Little Mister is rounding the bend to the 4 week mark, and life is starting to resemble a routine I was once familiar with.
Normal?
No.
Three kids feels like a juggling act, and the only organized activity we're committed to is soccer twice a week!
He is an exceptional kid, already, and I'm sure there will come a time that I will complain about him, but now is not it.
His name means Little Star, and so far he's shooting high! (Waawaa - good one, hey!)
A week or so post babe, I felt great. Actually, truth be told, the day after baby came I felt great, but it took around a week for me to start thinking about getting back to exercise. Then I decided to give myself another 10 days just to be sure my body was going to go with me, and not against.
So, the day before Sterling was three weeks old, I laced up my runners, plugged in my music, pulled on some of the fitness world's greatest invention - compression, and without my watch (which was exceedingly difficult!), gave myself permission to walk 1km, or "jog", or run a 1-and-1, or whatever - if that's how I felt.
I have a regular 5.5km loop that I do while training that includes some inclines and hills and different terrain, and it also has two short cuts if I ever feel totally lousy or sore or injured. One makes a 3km loop, the other around 4.5km.
I ran the entire 5.5km.
I felt friggin' fantastic and as soon as my runners hit the 'crete, I felt home again and I could not wait to get into my stride! I had new music on my iPod, and a new pair of shoes and I just felt, well, light!
Got home, iced my buggered ankle, because it always nags, and then also sat on the ice for a bit.
My "birthing" bones are maybe not quite back in place!
Pain and soreness are a normal part of running, actually, exercise in general. There will almost always be some kind of discomfort. Learning to listen to your body (hence, losing the watch!), and respect its limitations is part of the process. Knowing that a nagging ankle pain is alright, for me, so long as the pain doesn't change into a piercing pain, or being confidant that a little bit of foot pain in new shoes is totally normal, or even pushing through a set of squats with a PR weight - are all part of training - although everyone's pain is different and completely subjective.
I only know me.
I don't know anyone else's body.
If you're new to exercise, the "getting to know your body" thing can take a long time. Years, even.
I ran again two days later. The same 5.5km loop and felt great, but not as great as the previous time.
Part of getting my groove back will be getting accustomed to running "stuff". Growing thicker skin on parts of my feet prone to blisters, perhaps losing a toenail or two, and even increasing my water in the days leading up to mileage increases to hydrate my body.
There is a whole culture of runners who would read all of this and just nod their heads.
"Aw yes, I'd run the whole thing too!"
"Mmm,hmm, new music was probably just what you needed!"
"Oooooh, yeah, losing toenails isn't the most glamorous thing about running"
Three week old baby, 11km training week.
Can't be mad at that!
I love it, and I've missed it and I'm super stoked to start training.
Sunday long runs, I'm coming for you! I need to be into the 20s by late August so I'd better get at 'er!
I've got to confess though that I put on a few pounds during this pregnancy and while I was running I could feel parts of my body bounce about a billionth of a second out of pace with my shoes.
That sucked.
I've got around 25 pounds to lose to be back where I was before baby and I'm not so concerned about the numbers as I am about the bounce thing...
That sucked.
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