X 30 second strides Actual: 7.5 mile run (8:30 pace)
I got my miles in Monday evening sans strides. In hindsight, I should’ve just done the strides even though I wasn’t feeling it, but in the moment I just couldn’t bring myself to pick up the pace in the slightest. This was just one of those get it done and move on kind of runs.
Tuesday – Plan: 5.5 mile run Actual: 5.5 mile run (9:40 pace)
Tuesday morning I ran with Ward in the stroller. Running with him was tougher than I expected! How is it so much harder than walking with him?! Mercy.
I was not super thrilled to be on the elliptical Wednesday, but it worked out well to have a day off from running before attempting a workout on Thursday. I do at least get some good people watching in at the gym while I am on the elliptical!
Thursday – Plan: 8.0 mile run w/ 2 X 800 + 4 X 400 Actual: 7.0 mile run (7:36 pace)
Thursday was my first track workout since February of 2021! I had forgotten how much I really enjoy being at the track. The workout was written as a two mile warm up, 2 X 800 w/ 400 recovery, 4 X 400 w/ 200 recovery and a two mile cool down. No specific paces were prescribed, so I ran completely by feel. I took it one rep at a time and was pleasantly surprised after the fact at what my body was able to do. My splits for the 800s were 2:57 and 2:55 (5:45 ish pace) and my splits for the 400s were 85, 83, 81, 81 (5:20 ish pace). There were a few kids playing at the track while I was running and they tried multiple times to convince me to attempt to jump over a hurdle. I explained (several times) that I was far too old for such a feat. They went to great lengths by blocking all lanes of the track with hurdles so that I would theoretically have to jump over one to continue running. I caught them off guard when I went under one and went along on my merry little way. I might be old, but at least I have some sense!
Friday – Plan: 7.0 mile run Actual: 7.25 mile run (9:00 pace)
I finally got those six thirty second strides that I skipped out on earlier in the week in on Friday morning. I don’t know that it was really necessary at that point, but I also figured that it couldn’t hurt anything. I did my standard two trips out and back from the house, with one extra mile on the paved portion of the road for the pickups. I averaged 5:16 pace for the strides. Nothing to write home about I suppose (but clearly something to write on the blog about (ha!)), but I was happy that my legs felt good after doing a workout the previous day.
Saturday – Plan: 10.0 – 11.0 mile run Actual: 11.0 mile run (8:45 pace)
My long run got bumped up by one mile this week! It sounds like we will probably hang out in the 11 to 12 mile range for the long runs for a while now. That mileage ends up being about a 90 minute run for me and there isn’t any reason to do more than 90 minutes until I have a specific race on the calendar. It was already getting a tad warm when I was out there, but the run went by without incident. Again, I was just happy that my legs cooperated after several days in a row of running!
Sunday morning was back to the elliptical and I was actually happy to have a “rest” day from running! Maybe I can welcome the elliptical into my training plan after all.
Totals – Running: 38.3 miles Elliptical: 21 miles (120 minutes) Walking: 13.1 miles
Thanks for following along! See you guys next week!
Here is what the sixth week of my “comeback” training looked like. We were out of town for the beginning part of the week, so things were a bit different from the status quo. AND! I have fun pictures to share, which is definitely not the norm!
Monday – Plan: 7.0 mile run w/ 6 X 30 second strides Actual: 7.25 mile run (8:45 pace)
Monday’s run was pretty much an exact replica of the previous Monday’s run, except for the fact that it happened earlier in the day. We were planning to get on the road around 7 a.m., so I had to get up earlier than I have been recently to get this one in. In actuality, we didn’t leave until 9 a.m., as planning any sort of departure time is very difficult with a baby. It all depends on when we wakes up and wants to eat! I did two out and back stretches from the house, with one extra mile on the paved portion of the road for the pickups. The strides were a teensy bit faster than last week. My paces were 5:15, 5:17, 5:07, 5:13, 5:13 and 5:10. More progress!
Tuesday – Plan: 7.5 mile run w/ 5 X 2:00 hard and 2:00 easy Actual: 8.0 mile run (9:10 pace)
I was supposed to do a workout Tuesday morning, but instead opted for an easy run. It was late and basically dark by the time we got to our cabin Monday evening, which didn’t leave me any time to scope out a good place for a workout. I thought about moving the workout to another day, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed silly to even try to get this one in period. I don’t have any races on the calendar yet, so there aren’t really any reasons to stress about a workout. I mainly just wanted to get out there and explore the area around where we were staying. I took off towards the downtown area and ended up running into (pun intended!) the Gatlinburg Trail. I ran four miles on the trail before making my way back to our cabin. Running in the woods was good for my soul!
Later that day we did a 2.6 mile hike on the Laurel Falls Trail to get to, you guessed it, Laurel Falls. The falls are named after the mountain laurel, an evergreen shrub which blooms along the trail and near the falls in May. The waterfall had an upper and a lower section and there was a walkway across the stream at the base of the upper falls. It was really pretty!
We also went to the Gatlinburg SkyLift Park on Tuesday afternoon. The SkyLift is an open-air chairlift ride to the top of an 1,800 foot overlook with views of the Smoky Mountains. When you get up to the top, you can walk across the Gatlinburg SkyBridge, which is the longest pedestrian cable bridge in North America! This was definitely the most “touristy” activity that we did on our trip and it was totally worth it. The views were incredible!
Wednesday – Plan: 7.0 mile run Actual: 5.0 miles (9:10 pace)
Since I enjoyed running in the woods so much on Tuesday, I decided to do it again on Wednesday! This time we drove in to the national park and found a spot where I could run and Richard could fish. Our hobbies are not the same, but apparently they can be done at the same places. Win, win! I ran 5 miles on the Little River Trail with views of Little River the entire way.
