return to running: week 1
My husband knows me well. We had our "January Thaw" this weekend in St. Louis and I of course decided to take advantage of it and took MacKenna out in the jogging stroller (I'm still searching for a good/cheaper double jogger) on Friday afternoon when Matt got home from work. Of course, what does he ask me when we got home? "Did you run?"Yes. Yes, I did.
I know, I know. I'm only 4 weeks postpartum today and my doctor said low impact only. And I know, running is not low impact. But, I feel good. Like, really good. To the point where I am feeling a lot like myself again. So, I decided to try to run. And guess what? It. Felt. Amazing. I am definitely not running fast or far right now because my body is not ready for that. But, the little bit that I am running feels good. And I am listening to my body and watching for any signs that I might be pushing too much, but I feel good!Right now, I am doing a 5 minute walk to warmup and a 5 minute cool down. In the middle, I am running for 2 minutes, followed by 3 minutes of walking. I repeat that for 20 minutes total. The 2 minutes of running feel easy, but that's how I want it to feel. Do I feel like I could run faster or longer? Maybe. But, 2 minutes feels just about right for the time being. This week, I will add one more interval to build my endurance up a little bit, but if that doesn't go well, I'll go back to what I did last week.Monday: 30 minute treadmill run/walk (2.1 miles @ 14:17/mile)Tuesday: PiYo SweatWednesday: PiYo Upper Body (I amazingly still have some abs!)Thursday: PiYo Strength Intervals + 30 minute treadmill run/walk (2.1 miles @ 14:25/mile)Friday: PiYo Buns + 30 minute jogging stroller run/walk (2.25 miles @ 13:23/mile)Saturday: 30 minute jogging stroller run/walk (2.25 miles @ 13:20/mile)Sunday: Rest DayTotal: 9.2 miles
I am 4 weeks postpartum today and I have to admit that I've been feeling pretty terrible about my body the last few days. While there are definitely things to be happy about (fitting in to a pair of pre-pregnancy jeans (a size bigger), only having 10 more pounds to lose), I still feel like I have a long way to go and am so ready to feel comfortable in my body again. It's amazing how comfortable I felt in my pregnancy body, but how far I feel from getting to a point where I'm happy about my size.So, I am trying to make a conscious effort to get to that point again. One of the main things I will be doing in the next month is a "Rock Your Jeans" challenge. Starting Monday, January 28th, I will be co-hosting a challenge to help you (and myself) drop at least one jean size. Madeline from Food, Fitness, and Family and Elena from Full Circle Fitness will be co-hosting this challenge along with me and we'd love to have YOU be part of our accountability group. This is a 3-week challenge group that involves 30-minute workouts, 5 days a week and includes a personalized portion-controlled meal plan and 30 superfood meals. I am looking for 10 ladies who are committed to changing their lives (and jean size) in just 3 weeks time! If you are interested in finding out more about our challenge group, shoot me an email (klvanhorn @ gmail . com) or just leave me a comment below.
I don't know about you, but I am SO ready to be back in those skinny jeans!