Week 25

As week 25 quickly comes to an end today, I am now 2/3rds through this pregnancy.  We experienced an unseasonal heat wave this week with highs in the 90s, with heat indices over 100!  I did not run on Monday or Tuesday and I honestly did not get enough water either day.  Our Dayton Barefoot Runners group met up on Wednesday evening for our midweek group run.  We normally meet at "depot" on the trail which has very nice facilities (bonus for this pregnant lady!) but it is also the location of a 9/11 memorial.  Since Wednesday was the 12th anniversary of this tragic event, there was a memorial service starting at the same time as our group run.  In order to be respectful of the ceremony and to avoid an overfilled parking area, we met at an alternate location just down the trail a ways.  The air was thick and the temperature was still 90 degrees when we set out.  Not enough water intake and running around all day at work meant that I started out the run with swollen ankles.  I ran solo while two other group members ran ahead.  About a mile in I decided I needed to stop for a break because my ankles were just too tense to keep running.  One of the group members was running back towards me at this time and she kept me company for the rest of the run.  We ended up with just over 2 miles with some walking in between.  It was just not my day for a good run but I was out and I was moving so that is a victory in my books.

I then met up with the DBR group again on Saturday morning for our weekend group run.  The heat wave was over and it was a nice, chilly 41 degrees when we started out for our run.  I tried to keep up with the guys for about 1/10th of a mile and quickly waved them on because the pace was just too quick.  I slowed back down and ran solo for a 1/2 mile before stopping for a walking break.  I walked 1/4 mile before running again.  I ended up turning around at the one mile mark and headed back to our meeting spot.  I ran for another 1/4 mile after turning around and then decided to take a walking break for 1/4 mile.  Then I finished the last 1/2 mile running.  I probably could have done a bit more but I decided to not push it any further since it had been a rough week.  I also decided not to run on Sunday, which was the first time in a while that I had not run back-to-back on a weekend.  It seemed much more important to me to try and get some much needed rest.

The Air Force Marathon is this weekend and I still plan to run barefoot in both the 5K on Friday night and the 10K on Saturday morning.  The weather is supposed to be nice and cool so I am hoping that helps out a bit.  I also realize that I will probably need more walking breaks than I had originally planned on even 1 month ago.  I am not trying to beat any personal records because just being out there as a barefoot, 6 month pregnant woman is enough of a challenge for me.  At this point I doubt I have any local readers besides the group who already knows me, but if you do spot me out on the course this weekend I will be wearing a shirt that says "Barefoot and Pregnant and Still Running!".  Admittedly the "still running" line should probably read "still slogging" (slow jogging) but that would take too much time to explain to curious folks.  :)

Goals for Week 26:  DRINK MORE WATER!  I've had 40 ozs so far today and I want to get in at least 90 more before the day is over.

(Photo after my 6-miler on Sunday 9/9/13)

Week 24

Not a lot going on this week.  I was not able to run at all during the week so today was my first run since Sunday.  I worked on increasing my water intake and was able to get in about 90 ozs or so yesterday before the day was over.  My doctor recommends a total of 192 ozs...each day!  So I'm a long way off from the recommended amount but getting closer.  The best news is that today was a much better day for running!  My ankles still got extremely tight at 1 mile and stayed tight until 2 miles.  After that point though, they loosened up and I was able to finish another mile without any problems.  The goal for tomorrow is 6 miles so that this weekend will mimic race weekend as far as distances are concerned.  I am hoping to have another good week of drinking plenty of water and I will report next week on how that affected the swelling and ankles.

Week 23

Yet another week of painful ankle tightening.  Admittedly, I still am not getting enough water each day to keep the swelling down.  It has been extremely frustrating as I have not been able to find a good way to stretch out the tightness and have been cutting my runs shorter rather than increasing the distance.  I ran with our coach, Doug, during the group run today so we could try to problem solve and work around this little issue.  Since barefoot running while pregnant is new to everyone in the group, we just tried a few different strategies.  One thought was that maybe I needed to run more on the outside of my feet to accommodate my widening hips and ultimately running stance.  This actually made things worse for me.  I felt like I was already too far to the outside of my feet and may be the reason the tightening is occurring because it is only on the outside of my ankles.  So we took some time to walk and do some dynamic stretching rather than standing to stretch.  This helped a little but I couldn't quite stretch out completely so we turned around and Doug continued ahead with some other group members while I worked on trying to run through the tightness.  I did not get it figured out by the end of the run but I will continue on and keep at it.  I have to force myself to get more water during the work week so I can get the swelling under control.  I think this may be the biggest piece of the puzzle. 

Week 22

It was bound to happen sooner or later.  Things have been going so smoothly that I knew something would happen that would challenge my ability to keep running.  This week was that week.  My feet are healed from the earlier abrasions so I am back to full barefooting.  What I wasn't expecting so soon was water retention in my ankles.  Ack!  Cankles!!  Starting back to work full time this week has greatly decreased my water intake, therefore, I am experiencing quite a bit of swelling from not flushing my system adequately and being on my feet all day, every day.  Although I noted these changes, I did not expect it to affect my ability to run.  So what exactly is going on?  About 1/2 mile to 1 mile into my run, I am experiencing extreme ankle and lower calf tightening to the point where I am have to stop and try to stretch out my ankles before I can even turn around and head back to the car.  I have also "popped" (according to my co-workers) so my stomach is sticking out quite a bit further than it was last week.  So this may be a perfect storm of bodily changes that is causing this bump in the road for me this week.  My plan is to stretch my ankles before my run so that I can really loosen up the ankles beforehand to try to avoid the tightening that I am experiencing.  I also want to make sure that I do not cause any unnecessary injuries as the 5K and 10K are just a month away.  Another goal for next week....DRINK MORE WATER!!