We also hiked to the top of Clingmans Dome on Wednesday afternoon. The hike was one mile round trip to the highest point both in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The dome is at an elevation of over 6,600 feet! The views were phenomenal.
Thursday – Plan: 6.0 – 7.0 mile run Actual: 5.0 miles (10:50 pace)
I got one last trail run in on Thursday morning before we headed back home. The Abrams Fall Trail trail was the most technical of the trails that I ran on, but I was rewarded at the end with a beautiful waterfall. I climbed 700 feet in 5 miles! We got an early start (mainly because we had a 9 hour drive ahead of us) and the other people that were there when we got there were hiking instead of running, so I was actually the only person at the waterfall when I got there. It was so peaceful!
Friday – Plan: 45 – 60 minute elliptical or go for a walk Actual: 60 minutes (5.5 miles)
I did an hour on my home elliptical Friday morning. I hadn’t been on my home elliptical in several weeks, so this was a change of pace and a change of scenery for me (I typically go to the gym to do the elliptical). It was just nice to be home and to not have to go anywhere. A little vacation is nice sometimes, but home is always best.
Saturday – Plan: 10.0 mile run w/ 6 X 400 Actual:10.0 miles (7:30 pace)
Saturday’s run was a two mile warm up, six “quick” quarters at the start of miles 3 through 8 (so essentially quarter mile repeats with three quarters in between) and a two mile cool down. This wasn’t a typical 400 repeat workout by any means, as we are still easing back in to the speed side of things. I ended up with paces of 6:10, 5:55, 5:46, 5:47, 5:38 and 5:51 for the quarters and I kept the recoveries in the 7:30 range, which is definitely faster than a true recovery. I was definitely working to hit those paces, but I didn’t feel at all spent by the end of the run. It’s so nice to be able to do a “casual” double digit run again! I missed those guys.
My mom and I got in a wonderful four mile walk on Mother’s Day! It was so special for the two of us to have that time together. I finished off the week with forty five minutes on the elliptical at home later in the day.
Totals – Running: 35.3 miles Elliptical: 9.5 miles (85 minutes) Walking: 12.2 miles
This was a fun week for sure! Things will be back to normal next week. Thanks for following along!
Here is what the fifth week of my “comeback” training looked like. Things really started clicking for me this week! For reference, I am between the ninth and tenth week postpartum at this point.
Monday – Plan: 7.0 mile run w/ 6 X 30 second strides Actual: 7.0 mile run (8:55 pace)
I wasn’t able to get out to run until around noon on Monday. As far as when I can fit a run in, my schedule is completely unpredictable at the moment. Of course this is to expected with a newborn. When do they stop being newborns? {Checks google}. Apparently, it’s somewhere between two to three months. Ward is two months old now (we got our two month shots Monday morning), so I guess the newborn stage is coming to a close for us. Wowza!
It was 80° when I ran. While not too crazy, I’d say this is a bit warm for April! I was definitely feeling the heat. I did two out and back stretches from the house, with one extra mile on the paved portion of the road for the pickups. I was able to get some much better turnover going on the strides this week! My paces were 5:45, 5:17, 5:18, 5:21, 5:19 and 5:12. Progress!
Tuesday – Plan: 3.0 – 4.0 mile run Actual: 4.0 mile run (9:05 pace)
Tuesday’s run was a short recovery run. My legs felt fine, but I didn’t really have any interest in running more than four miles, so that worked out well. Ward and I did go for a nice little walk later in the day. Stroller naps are pretty much his favorite thing right now and I’m happy to oblige.
Wednesday – Plan: 7.0 mile run with the option to do 2 miles up-tempo Actual: 7.0 miles (8:10 pace)
When I started running Wednesday morning I didn’t think that I would choose the option to do the two quicker miles, but after I got a couple miles into the run I was feeling really good and decided to go for it. I pushed miles 4 and 5 a bit with two miles at just under 7:10 pace. Nothing too crazy, but I was working a bit and it was “fun” to push it a bit. I’ve missed that feeling!
Thursday – Plan: 50 – 60 minute elliptical or go for a walk Actual: 25 minutes (2.5 miles) + 4 mile walk
I tried to squeeze in some time on the elliptical during one of Ward’s naps, but little man had other plans. I guess technically I did squeeze in some time, but it just wasn’t quite as much as I was planning. Some of his naps are over an hour and some of his naps are only 15 or so minutes. At this point I have no way to know which one we are going to get any given time! Either which way, twenty-five minutes on the elliptical was plenty and we opted for a nice walk with the stroller outside after he ate. It was really nice outside and I would much rather be outside walking than inside on the elliptical. My love for the elliptical quickly faded as soon as I was back to more regular running. I really did enjoy my time on the elliptical throughout my pregnancy and during the initial postpartum phase. It felt great to move my body and the elliptical even made me feel strong. I hope to not spend nearly as much time on the elliptical going forward, but I’m thankful for the time that we had.
Dear Elliptical, It’s not you. It’s me. Thanks for the good times. Let’s still be friends. Warm Regards, Sam
Friday – Plan: 6.0 mile run Actual: 6.0 miles (9:00 pace)
Friday was my fourth run in five days! This was a huge milestone. It was on this day that I started to realize that I am “back.” I finished the run feeling good. I didn’t feel sore, or run down or anything like that. This was a really good sign and was also right on schedule for when my coach said that he expected things to turn around (between 8 and 10 weeks postpartum).
Saturday – Plan: 9.0 – 10.0 mile run Actual: 10.0 miles (8:35 pace)
Saturday was my first double digit run in almost 200 days! Another BIG milestone. I waited a bit too late to get out the door Saturday (see above refenced mention of unpredictable schedule) and by the time I got going it was 78° and muggy. I ran a hilly (ish) route with 535 feet of elevation gain and let me tell you what, I was feeling all of it by the end of the run. I ran for just over an hour and twenty five minutes, which is almost exactly how long my “marathon” elliptical sessions were in the weeks leading up to this. It appears that those did help me maintain at least some of my endurance. Thankfully, I don’t need the long elliptical workouts anymore!
