Week 12

A very busy week with the journey to England and lots of tourism.  I invited some friends to stay with me for a week in England.  They also have a 3 year old son and we are having a great time but all a bit tired.  Thank goodness the morning sickness stage is coming to an end.

The first day here that I went running over the rolling Yorkshire Wolds in the cool fresh air was amazing.  An owl followed me during the first couple of miles. Yesterday however I was running against the usual biting north east wind and felt like I wasn't getting anywhere.  According to my book (see earlier), from week 12, pregnant athletes can start to enjoy a physilogical change similar to when cyclists do blood doping by blood transfusion.  However for the pregnant woman this change is due to a supercompensation of the body caused by the changes in the vascular and respiratory system.   Looking forward to this bit!

Monday: 40 mins upper body weights, 10 mins warm up and 4 X (6 mins hard running and 3 mins slow running) on the running machine

Tuesday: 25 mins warm up and 7 X 500m, recovering 1:30 on the athletics track

Wednesday. journey and rest day

Thursday: 10 mile hilly road run

Friday: 6 mile road run

Saturday: 50 mins run and 40 mins weights

Sunday: 25 mins warm up and 8 X 1 min hill reps

Week 11

It's been hot this week so my training runs and reps have been shorter as it's important not to get too hot.  I drink plenty of water during the day and eat something straight after each training session like a sandwich. This is important for both the baby and helps keep the morning sickness at bay.   I was lucky on Wednesday and Friday as a friend offered to look after my son while I went running.  If not, I would have run on the running machine in the gym while my son played with his cars nearby.  As you can see we live in a very child friendly country. 

At the weekend we went camping to Begur on the rocky coastline of the Costa Brava.  Beautiful!  Next week we're going to England and I've found a 10km race to do while I'm there to keep up my motivation in training.  This has been a bit low due to the tiredness and nauseous of the morning sickness. I'm really looking forward to running in a cooler climate and hope to do some long runs.

Monday: Upper body weights and 45 mins of fartlek on the running machine

Tuesday: 25 mins warm up run and interval training at the athletics track: 10 X 1 min hard running and 1 min walking

Wednesday: 1 hour running in the mountain and 30 minutes lower body weights

Thursday: 1 hour running on the flat with my son in the Babyjogger

Friday: 35 mins lower body weights, 20 mins warm up and 8 X 1 min hill reps

Saturday: 1 hour 10 mins steady run in the mountains

Sunday: rest day

Favourite reference book

When I became pregnant the first time I was given lots of advice from "Don't exercise during the first three months as you could lose the baby",  "All that jogging around could make it slip out" to "You can continue with your athletics training exactly as before."  Very confusing.  My mum asked for some advice from the gym instructor at her local gym whose wife had continued to give aerobics and tennis classes all through her pregnancy.  She felt fine.  He recommended reading  "Exercising Through your Pregnancy" by James F. Clapp.  The author is a medical doctor who has done research studies on 500 pregnant women.  In his book he clearly explains the results of his studies and the reasons behind the outcomes.  Reading this book gave me a lot of confidence to carry on running,always listening to my body and it also equipped me with the answers to any critisisms or questions from other people.

Why I'm writing this blog

I started this blog after a conversation with another mum.

"Hi Louise, how's this pregancy going?"

"Not bad.  A bit tired and sick during these first few months but this morning I went to the gym to do some weights"

"What!  You shouldn't be doing that.  Aren't you supposed to be resting if you're pregnant?"

"No, I feel a lot better after having done some exercise.  I exercised up to the end the of my last pregnancy without any problems."

The other mum then told me that her midwife had told her to stop doing all forms of exercise including swimming because it could hurt the baby.  She had just lost her job and being at home all day was feeling a bit down.  She felt that doing some sport would have kept her spirits up.

"Louise, there are loads of pregnant women who want to exercise.  You should tell them about your experiences..."

A little bit about me

I started running when I was seventeen and have competed in many distances from 1500m on the track to 30km mountain races.  Over the years my level has fluctuated from club to international level depending on motivation, work and injuries.  I also love horse riding, skiing, skijoering, mountain biking and walking with my 2 dogs.  Anything to get out into the fresh air.

I moved to Spain in 2001 after a falling head over heels love with while running up a mountain in the Pyrenees.  I'm still happily married to Oscar and we live in a forest outside Barcelona with our three-year old son, 2 dogs and some chickens.  The next babies due at the end of January.