Half Marathon Training With A Newborn

Monday, October 20, 2014

Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Ours was a blast. E's parent's came up for the weekend to spend time with Annabelle, E, and I (but mainly Belle). They arrived Saturday morning, and we all headed out to the Pumpkin Patch to take pictures of Belle and purchase some pumpkins (more pictures of our pumpkin patch adventure will be up later in the week). She was a ham all morning, but as soon as we took out the camera, she got very serious!


Belle was way more interested in watching the cars go
zooming by than posing for pictures!



After the pumpkin patch, we headed back to the house to grab lunch and watch the A&M vs. Alabama game. Lunch was great......... the game was awful! You win some, you lose some. By about half time, we had seen enough so we decided to head towards campus for the UT vs. Iowa State Game. Grandma George was nice enough to volunteer to stay home with Annabelle while E, Grandpa, and I went to the game. Although we were hoping for a bit more of a stomping on UT's part, overall, it was a pretty good game! We even got to check out the operations booth and press box during the third quarter!


On Sunday morning, I got up early and did a little grocery shopping, made brunch for everyone, and then it was time for more football. Annabelle and E set up stadium seating for the Cowboy's game.



A Cowboy's win was the perfect way to end a great weekend!

It's been a little over 3 months since Annabelle arrived, and I would venture to say I feel pretty much back to normal physically. Well, that is if you don't count feeling like a zombie most days from lack of sleep, but other than that, I feel great! Since this was my first baby, I didn't really know what to expect from the recovery process. Sure, I was hopeful that staying active during pregnancy would help me recover quickly, but there was definitely some worry deep down in my brain that getting back to my normal activity level would take awhile. Those first few weeks after delivery were definitely interesting, but I couldn't believe how quickly I felt relatively normal again (like our bodies were made to do this or something). :)

I started walking at about the 2 week mark, added light weights at 3 weeks, core work at 4 weeks, and running at 6 weeks. My first few runs I took quite a few walk breaks, but after 2-3 weeks, I was back up to running 3 miles at a decent pace without stopping! I can't tell you how excited I was the first time I ran 3 miles without stopping to walk. I literally finished, realized I hadn't stopped to walk, and threw a little party in the middle of my driveway. Luckily, it was about 5:30 AM so there were no witnesses! Being able to feel like myself again so quickly after delivery, made all of the times I worked out while pregnant despite being tired and nausous TOTALY WORTH IT! Exercise is my happy place, and when I can workout regularly I feel like I can be a better instructor, wife, friend an mom.

It's been quite a while since I've ran an organized race. Work, moving, and football seem to keep the weekends pretty busy. However, there is something about having a baby that makes me want to prove to myself that my body can do anything post baby it did pre baby, and maybe even do it better. So with that being said, last week marked the official start of my half marathon training plan. I am going to be running the Spicewood Vineyards Half Marathon on December 6th and I'm down right pumped about it! :)




Finding time to run with a newborn can definitely be a challenge, but I know I can make it work with a little planning. Since the tiny human's nap schedule is still pretty sketchy, the only time I can really plan runs are in the early early morning when she is still asleep. She usually wakes up to eat sometime between 4:30 AM and 6:00 AM, so I feed her and then head out for a run before she wakes up for the day. This usually works pretty well, but with babies, right when you think you have it down they change! :) So keeping that in mind, I am trying to build in a little flexibility with my training schedule. My goal is to run 4 days a week, but if I only manage 3 runs some weeks due to unexpected wake ups, I should be fine. I will also be teaching my normal 9 Pilates/Barre classes a week so that will definitely take care of my cross training.

Training plan week of October 20th - October 26th:
Monday: 3 miles + barre
Tuesday: 3 miles + Pilates + barre
Wednesday: Pilates + barre
Thursday: 4 miles + Pilates + barre
Friday: barre class x2
Saturday: 5 miles
Sunday: rest

Since I teach early morning classes every weekday, my Tuesday/Thursday runs will have to happen before my 7 AM Pilates class. Wish me luck! :) I think it will be challenging, but I am looking forward to it.

Anyone else training for a race in the upcoming months? I would love to hear how your training is going.

In health,

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One Response to “Half Marathon Training With A Newborn ”

  1. I love this! Your daughter is so cute! Barre and running are my two favorite workouts. I'm itching to do my first postpartum half marathon. My daughter is 8 months... I better get on it! I like your training schedule so I'll have to give it a whirl ����☺

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