I finished off the week with an hour on the elliptical. I guess since I hadn’t really spent much time on the elliptical this week, it wasn’t terrible! Good thing we were still planning to be friends.
Totals – Running: 34.2 miles Elliptical: 12.5 miles (85 minutes) Walking: 15.4 miles
Here is what the fourth week of my “comeback” training looked like. The plan is still to basically just alternate days of running with days of cross training while slowly adding in a few back-to-back days of running as we go. By next week, I will be back up to 5 days of running!
When I first started documenting my training again, I had thoughts of posting my daily workouts to Instagram and then writing my weekly training recaps here on the blog. I don’t know why, but every now and then the *idea* of posting to Instagram really appeals to me, until I try it for a few days and I realize that feels both exhausting and entirely too forced. I had a follow up appointment with my doctor last week and he actually suggested staying off social media in general during the newborn phase. He wasn’t saying that I was on social media too much (he has no idea if I am or am not on what platforms), but rather just offered that as some solid advice that he gives to all new mothers.
Admittedly, I told him that I was feeling a little bit isolated and very overwhelmed with my new role as a mother. Being a mom is very hard work and I never fully understood that until now. I don’t think you can understand it until you’ve experienced it (and isn’t that the truth about so many things). He told me a story a mom who was crying one day, complaining about how her baby seemed to be feeding around the clock and wouldn’t sleep and then the very next day posted on social media about how she loved being a mom and that the baby slept through the night. Perhaps her baby did sleep through the night that night, but the point is that it is so easy to get discouraged if you are always comparing your normal days to someone else’s best days. I try to take social media at face value, knowing that people only post their highlights, but I appreciated and took this advice nonetheless.
He also told me that it was a great thing that I was being open about the fact that I was struggling. He said that a lot of the time, he doesn’t even know a mom was struggling until way after the fact and everything has gotten “better.” All those years of therapy must’ve paid off, because I can certainly let you know when I am not okay. Contrary to what you are currently reading, I try to keep that personal stuff off of the internet these days … but here we are … it’s part of my postpartum comeback journey and I’d be remiss not to mention it. I think that’s partly why I am so thankful to have running again right now. I feel like I *need* it in order to feel like myself again. Perhaps that isn’t necessarily a good thing, but there have also been times when I haven’t felt like I needed it, so I think that might just be part of the normal ebb and flow of my life.
Monday – Plan: 5.0 mile run Actual: 5.0 mile run (8:50 pace)
I started the week off with an easy 5 mile run on Monday. Since we switched some things up at the end of last week, this made Monday a back-to-back run day! My legs were sore from Sunday’s quality session, but it was a good sore, the kind where you can tell that you’ve put in some solid work, not a hurting type of sore.
Tuesday’s elliptical session was a tough one! The workout was written as 20 minutes easy, 5 X 2:00 hard with 1:00 easy, 3 minutes easy, 5 X 2:00 hard with 1:00 easy and a 20 minute cool down. The workout seemed way more than twice as hard as the one minute pickups than I have done the last few weeks. I haven’t done very much work recently where my heart rate gets up for over a minute at a time and I could definitely feel that during this workout.
Wednesday – Plan: 7.0 mile run w/ 6 X 30 second strides Actual: 7.3 mile run (9:30 pace)
I was a little bit tired on Wednesday, probably from that doozy of an elliptical session the day before. I got the miles in and ended up doing the strides on the driveway in the sand. They are supposed to be done at the very end of the run, meaning that if I run from home, I do them in sand. I wasn’t expecting them to be super fast (they weren’t), but I got them done and the effort was there.
Thursday – Plan: 6.0 mile run Actual: 6.0 mile run (8:40 pace)
My legs felt much better by Thursday and I got a nice six mile run in. Nothing major to report here except that all was well!
Friday – Plan: Walk Actual: Rest Day!
It had been a few weeks since I have had a complete rest day. I like to take rest days when they are needed and not necessarily “plan” them into my week. This week worked out pretty well though, as nothing was planned except for an easy walk. I have been getting a lot of easy walks with the stroller in the late afternoons during the week. It seems as if I have a baby that very much likes to be moving. Go figure!
Saturday – Plan: 9.0 mile progression run with fast finish Actual: 9.0 mile run (7:35 pace)
I got a second chance to work on the easy run with a fast finish that I botched last weekend. My coach broke this one up into three sections. The first three miles were supposed to be truly easy (8:00 – 8:30 range), the next three were supposed to be a bit quicker (7:30 – 8:00 range) and the last three were supposed to be a bit quicker (close to 7:00 or just under). It is already starting to get a bit warm out there. It was 78° with a dew point of 63° when I ran, which made the run a little bit more challenging than it probably otherwise would have been. I’m so glad that I got to try this one again though, because it went really well and gave me a much needed confidence boost! I averaged 8:13 for the first three miles, 7:38 for the middle three miles and 6:50 for the last three miles. Just what the doctor ordered!
I bailed on my elliptical “long run” on Sunday. Once I got started I realized that my body was tired and I figured that I needed more of a recovery session than an endurance session. I don’t think we will have too many more of these “marathon” elliptical sessions to begin with. They served a good purpose for the first few weeks of this comeback plan, but thankfully my weekly long run mileage is steadily increasing now. I loved the elliptical when it was basically my only option (i.e., during the end of pregnancy and early on postpartum), but now that I can comfortably run, I am not loving the elliptical nearly as much.
Totals – Running: 27.3 miles Elliptical: 18.75 miles (112 minutes) Walking: 11.6 miles
Thanks for following along with me on the comeback journey!
Here is what the third week of my “comeback” training looked like. The plan is still to basically just alternate days of running with days of cross training while slowly adding in a few back-to-back days of running as we go. I did two days in a row of running again this week. Insert happy dance!
Monday – Plan: 6.5 mile run w/ 6 X 30 second strides Actual: 7.0 miles (8:40 pace)
I got to do a few pickups on Monday! This was my first tiny little taste of faster running thus far during the comeback training cycle. The strides were 6 X 30 seconds for a whopping total of 3 minutes. Ha! I’m not going to lie, I was excited and a little bit nervous about those 3 minutes. I ran 5 miles like I typically would (at an easy pace) and then started the strides from there. I expected the strides to feel a bit clunky and awkward (they did!) and the goal was to only push to about 80-85% of what I would typically do for strides. The good news was A) I didn’t have any pain and B) my legs *kinda sorta* seemed to remember what to do! While the paces aren’t important, I’m putting them here {6:02, 6:23, 6:07, 6:20, 6:02, 5:55} so that I can look back and remember how my first “faster running” went.
Tuesday I had another elliptical workout! I did modified the planned workout just a touch once I got into it and ended up doing a 20 minute warm up, 5 X 2 minutes on/off, 10 X 1 minute on/off and a 10 minute cool down. I realized after the first few pickups that I was going so fast that the resistance on the machine was turning off. Because there wasn’t any resistance, my heart rate wasn’t coming up like it should and I wasn’t accomplishing the intent of the workout. This was an aha! moment of sorts and I think I might need to bump up the resistance for the entirety of my elliptical sessions from here on out. If I do that, I don’t think I will be able to spin the machine too fast and the resistance should stay at the appropriate level. We’ll see! I’m on a mission to test this theory later in the week.
As a side note: my coach was totally fine with the mid-workout modification since I was on the elliptical and there is little to no impact. I definitely won’t be adding a bunch of extra pickups during running workouts!
Wednesday – Plan: 6.0 mile run Actual: 6.0 mile run (9:10 pace)
Wednesday was my first run on treadmill since …. {checks Garmin Connect} … March of 2021!? Holy cow. I knew it had been a while, but had no idea it had been that long. My treadmill stopped working, apparently sometime last Spring, and we finally replaced it a few weeks ago! I asked for it as my “push present” after having Ward. Think about how bad it would look if my husband bought me a treadmill after having a baby without me asking for it. Ha! We found an awesome deal on a Sole F80 via Marketplace. We only paid 25% of the MSRP price for treadmill! It was a pandemic purchase for someone who had great intentions, but lacked in follow through [hey, I get it!]. The machine had less than 10 hours on it when we got it.
The weather was iffy all week and while I don’t love running on the treadmill in general, it is really nice to have it when you need it. It’s also possible for me to get a run in during one of Ward’s naps during the day (whereas I obviously can’t just leave him at home and go run if Richard isn’t home). Richard has started going back to work some, which makes it more challenging for me to get my workouts in. Side note: he got 12 weeks of paid paternity leave (how nice is that?!) and we are alternating our weeks at home for the remainder of his leave so that we can keep the baby out of daycare for a teensy bit longer. Richard actually got more paid leave than I did! Things that make you go hmm …
Thursday – Plan: 5.0 mile run Actual: 5.0 mile run (8:45 pace)
As thankful as I am to have the treadmill, I did not want to run indoors on back to back days. I waited until late afternoon on Thursday to run, giving the driveway a bit more time to dry out. It was still a tad muddy, but I am somewhat used to that at this point. This was still only my second time running on back-to-back days and this week’s second run felt really good! I was really happy to get out and get some fresh air after a full day of momming!
Friday – Plan: 45 minute elliptical or go for a walk Actual: 65 minutes (11.5 miles)
I did an easy elliptical session on Friday. I went a little bit over my allotted time, but since it is just the elliptical and I kept it very easy, it was one of those no harm, no foul type of situations.
Saturday – Plan: 8.0 mile run w/ last 2 miles at “steady state” pace or 9.0 mile run without pushing the pace Actual: 80 minutes (15.0 miles) on the elliptical
My schedule got completely messed up on Saturday morning. I’m honestly shocked that this hasn’t happened more often than it has. Ward’s sleep schedule is very unpredictable at this point and that really makes it hard to “plan” much of anything. I was really looking forward to that eight mile run with a fast finish, so I texted my coach and asked if it would be okay if we just switched the Saturday and Sunday workouts. Thankfully, he was very understanding and totally cool with it. I will admit that I wasn’t *feeling* the elliptical quite as much on Saturday as I have been recently. I settled for the lower end of the planned time range (which still felt quite long!) and called it a day. I didn’t push the pace during this session either, as I wanted to try to save as much as I could for Sunday’s run.
I forgot how to pace myself. As noted above, I was supposed to do an easy 6 mile run with the last 2 at a steady state pace and instead I basically ran 6 at what my steady state pace should’ve been and then finished up the last 2 at a bonked, easy pace. My splits were 7:37, 7:16, 7:04, 6:57, 7:00, 6:37, 8:11, 7:46. When I started running, I felt amazing. The miles were clicking by and the pace, while faster than my usual easy pace, felt totally doable. I convinced myself that I was going to be able to run close to 7 minute pace for the entire run and that I would still be able to pick it up at the end. How cute. So yeah, the pace felt totally doable until it didn’t. The good news is that nothing hurt at all and this run was one of the first times that I actually didn’t feel like I just had a baby. I felt out of shape, yes, but like a postpartum runner, no. Obviously I am still a recovering postpartum runner, but I am taking it as a really good sign that I am running without consciously thinking of myself in this way.
In a totally random turn of events, I ran into someone I knew while I was out there and stopped to chat for a few minutes. She gave me a pair of fingernail clippers for the baby and I ran the rest of the way with a pair of baby nail clippers in my shorts pockets. I don’t know what it is about those tiny little fingernails, but I am so scared to cut them. The clippers she gave me are supposed to make it much easier, so we’ll see. She also told me that she didn’t cut her daughter’s fingernails until she was about 4 months old, which made me feel better. Maybe in the next two months I will work up the courage to actually trim his nails. I will keep you posted!
Totals – Running: 26.0 miles Elliptical: 39.25 miles (220 minutes) Walking: 7.5 miles
Thanks for following along with me on the comeback journey!
Here is what the second week of my “comeback” training looked like. The plan is still to basically just alternate days of running with days of cross training while slowly adding in a few back-to-back days of running as we go.
Monday – Plan: 6.0 – 6.5 mile run Actual: 6.5 mile run (8:40 pace)
I started the week off with a nice 6.5 mile run! I even ventured out off of the street we live on and did part of what I refer to as my “sailboat loop.” It was spring break in our county this week and the traffic was only a fraction of what it is on a normal weekday, which allowed me a bit more flexibility in my route choice and also made for a much more enjoyable run. I didn’t have the heavy or sluggish feeling, so that was a good sign. Things certainly don’t feel entirely normal yet (lots of things feel a bit “loose” if that makes any sense), but they do seem to be getting a little bit better each week. At this point, that’s all I can ask for!
I think the best part about running postpartum vs. running during pregnancy might be the lack of bathroom stops. I noticed that one of the houses on my route that was under construction while I was pregnant (such a blessing!) is now complete. Seeing that reminded me of all the bathroom stops that had to be made previously and also made me feel incredibly grateful that I no longer need those stops! It’s the little things in life.
Tuesday – Plan: 70 minute elliptical with 10 X 1 minute “on” w/ 1:30 “recovery” Actual: 70 minutes(12.5 miles)
Tuesday I did a “workout” on the elliptical. My plan called for a 20 minute warm up, 10 X 1:00 “on” with 1:30 recovery and a 20 minute cool down. I was really excited to see this pop up on the schedule, since it is very similar to typical running quality sessions that I have done in the past. I am slowing inching my way ever so slightly back to feeling like my old running self again and that, my friends, feels fabulous!
I broke this one up into chunks and alternated going forward and backward. For the warm up, I did 10 minutes forward and 10 minutes backward. Then for the workout itself, I did 5 of the pickups going forward and 5 going backward. For the cool down, I also did 10 minutes forward and 10 minutes backward. The pickups flew by and the only part that really seemed to drag out was the cool down, as I was really just wanting to have more pickups to do!
My average heart rate for the workout was 160 bpm and my max heart rate was 186 bpm. I feel like this is fairly appropriate for the effort we were trying to get in with this session. Strava gave me a “relative effort” score of 102 and said that this was “a stronger than usual effort.” Why thank you, Mr. Strava! It looks like the only higher relative effort scores that I have on Strava recently are all associated with my elliptical “long run” activities, which also makes sense, especially given the way the score is calculated. According to the Strava, “Relative effort is an analysis of your heart rate data. By tracking your heart rate through your workout and its level relative to your maximum heart rate, we attach a value to show exactly how hard you worked. The more time you spend going full gas and the longer your activity, the higher the score.”
Wednesday – Plan: 6.0 mile run Actual: 6.0 mile run (8:55 pace)
Wednesday’s run was a HOT one! I ran at lunchtime, so perhaps this should’ve been somewhat expected, but it was 82°F w/ 94% humidity while I was out there. This is unseasonably warm for lower Alabama! I typically listen to a podcast on my easy runs, but for whatever reason, I decided to run in pure silence with nothing but my own thoughts running around upstairs. It was actually a nice change of pace. The first two miles were a bit of a struggle, but once I got warmed up I settled into a good rhythm. The first two miles were also the hilliest two miles of the route, so that likely contributed as well. The last half of the run actually felt [dare I say it] good. I came back from this run feeling refreshed and not drained. Ahh, yes. I’m starting to remember how to do this!
Thursday – Plan: 3.0 – 4.0 mile run Actual: 4.0 mile run (8:35 pace)
Thursday was my first back-to-back running day of the training cycle! Woot. My coach actually had a back-to-back run planned for last week as well, but we scrapped that one after the first run of the week was a bit of a struggle. The first two runs of this week felt good, so we decided proceed [with lots of caution] with two days of running in a row. The second day was a very short run, but a run is a run. Am I right?! While short, the run Thursday actually felt really good … perhaps the best run I’ve had of this training cycle thus far! This was a big step in the comeback and tangible progress in the right direction.
As I was running I started thinking to myself, “When was the last time that I ran two days in a row?” I knew it had been quite a while, but was amazed to later discover that it had been since Thanksgiving of last year (133 days ago)! The two days in a row around Thanksgiving actually included a decent amount of walking as well, so I don’t know if those can officially count as back-to-back days of “running.” I had to go all the way back to the end of October to find two days in a row where the paces actually look like true runs rather than run-walk combos. Either which way, it has been a hot minute. For someone that used to run [basically] 7 days a week for years, pregnancy and the subsequent comeback has been quite humbling. It’s also been really thrilling to see little glimpses of progress and to start to slowly get back to feeling like some version of myself that I actually recognize.
Friday – Plan: 40 minute elliptical or go for a walk Actual: 40 minutes (7.0 miles)
Friday was a purely easy session. The reason for this was twofold. One being to recover from the previous days back-to-back runs and the other being to rest up for Saturday’s longer run. Once I got started, I was super thankful that I had a recovery day because I was tired. Nothing was hurting (good news!), but I was not feeling very peppy.
Saturday – Plan: 8.0 mile run Actual: 8.0 mile run (8:35 pace)
I got out the door at a decent time Saturday morning for my longest run of the week. Saturday morning is the best time to run from home because the traffic is so much lighter. For whatever reason, my heart rate seemed to be a little bit higher than it has been on other runs lately, but I didn’t feel like I was working any harder. Of course, this could just be a watch fluke.
