pregnant running

2-3 Weeks Postpartum Workouts

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

As you may have seen, we have a NEW addition to our family! GM was born three weeks ago, and our family is adjusting, adapting, and we are so smitten with him. 

There are so many ways we’ve had to adjust, and one of the few ways that I have personally had to adapt recently has been with my workouts. After giving birth, you are unable to really work out for 6 weeks. Your body is healing, and even before you’re clear to workout, you’re exhausted! But if you know me, you know that I have a hard time sitting still. In fact, on a call with a friend to catch up earlier this week, she said to me, “You must be going crazy not running!”  And my response was, “Not really – I’m so tired all the time!” And it’s true – being home every day with a newborn (who is waking up every 1.5-2 hours at night) and 2 kids ages 3 and 5 is tiring! But I’m still getting in some activity each day. Here’s a look at what this past week looked like, at about 2-3 weeks postpartum:

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What 38-Week Pregnant Workouts Look Like For Me

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 5 Comments

Just keep moving! Just keep moving!

That’s been my motto these days. On the days that I get up and get in an hour or so of walking/running in the morning, I feel so much better. No swelling (at least so far), better mood (as usual) and more energy overall. So, even on the days I’m tired and feeling too big to move, I’m trying to get out there.

This week included something besides running, which is not common — some brief kettlebells workouts AND a swim! It was 80+ degrees one morning, and being able to float in a pool was amazing. (See, it was “feels like 80” at 6 a.m…so it got much hotter)

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37 Weeks Pregnant and Trying To Keep Up

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 9 Comments

Three. More. Weeks.

Three more weeks!

If this baby comes on time, we have three more weeks until its arrival. We have three weeks to get the room ready, three weeks to get mentally prepared (which I never am) and three weeks to keep on running/walking.

I’ll be the first to admit that this week was ROUGH. There were a few run/walks that I did where the baby was either on my bladder or felt like it was on my pelvis and trying to come out (TMI?). But I’m still getting out there, still enjoying my early morning workouts and alone time, and still moving!

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Celebrating My Five Year Old and Running

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

My oldest turned FIVE this week. FIVE! I’m not ready to have a five-year-old, as it sounds SO much older than four. But before you ask – how does this relate to running – I’ll let you know. For his birthday, he wanted to wake up early and “go for a run with Mommy.” So, that’s how we started his day! With a 2 mile run/walk 🙂

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Turtles, Herons, Deer, Oh My!

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

For those of you following along, I’m still run/walking! It’s really mostly a walk these days, but I’m happy to be getting in these kinds of miles at 35 weeks pregnant. And maybe it’s because I’m doing 70% of walking, but I also have been noticing much more wildlife on my runs, which I’ve been enjoying so much.

For example, this week I saw deer, blue herons, turtles, and more. Here are some pics:

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The End of a Streak?

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 11 Comments

What constitutes the end of a running streak?

Since April 2020, I’ve run at least one mile every day. In the beginning for me this meant 4-5 miles/day. As I’ve gotten more and more pregnant, and bigger and bigger, I told myself to “just run one mile.” Then after that, I would walk/run the rest. But as if this week (Day 412), my “just run one mile” turned into “can you walk/run one mile”? And that’s when I wondered – is my streak over? Does a walk/run count for a streak?

If a walk/run counts, I’m still streaking.

If it’s running without stopping, then day 411 was my last day.

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Slowing It Down

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 9 Comments

I know I have been saying this for a few weeks now, but I’m slowing down when it comes to running.

At 33 weeks pregnant now, running is not so comfortable. While my weight is the same, I’m bigger during this pregnancy than my last one – at least in terms of the size of my bump – which means many runs feel like I’ve just ate a full Thanksgiving meal, have already run up 7 flights of steps and also have a full bladder. I’m so full and out of breath, even though my heart rate isn’t up!

With LM, I ran a 10k and 5k the WEEK she was born. The Cleveland Marathon weekend was the weekend before I gave birth (and was 39 weeks during the races), so I somehow managed to do those races. But, I didn’t run too much up to that – just 1-2 days a week. So I’m hopeful to keep that up, even if that means my streak is ending soon.

Not a running photo, but seen on a walk this week — so many turtles!

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Book Ends

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 8 Comments

This week’s running post theme is — book ends. I’m starting to really feel the weariness and body aches of pregnancy hit me (I’m 31 weeks), and my runs are getting harder and harder. But, I started the week (Sunday) and ended the week (yesterday) with two good runs, which makes it somewhat easier to keep up my running streak for a few more days. Today is day 395 of my running streak, and super proud to have run this long. But, it’s getting harder and there are some days when I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make it.

What made those runs good? Sunday, B and I were on our own (B’s parents had the kids) and we got in a run by ourselves! I wanted to do 1 mile without stopping (my typical goal) but I made it to 2 miles and then we mostly ran/somewhat walked the rest. I felt pretty good nearly the entire time – at least much better than when I run without him! And yesterday, I had gotten more sleep (thanks to the kids sleeping in on Saturday morning), and I found a really good playlist and lost myself in the miles. I don’t typically listen to music while running, so it was a nice change and definitely helped.

Here’s how the rest of the week went:

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Virtual Race Recap: Cleveland Marathon Virtual 5K

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 5 Comments

Well, here I am, 30 weeks pregnant (10 more to go!) and writing a race recap that I didn’t know I’d be writing.

It’s not a true race recap – like most of my races this year, there were no water stops, starting line, finish line or even crowd support. This weekend should’ve been the Cleveland Marathon race weekend. Every other year, since they announced it, I’ve participated in the Challenge Series (where you run on Saturday and Sunday and get a cool medal and additional swag!), but this year, the race is virtual right now, with a fall race (schedule TBD) in-person.

This year, I’m excited to hopefully run a fall race — I’m looking forward to have something to train for after giving birth and getting the okay from my dr (hopefully in early September). As long as the race is early October or later, i should be fine with running it hopefully!

But, I couldn’t let the virtual event just happen and not participate, especially as a race ambassador. So even though I’m by no means in racing shape these weeks, AND the fact that we were out of town, I knew I couldn’t NOT join the event. So, I signed up for the 5k, with the goal of running the entire thing (these days most of my runs are actually run / walks) and crossed my fingers to hope for the best.

2021-ambassador-logo

Here’s how the “race” went: 

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Back to Monsoon Season and Happy Mother’s Day

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 6 Comments

After a few weeks of beautiful weather in Cleveland, it seems that monsoon season has hit. Each day this week, I woke up to rain or clear skies that turned into rain, which also turned into chilly weather. While we did have one day of 60 and rain (which I don’t mind as much), most of the rest of it was 40 and rainy, which is probably my least favorite running weather (besides ice).

But, the streak goes on and I was able to get in runs every day, including my BEST RUN in months, thanks to the help of my husband. More to come on that.

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