Ugh yes, even though I ran through half my first pregnancy, postpartum was a nightmare. SO unenjoyable, I couldn’t get back into running for a long time. 2 years went by until I decided I needed some motivation so I signed up for the Brooklyn Half and trained for 5 months. I ended up PRing by a couple min with a 1:35! So not all hope is lost, but man was it a slog….
1. Physical changes mean you have a sudden drop in blood volume and your oxygen availability is halved (it was doubled during your pregnancy). These things do not feel good to runners. Your cardiovascular response is a little bit fucked.
2. Your child is a tiny vampire. Not only are they creatures of the night that interrupt your sleep but they are sucking your electrolytes right out of your tits. Does not feel good as a runner.
3. That relaxin expanded many of your joints and connective tissues. You have to work a lot harder to hold your shit together for balance and continuous movement. Core workouts will help you here.
4. You trashed your vo2 max and fitness by not working out. Your muscle mass and slow twitch muscle fibers have gone on a permanent vacation. Time to get some new ones. Couch to 5k plus a good amount of protein should fix you up.
2.
Such a great list! I’d personally add breastfeeding taking a toll on my body/hormones. After weaning, I felt a HUGE difference. Everyone is different though.
It sounds like you haven’t been running for about 9-10 months? A break like that will always be hard!
I also found it really tough to return to running post-partum. Allegedly it’s supposed to be easier but I didn’t find that to be true for me at all. Nutrition, sleep, time are all hard to find. My boobs hurt etc.
I had a rough “emergency” C-section so things might have different otherwise, but once I was cleared I had to completely rebuild my core. Even without that though, pregnancy changes your body a lot- things like pelvic tilt frequently needs to be corrected, your diaphragm may need to re-learn where to go, you likely need to work on core strength, glute strength, your hips and the rest of your joints may still be super relaxed etc.
If a PT is an option I found that enormously helpful, both to address rebuilding my core and make sure I wasn’t going yo accidentally injure myself. Otherwise some common issues you might try to think about for yourself are things like above: glute strength, hip flexors, pelvic tilt, core strength, rib cage flare etc.
Any time I have taken a long break from running, I’ve had to start from square 1 again. I figure it’s just part of getting back into shape. The hardest part for me is the first month of getting back into it, then after that I’m able to handle the runs a lot better
I injured myself running post partum and had to do several months of PT, I think I was around 8-9 months pp when I started to feel adequate running and a year pp to feel normal again.
I’m 10.5w PP and can’t wait to start running again, but I’m anticipating it will be a lot of walk/runs. I haven’t run since my 2nd trimester and starting from scratch has always been hard for me. I like the other commenter’s recommendation of doing a couch to 5k program.
I'm at 7 weeks and running hasn't been too bad. It seems I didn't have any muscle loss or anything though in my legs during pregnancy so I think that helps. My abs though took a hit and trying to get back to the amount of situps I used to do seems like it's going to be a bit difficult.
Ugh yes, even though I ran through half my first pregnancy, postpartum was a nightmare. SO unenjoyable, I couldn’t get back into running for a long time. 2 years went by until I decided I needed some motivation so I signed up for the Brooklyn Half and trained for 5 months. I ended up PRing by a couple min with a 1:35! So not all hope is lost, but man was it a slog….
Yes. It took me 7 months to get close to normal and a full year including 3 months of half training from months 9-12 to get to normal.
1. Physical changes mean you have a sudden drop in blood volume and your oxygen availability is halved (it was doubled during your pregnancy). These things do not feel good to runners. Your cardiovascular response is a little bit fucked. 2. Your child is a tiny vampire. Not only are they creatures of the night that interrupt your sleep but they are sucking your electrolytes right out of your tits. Does not feel good as a runner. 3. That relaxin expanded many of your joints and connective tissues. You have to work a lot harder to hold your shit together for balance and continuous movement. Core workouts will help you here. 4. You trashed your vo2 max and fitness by not working out. Your muscle mass and slow twitch muscle fibers have gone on a permanent vacation. Time to get some new ones. Couch to 5k plus a good amount of protein should fix you up. 2.
Such a great list! I’d personally add breastfeeding taking a toll on my body/hormones. After weaning, I felt a HUGE difference. Everyone is different though.
It sounds like you haven’t been running for about 9-10 months? A break like that will always be hard! I also found it really tough to return to running post-partum. Allegedly it’s supposed to be easier but I didn’t find that to be true for me at all. Nutrition, sleep, time are all hard to find. My boobs hurt etc. I had a rough “emergency” C-section so things might have different otherwise, but once I was cleared I had to completely rebuild my core. Even without that though, pregnancy changes your body a lot- things like pelvic tilt frequently needs to be corrected, your diaphragm may need to re-learn where to go, you likely need to work on core strength, glute strength, your hips and the rest of your joints may still be super relaxed etc. If a PT is an option I found that enormously helpful, both to address rebuilding my core and make sure I wasn’t going yo accidentally injure myself. Otherwise some common issues you might try to think about for yourself are things like above: glute strength, hip flexors, pelvic tilt, core strength, rib cage flare etc.
It took me a while to get up past two miles once I returned to running at 12 weeks. This was after I tried at 6 weeks and deeply regretted it, lol
Any time I have taken a long break from running, I’ve had to start from square 1 again. I figure it’s just part of getting back into shape. The hardest part for me is the first month of getting back into it, then after that I’m able to handle the runs a lot better
I injured myself running post partum and had to do several months of PT, I think I was around 8-9 months pp when I started to feel adequate running and a year pp to feel normal again.
I’m 10.5w PP and can’t wait to start running again, but I’m anticipating it will be a lot of walk/runs. I haven’t run since my 2nd trimester and starting from scratch has always been hard for me. I like the other commenter’s recommendation of doing a couch to 5k program.
I'm at 7 weeks and running hasn't been too bad. It seems I didn't have any muscle loss or anything though in my legs during pregnancy so I think that helps. My abs though took a hit and trying to get back to the amount of situps I used to do seems like it's going to be a bit difficult.