Training with a Infant

Writing the title I totally wrote "Training with a newborn" and then I realized, she's not a newborn anymore!! She's an infant.  And then I wanted to cry.

Anyway.

sigh.

So I've learned that training with an infant is a lot harder than I had imagined it might be.  You see, I have every intention of getting out the door at 530am to get my long runs in. I plan to meet people for swim practices, runs or bike rides in the evening but yet I find myself with this sweet little baby clinging to me as she nurses like I haven't fed her in 3 weeks right when I'm supposed to be leaving. So I get delayed, I get left behind, sometimes I miss the workout all together.

Then there's the times when I hear my call at 3am. That utterly pathetic "ahh- wahhh  ahhh - wahhhh" that continues until I can untwist myself out of the covers and stumble into her nursery. When I peer over the edge of the crib I see the sweetest little face that goes from sad pathetic pout to huge light up your life smile when her sweet blue eyes connect with mine! That moment always makes the 3am part a little bit better.  But by the time I crawl back into bed anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours later, I'm usually ready to turn my alarm off and settle for a shorter run when it's hotter out, or even worse, a run on the treadmill at the gym!

Thankfully our gym has a nursery and the kids love going, but Mabrey technically can't go until she's 4 months old.  Now mind you they allowed her to come at 4 weeks and were quite insulted when at 4 weeks I went to just leave Ryleigh and Cora and head out on a walk with Mabrey since I knew she couldn't stay! They informed me that since they had watched her grow during the last 9 months and watched me faithfully workout she was considered a gym baby and they would take her. So they have been awesome with watching her, but I usually just stay right there and run on the treadmill since so that they can come get me if need be, instead of having to wait for me to sprint back from where ever I am.

Anyway, I've also gotten good at shifting my workouts around. Especially now that I'm heading back to work. I have to rearrange long runs so they happen on Friday mornings instead of Saturday mornings or even a Tuesday instead of Saturday.  And the rearranged schedule gets rearranged even more depending on what type of mood Mabrey is in! In doing a lot of rearranging I'm finding I'm doing more and more training on my own...which is good and bad. Good because I'm not "competing" against anyone else and bad because I only have to talk myself out of a workout! 

On a good day I can get up, pump, leave a bottle with Jorden and sneak out by 545 to get in my long runs. That way I'm back in time for him to get ready for work before Mabrey needs a bottle. It works pretty well, and Jorden is super supportive of me training and doesn't complain too much even when it means that he doesn't get to sleep in on the weekends very often! 

I find that I drink a LOT more than normal on my runs and during workouts. Breastfeeding takes a lot of fluid consumption anyway, but for me you add in any run over 2 miles and I'm drinking like a camel. I take a hydration pack with me on runs, particularly if it's blazing hot out. I use my hydration belt in mornings or cooler days as well.  When I first told people I had signed up for Chicago when I got in with the lottery, I got a lot of skeptical remarks and a lot of people just assumed I was going to quit breastfeeding while training.  I am determined to have my cake and eat it too.  So I fuel with real foods not just gu's and shot blocks.  I eat a breakfast before I head out, and depending on the run length I take a PB & honey sandwich cut up into bite size pieces or hard boiled eggs or a banana. I've found I make a LOT more milk when I fuel with real foods during the run! It's crazy to me that I make more milk while running then on a normal day! 

I have a hard time really knowing what to eat though. I get tired of the same thing, and half the time I forget and have to throw something together from the fridge or cupboard the morning of which of course makes for a not ideal training routine. People always suggest trying shakeology or herbalife shakes but I hate the texture and aftertaste of most of those.  The chocolate shakeology is bearable but the price is not! 

I read a lot of other women's stories of how they did utlrathons while breastfeeding, or Ironmans while breastfeeding etc etc etc and it motivates me to keep it up! And again, that's why I'm putting my story out here on the interwebs. I want to be that support, that motivation, to anyone who needs it, but especially to other moms!