Hitting The Pavement Post baby
My Look: Pants, Top, Sports Bra, Sneakers, Mat
Hit the ground running right? After being a long time sufferer of Seasonal Affective Disorder and Depression, I turned to running around age 14 to work out my issues in my head. I still remember those 3km runs on my parents road, talking through my toughest life situations at that time, in my head of course. Since then, it has been my happy place. My me time if you will. So when I had to give up my 'therapy' this time around in pregnancy, I missed it. If you followed my pregnancy, you would know my struggle with my self-esteem through it all. I blame those feelings on not being able to run.
But, with the clear from my doctor, today was day one of many in hopes to hit the pavement as much as possible. My end goal is the same goal I had set with Aubrey. I was and am going to run the 5km Valley Harvest run in under 30 mins. After Aubrey was born, and thanks to my competitive nature towards the 7 year old child of me, I set a new personal record of just over 27 mins. But with not as much free time this go around to walk and having to schedule my runs around Rob's schedule, I will be ok with 30mins. I mean, heck at this point I would be ok with just finishing the thing.
So without further adieu, I'll let you in on my training plan. To be totally honest, my training started at week 2 post pregnancy when I started walking 3 days a week with Poppy. Starting with 3km walks, I am now doing 5kms and on days where I have the extra time and she's fast asleep, I push it to 7kms. This conditions you. It sets a good starter. I mean, don't they always say you have to learn to walk before you run. Throughout this training, I will still do those 5km walks.
So where does the running come in you ask? On Monday, I will begin the Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Program. The 3 days a week that she recommends LISS training and HIIT training is where I will throw in my runs. For the first week, running will be my HIIT training just to get used to using my body that way and testing out how I feel 'down there' post baby. This will involve 60sec sprints followed by 30sec rests for a total of 15-20 mins. During the second week, I will start a slow run on my LISS days. This will be 2 times a week and will work on my lung strength and body conditioning. I won't focus on speed, I will just focus on doing some mix between running and walking for 40 mins straight. As the weeks lead up to the race, my time and distance will start to slowly come into play. And by the time Thanksgiving is here, I will be able to kick my own butt at that race.
Now Ladies who want to lose weight but HATE to run, please know that all studies prove that walking actually burns more fat than running does. For me, Its not about weight but stamina and the runners high to be honest. But, for weight loss, I would recommend not pushing yourself and be happy with going for an hour walk each day that you can. As long as you are eating right, the weight will come off you easy peasy.
If you are like me and need a new outfit to get inspired to start hitting the pavement, I have linked my favourite running gear for the Post baby body, or even women who don't feel comfortable in their own skin in the link below. Or you can find them all on my Shop page.
Join me on this running journey and use #wildrosesrun so I can follow you ladies too. We can be each others support system no mater what our end goals are ;).
