Post Partum Progress
What a journey this has been so far! It seems like just yesterday I was in my third trimester riding the mountain bike with a massive baby bump…yet here I am in the aptly termed ‘fourth trimester.’ During pregnancy I would often comment to loved ones that pregnancy may actually be the ‘easy part.’ Now don’t get me wrong…growing a human is by no means easy. But what I was referring to was the autonomy. When pregnant, you can basically go about your day as normal (though uncomfortably) without a thought to taking care of anyone else but yourself (if you don’t happen to already have kiddos that is!). Once baby arrives, you are 100% tied to baby’s schedule. I’m not going to lie, it’s intense! The newborn stage (aka, the ‘fourth trimester’) is by far one of the hardest, most testing tasks I’ve taken on. And for some reason, parents don’t talk about it all that much. But I’m here to say: it’s hard. It’s very, very hard. But if you can bear down and make it through those first 3 months, you will come out feeling victorious and better prepared to take on the next…uh…18 years of childrearing!
That was a long winded introduction to my original intent for this post, to give an update on my post partum training and return to racing. I thought this entry would be helpful to help other athlete mamas (and those who are simply curious) better understand what it’s like to get back to training. I will add that I was able to ‘train’ (swim, mountain bike, trail run) right up until birth (in fact, the day I went into labor I went for a 3 mile run with some strides that morning!) So my return to training and racing is probably a bit expedited because of what fitness I was able to maintain through pregnancy.
Here are the big things to know about post partum training:
You will leave the hospital looking 6 months pregnant and very sore (regardless of if you had a C-Section or vaginal birth). For me, the soreness dissipated after about 72 hours and I attribute getting moving ASAP to my swift recovery (in addition to good nutrition). The day after we came home from the hospital I told Steven I wanted to accomplish two things that day other than caring for Emi. I wanted to go for a 30 minute power walk and I wanted to take a shower (not kidding when I say finding time to shower becomes hard once you have a newborn as every second is accounted for by feedings, diaper changes, etc). I was quite sore on that first walk, but the next day I was actually able to jog and by the 5 day mark I was able to go for a 30 minute mountain bike ride. Movement is recovery!
You will need to focus on pelvic floor strength. I recall my first formal run speed workout back I started to pee myself! I simply did not have the pelvic floor strength to hold it in! Consider that your body has just held in and then popped out a little human! After this workout I started to focus on regaining control of my pelvic floor strength with core work and kegel exercises and I am now pee-free!
If you choose to breastfeed, you will need to eat a whole lot more than the recommended additional 500 calories per day. Being active at a very intense level will mean you need to step up your fueling and hydration game big time! I have always eaten intuitively and never counted calories, but one day out of curiosity I did and I was eating something like 4300 calories per day and drinking about 130 ounces of water. That’s a lot! Also to note, if you gained the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy, most of it will come off fairly quickly minus about 10 pounds. Don’t fret. Embrace your post partum body. Some women may return to their post partum weight, some may not. Focus on fueling well, your athletic performance objectives and recovery. Your body will settle in to the best weight for you and for baby. Personally, I gained 35 pounds during pregnancy and have lost all but 10 pounds. However, I feel strong, my milk supply is great and I recover well from training sessions, so I am not questioning my weight at this time. I’m letting my body lead the way!
4. You will lose sleep, obviously! This is a hard one for athletes to wrap their heads around as we hear so much about how sleep is our super power. Two bits of advice: 1) Roll with it. Your body has an amazing ability to adapt to less sleep for a period of time. Focus on what you can control, namely good nutrition, hydration, mental health strategies like staying as active as possible and napping when you can. During those first few weeks I would often go and nap between 7 and 9 PM while Steven watched Emi and then would wake to feed her and start our night routine (aka waking up every 2 hours). Baby’s little body does not have the ability to store much in the way of glycogen, so frequent feeds (and diaper changes) are the name of the game. Also, baby emerges with very little understanding of night and day. We noticed Emi started to take a turn around week 5-6 where she would sleep for 3 to 4 hour stretches. And I assume it gets better from here. 2) Your mama instincts will kick in and your body will learn how to soak up the sleep you do get and function off of very little sleep. Again, not ideal and over time you will get more sleep, but for now, you will learn how resilient the human body is to get you through this intense time.
5. In terms of training, there will be days when things click and you feel you are making great progress and then there will be days where you feel so far off the target. Embrace it and keep showing up. Adjust the sessions as needed. Trust the process. Having a coach is especially helpful because they can see things from a more objective standpoint. Also, being open and transparent with your coach in terms of how you are feeling is important. I’ve had weeks were I’ve struggled to hold certain watts on the bike or certain paces in the water for multiple days in a row, then one day I just feel great and am able to conquer a session. Understanding all the hormonal changes your body is going through (most especially if you are breastfeeding) can help you stay objective and tuned into your body. Note that during this time, it’s more “ok” than ever to adjust a training session, reschedule a training session or remove a training session from the plan. Your body will tell you what to do!
6. You will have moments where you will question your ‘why.’ This is one area where I cannot tell you what that is…everyone has different ‘why’s.’ Personally, I am driven by my love for my family, my love for sport and the deep desire to unite the two. While pregnant, Steven and I had very frank conversations around my intentions to return to training and racing post partum. We set the race schedule and discussed how we would include Emi in all of the fun! We also had conversations around the challenges we would encounter, for it is not a small task to take on a newborn, training, and any additional duties and responsibilities you have.
7. Enlist help. It takes a village, after all! I by no means thought I’d be able to do this whole back-to-training-with-a-newborn-thing on my own. Once Emi was born I looked for the perfect person to help me and Steven with taking care of Emi. We found a wonderful nanny with flexible hours. Do I feel guilty leaving Emi with her while I go out and train? To be honest, no. I ‘fill my cup’ and get time to myself and return refreshed, invigorated and 100% ready to focus on Emi. In my eyes, this is the balance I need in order to be a good mother. Some may think otherwise and that’s ok, but I stand by what I say: “it takes a village.” Do not be afraid to ask for help!
8. A note on maternity leave: In addition to balancing my new role as a mother and professional triathlete, I also have a full time job with Intermountain Healthcare as their Clinical Nutrition Manager of Outpatient Services. This is a leadership role I have taken and comes with an enormous amount of responsibility. I originally planned to take 6 weeks of paid leave (they have a pretty good maternity leave policy!). I then extended it to 8 weeks before Emi was born on the advice of other mothers. Once Steven and I were in the thick of it, we decided I’d extend my leave to the full 12 weeks (the maximum allowed without essentially having to step down from the position). My advice: don’t be afraid to take as much time away from work (whatever that may be for you) as possible and/or needed. This time with your newborn is so critical, taxing and intense. Additionally, ‘practice’ your new return to work/training/(whatever it is you are returning to) schedule for a couple of weeks. I actually went as far as to create a spreadsheet with my schedule that lays out times when I’ll be watching Emi, training and working at Intermountain. This made it easy to share with Steven and see things objectively on paper (which, initially, after looking at my schedule was what prompted me to ask for more time off work as I felt it was an unrealistic schedule to balance and perform well in all areas).
There is so much more I can say about the post partum balance, and I will continue to share my journey here. At the least, this post was something you found insightful and thought-provoking.
Wishing you well on your post partum journey!
Note: as a mother to a new born I do not take responsibility for any typos or grammatical errors in this post ;-)