Things You Can Do While You Are Pregnant To Ease Your Postpartum Return to Running
Happy Friday friends! We are so close to the weekend and that means that Henri and I survived 3 days of work while also recovering from jet lag. Traveling these days makes me feel so old because I used to be able to sleep on planes no problem and time changes didn’t phase me one bit. Now I’m lucky if I can catch even a little sleep on a long flight and it takes me DAYS to adjust to a new time zone… how is this happening already? I’m not even 28 yet!!
Anyways, I don’t want to bore you all with how I’m been falling asleep at 7:30 every night this week so I’m going to jump right into today’s topic!
When I was pregnant with Lavinia I thoroughly enjoyed the break from serious training and racing, I was so happy to be pregnant and excited to bring our little girl into the world. At the same time I was a little nervous/curious about what my return to running would be like postpartum. Would running feel different? Would I ever be able to get back to my pre-baby fitness? Would I ever run another PR?
I hear from fellow female runners with these same concerns all of the time – in fact that’s probably the most common topic that I get questions about. I tell each woman that I hear from the same thing… enjoy your pregnancy and don’t worry about the future but know that it is 100% possible to come back faster after a pregnancy!
Only time would show me that I was capable of coming back even faster postpartum – in the 2 years since Lavinia was born I’m run PRs from the 10K to the marathon, qualified for the Olympic Trials Marathon and run within 3 seconds of my 5K PR from college… which for years I thought was untouchable! Even though I’ve done it before I still find myself a little nervous this time around and I find that I’m giving myself the same pep talk I given so many other women. I accomplished some really big goals between my pregnancies that made me even hungrier for successful training cycles and faster PRs. Will I be able to do it a second time? I think it’s natural for those concerns/doubts to be there but instead of worrying about the future I’m choosing to focus on the things that I can do now to make my postpartum return to running as smooth and successful as possible.
Below are some of the things I did while pregnant with Lavinia and plan to do this time around, that I believe helped me immensely in my postpartum running journey! I hope they help you as well if you are expecting or thinking about TTC. 🙂
What You Can Do While Pregnant to Ease Your Postpartum Return to Running
Allow Yourself to Run/Exercise By Feel
I honestly think that the most important thing that I did while pregnant with Lavinia was staying active while also really listening to my body and holding myself back. I didn’t push myself too hard, I kept my mileage relatively low (for me) and I made sure to vary my exercise and do what felt good for my body – I did a lot of walking, strength training, yoga, etc. When we are pregnant our bodies are already working so hard to grow a human! Let’s not forget all that work our bodies are doing before we add the load of running/exercise.
Since I took a step back during my pregnancy I started my postpartum running journey with a rested and refreshed body rather than one that had been completely overworked for the past 9 months, and that’s why I’m taking the same approach to my running during this pregnancy.
Continue to Eat Healthy Foods that Nourish You and Your Baby
Nutrition is super important when you are pregnant, especially when you are continuing to run/exercise throughout your pregnancy. You have to fuel your growing baby, your own needs and any extra physical activity that you are doing. Of course I love to take advantage of a good treat (pregnant and not) but when I’m pregnant I still continue to eat a healthy and balanced diet the majority of the time. One nutrient that I pay extra close attention to while pregnant is calcium – baby takes priority over your own bones when it comes to absorbing calcium from your diet while pregnant, and while breastfeeding, so if your calcium intake isn’t high enough your bones will suffer the consequences. The last thing I want while pregnant, or when coming back postpartum is a stress fracture so I up my calcium intake like CRAZY when I am pregnant. I’m talking drinking a glass of milk with almost every meal in addition to yogurts, cheeses and other good sources of calcium. If you are dairy free or lactose intolerant make it a priority to find some good sources of calcium that work well with your stomach!
Get Regular Chiropractic/Massage Care
During pregnancy things can shift around, your feet flatten, your hips widen, your tendons and ligaments loosen and you can feel all out of sorts. If you can afford it I highly recommend that pregnant mamas get regular chiropractic and massage care to keep their bodies well aligned so that you don’t get any injuries from the body changes that you experience. I have continued to get regular adjustments and massages since Lavinia was born and I really attribute my ability to stay healthy through my rigorous marathon training cycle last fall to these two preventative measures.
Recommendations
Chiropractic Care – Check your insurance to see if they cover any adjustments
I personally go to The Joint (they have a monthly membership which is very affordable)
Massage – believe it or not, some insurances also cover a certain number of massages per year so make sure to check with your insurance!
I’ve used Massage Envy for years and they are great!
Love Your Core + Pelvic Floor
Familiarize yourself with pregnancy friendly core movements as well as what to avoid! If you are proactive you can minimize the occurrence of diastasis recti and the amount of time it will take for your core to heal postpartum. Crunching movements and planks should be avoided from the 2nd trimester onwards but personally I choose not to do either for the duration of my pregnancies. Back bends and arching is also not recommended after your 2nd trimester.
Some of my favorite core exercises during pregnancy are core bracing, seated knee raises, standing side bends (weighted and unweighted), standing med. ball rotations, heel slides, opposite arm-leg raises (on hands and knees) – I’m currently working on a pregnancy friendly core workout that will be posted NEXT WEEK!
As far as pelvic floor strength, make sure to speak with your doctor or midwife about what you should be doing to prepare for birth. During my first pregnancy I kept hearing “do your kegels” from multiple sources so I asked my midwife specifically what I should be doing and she actually told me that since I was running a good amount of miles my pelvic floor was the same sort of work with every step I took while running and doing additional kegels on top of that while pregnant would actually be detrimental for me personally. Everyone is different though so confer with your personal doctor on this topic.
Have a great weekend!! I’ll be back on Monday with some pregnancy highlights from weeks 4-12… and keep an eye out on Instagram Sunday morning for a super exciting announcement that you aren’t going to want to miss!
