running + pregnancy update

Our doctor’s appointment went really well on Friday.  Baby’s heart beat sounds great and my weight gain (which has been one of my biggest worries) was right on target.  The glucose test was fun stuff let me tell you.  Blech.  It left me shaky and with a giant know in my stomach.  I’m just hoping now I don’t hear back from them saying I need to go get a 3-hour test done.I was able to ask her about the whole running situation.  She was actually really surprised I was still running since most people are too uncomfortable by their 3rd trimester to continue running.  Luckily, I’m still pretty comfortable, except for that bout of abdominal pressure I experienced last week.  She said it is probably just the position Baby Girl is in, which is putting extra pressure on my bladder.  But, she said as long as I’m not experiencing any pain, I can continue to run – although she doesn’t think I’ll be too comfortable much longer.I have run twice since then – Saturday and Monday – for 30 minutes each with my normal walking breaks and felt pretty good.  I have definitely slowed down my pace much more in the past few weeks since my heart rate shoots up pretty quickly.  I am most comfortable running an 11 minute mile pace, and that’s OK with me.  I’m only running 30 minutes at the most now, 4 days a week and doing the elliptical 2 days per week for 30 minutes.  That’s about all my body can handle right now.After doing some research on abdominal pain while running, I’ve found a bunch of pregnant runners find a support belt is extremely helpful at taking the pressure off their bladder/abdomen.  So, I went ahead and splurged and bought myself the Gabrialla Elastic Maternity Support Belt.  (I validated my splurge since Matt bought $65 compression shorts for his hamstring issues.)  I figured it couldn’t hurt and hopefully help keep me comfortable a little bit longer.

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I think my random tendon pains I’ve been having (wrist for a few weeks now and then all of a sudden, my ankle starting bothering me Saturday night) will be what stops my running before becoming too uncomfortable does!