Well, training for this half marathon is coming to an end, and I have to say that I feel much better about it now than I did during my first trimester, due to complete fatigue. Now that the horrible fatigue has subsided, training has been much easier.
I've been waking up and doing 5 a.m. runs and I really enjoy that. This week it's been hard to get a run in because my nephew, a senior starter, was playing the the 12th Region basketball tournament to be able to go to the Kentucky Sweet Sixteen basketball tournament. So, needless to say, we've been following him wherever he's played in the hopes that we would get to see him play at Rupp Arena. But, all good things must come to an end. They played in the region championship and lost by 7 points. We are still so very proud of him!
On another note, this past weekend was scheduled for a 9 mile run. I was a little worried, due to the fact that I'm currently 4 months pregnant and I hadn't done an 8 miler, just a 7. Sarah B., Sarah W., and I started our run at 6:00 a.m., when it was still dark outside. At about 7:00, here came the sun. I have to say that even though it's always tempting to sleep in on a Saturday, I thoroughly enjoyed starting our run that early and being able to see the sun rise while I was running. We started at Sarah W.'s house and went through downtown Danville, out to Millennium Park, made a lap around the park, and headed back to Sarah's house.
Now, while I don't have a goal of achieving a PR in this half marathon, I do have the goal of finished with a pace less than 10:00 per mile. I wasn't sure if this was going to be an attainable goal while pregnant, but I think I may have been proven wrong during the 9 mile run. Throughout the entire run, I noticed that I was running at a pace that was faster than my normal 'pregnant pace' right now. But, I just kept running. I feel that when it's time for me to slow down, this baby will make sure I know it's time to slow down or stop.
I finished my run with a pace of 9:19!!! This put me at a total time of about 1:24:00. I don't have my Garmin with me, so I don't know my exact time. Not my best pace on a long run, but I was very pleased with my pace, considering my current state of condition! Now I know that I can finish in under a 10:00 per mile pace. That makes me totally ecstatic! Not to mention that I'm so excited about the weekend of the half in general. My mom, my sister, and I are going up the night before and enjoying a girls night of shopping and dinner. We are staying at the Hilton and just going to enjoy some much needed time spent together. We don't get to do it often enough.
So, my question today is...
If you've ever run pregnant, how did you know when to slow down or to switch to walking?
I think I still used the talk test as well as my HR monitor. My doc was old school and told me not to get my HR over 140...um, yeah right! I am a fitness instructor and had a very healthy pregnancy. My HR got to 150 walking up the steps! I still taught spin classes and kickboxing for the duration of both pregnancies. I ran up to 6 months....it just got too uncomfortable for me. My HR would sometimes get in the upper 160's but never for too long...my breath might have gotten "labored" for no more than 30 seconds at a time..I would just back off. So really; we are all different...when it starts to feel uncomfortable, cramping or anything else weird...that's when you stop or back off. Good for you!
ReplyDeleteYou're going to do great and probably run a faster half than I will this weekend! Have a wonderful time and enjoy your girls night!
ReplyDeleteWay to go! I ran until the urge to pee with every run got to me & then it got uncomfortable. I think I made it to 20 weeks? But I've know so many women to run through the entire pregnancy. Just listen to your body.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the pregnancy! (Im way behind on blog reading!) Sounds like your kicking butt, I'm sure that baby will tell you when to slow down.
ReplyDeleteThe perinatologist told me if you feel like you are working hard then you need to stop. She said you shouldn't feel like you are pushing your body.
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