Pre, During and Post....Pregnancy that is

Before I was pregnant I had been training for a Ironman distance triathlon and in the best shape of my life.  Fast forward 14 months later and I'm trying to lose enough weight to simply button (not fit into) my 'loose' pre-pregancy jeans.  Don't get me wrong, my little guy is worth every pound gained, but it's still hard.  Finding time, energy, will...it's all at a minimum, and it keeps exercise at the end of a very long to-do list, of which at the very tippy top is SLEEP.

I got pregnant soon after my last race in 2011, but it was not meant to be as we had a miscarriage a few months in.  I had still been swimming, biking, running, lifting through that time, but as anyone who has ever been pregnant can tell you, that first tri-mester you are tired, tired, tired.  So I put on a few lbs before getting pregnant with T.  Then when I got re-pregnant, I went through that lovely tired first trimester again, but I kept swimming, biking, and running as my energy allowed.  I will admit that watching my weight crawl towards (and past) some unseen numbers, got scary at times, but I knew I was eating and working out in a healthy way, so I just let the numbers crawl.

As my belly grew, running became more difficult as my round ligament would be painful enough to set me into a walk.  I saw a chiropractor on a regular basis throughout my pregnancy which helped me extend my running, but eventually, my run/walks turned into walks.   I stopped being able to reach the handlebars on my bike (We have a 'trainer' set up in the basement to allow us to ride our bikes 'stationary'), so biking slowly ebbed out of the training cycle as well.  So I swam, swam and swam some more.  I loved it.  I felt 'normal'.  I even rolled out of bed (literally some days) before work to get to the pool so I could get my swim in.  I became quite popular as folks started recognizing me as the very pregnant woman at the pool and folks kept teasing that one morning I was going to go into labor in the pool! (We did have a water birth, but not at the gym pool :) )

I realized that my pregnant belly wasn't going to go away overnight, but I was a bit surprised at how pregnant I still looked after he was born.  I figured after two weeks, I would be closer to 'normal' and I would kick it into gear.  I gained 40+ lbs at the point T was born (50+ from race weight) and didn't get on a scale until that two-week mark.  Up to this point, I was mostly in bed, eating, drinking, nursing, sleeping, repeat.  I had very strict orders to stay in bed for days after the birth, no stairs for a week, and stairs only once a day for week two.

[Long birth story very very short - We had a home birth with a midwife.  T was born in a tub, in his nursery, it was awesome!  So my midwife's guidance may seem different to some of you compared to mainstream medical advice post-pregnancy.]

The first few days were a haze of wonder, the next two-weeks were a bit harder as we tried to figure out how to take care of this new human that can't do anything for himself.  I know that sounds obvious and funny....but I don't think you realize what that means until you are really in it.  Everyone tells you that 'you're life will never be the same' but no one tells you how HARD it is.  It's hard, it's really really hard. Now T is not a really great sleeper, so everything is magnified by our constant state of sleep deprivation.  But I still had grand visions of starting off with an 'easy' run at two weeks and one day, and back to my six days of exercise per week...yeah right.

After a stern look from my midwife when I told her about the post-pregnancy book camp DVD that I started, I resolved to stick to a walk around the block (3/4 mile) as my exercise for the day for the next four weeks.   I'm glad I took that time, and I wish I would have rested with T even longer.  I wish I could say that I took advantage and took every opportunity to sleep, definitely something I would suggest for all new moms.  I know it sounds cliche to sleep when the baby sleeps, but SLEEP WHEN THE BABY SLEEPS!!

So week six arrives, and I start off the day with my 18 minute (5 of which are warm-up and cool-down mind you) boot camp DVD, seems easy enough.  Got my heart rate up, did some pilates for abs, got some legs in, felt great......and I couldn't walk up the stairs the next day because I was so sore.  Yup, that's right.  Sore from 10 minutes of cardio and 3 minutes of pilates....and I thought I was going to do this every other day?  Maybe I should stick to some run/walks and a few rides instead, and work up to it.  So I started with a plan to work out 6 days a week, start out with 30 min session or walk/runs, rides and sprinkle some abs and strength exercises in.

Fast forward 5 weeks later....It's still a struggle to find the time each day, but I have a great partner that makes sure I get the time even if it's just before bedtime.  On Sundays, if my energy is low, I've been doing an hour of yoga/stretching/sauna just to try to recharge for the week.  I decided on a goal of losing one lb per week and I get on the scale every Saturday, and write down my weight.  So far I'm on track and feeling pretty good.  And I was finally able to join my old group run on Saturday morning.  Yeah!!!  It was warm (above freezing, which for MN is great :) ) and wet, but it was so great to get outside and run with my crew.  My hope is to be able to join them at least once a month.  I spend more time driving back and forth than I do running, but it feels great to be out of the house and back into that sense of community.

There's so much more I want to tell about the last 5 weeks of working out, but I'm sure it will all come out in the weeks to come, and this blog post is already too long :) Soon I'll post a 'Pre, During and Post Race blog :)  We'll get there, I promise.

A bonus recipe treat for those of you short on time - Overnight oatmeal in the crock pot (it's higher in protein than you think):

(Fancy version)
1 cup steel cut oats
2 cups water
2 cups milk (I used unsweenened almond milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp gd cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg
1 tsp agave nectar (I used maple syrup)
Put all above ingredients in the crock pot - give it a stir - turn the crock pot on high (covered) for 1 1/2 hours,give it another stir, then turn it off and leave it for the night (covered).  In the morning you have breakfast for the next 4 days!! I usually nuke it for 60 seconds and add nuts and raisins.  I have also made the super EZ version with all water and no spices, just oatmael and water - it works just as well, just less snazzy.  Enjoy!