Pregnancy Running – Weeks 27 & 28

I got a little behind on posting my updates of my workouts, which is why there are two of these post within a week.

Overall, running still continues to happen, but the number of days I feel okay are slower dwindling. My pace has really started to slow down by about 60-90 seconds per mile these past couple weeks. I’m fine with that, but I wish I still wouldn’t feel out of breath even running that slow.

I did one longer run and one tempo workout within the past two weeks, which I was happy about because I am trying to keep my mileage up as best I can and incorporate some speedier sessions from time-to-time.

Week 27 of pregnancy – July 22 – 28

Monday – off
My body needed a break after the Hightail Quarter Marathon.

Tuesday – 3 miles | easy | 9:11 average pace + 3 hour hike
My parents were in town, and we were staying in Girdwood, so I did a few miles around the town. I didn’t feel terrible, but I didn’t feel great either.

Wednesday – 4 miles | easy | 9:16 average pace
Oh boy, things are starting to get a lot tougher. I had to take a lot of walk breaks during this run. The weather was perfect, the views were hard to beat (see above), and I was just glad I could be out there running.

Thursday – off
I had an early morning of coaching, and then we headed to my in-law’s cabin for a night, so I opted to just hang out with my family.

Friday – 2 miles | easy run | 9:02 average pace + 2 hour hike
At this point in time, I figure anything is better than nothing. Just a quick jaunt around the neighborhood before dinner.

Saturday – 12 miles | long run | 9:12 average pace
12 miles for 12 weeks left of this pregnancy! I did a run commute to work and then ran back home afterwards. Splitting the run up definitely helped–as I had about 2 hours between the two segments. It still wasn’t easy, but I gave myself enough time to take some periodic walk breaks.

Sunday – 4 miles | easy run | 9:26 average pace
An easy run before church. It rained the whole time, but I know to expect that in the summer here quite frequently.

Total for the week: 25 miles

Week 28 of pregnancy – July 29 – August 4

Monday – off

Tuesday – 2 miles | easy run/walk | 10:27 average pace
I think I’ll be doing more of these run/walks during the last couple months of pregnancy. It doesn’t seem quite as daunting to give myself the freedom to take walk breaks as my body needs them.

Wednesday – 4 miles |easy run | 9:23 average pace
I don’t know if it was because I ran mid-day, but this run seemed harder than most this past week. I think I’ve gotten to the point where the days I feel better are slowly fleeting.

Thursday – 6 miles | tempo workout: 2 x 5 minutes @ tempo, 10 minutes @ tempo
Yeah! I finally got a tempo workout in! This actually seemed a little easier than running continuously at a slow pace. I think varying my pace and having mini time goals helped.

Most of my splits were right around a 7:30 pace. I was pretty happy with since this is about 2 minutes/mile slower than my easy pace, and that has always been about the difference between my easy and tempo pace in the past.

Actual splits – 7:28, 7:30, 7:26

Friday – off

Saturday – 7 miles | easy run/walk | 11:06 average pace
I thought I might be able to run farther, but after about 4 miles, I started to get more tightening/cramping in my abdomen, so several walk breaks were needed. I would try to run but could only do it for a few minutes (and sometimes less) before I would get tightening in my belly and be forced to take a walk break.

Sunday – off

Total for the week: 19 miles

I would be happy if my mileage stayed right around 20-25 miles through this next month of pregnancy. I was running about the same mileage up until this point with Cullen, but then things went downhill pretty quickly during the last 10 weeks, so we’ll see if I can hang on for just a bit longer this time around.

I’ll continue to take it a day at a time and be thankful that I am not in a worse situation such as being on bed rest or in so much pain I can’t run. While I don’t hate being pregnant, I am already looking forward to not running while pregnant in a few months!