I only thought to check it after the fact because the performance condition that shows on my watch after the first mile or so was a negative one or “baseline” and every other run I’ve done In the past few weeks has been positive three to four or “good.” According to Garmin, “Performance condition metric is a real-time assessment of your ability to perform compared to your average fitness level. This metric ranges from -20 to +20 with each point representing approximately 1% of the VO2 Max set on your device.” The metric is a function of pace and heart rate.
I didn’t have this same watch (Garmin Forerunner 645) when I was training more seriously, so I’m not really used to seeing this metric on the screen. Pretty sure I’m going to want to turn this off when I start racing again, because I really don’t want to see a performance condition of “poor” show up on my watch on race day during my warm up. That would surely mess with my head!
I got in another longer, endurance building elliptical session Sunday morning! I had endorphins for days after this one. Well … actually I just got home from the gym … but I’m assuming I will have endorphins for days. They are REALLY high at the moment!
Totals – Running: 24.5 miles Elliptical: 35.5 miles (200 minutes) Walking: 12.0 miles
All in all, I’d say this was a solid week of training. I did a little bit more of each activity than I did last week, which makes sense as we gradually build back. Hopefully soon enough running will be the dominant activity once again! Thanks for following along with me on the comeback journey!
Seeing as how I have not been very consistent with my blog posts these days, I suspect there’s likely not too many new readers out there. However, I could be wrong about that assumption so let’s get started with a brief introduction. Brevity is not one of my strengths by the way, so buckle up.
I gave birth to a baby boy in February and am currently working on my postpartum return to running. I have been running for over 15 years at this point. What started as a casual hobby turned into a little bit of a more serious hobby as the years went by and I was running at a “semi” competitive level before I got pregnant. I had breakthrough seasons in the fall of 2019, running a personal best in the marathon (2:49) and in the spring of 2020, running personal bests in the mile, the 5k and the 10k (5:02, 5:19 and 35:45 respectively). I took a break from structured training in the fall of 2020 and in the spring of 2021. I stayed active throughout my pregnancy (from May 2021 through February of 2022), but didn’t do any sort of “quality” running sessions and wasn’t running much period by the end of things. The elliptical was (and in some ways continues to be) my best friend!
As far as current goals are concerned, the main goal is to build back up gradually and not get injured. Once we start adding back in some quality sessions, I think I’d like to find a 5k to race. After that, I am thinking that I’d like to find a fall or winter half marathon (depending on how things are going). I don’t think I’ve raced to my potential in the half and it would be fun to chase a faster time there!
I am working with Coach Brendon O’Leary for the comeback. He has worked with several mothers in the postpartum comeback phase and comes highly recommended by several of these women. I gave him a rundown of a few things pertinent to my life and training before we got started and it seems like it might make sense to share those things here as well!
I have a treadmill and an elliptical at home. I also have a gym membership with access to other cardio machines for cross training and whatever weights or strength training things I might need.
When I run from home, the first and last mile are on an unpaved dirt road that is sandy in spots, muddy depending on the day, rocky in other areas and very hilly. I have to drive somewhere else if we need just a purely flat or a purely pavement run.
I have access to a track when needed (it would be easiest to do that on a weekend day). It is a bit tricky to get over there before school starts, especially now that it is so dark in the mornings. It will be more doable in the summer months when school is out.
As far as previous coaches:
I worked with a coach for several years (circa 2015 – 2018). He was an extremely knowledgeable coach, but I didn’t really respond well to the super high mileage and high intensity training that he had me doing. It was not uncommon for me to be running 80 miles per week (or more if marathon training) with three quality sessions. Granted, I didn’t get injured doing this, but I also didn’t get any faster. I basically ended up getting burned out physically.
I worked with another coach for several years as well (circa 2018 – 2020). I responded very well to this training program, which was less mileage and one to two quality sessions per week. When I broke three hours in the marathon for the first time, I did that on a long run of 16 miles and a weekly mileage of right at or under 60 miles per week. That’s also similar to what I was doing when I ran 2:49 in Indy. Unfortunately, I feel like my coach was always giving me goals that weren’t super attainable. For example, I took an entire minute off of my 5k time while working with him, but because I never ran what he thought I was capable of (< 17), I was never really completely satisfied with my performances. The same was true for the marathon as well. I was thankful that he believed in me as much as he did, but I think I would’ve responded a bit better to smaller goals that I can meet along the way and work on in chunks. I basically ended up getting burned out mentally.
I am currently still home on maternity leave through the middle of May. After that I will go back to work full time. I work from home 4 days a week and commute 45 minutes to the office one day a week.
I live way, way down in Alabama (basically in the Gulf of Mexico), where it gets hotter than blue blazes and the dew point makes running feel more like swimming in the summertime. Pace adjustments are typically needed!
Now that you have some context, let’s jump into seeing what the first week of my “comeback” training looked like! I’ve been alternating days of running with days of cross training for the last couple weeks and the current plan is to continue that while slowly adding in a few back-to-back days of running as we progress.
Monday – Plan: 6.0 – 6.5 mile run Actual: 6.25 mile run (8:55 pace)
I went back to my old stomping grounds on Monday evening and got in a good old fashioned “olde towne” loop. My mom watched Ward while I ran, which was much appreciated! While I can run with him in the stroller, it’s nice to get out and have some alone time to just run and clear my head after spending all day with the little man. The run was okay, but I wouldn’t say it was great by any means. I still have a very “heavy” feeling while running. Heavy might not even be the right word, but it’s just a sluggish kinda blah feeling. I feel like it likely has something to do with breastfeeding, both because of the extra “volume” I am carrying around at any given time and because I have to eat so. much. food. all. day. long. I’ve never been this hungry in my entire life! It would likely be better to run in the morning immediately after a pumping session and before eating too much, but that doesn’t always work out. On the plus side, I am training my stomach to run with more fuel in it! That was always a bit of a struggle for me in the past as I would much rather run on an empty stomach, but when you are racing longer distances your stomach absolutely needs to be able to handle gels and other fuel throughout the race.
