My body, two months after giving birth

Yesterday was Lissie’s two-month birthday.

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I gave myself a challenge last time I wrote an update like this that I would try to come up with a goal race for the end of the year. I haven’t yet. I’ve seen a lot of friends kicking butt on Facebook these past few weekends, and it’s made me nostalgic for races, but I still struggle with the idea of picking a race and a goal and a training plan. Going on from before like life hasn’t changed.

When so much as changed.

I think that’s the thing that I didn’t see when I was pregnant, thinking about how I would get back into shape after the baby arrived. I thought it was so badass keep running up until 40 weeks, and then it would be so much easier once I wasn’t carrying this huge internal weight.

Now the weight manifests itself when I try to leave her. It’s not that I can’t make the time; it’s just that so many other things are competing for it now. And honestly? I’m not even working right now — maternity leave lasts another three weeks — so I wonder how I’ll even be able to squeeze “training” for something in when I get back. Running, sure. But training?

So for the past month, I’ve run 2-3 times a week for 2-3 miles at a time (usually no more than 40 minutes). I didn’t start the couch to 5K again when I started running in August, even though I knew that I needed to do a lot of work to build back up to pounding out 5Ks every day. My strategy for these runs has been:

  • Take it easy (should be able to sing while running)
  • Run by time, not distance
  • Focus on tall posture, strong core, light steps

I feel I’ve really benefited from my knowledge on how to run, coming back into it, even though my body is not ready to progress farther. When my hips start to feel like overstretched rubber bands, I walk.

Training would require setting pace and distance goals. I just don’t feel like that. I feel like enjoying it. Maybe when I go back to work, things will feel different.

I’ve also been walking 30-90 minutes 4-5 days per week. I like walking more because I can do it with Felicity. I can’t run with her until January, and this is a happy compromise.

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Pattie Reaves

About Pattie Reaves

I'm a new mom and renegade fitness blogger at After the Couch. I live in Brewer with my husband, Tony, our daughter Felicity, and our two pugs, Georgia and Scoop.