First Trimester Training

Thank goodness you get away with calling the 14 week mark the End of the First Trimester, when really you got out of two weeks of it due to not actually being pregnant yet. Just like last time, the first trimester was particularly rough for me, and if this one continues like last time, I won't be enjoying food until baby girl makes her appearance.

I was scheduled to run the St. Jude half marathon in December and I was going to be 10 weeks along. Compared to the first pregnancy, I was running a bit better but training overall much less when I first became pregnant. Five weeks before the race I had a decent ten miler and was on track to actually make the distance running. It wouldn't be any PR, but that's ok. A few days later, the sight of some French fries made my stomach do a little flop and I thought, uh oh. Sure enough, the nausea hit and I spent the next 5 weeks losing weight rapidly, and I bailed out of the race. One of the worst parts of it was the fall CSA box we got weekly. All that disgusting fresh produce like tomatoes and squash. Bleh.

At first I couldn't quite understand how anyone with the slightest degree of morning sickness can manage to not lose weight in the first trimester. Then after pondering this I realized that besides running and cycling and consuming vast quantities of food (including copious amount of ice cream daily), I was also nursing a large two and a half year old quite frequently. Sadly the milk dried up a lot when I lost weight, or possibly in part due to the pregnancy hormones. It's coming back some now but our nursing frequency has completely changed. But in the meantime, I was still trying to run, nursing, and just not getting any nourishment. 

I was pitiful for a while. Part of the difficulty this time around was most likely having the demands of a toddler to answer to all day. It was definitely different than working in an office teaching a few classes here and there. When Jeremy would get home from work, I'd essentially collapse into a pile on the couch. In two weeks-- 6 and 7-- I ran a total of 13 miles and did about 3 additional hours of trainer rides. It was all I could manage, and those miles were at a pace about a minute per mile slower than I had been running a couple weeks before. I slowly started consuming a few calories here and there, and I wondered how crash dieters can ever exercise. It's exhausting. 

My runs started picking up and speeding up again after a few weeks, and I got back on the trainer. My average wattage has been a sad number for quite a while, so I just keep the computer covered up and focus my attention on the streaming videos in front of me. At least it is better than lying on the couch watching TV. But not much.

I realized during this time period that our society is obsessed with food. It is everywhere, from toddler books about construction workers' lunch breaks, to literally every other pin on pinterest. Facebook is loaded with food pictures, magazines all have recipes and ads for food. Come on people! I'm dying over here. Then the toddler pretends to be making food of all nauseating varieties constantly. It's really so unpleasant. I asked if Jeremy could just bring home some IV fluid for me and never make me eat again. I force fed myself things that didn't sound completely repulsive, only to determine them solidly placed forever in that category post-meal. 

The aversions had slightly subsided by the end if the first trimester and the nausea was definitely better. My weight crept up a bit and I was at just 3 pounds under my starting weight at 14 weeks. The belly expansion has happened a lot more rapidly this time around. It's as if my abs realized what was happening and just gave in. I started wearing my support belt for running much earlier to try to reduce the ab separation and muscle strain. 

Now that I'm past the halfway mark, I'm doing even better, and except for the icy streets, my running is going just fine. I'm planning on running in the city's biggest race on Sunday, but I'll be limiting it to the 10k instead of half marathon this time. So no triathlons while carrying this baby; it's just not the season for it!