Running Pregnant: Week 37

Baby Germain is the size of a baby. Yup, I didn't look at the fruit, it's the size of a newborn baby.
This week's craving: Sleep... and for my ribs to be back to normal... and for my tailbone to go back to being a part of my body I forget exists... 
This week's aversion: There's just not much space left in there... 



MONDAY- OFF-  I did nothing this day. No drills, no stretching. Nothing. I had gotten some contractions the week before and just felt like chillin' out, eating ice cream, and watching TV. Matt is FINALLY done traveling and with (most) overnights... so I appreciated having him home a little bit more to take some of the work load off of me. I had a Doctors Appointment: I'm 1cm dilated, baby's head is stationed at -2, and I'm 60% effaced. So I'm making progress but still feel I've got a ways to go before I have this baby. 

 
TUESDAY- 4.5- I felt like I was cruising at first on this day... but my splits were disappointing me. I knew the first mile was off by about a tenth... but didn't know that the Garmin kept getting progressively more off as I went (usually it catches up... I guess I was going fast! ;)) It was the first time I had no groin pain in a while. I was psyched and really felt like I was moving, but my splits were in the 10:30 range! I kept trying to get them a little faster but the groin pain was replaced with tailbone and SI joint pain which abruptly became unbearable in the last half mile.  I stopped twice to just give my pelvis a moment in the last half mile. I realized these last 20ish miles of my 1,000 pregnancy miles were going to be MUCH harder with the pelvic pain as opposed to the groin pain that I had learned to manage. But I had to keep going. I'm SO CLOSE and if I took a day off that could be the difference between finishing and not finishing. This baby is measuring two weeks ahead... and I know it probably wont come early, but you never know! I am determined to finish all 1000 miles before I hit 38 weeks (Sunday). I was now in a race with my baby. I ended up mapping this later in the week when I saw that my Garmin picked up signal sometime in the third mile so I used Map My Run to check mileage. As it turns out I ran 9:30 pace (instead of 10:20) and I ran 4.5 (instead of 4.1). Garmin is accurate for my last mile (which was 10:18) so I must have been running somewhere between 9:10 and 9:20 pace for those other miles. This explains a lot! 


WEDNESDAY 4, 11:24/mi. I had to wait all day to do this run. My hips were so sore and my SI Joint was so bad that I had trouble walking most of the day. I had over 36 hours recovery from the run before because I ran in the morning Tuesday and at Night today. I googled info on running pregnant and pretty much everything cautioned against running if you had trouble standing on one leg because of SI Joint Dysfunction (I didn't have trouble standing on one leg... I simply couldn't do it).... and while I'm normally much smarter about my running decisions, I thought of this as the end of a marathon. Sometimes you're just too close to the finish line and you have to suck it up even if it's not the smartest idea. I knew I could make it 4 more days if I just went slow. I KT taped my ass and my hips and just got it done. I took about 30 second breaks every mile mark just to check in with my pelvis. Remarkably I was able to do this. It was a beautiful night to be running, so that helped. 


THURSDAY: 4 Miles at Sneakerama Fun Run (10:51/mi): Another night of no sleep due to SI Joint pain and now it's moved to the pirformis... which was weirdly a relief because I can handle muscle pain better. I know how to work with that. Matt took Raea to his moms so that I could "rest". I spent the whole day doing the worst thing for your glute muscles: sitting. We had a lot of baby clothes I needed to clean and sort through. I was relieved to get it done. I ran completely solo at the Fun Run. I'm officially slower than everyone. I worked hard to break 11:00/mi pace though. Sneakerama had Christmas in July so there was a snowball fight after. I put all that snow down my pants and on my butt. Ice, Ice, Ice!






