Running During the 3rd Trimester of Pregnancy

I can now officially say I ran through my entire pregnancy–running up until the day before my water broke and we went to the hospital to have Cullen.

Let’s recap on how this last trimester of running went.

First trimester = Awesome for the first half, not so fun during the second half (out of breath, no motivation)

Second trimester = Awesome for the 4th and 5th months, pelvis pain during the 6th month

Third trimester = Month 7 was decent but the last two months were pretty slow with very low mileage. But I was still running!

As you can see things ebbed and flow constantly during my pregnancy. I literally took it day by day because I never knew how my body would respond. Some days were great, others were painful, but I did what I could each day.

A recap on each of the trimesters:

Trimester 1: 450 miles total | average: 34 miles per week

Trimester 2: 335 miles total | average: 25 miles per week

Trimester 3: 171 total miles | average: 13 miles per week

Total with Cullen: 956 miles

So cool to say I ran nearly 1000 miles with Cullen already.

The mileage has decreased significantly during the third trimester as well as the pace. The number of walk breaks increased as well as the duration of each one. BUT I still managed to run 3 – 4 times each week and averaged between 10 – 15 miles each of those weeks.

I usually ran two days in a row and then my body needed a break. On those days off from running I would go on an extra long walk with the dog, attend yoga, or lift weights at the gym. It was my goal to stay as active as I could, and I am very grateful I never had to go on bed rest or had to give up running altogether.

Overall, the thrid trimester has probably been the most difficult because I barely run any mileage, and I missed the runner’s high I once got. The runs I did go on were better than nothing, but I look forward to getting back to running high mileage and training without 25 extra pounds.

I still managed to run two races during this trimester. I loved watching people’s reactions as I passed by.

Races During the 3rd Trimester

Snow City 5K (7 months pregnant) | 3.1 miles,  time – 22:51 | average pace – 7:22 minutes/mile | 6th place the women, 2nd in my age group

Kenai River Marathon Relay (8 months pregnant) | 6.7 miles | average pace – 8:34

My return to running is going to require some patience. I was hoping to be back to run/walking 2 weeks postpartum, but now with the C-section it will be at least 4 weeks. I was advised 4 weeks of no running by my doctor, and I know the return will be slow. I don’t want to push it back too quickly and risk damaging the incision or having other complications down the road.