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Saturday, July 11, 2009

Ironman VS. Pregnancy

I've spent most of today sitting around doing nothing, the stereotypical pregnant lady according to my doctor. This was not the intended plan it just had to happen that way because my hips are in horrible pain right now. At about 25 min of running this morning they started to hurt so much that I was forced to walk back to the rock. I've been stumbling around the house like an 90 yr old all day.

This led to some comments on Facebook and a little more thought about the Ironman VS. Pregnancy...

The way I see it Labor/Delivery is the Ironman race. I need to convince Baby G she must be born in less than 17 hr to make it official. Of course, if she wants to come out in less than 11 hrs and make my Ironman races look long I'll be even happier. Maybe we can find her a medal or something. I can't imagine what the nurses at the hospital would say if Michael puts a medal around her neck after she's born. It might be worth it just to confuse them.

But aside from the actual event, there's also the training. Since most of us sign up for and Ironman 1 yr in advance and train for it almost as long I'd say the 9 months of pregnancy is pretty comparable.

When you sign up for your first Ironman you become engulfed with it, always thinking about it, wondering how it'll go, wondering if you are prepared, etc. The same appears to be true for pregnancy.

Food: "Am I eating the correct things? Am I eating enough or too much?"
Exercise: "Am I doing the correct amount? Am I getting enough recovery?"
Sleep: "Why am I tired all the time?"
Anxiety: "What will happen on the big day? Will I be prepared?"
Pain: "Why does my body hurt from all of this?"

The list could go on... people you know are asking questions about your preparation. There are stories from others about their experiences. Your friends who haven't had this experience are curious but don't quite understand.

That makes both experiences sound pretty tough, which they are. But there's a reason why we choice to do this, the experience itself. I signed up for my first Ironman because the half didn't seem like my limit and I wanted to see what I could do. I got pregnant because I want to be a mom and want to see how it goes. The challenge of it is part of why I am curious. I didn't expect it to be easy, new experiences seldom are.

I'm in the final 12 weeks of my "training." Guess that means it'll probably be the hardest part. I'm sure the warm summer and the long to-do list won't disappoint my expectations.

As for Labor/Delivery vs Ironman, I'll report back on that afterward.

Off to go spin on my bike and see if I can loosen up these hips...

1 comments:

md said...

yea, pretty sure baby G will come out with a transition bracelet on, and numbers on her arm.
C'mon Baby G, give mama an 11 hour PR!!