Shifting Gears at 5 Months

            The changes keep on coming, and you have to be prepared to adapt. While the pelvic pain hasn’t returned, the running has really started to slow anyway.   Some days feel better than others, but overall it has become a lot more uncomfortable and slower.  Some runs, I may still bundle up Baya to take with me, but it’s gotten pretty cold, and I won’t take her out in rain either.  I’m also trying to prolong the inevitable switch to the treadmill for as long as possible as well.  I want to keep the joy in running for as long as I can.

Last weekend I was still going out for an outdoor ride on the bike – 26 miles with some hard intervals mixed in.  Post-season I was regularly getting in a weekly outdoor 30-mile ride on the weekends, but I learned I even had to adapt with that.  There comes a point in pregnancy when you just can’t make it that long without a pit stop.  You learn to stay on the lookout for a good stopping stop and have to remember to pack tissues to have along with you.  Sometimes it’s just about making the uncomfortable-ness as comfortable as possible.  It has also gotten more cramped down in the aero position on the bike, so there are definitely some benefits to riding indoors on the trainer: sitting more upright and having a bathroom nearby.

            Halloween morning, we woke up to at least 3” of snow on the ground.  This was the third snowfall in October up here, but the first that accumulated.  It’s Sunday and there’s still snow out there.  It’s been too cold to melt it all, though I do expect it to all disappear before the next snowfall (which forecasts have that as late this week again already).  I guess we have moved into winter (we did have a solid 4.5 months without any snowfall, so there’s that….).  While Draft Cyclery has provided some awesome cold-weather apparel for getting outside on rides, there’s a good chance I may be retired to the indoors until spring.  I get tired of spinning on the trainer so much, but the risk of hitting ice out on the roads is currently too high.  So there’s that, and as I said earlier, I at least have a bathroom nearby and can ride more upright when indoors (though yes, I do realize you should always train in aero whenever possible).  Stay positive.  Keep healthy, and keep moving!

            What I love about riding indoors in the winter is that I get to do it in a cold garage!  It can be 45 degrees in there, but I can still work up a sweat.  Not pictured is the fan I also keep next to me.  Staying cool and staying hydrated.  Here’s a full-out belly picture at 5 months (22 weeks) of pregnancy: