Survival Shuffle

Getting through your next workout to get through life.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Baby Steps

2 weeks post-partum

Weight: 169 lbs
Waist Measurement: 43 inches
Clothing Size: 10 (maternity)
Blood Pressure: 118/80

Today's Workout: 1.25 mile walk with stroller

This is the sorry state of my body. This once finely tuned machine has been totally ravaged by pregnancy. For the past 9 months I have devoted all of myself to growing a new human being. A noble cause worth sacrificing for and an amazing feat. The damage pales in comparison to what my body has just done.

And the beautiful face of my daughter makes it all worthwhile.

But now I have a long road back and it will be very slow going.

I've come to the conclusion that the glamourization of celebrity pregnancies has just as damaging an effect on women as any other body image portrayed in pop culture today. Britney, Gwyneth, Angelina, Jennifer Garner, Heidi Klum... They all sport fasionable bumps and appear just a few weeks later looking as fit and rail-thin as ever. I am ashamed to admit that I bought into this. I knew I would gain weight, but I figured I would have a basketball belly, gain the right amount of weight, and be back to running within days, having lost very little fitness, making a speedy recovery back to my old self.

Then I turned into my mother.

I gained 50 lbs and it seemed totally unrelated to what I ate. I developed the aforementioned problem with my platelets and red blood cells. My face puffed up like a balloon, Oprah Winfrey lent me her upper arms, and who knew bra sizes went past DD?

The good news is that in just two weeks I have lost 24 lbs. The bad news is I'm going to have a rough time losing those last 26.

So my goal is to chronicle my progress weekly, as I not only lose 26 lbs of baby fat (not all fat - I'm hopeful there's still some residual fluid in there to lose), but redevelop the ability to run 26.2 miles and become a better person and mother while I'm at it.

To that end, here are my goals, and my pre-pregnancy stats:

Weight: 142 (A bit higher than I like - I feel best at 135, so that will be my goal)
Waist Measurement: 27 inches
Clothing Size: 4 (WITHOUT stretchy belly panels)
Blood Pressure: 100/70
Marathon PR: 4:44

My goal race is the Marine Corps Marathon, my favorite race. I don't expect to run a PR, only to finish. I'm concerned about even doing that at this point.

Because of anemia due to the HELLP Syndrome, I'm currently wiped out by slow walks. But I am getting out there.

One week after Jojo was born, I went for my first walk - a quarter mile out to our community lake and back. DH had to push the stroller and I was completely exhausted. But my the end of the week I made it to one-half mile, and today, a week after that first outing, I walked 1.25 miles over rolling hills pushing the stroller and felt strong at the end.

Jojo and I will go for a walk every day for the next two weeks. I hope to work up to about 3 miles. At 4 weeks post-partum, I'm cleared to begin running, and will go back to my trusty friend Jeff Galloway for help. Most experienced marathoners despise "Gallowalking" but it's how I ran my first marathon, and in my mind, there is no better way to prepare physically and psychologically for the challenge of tackling 26.2 miles when starting from ground-zero as I am now.

After a couple of weeks of running, I will likely use the modified 18-week Hal Higdon training plan I used for my first marathon. This might include one tempo-run per week if I feel like it.

That's a key phrase - "If I feel like it." My challenge will not be losing weight and getting back in shape so much as learning patience and taking baby steps. Like many marathoners, I've always been one to ignore my body, but it's an absolute must to listen to it now. My hope is that in learning to listen to the fine cues of my body, I will help develop the ability to listen also to the fine cues of my baby, as well as the patience and insight to delight in small steps.

I hope you will follow me as I make the long march back to fitness and chronicle what it's really like to lose baby weight when you don't have a personal trainer and 12 hours a day to work out.

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