Pregnant 15K at 20 Weeks

As I wrote in yesterday's post, Stephen and I ran a 15K (run, not race) on Sunday. A sort of last-hoorah long run for me that I had scheduled back when we made our 25 Goals list. We typically run the Boilermaker 15K each year, so accomplishing the distance felt amazing.

Here's me after the run:

And here's our pace:


A bit of a drop from last year's 1:13:45 finish (7:55 miles), but for good reason, I'd say. I'm just happy we maintained a comfortable, steady pace.

Look at how each mile blended into the next . . .


What this shows me is that I wasn't pushing myself. And Stephen's a saint for sticking with me. He could blast this relatively flat course in under 55 minutes if he wanted to.

One more geeky chart for elevation:


As far as fuel goes, we stopped back at our house around the 4.7 mile point.

I sprayed myself with our hose.


I ate some applesauce and drank tons of water.


We both peed (TMI? I think I'm desensitized becasue my whole day is spent rushing to/from the bathroom.). No photo for that one.


HOW DID THE RUN REALLY GO?

First, I'll start with this: I have never had high expectations with my running through pregnancy. So far, I've approached it cautiously, yet with some gusto. I ran a half marathon my first trimester. And every other week since, I have kept up long runs around the 15K distance. This being said, I never take a single run for granted and treat each like it could be my last.

Last week's schedule looked a bit like this:

Monday: 2.5 mile jog by the shore with 2-mile walk at the end.
Tuesday: Rest/Travel day.
Wednesday: 3 mile run at 9:20 pace.
Thursday: 6 mile run at 9:30 pace.
Friday: Rest day.
Saturday: 4 mile run at 9:15 pace.
Sunday: 9.3 mile run at 9:38 pace.

I felt strong, confident, and happy with my activity all week. 20 weeks pregnant and completing 25 miles -- awesome. Now, I've been taking my runs at a slower pace since I started getting more of a baby belly and change in my center of gravity. The heat, too, has been somewhat brutal.

After this particular 15K run, I was feeling good. I did all the right things. Drank water. Took a cold shower. Ate a TON. But when I settled down for a long afternoon's semi-nap (watching TV in bed for hours on end), I started to notice a painless tightening in my lower abdomen. It was something I had felt several times before, so at first I didn't think much of it. But as the afternoon went on, the tightening became more frequent. Not stronger in intensity, but definitely there.

Was I having . . . contractions?! Yikes! For WEEKS I had noticed them, it seems -- times when I'd feel her little body, almost like a knot in my stomach -- but never with this much frequency. So, I did what I hate to do, but knew I absolutely NEEDED to do: I called my midwife. On a sunny Sunday afternoon. Thing is, my midwife is on a trip, so I spoke with the other midwife in the practice, who doesn't know anything about my running history.

She immediately said: "Well, obviously you're doing too much. 9 miles!" Then, in a very frank tone, she continued: "No pain? No bleeding? You're fine. Just take two Tylenol, lay down, and drink water. If they don't hurt, you're fine. If you don't see blood -- you are fine."

Of course, her explanation wasn't that easy for me to accept. I did as she instructed. They calmed down for a bit. But then they returned after dinner. Same frequency. So, after a couple more hours, I called her again. At 10PM. She was still trying to convince me that I'd be OK -- even with as many contractions as I was having. But my mommy instinct is setting in: I refused to believe her. She reluctantly offered for me to come in Monday to be checked out.

I called at 8AM to make my appointment and got in by 10. When I got there, they gave me every test in the book. I wasn't having many "contractions" anymore. The ones I was having were still painless, but I was worried that somehow something was wrong.

Baby girl was moving a TON the night before.


I didn't know I'd have another ultrasound, so getting to see her put my mind at ease . . . First, the tech told me she's still a girl. And she is doing GREAT. Heart rate was 154 BPM. Cervix is just as it should be. Placenta: Good. Everything else checked out clear, too. Ultimately, the midwife thinks it was uterine irritation brought on by dehydration -- perhaps that began as early as our babymoon.

She instructed me to take it easy for a few days and to drink "more water than [I] think [I] need."


Not hard, because it's 95 degrees with high humidity right now. I haven't had any contractions today. But -- regardless -- I know my running has to scale back. I'm totally fine with that. In all honesty -- I'd been planning it, too. This experience showed me, however, that the sooner I shift my schedule, the better.

More on THAT tomorrow . . .

Pregnant/previously pregnant women out there: When was YOUR I'm-not-a-super-woman experience during pregnancy? The midwife said to me before I left the appointment: "Welcome to the second half. You're in for a world of new frights!" She was being nice about it, of course, but it left me feeling odd. Just leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.

Oh, yeah. And Pequeña has my feet! You can tell because the second toe is longer than all others :)


Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!