Second Trimester Running

Ahhh! The second trimester! This is the best you will feel. Embrace it and run all you can.

5 months pregnant!

My second trimester was fabulous. I felt normal… which is pretty damn good for a pregnant woman. There were even seconds where I would think to myself, “oh yeah, I’m pregnant!”

Running got better in the second trimester. Although I still wasn’t making record breaking mile times (heck yea 10 minute miles!), the fatigue and feeling of being out of shape did disappear.

6 months!

During the second trimester I made sure I incorporated weight lifting into my workout routine.  Weight training helped me avoid the wiggly joint feeling I heard so much about.   Lots of women complained that towards their third trimester their hips started to feel “loose,” putting a stop to their running.  Having the muscle strength to support your joints is key.

As an ex-D1 athlete I’m fortunate to have a familiarity with proper weight training.  If you do not have an understanding of correct technique, I highly suggest asking a fellow gym patron or trainer for advice on lifting weights.  The last thing you want to do is tweek muscles while you’re already putting extra strain on your muscles from being pregnant.

I didn’t lift extravagantly, I just made sure I hit all my muscle groups.  I am one of those females who fears the ‘too muscle-ly’ look.  I am naturally strong and gain muscle mass rather easily.  So many fitness fanatics say women can lift without getting bulky.  I promise — I am the exception!  If I lift without doing cardio, it’s like pop-eye eating spinach but with an extra couple layers of fat over the muscle.  I prefer running/doing cardio 5-6 days a week, but on one or two of those days only doing a couple miles and getting in a good lift.
While pregnant I tried to lift twice a week, which honestly usually did not happen.  I almost always got in one solid lift per week.

I did make a point to start consuming a lot more water in the second trimester.  I began getting headaches, one of my few pregnancy symptoms.  I’m fortunate that I am not normally someone burdened with migraines and such, but pregnancy definitely brought about some temple pounders.  After speaking with my doctor, she suggested drinking more water.  She believed the headaches were due to mild dehydration and boy was she right. After being super conscientious and drinking enough h20, the headaches disappeared.

Along with in-taking enough water, I also made a point to consume more protein than I normally would. I’m not a vegetarian by any means, but unless I’m eating a beautiful, bloody steak, some nicely marinated chicken or even better, some sushi, I’d much rather have something easy like an almond butter sandwich or avocado and black bean wrap. In desperate times a bowl of granola cereal does the job even.  Running up to 35 miles a week AND creating a little human being inside you definitely requires some extra amino acids! Extra meat, especially red meat, was a must for me.

I was never one to have crazy cravings. If you read my running tips you’ll see why, but I could always go for a cheeseburger! It was my body telling me, more fatty protein, please!

Mileage:

21 weeks
July 1, 5.5
July 2, 4.5
July 3, 6 + lift
July 4, 5 (greenway)
July 6, 6 (greenway)
July 7, 3 (Washington Park)
July 8, 5.5 (Washington Park)

22 weeks
July 9, 5.5
July 11, 3 (Omaha)
July 12, 5.5 + lift
July 13, 2.5
July 14, 6
July 15, 6.5

23 weeks July 17, 6 + lift
July 18, 5
July 19, 5
July 20, 6
July 21, 6 + lift

24 weeks
July 23, 6
July 24, 5.5 + lift
July 25, 5
July 26, 5
July 27, 6
July 29, 4

25 weeks
July 30, 5.5
July 31, 5
Aug 1, 4
Aug 2, 6.5
Aug 3, 5.5 + lift
Aug 5, 6

26 weeks
Aug 6, 6.5
Aug 7, 4.5 + lift
Aug 8, 6
Aug 10, 6
Aug 11, 4 + lift
Aug 12, 5.5

27 weeks
Aug 13, 6
Aug 14, 3.5
Aug 15, 4.5
Aug 16, 6.0 + lift
Aug 17, 6.5
Aug 18, off
Aug 19, 4.5