My relationship to running in the second trimester!
Energy and vitality make a triumphant return + managing increased weight gain and load.
Increasing Load + Joint Laxity
Perhaps the decreasing levels of hCG and balancing of estrogen and progesterone levels meant I could finally live without crippling fatigue and nausea. However, the baby was starting to grow more and I felt it when I was running. I started to gain healthy pregnancy weight, and I could feel decreased stability in my core and joints. As I understand, the hormone relaxin is predominantly responsible for this. Relaxin: great for opening ligaments and joints for birth, but not for the stability I need when running, especially with the increased load. My baby, growing uterus and amniotic sac bounced when I ran and was stretching my abdominals making them somewhat weaker and more challenging to manage.
Run/Walk intervals!
When you’re growing a human and gaining weight, it becomes way more tiring to run. That’s when Alicia, my pelvic floor physical therapist suggested I try run-walk intervals. Alicia explained that slowing my pace increases my risk for injury as slowing down increases ground contact time and effects my gait. So, I ran my pre-pregnancy pace with walking intervals. On the days I felt great, I would head to Prospect Park and run marathon and half-marathon pace intervals! On days I felt more tired, I increased the length of the walking interval and slowed to my “easy”/aerobic pace when I was running.
Functional Strength x Yoga
The entire time, I continued practicing my functional yoga-strength for athletes program. It’s inspired by the functional science education I received at the Gray Institute. This very unsexy approach to strength training helped my running muscles endure the rigors of running with added weight and lose joints. And, I found I needed to start adapting this program to my pregnancy needs. (Check out all of my yoga posts on principles)