Even though I didn’t feel fabulous, it was a beautiful evening for a run and I was happy to be out there regardless! I had forgotten how hilly my old route was. Calling a route “hilly” is a fairly subjective thing. This run had about 300 feet of elevation gain over the 6 miles, so nothing too crazy I suppose, but also not “flat.” It took me about two miles to settle into a good rhythm, the middle two miles felt pretty good and then I started to feel pretty tired during the last two miles. It’s very humbling for me to struggle through a six mile run continually having to talk myself down off of a ledge of wanting to stop and walk every few minutes. My coach thinks that somewhere around 8 to 10 weeks the heavy feeling will likely go away and things will *hopefully* feel more normal. In the meantime, this is a good reminder to be patient and take things slowly as my body is telling me that it isn’t quite ready for full-fledged training yet.
I got some work done Tuesday morning and went to the gym shortly after lunch. I am working on tax returns for family members while I am home on maternity leave. Side note: while not planned this way, I am not complaining one single bit about missing out on tax season this year!
Tuesday was an elliptical day. Woo to the hoo! Basically the elliptical currently feels like what I remember running feeling like in the past. I just pretend like I am running when I am ellipticalling and all feels right with the world. Ha! I typically do the elliptical at the gym on level 10 and choose the “random” setting that varies the intensity throughout. To keep things interesting, I also change directions from forward to backward every 5k throughout the workout. I use the first and last 5ks as a warm up and a cool down and push harder during the middle 10k. I’ve also found that keeping track of my “splits” throughout the workout challenges me, keeps me mentally engaged and makes me feel like I am replicating a running workout. My splits were:
5k: 18:24 (total time 18:24) 10k: 15:20 (total time 33:44) 15k: 15:03 (total time 48:47) 20k: 18:30 (total time 67:17)
Wednesday – Plan: 5.0 – 6.0 mile run Actual: 6.0 mile run (9:05 pace)
I got out the door at a decent time Wednesday morning. Thank goodness I went when I did because it was already 75℉ w/ 85% humidity at 9 a.m. Oh summer, please play nice (and also please maybe stay away for another month or two). A huge line of storms blew through Wednesday evening and it was very windy all day. The wind was over 20 miles per hour when I was out there! Even though the conditions were a bit challenging, I felt pretty good … better than Monday at least. Phew!
I ran from home and did an out and back route twice. Sometimes when I am not feeling as good, I run out one mile and then go back and forth on the flat, paved portion of our road several times before making the one mile trek back to the house. As I mentioned earlier, the first and last mile of every run I do from home is on a HILLY (> 100 feet of gain per mile), non-paved portion of road that is a combination of sand, dirt, gravel and rock. That road and those hills have definitely made me stronger over the years, but it’s a bit of a rude awakening when you are trying to get back in shape! Oof.
My schedule called for 85 – 90 minutes on the elliptical on Thursday “if I could stand it.” Challenge accepted! I made it 87 minutes and 16 miles. Boom! The idea is that these longer efforts will build endurance that will translate back over to running once I am a bit further along in the postpartum journey. For now, it’s really nice to be able to work on my endurance without pounding the pavement.
On Thursday I did level 10 on the “rolling hills” setting for the first hour and then took it down to level 5 on the “random” setting for the last part. I changed directions on the machine every 15 minutes instead of every 5k like I typically do. I didn’t keep up with my splits as I wasn’t really trying to push the pace as much as I was just trying to complete the “distance.” I felt a bit tired at about 45 minutes in, but caught some sort of second wind by the time I got to the one hour mark. The machine shuts down automatically after an hour, so you have to make a conscious decision to keep going. I thought I was going to be tempted to stop, but when push came to shove I restarted the thing and got it done. I had lots of endorphins after that workout! Who knew you could get endorphins from things other than running?!
Friday – Plan: 40 – 45 minute elliptical or go for a walk Actual: 43 minutes (4.0 miles)
Friday was a bit of a recovery day after Thursday’s long workout. I did 4 miles on my elliptical at home and called it a day! We were headed out of town for the weekend (our first family trip with Ward!) and I had plenty of things to do around the house to get ready. Traveling with a baby can be pretty complicated and while I was on a mission to keep it as simple as possible, I think that perhaps I complicated things in the process. Oh the irony!
Saturday – Plan: 7.5 – 8.0 mile run Actual: 8.0 mile run (8:45 pace)
I got to run eight whole miles Saturday! Not gonna lie, I was looking forward to this one all week. We spent the weekend with Richard’s family, which was really nice (and not just because I had plenty of people to watch the baby while I ran :)). I didn’t have to rush to get out the door to run and I actually wanted it to warm up a little bit anyway. I ran so few times this winter that I have zero tolerance to cold weather running at the moment. I’m all about soaking up some good Vitamin D during my runs!
The first mile at my in-law’s house is basically straight up hill. While typically not one to back down from a challenge, I really just wanted to feel good and enjoy my eight mile run so I decided to walk up the hill as a “warm up” and to start my run from the top. I ran 4 miles out and 4 miles back on a half paved road, half dirt road route. The dirt road by their house is WAY more compacted and WAY less hilly than our driveway though, so the run was actually much less challenging than what I am used to.
I listened to episode 503 of the Ali on the Run podcast with Dom Scott. I don’t recall hearing her on a podcast before, but she seems super friendly and very down to earth. It was a very enjoyable listen! The miles went by very quickly and before I knew it, I was back to my starting point. Thankfully, I didn’t feel heavy or sluggish during this run! I can tell that my running fitness is lacking, but that is absolutely to be expected!
