Getting Back To Running

Ever since around week 16 of my pregnancy, when my morning sickness had finally subsided, I have been itching to get back to running.  I considered starting back up in my second trimester but between a busy work schedule, not running for about 12 weeks and the fact that it was the middle of winter I chose to focus on other ways to stay active during my pregnancy like prenatal workout videos, prenatal yoga and lots of walking.

I was happy to be able to stay so active during my second and third trimesters, I even thought that because I had been that my body would bounce back fairly quickly after giving birth…but boy was I wrong. Staying active during my pregnancy really helped me while giving birth but to my surprise it took me much longer than anticipated to get back to being active postpartum.

I tried to get out for a walk around day three and after about 15 minutes I was sore and ready to go home. Then I thought I was super woman and decided to go out to the farmers market at five days postpartum- I was in so much pain after.  Over the next few weeks I got out for walks almost daily ranging from 15-25 minutes each but I was still really sore.  A few times I was so sore (and more) that I had ended up making panicked calls to my midwives office, each time I was reassured that things were normal. Finally, around week five, I started to feel a bit better and increased my walks to 25-35 minutes. I slowly added in some strength and ab workouts but wasn’t feeling ready for yoga or running.

Finally at seven and half weeks postpartum I felt ready to run and I started back at seven weeks and five days.  I have been out for 3 run/walks since getting back at it and I surprised myself with average 15 minute miles.  Now for me that is pretty good considering my pre-pregnancy mile was around 12 minutes. I am looking forward to making running part of my regular routine and to run a race soon.

Q: Running moms when did you get back to running and when did you run your first race?

Not a mom? Have you ever had to take a break from running? How long did it take you to get back at it and when did you run your first post break race?