FRIDAY: 4.3 11:39/mi: This was hands down the most difficult run I've done pregnant both physically and mentally. I'm 8.5 miles away from 1000 pregnancy miles... which is so far when you can't really lift your leg. This was an "Irish Double" (thanks, Tricky). Basically I ran at sneakerama at night and then morning today. Running twice within 24 hours. I didn't have a full day of recovery and I needed it! But at this point the only thing that would make me feel better would be to be done.  I started at a 13 minute pace because I couldn't really lift my leg. I loosened up a bit as I went and pushed myself for a solid (but slow) progression run. When I came home I bordered on crying when Matt came to give me a hug. I put 20lbs of ice in the bath and got right in it. I needed inflammation to go down ASAP! Just one more day! Matt had to leave and was staying overnight in Albany for work (last overnight before baby!) so I prayed that Raea wouldn't give me a hard time since I could barely walk... and thankfully she was super independent and basically put herself to bed. I also began prepping a post for instagram for when I hit 1000. I added up my mileage... and found out I was at 999.01!!!! I had forgotten to add the tenths and across 9 months they add up! BUT I already committed to 4.2, I was determined to do it. I did as many hip and resistance drills as possible... and I felt a snap crackle and POP in my hip. The best feeling of release I've had in a while! Suddenly I could walk again. There is a God! 



SATURDAY- 4.2 
I slept! My hip felt amazing! I picked up my sister and her friends and headed to the rail trail for my last miles. Raea was in the stroller with Jane and Talia, and I was out running with Tiana way ahead of me. I felt awesome. I ran sub 10 minute mile pace and I could barely walk the day before! I got a bit emotional about how far I've come with this journey... and I realized since my hip has bounced back, I can keep going even beyond 1000! (or at this point 1004.21) But I made a promise to my body on one of those really bad painful runs that if it just got me through this I'd give it a break before labor. So, I keep my promise! 


SUNDAY- 0 miles. I disrespected my body quite a bit this week... and even though I'm only 5 away from another 26.2 and I'm feeling pretty good again, I'm not doing it. I will take at least 2-3 days off and focus on the drills for the pelvic floor. Maybe I'll walk. 


Convo with my sister who is 6 weeks behind me in her first pregnancy. I'm just a little over it. 



**TOTAL MILES: 21.1** 
This was the hardest week yet. I underestimated how hard it would be to do a week that is less than 26.2. I also underestimated how much the pavement hurts my body. I did almost all pavement runs this week and my pelvis suffered tremendously. If I don't run a single pregnancy mile more, I'm okay with that... but I probably will run a few times a week still... Unless I go into labor before I get the chance! I'm reposting what I wrote on Instagram about achieving 1000 miles here:


✨🎉1000 PREGNANCY MILES🎉✨
(plus a few more for good measure 😂)
•
I DID IT! I know to many this goal is easy, and to others it's insane... for me? .... I just let my pregnancy runs progress or decline naturally and as I have moved through pregnancy, my goals have shifted and changed as much as this baby and my body! I set a variety of goals that served as checkpoints along the way in order for me to keep going. My goal has always been to prep myself for #Postpartum goals and not get so caught up in running pregnant that I sacrifice the ultimate goal of #Sub3 hours and then an #OlympicTrials Qualifying time under the guidance of @mckirdytrainedcoaching. •
Really, it's never been about weekly 26.2's or 1,000 miles, or even running until 40 Weeks (which I may still do! Not sure!) It's always been about habitual running.... because that is the foundation of ✨success✨in this sport•
✅running when it's hard
✅running when it's easy
✅knowing when to push through
✅knowing when to back off
✅✨consistency across a long period of time✨
•
Miraculously, yesterday while doing some drills, I had some significant releases in my hip joints... SO I may keep shuffling along a few times a week until the very end, I'll take it day by day. The biggest surprise this pregnancy has been that just when I think I can't do any more, somehow my body adjusts and the impossible becomes possible again! A perfect lesson for future goals, but even better preparation for my immediate future: LABOR! 😐😧😥😓😩😫😖😤😭😡😵🤗😍
Thanks everyone for your continued support! •




Additional Work: 
Ice, roll, stability, KT taping, resistance band drills, glute activation. I'm not leaving any of it out. It's the only thing that makes running possible.




Looking Forward To: Raea's birthday on Tuesday (we are going to take her to Davis Farmland and enjoy what could be our last full day as a family of 3)... and then Saturday we are having her birthday party... pending sibling arrival. 

Gender Prediction: I really and truly do not care. 

Total Pregnancy Miles: 1004.21:  1,000 pregnancy Miles 


INSTAGRAM: 
You can follow me here: c_mom_run_fast 
My goal is to:
a. inspire, empower, and share my story with others since there is VERY LITTLE on running and competing pregnant out there 
b. Just to get my fat ass out the door each day and the more followers I have the more I feel like I have an obligation to go! Whatever works! Those of you following and commenting are helping me more than you know!