Hi jme76,
Woohoo!!! Another pregnant runner!
This is my second pregnancy. For my first pregnancy, I quit running with my first at 8 weeks and by then I had been mostly walking. I hate walking and even that exhausted me and I ended up doing practically no exercise during the pregnancy. I also gained 65 lbs (which took me 15-16 months to lose) and had horrible symptoms throughout the pregnancy, like back and hip pain, and just felt generally terrible.
This time I was determined to do things differently. I read a book called Exercising through your Pregnancy by James F. Clapp, which actually sites actual medical studies done on runners and others who were intensively exercising during pregnancy with very positive outcomes. It was recommended to my by other pregnant runners. I also read as many medical studies as I could find and there was absolutely no indication that running or exercising did anythin but benefit mom and baby. The research does not show higher incidents of miscarriage or any other sort of negative pregnancy outcome.
Even after reading all of this and knowing the facts, it is hard because there is so much bad information on generic websites that tells you to severely cut back on your routine and some random people look at you like you're nuts when you tell them you are still running.
Anyway, this pregnancy, I started feeling pretty horrible, same as before at 5-6 weeks. I was really nauseous, tired, and did NOT feel like running. I stuck to it this time though and am very glad I did. The days I ran, the morning sickness was much better after a mile or two. I was able to keep my mileage at 20-25 miles per week. I did a couple of half marathons, one at 8 weeks and one at 12 weeks. I went slowly, took walk breaks when needed, and was willing to drop out if I felt like I was getting exhausted or like it was too much.
It has been a weird experience running through pregnancy. There are days and weeks where I've felt totally great and then some days when it's a struggle to just get out the door and do anything. I actually ended up increasing to 30 miles per week in the 2nd trimester because I felt so great and it was easy. Now I'm about to hit the 3rd trimester and it's getting hard again. I feel heavy. Well, I AM heavy
And I am tired and unmotivated. BUT there are still some good run days and I'm really proud that I've been able to stick to it. My weight gain is still above average. Apparently, my metabolism stops when I'm pregnant (which is unusual) but I should gain 35-45 by the time it's all over. I FEEL a million times better, which I accredit to the running. The aches and pains, sleep, mood, everything is better. When I've tried to slack off, I feel worse instead of better, so I will keep going as long as I can.
I cut my mileage the past 2 weeks because I felt tired and sick, but it's made things worse. This week I've increased my mileage again (should hit 20-25) and it seems to be helping. I want to stay at 30 mpw as long as I can because for me 25-30 miles a week, which is also what I was running before pregnancy, seems to be ideal. During the first trimester, my pace was about the same, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, as my normal pace. I just went at a speed that was comfortable and ran at a speed that I could still talk. Now, I am SLOW!!! I found out it is actually possible to run 15 min miles.
I also take walk breaks now when needed. It's very warm where I live though. On cooler days, I am slow, but more of a regular running pace slow.
My experience is that pregnancy running is very inconsistent. There are good days and bad days. Your body tells you when to slow down and I think you modify your routine naturally. No matter how I felt, I went out there and ran this time. After I started running, if I didn't feel good, I stopped and walked, or ran slower or shorter than planned. Usually what happened though is after I ran a mile or two, I felt much better and it became easier to run. After I finished, I felt a million times better, which lasted the rest of the day.
One thing I would suggest, since you mentioned that running wiped you out for the rest of the day, is to try to do shorter distance 2x a day. That's how I get through the difficult weeks and it seems to work out pretty well. I would do a 4 mile run in the morning and a 2 mile run at night. Splitting the distance seemed to help a lot and it also made it less intimidating to get out there. Your plan of cutting down your mileage temporarily sounds like a great plan too. I'd just kind of experiment until you find what works for you.
Just a final note, the Runner's World website has a discussion forum under women where the pregnant runners post how things are going every day. I don't post there often, but love reading how everyone is doing. They also exchange a lot of information on how running and exercising during pregnancy is going for them, which I found motivating and helpful.
I'm sorry I've written a book here, but I know it can be hard to find information and I've always enjoyed hearing about other's experiences so....here you are.
Best of luck to you and CONGRATULATIONS!!!
