Chasing Unicorns LLC

What a week!

I feel like my body really changed a lot when I hit 20 weeks and it’s rapidly felt a lot different since then. I haven’t fully given up on running just yet but after a scare last Sunday that left me pretty immobile from ligament flare-ups for the beginning of this week and took nearly all week to clear up (I’d say I’m 80% now), it was a swift reality check that my body is under a lot of stress right now even if it had been feeling really good up to that point.

I eased back into more movement yesterday with a 20-min Peloton holiday ride and upper body workout not wanting to overdo it and set myself back in my recovery. Plus if I did too much duration then the question would be is all movement bad right now or is it just the amount of time I need to adjust; only manipulating one variable at a time right now! I actually woke up today feeling even better than yesterday which is a great sign that the rest is working and the gradual reintroduction of movement is the right way to go. Another 30-min holiday ride on the bike today including out of the saddle pushes which I felt no pain on at all and an upper body workout to round things out which so far has me feeling quite good again.

It’s foreign to me to have scaled back so much but it’s also foreign to me to be growing another human that’s changing my body and taking up more resources so I’m learning a lot as I go, and thankful that I did my pre/post natal personal training certification program in the first trimester because it helps me adapt things and understand the “why” behind something feeling off or unbalanced.

We’ll see what the rest of week 21 has in store for me but I’m happy to be back moving because I really do feel so much better physically and mentally even after just 30 mins on the bike!

Over the last few months, listening to my body and letting it dictate the plan has been key. I always thought I’d be one of those pregnant people out there crushing miles (knowing the paces would likely slow down at some point), so when that wasn’t the case for me early on, I had to accept that we’re all on unique journeys and that this was mine. I took a certification course on pre and post natal training to enhance my existing personal trainer certification and to understand how to adapt my training to a changing body. I found that lifting felt really good - it was empowering, and it scratched the itch for me of still moving my body - while running took more of a backseat.

This past week running has started to feel a lot more natural again, and I’m glad I didn’t force anything. Training by effort and time has been really helpful to me, for example, doing 45 minutes today meant a little over 5 miles, and on a day that I don’t feel as good, 45 minutes might be less mileage but it’s still time on feet.

One of the things I knew I wanted to offer in my coaching programs was flexibility for women (and their partners) because not every pregnancy and postpartum experience is the same. In my 7 years working with athletes, some women continue to run hard workouts/higher mileage and feel great, while others are too nauseous, start to feel pain running, or are simply just too fatigued. I never wanted anyone to feel locked into a plan during this phase of life (or in the TTC phase because as I’ve shared quite a bit about, you can’t always plan for that and sometimes downtime is essential for your physical and mental well being) and my own experience so far has really validated that.

I’m grateful for every day and every week I get to see this body change because it’s doing something incredible. My experience might not be as flashy as I was hoping it would be, but I’m really happy where I’m at and grateful for any day I get the chance to move my body!