On January 16, 2011, we welcomed our baby boy, Caden into the world. He weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and was 19.5 inches long. I never, ever would have thought I would have an 8 lb baby. I wasn't even that big! Lucky for me, I was pretty much all baby! I had an epidural and loved it! I wouldn't say that childbirth was easy, but it wasn't as bad as I was thinking. Caden has been a joy and so far is a very easy baby. He started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old (on my birthday, actually!), and with only a few early morning wake-ups has continued this pattern. At his 2-month appointment he was in the 23rd percentile for weight and 85th for height...my tall skinny boy! He was 11.3 lbs and 24 inches. Here are some pics of our handsome boy!
The first is his hospital picture, then the other two are obvious
Now for the running...I am kind of back!
My doctor told me to wait 2-4 weeks after delivery to start running. I waited 15 days. I had a half marathon to train for. I registered for the St. Luke's Half Marathon (formerly the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon). I will run this exactly 15 weeks post partum which after taking off 8 weeks (the last 6 weeks of pregnancy + the two weeks post-delivery) gave me 13 weeks to get back in shape.
IT WAS NOT EASY! I thought I would bounce right back. I thought after running with all that extra weight, once the baby was out, I would feel like a million bucks...wrong! It was hard. My core hurt the most. My abs were absolutely trashed. I actually had to wear a post partum support belt for the first few weeks back. My legs actually felt okay, but my heart rate was high and I haven't felt so out of shape in years! My first week back, here was my mileage:
Jan. 31st-1.5 miles
Feb 1st-1.5 miles
Feb 4th-2 miles
Feb 5th-2 miles for a grand total of 7 miles! I wanted to make sure I didn't build myself up too quickly and get injured so here is what the rest of my weeks looked like:
Feb 7-11th- 11 miles
Feb 13-19th-20 miles
Feb 20-24th-20 miles
Total mileage for Feb. 59.5 miles...not too bad!
In March, I started getting serious. I really do have a half marathon to train for.
March 1-5th- 23 miles with a long run of 8. I was started to feel more normal, just very slow for me.
March 6-12th- 31 miles with a long run of 10 and one day of speedwork (4x800)
March 14-19th- 32 miles with a long run of 12 and one day of 4 miles at tempo.
March 21-26th- 24 miles with no long run but some hill work and a 5k race (more about that late)
March 27-30th- 22.5 miles. This week is actually broken up. I always start my running weeks on Sunday, so I did do run a long run of 8 miles last week (just on Sunday instead of my usual Saturday because of the 5k), and one day of speedwork 5 x 800.
March Mileage: 132.5...back to normal!
April Mileage
April 1 and 2nd 6 mile at 8:00 pace and 13 mile long run -19 miles
April 4-9th 34 miles (I am running 14 tomorrow, but I am counting it now because I know I will get it done.)
I feel pretty good. My long runs have been slow, but my speed is returning. I decided to run a 5k to see where my speed was, so on March 26th I ran a 22:46 5k! I placed 4th overall and 2nd Age Group. I NEVER thought I would be able to run it that fast. It was the first time I really challenged myself post baby, and I couldn't be happier with the results. I am still struggling with my long runs, so I'm not totally confident in my upcoming half, but I did run 13 miles last weekend in about 2 hours (the day after a 6-miler at 8:00 pace), so I know I should be able to at least run a 1:50. Ideally, I would like to PR (my unofficial PR is a 1:46 in the Boston Marathon), but I don't know if this is realistic. I am running 14 tomorrow, and have an 8-mile race next weekend, which should give me more of an idea of where my fitness is. I am not following a plan, just mixing it up with speedwork and long runs, so we will see.
Oh...and where is my baby when I am logging these miles?? Lucky for me, the treadmill knocks him out! I put him in his bouncy seat and 5 minutes into my run (with the TV and treadmill on), he falls asleep. One of the benefits of running through pregnancy is I guess he is used to all the noise! Plus, Aaron watches him while I run long Saturdays, and when it is nice out, my mom comes to watch him while I run outside. We do have a BOB, but the weather hasn't really been nice enough to take him out in it yet. Next week, I anticipate Caden will make his debut in the stroller!
So in a nutshell...that is what I have been up to in the last 3 months. I will do my best to update regularly (for anyone who still reads this thing)!
Oh yeah...I am registered for my 3rd Steamtown '11 (my 5th marathon!)
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