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?

One Comment

  1. I’m still trying to get back to my running after a 5 month hiatus. We ran 3 times in one week and then not at all last week! Hard to get back into the habit… 🙁

    Are you aiming to run a 5k?

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