Week 21

A new week and a new set of challenges.  I had to run in Vibram Five Fingers a couple of times this week so that my skin could have time to help and build up a protective layer without the risk of infection.  As most of you know, while pregnant your immune system is compromised making open wounds a dangerous thing if you aren't careful.  So even though I ran with a couple of layers of bandages, I also wore the VFFs for an added layer of protection.  I also ran a 5K on fairly rough terrain so again, the safe bet while pregnant was to be more protective of my feet during this time.  Overall, it was a fairly easy running week without too many major challenges.

Week 20

"Whooah, we're half way there..." - Bon Jovi

Hard to believe that I am halfway through this life-changing journey.  Not only did we find out that the little one is a BOY, but I am definitely starting to show and my hips let me know every day that they are expanding and changing as well.  I have noticed the hip changes most during my longer runs.  I was able to get a referral to the physical therapist who is solely doing hip, back, and neck adjustments to realign my body.  My right hip is rotating forward, which in turn is causing my back and the left side of my neck to hurt as well.  The adjustments have truly helped me to continue with my barefoot running without significant pain.  I've also purchased a body pillow to help me sleep more comfortably at night.  So how is barefoot running going this week?  Well, I made one big mistake that is going to take a few weeks to recover.  I went with a friend to get a pedicure.  I know, I know.  Silly, right?  Well, I thought that by telling them to not scrub my callouses off that I would be safe.  Nope.  The foot soak actually softened and removed a good layer of my skin that was protecting me on my runs.  All I can say is, "Ouch!".  I really didn't notice anything during the weekend run but while standing and talking to the group after the run, I realized that I was bleeding.  It isn't even a blister but rather an abrasion from the lack of skin and padding that I had built up over the last several months.  So my weekly word of advice for all of you barefooters, pregnant or not, is to avoid pedicures at all costs!  Embrace your callouses and learn to paint your own toenails.  :)

Weeks 1 - 19

Since I started this blog in the middle of my pregnancy, I just wanted to do a quick overview of the first 19 weeks.  The first change to my running habits came around week 3-4 when I was out on a 8 mile run with my weekend running partners.  Up until this point, I was still continuing with my long runs and then pulling my shoes off to complete the last mile barefoot.  This particular Sunday morning was a little bit chilly and absolutely beautiful running weather.  I found myself struggling to keep up with the group and was extremely winded despite having run similar distances all spring with no problems.  My goal for the year was to get myself back down to a sub-10 minute mile while transitioning to full barefoot running.  So needless to say, I was extremely disappointed with my run that morning and decided to chalk it up to allergies and asthma.  I finished the run but my pace was a full 4 minutes per mile slower than just two weeks prior.  Luckily, before I could beat myself up too much about the poor performance I found out that I was pregnant and everything made much more sense.  The next two weeks weren't much better but at least I understood why I was so winded.  Since my only race commitment thus far was the back-to-back 5K/10K in September, I decided it was best to scale back completely and go ahead and make the full transition to barefoot only and leave the shoes behind in the dust.  From weeks 6-19 things went along smoothly with no major issues other than planning my routes to have bathroom breaks at the beginning, middle, and end of my longer runs.  I kept my pace slow and the distances short with an average of 3 miles per run.  This worked and I was happy to be able to be out and on the trails with minimal changes to my routine.  At week 14, after being urged by my running partner, I finally told my doctor that I had been running barefoot thus far and I asked if it would be safe to continue.  I planned to continue anyway but at least I could hear the doctor's opinion.  It was obvious that women rarely asked about running while pregnant, and never had asked about running barefoot.  The doctor in the room at the time was actually a resident and she said she was concerned about me running barefoot but thought that running in general was okay as long as I wore a monitor and kept my heart rate below 120.  *long pause and crickets*  I guess my face gave it away that I was seriously questioning her ability to advise healthy individuals on appropriate heart rates.  She then looked at me and said, "Right?".  I actually told her that I felt she was incorrect and that I would be lucky to keep it below 165.  She said she would have to check with the doctor about both the barefoot running and the appropriate heart rate.  When she came back to the room, she said the doctor had told her I was perfectly fine on both accounts, as I suspected I would be.  I am not suggesting that 165 is the appropriate heart rate for every pregnant woman, because it's not.  Every person is different but I know how to keep myself aerobic so that baby is getting plenty of oxygen.  As promised, I have been able to keep my heart rate well under 165 and things have gone well.  If I feel as though I am getting too winded, I slow down.  At this point I am still not really showing so most people on the trails assume I am slow because I've had one too many donuts or glasses of red wine.  :)  This will all change shortly as baby begins to grow at a very rapid pace over the next several weeks.