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| Image: myfitnessdepot.com |
This kind....
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| Image: givingbirthwithconfidence.org |
It was not the first time that I had heard this, but at my visit with my midwife on Monday, she reminded me that preparing to give birth is like training for a marathon. I started to ease back into exercising last week after a long nine weeks of
The end of the first trimester came and went, and the morning sickness remained. Wait? Huh? I am supposed to feel better now! Thankfully, last week at nearly 15 weeks I started feeling good enough. Now at nearly 16 weeks, I feel pretty good. I am thankful that the nausea and vomiting are taking their leave. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. Not getting my hopes up yet.
With my first pregnancy, I walked 30 minutes every day on the treadmill. I walked until the very end. I also did squats, but not all the time. Toward the end of my pregnancy, I mean the last few days, it just felt really good to be in a squatting position, so I would just sit there like that. Squatting. Must have looked really silly. I think my husband asked me once, "What are you doing over there? You're not trying to have a baby are you? Is there something you need to tell me?" Ha ha!
After I felt recovered enough to start exercising again after birth, I started trying to "become a runner." I don't know why, but I admire runners and I'd really like to become one. But running is hard! I hate that feeling of being out of breath. I've spent 19 years learning how to NOT run out of breath and to control my breathing (I'm a flutist), so huffing and puffing and being winded is very uncomfortable.
So anyway, a year ago I was training to run my first 5K. This year I am training to give birth. I think I am in better shape going into this pregnancy than I was last pregnancy. I'm still not some super athlete, but I've decided I want to give the elliptical a try during this pregnancy. Last week I went to the gym and eased into doing the elliptical. Yesterday I went swimming, and today, while using the elliptical, I thought, "I wonder what it would feel like to run again." So after I was done, I hopped on the treadmill and just did a teeny tiny one minute jog. It felt pretty good, so I quit while I was still thinking happy thoughts. Probably another two or three seconds and I would have hated it.
I know for sure that I want to use the elliptical throughout the pregnancy, but I think I would like to incorporate a little bit of running again until I can't do it anymore. It's not as if it's new to my body. I have just been out of commission for nine weeks. Which to my mind felt like an eternity, but to my body, it was like, "Oh yeah. I remember this! Let's do it! Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!"
Because I live in a second story apartment, my midwife encouraged me to climb the stairs. A lot. 50 times a day wouldn't be too much, she said.
And to those who have run actual honest to goodness marathons? You rock! I admire you! Way to go! Maybe one day, but for now, I'll focus on training for my marathon. My giving birth marathon.
What exercises are you doing/did you do to train for your birth marathon? Do you feel it helped?
Continuing to walk Wrigley (our dog) every day and go to at least one yoga class a week (I was taking 3-5 during the 1st four months) ended up being just right! :)
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