First Trimester Training Recap

I’ll recap my training through the first 12 weeks of this pregnancy. Running has changed dramatically for me this time!

Weeks 1-4: 93.6, 65.9, 57.3, 56

It’s interesting to read some of the log comments I made in weeks 3&4 (very beginning of pregnancy). Week 3: Legs not snappy, cut run from 8 miles to 6 miles. Week 4: Thursday before TCM on Sunday: Cut the run to 7 as I felt like I was just plodding – hitting the ground heavy, more shifting side to side, etc. Odd.

I took a pregnancy test the Friday before TCM and it was negative, so chalked up the tiredness and “plodding” to holding mileage too high into the taper. I’m guessing if I would have taken the test Saturday, or even Sunday, that it would have come back positive. It probably was better that I didn’t know going into TCM!

TCM was done at the end of the 4th week, race recap here. 3:11. I couldn’t believe how hard 6:45s were! I felt stuck to the ground, and I remember my gluteus minimus tiring. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that muscle group fatigue, and the coach in me wonders why I was recruiting that muscle. I was really bummed with my result, especially after the 3:07 I ran at Grandma’s marathon. Meghan, my coach, and I immediately started looking through my logs.

Week 5 (20.1 miles): supposed to be a complete rest week, but I logged a few miles with the cross country team. On Wednesday of that week I “paced” my top girl in a 2 mile tempo, averaging 6:32s. I struggled big time through this, breathing as heavy as I have for 6:30 pace in a long time. I looked at HR after and noted a high of 191.

Week 6 (37.5 miles): Only one rest day this week so most days were on the shorter side, mostly with the cross country team. I took a second pregnancy test after I felt nauseous one evening. I also thought it was odd that all of my running workouts which felt harder and just different somehow, plus were significantly slower. I know I just ran a marathon, but still. It was a POSITIVE!

Week 7 (53.5 miles): One log entry from the end of this week: 6:10-6:30 for the strides. That’s all the faster I think I can go now! Felt good, just slow moving. Feels like I’m stuck to the ground when running. So odd to feel this way this early! Maybe it’s a third pregnancy thing. Another highlight was a 12:57 2 mile fun run (race) as a fundraiser for the Nordic Ski team. The boys on the team let me win!

Week 8 (52.7 miles): Not much to note this week. One workout of 10×1 min faster (managed about 6:20 pace), another 1k workout with our team’s State Meet qualifier, each done at about 6:45 pace (felt fairly medium effort). Interesting that 6:45s feel medium but my top speed isn’t much faster.

Week 9 (52.4 miles): The highlight was getting up super early with Nate, bringing the girls to daycare, and doing 4x800m w/ 1 min recovery together. We haven’t done a hard workout together in so long!  this together. I was to start around 3:20 and work down. Times were: 3:19, 3:08, 2:59, 2:58 (couldn’t quite dig for 2:55!). I commented that running was a little easier than 2 weeks ago. Hurrah! After the workout Nate and I went to my first appointment where we confirmed 1) just one baby, yay!, and 2) due date of June 16th! 

Late this week I had two days where I was incredibly tired. Nate let me sleep in both mornings, but I still needed long naps. I remembered a period like this with Anna too. By the end of the weekend I could definitely tell my stomach popped out a bit!

Week 10 (57.8 miles): One highlight was a hill workout, 8x .2 miles up the St. Olaf entrance hill with a new training partner, Bryce, who just moved to the Northfield area. I couldn’t believe how slow I was going uphill: Bryce just floated away from me on each repeat, making it look easy! I tried to lift my knees and move up the hill normally, but just couldn’t! Super fun workout, though!

Week 11 (45.8 miles): 2 rest days this week, planned. 6x1k workout where I averaged 4:00. Chest felt like I had bricks on it, not allowing me to take a deep breath. I was proud to still be able to hit 4:00 for each of these! Another workout was a 14 mile long run with 8 miles of progression starting at mid 8 pace and working down to 7:20 for the last mile.

Week 12 (40.6 miles): I ran the Northfield Turkey Trot in 20:18! 3rd place female. 2 rest days this week as well, struggling with motivation. Most runs I dragged my feet to get out the door, hoping that this wasn’t the start of a trend.

First trimester mileage: 633.2

(Compared to Anna, pregnancy #2, where 1st trimester mileage was 932! WOW.)

Overall, I’ve felt pretty good during this pregnancy. I’ve had a little more nausea, but it has been easy to curb by eating more frequently. I think the biggest difference I’ve felt is that my running slowed down almost immediately. It would be interesting to look at my stride before becoming pregnant, while running TCM, and during some of the workouts near the end of the 1st trimester. I know I’m spending a lot more time on the ground, not lifting my knees very far, and generally, shuffling instead of running powerfully.

On to the second trimester! Hopefully that will go just as fast as the first!