Pregnancy: Months 1-2
Disclaimer: This blog only
shares my personal experience-I am by no means a health expert. The level of
training that I entertained during pregnancy was cleared and approved by my
doctors. Please consult your doctor before you attempt any strenuous physical
activity during pregnancy.
When you are an endurance athlete, “getting pregnant” is
also part of the challenge. In order to start baking my little man, I had to
reduce the intensity and the volume of my training. Training full time for
Ironman, working full time and trying to get pregnant did not translate as the
perfect recipe. Once it was agreed with my coach to adjust the schedule for the
new goal of planting a seed and growing a human, the “magic” happened within 4
months. I had originally cleared my schedule from any racing attempts to
achieve this goal thinking it would be instantaneous: it was not and I got
bored. So I took up trail running. No stress, no time comparison with road PBs.
It was a win-win-win situation. I raced the Ironknee in May and finished 2nd
female OA. Little did I know, I was (finally) pregnant (2 weeks) at the time.
In June, I took a pregnancy test and tested positive… I
contacted my coach and we agreed that I would train on my own. I would log
everything in Training Peaks so I
could have a record of my activity level.
So now that the whole background is out there, here is a
quick glimpse of what I did in the first two months of pregnancy,
training-wise.
Month 1 (weeks 1-4)
I kept the intensity level unchanged as I did not know I was
pregnant. I suspected it but I could not “feel” anything different, I just
sensed it. In the second month (1 tested pregnant week 5), I adjusted the
intensity to avoid “cooking” my little growing muffin.
Training log:
Training log:
Weeks 1-4:
Regular training schedule (about 10-14 hours with about 3 hours of high intensity)
Race on week 2 a trail half marathon and ran to 2nd female OA.
Week 5:
I found out I was pregnant; I started training on my own since I did not know how the pregnancy would unfold; I reduced the intensity level and volume as I felt exhausted.
Weeks 6-7:
I only managed 7-10 hours of training as I felt very tired.
Weeks 8-9:
I finally started to regain some energy.
Week 8: 13:15 hours of exercise with 69k of running
Week 9: 14.5 hours of exercise with 69k of running.
The first couple of months were an adjustment as to how tired I felt. Once I had met with my doctor, I got cleared to keep training. In fact, my doctor encouraged me to go ahead as physically and mentally, it would be harder for my body to stop…so I kept running ;)
Regular training schedule (about 10-14 hours with about 3 hours of high intensity)
Race on week 2 a trail half marathon and ran to 2nd female OA.
Week 5:
I found out I was pregnant; I started training on my own since I did not know how the pregnancy would unfold; I reduced the intensity level and volume as I felt exhausted.
Weeks 6-7:
I only managed 7-10 hours of training as I felt very tired.
Weeks 8-9:
I finally started to regain some energy.
Week 8: 13:15 hours of exercise with 69k of running
Week 9: 14.5 hours of exercise with 69k of running.
The first couple of months were an adjustment as to how tired I felt. Once I had met with my doctor, I got cleared to keep training. In fact, my doctor encouraged me to go ahead as physically and mentally, it would be harder for my body to stop…so I kept running ;)
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