Sunday – Plan: 40 – 45 minute elliptical or go for a walk Actual: 6.0 mile walk
After travelling back home and getting caught up on the household chores, I was more than ready to get out and get some fresh air! I opted for the walk option over the elliptical option. By the time I got out there, it was fairly late in the evening, but it felt absolutely wonderful out. I threw in a couple of spurts of light “jogging,” mainly in the interest of time and getting back before the sun went down.
Totals – Running: 20.25 miles Elliptical: 33 miles (204 minutes) Walking: 8.25 miles
All in all, I am VERY pleased with how the first week of training went. After a solid year and a half with no desire to really train for anything or follow a set schedule, the fire is definitely back and I’m stoked (get it?!).
Thanks for following along with the comeback journey!
Hi friends! Baby boy is here and the running comeback has commenced! Let’s catch up and then chat about the Spring Fever Chase 10k … shall we? Excellent!
First things first. Ward was born on his due date (2/22/22). And yes, we planned an induction for that day because there was no way that I was possibly going to pass up an all-twos birthday that also fell on a Tuesday (2s day!). I mean, how cool?! As far as the birth goes, I will spare you all the details. I was super curious to make an assessment of whether giving birth was more difficult than running a marathon. After having done both, I’m honestly still not sure because the epidural was a total gamechanger. I’ve never given birth without an epidural and never run a marathon with an epidural (side note: if there was a way to do that without having your legs go numb, that would be MONEY). Given those conditions, I will say that the “aftermath” of giving birth is WAY worse than recovering from a marathon. Of course, that’s just my not-so-professional opinion.
At one week postpartum, I walked one mile around the yard. Over the course of the next couple of days, I worked up to walking two miles, then three miles, etc. I walked 8.5 miles that week.
During the second week, I alternated walking with ellipticalling (is that a word? let’s go with it). I walked 20 miles and did 14 miles on the elliptical. I also threw in a few strides of running here and there when I was walking during the second week. The running intervals increased from a quarter mile, up to a half mile and then all the way to a full mile by the end of the second week.
At that point, I felt fairly confident that I could go for a full-fledged run and be just fine. During the third week, I did exactly that. I ran 5 miles without any walk breaks (I even ran up all the hills (someone please send me a gold star)). Believe it or not, that was only my second run of the entire year, bringing my yearly distance total to a whopping 10 miles [insert mind blown emoji]. That is pure craziness. In a typical year, by mid-March I would be well over 500 miles! I felt like I was so active (mainly ellipticalling) during the pregnancy that I tend to forget that I wasn’t running at all there at the end. Thankfully, the elliptical seems to have kept my fitness at as decent level!
How did we get from 10 miles all year to a 10k race you ask? Well, I had a follow up appointment with my doctor a couple days before the race and was “cleared” to run. I don’t know that running a 10k race is exactly what he had in mind, but that’s how I interpreted it! I went straight from my appointment to the local running store and filled out my race registration. Side note: several #motherrunners on Instagram recommended also seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist, which was great advice! She gave me some good exercises to work on strengthening and stretching the muscles around my pelvis, which have historically been weak and tight (even pre-pregnancy). Because I was not having any pain or any other “issues,” both medical professionals felt that it was fine for me to resume normal activities! Woo to the hoo!
If you’ve followed along for a while, you might recall that Spring Fever is one of my favorite races of the year. The race was cancelled in 2020 and 2021, so I was itching to get back out there on the course. This year was my twelfth time running this race. Even though I haven’t run the course in a few years, I still knew the route like the back of my hand. I remembered every turn, every tangent, every hill and every water stop along the way. While I knew the course, I obviously wasn’t trained for the race and I didn’t have a good gauge of what sort of time I could run or how much I should even try to push myself. My only goal was to complete the race with a smile on my face!
Lots of turns!
Race morning looked a lot differently this time around. Instead of planning it around warm ups, strides, porta potties, etc., it was planned around feedings, sleep schedules and diaper changes. We left the house with just enough time for me to pick up my number before the race and to do a short warm up if I wanted to. Deciding whether or not to do a warm up (or a cool down for that matter) was a bit tricky as the actual race distance itself would be further than I had run all year and I wasn’t sure I really needed to be tacking on any extra miles before or after. I ended up basically covering one mile, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it a “warm up.” Either way, it didn’t really matter, and I was as ready as I was going to get!
I knew I had no business running under 7 minute pace (at least for the first mile), so I tried my best to take it easy and settle into a good rhythm. Right off the bat, there were a few other females both around me and ahead of me. The competitor in me had a hard time just letting them go ahead and I steadily worked my way up to second female by the end of the first mile. The first-place female was still a ways ahead and having her out there was a nice incentive to keep working hard (… but not too hard!). I felt like I was walking a fine line between pushing but not overcooking myself.
There are some rolling hills during the second, third and fourth miles. I felt decently strong on the hills. I could tell that I was making up some ground on the first place female, but not enough to reasonably expect to catch her without killing myself in the process. It was really fun to have someone to chase throughout the race. I pushed myself a little bit harder than I would have without that carrot dangling in front of me. I averaged 7:04 pace for the first three miles (21:13) and 6:47 pace for the second three miles (20:21) and ultimately finished about twenty seconds behind the first place female.
I got to see lots of friendly, familiar faces both before and after the race and it was SO NICE to be back out there at a local race. I was thankful to be out there period and also incredibly grateful that I am already able to run and push myself in a way that makes me feel so “alive.” The race was definitely not about the time on the clock, but I am really excited to use the time as a good starting point for my postpartum comeback! Now “all” I need to do is take a minute and ten seconds per mile off of my pace and I’ll be right back to where I was pre-pregnancy! Ha. All joking aside, I don’t know if I will ever get back to where I was (and I don’t think it really even matters), but the idea of working hard and seeing what happens is incredibly exciting!
