Even the Great Fall...Please Get Back Up!

In the first few months after giving birth I was up late one night nursing my daughter and fantasizing about my return to running. That ultra goal was constantly nagging me, and I was trying to figure out if I could continue the demands of nursing while taking on an ultramarathon training schedule. It just had to be possible. To my delight I came across two women who proved to be the very inspiration I was seeking.

Shannon Farar-Griefer....man I love this woman's story. She was very much a non-runner until an ah-ha moment while nursing her child started her on the path to becoming the woman she is today. I dove into her life story and tried finding more info specifically on if she did ultras while nursing. I found that she continued running long distances while pregnant (wish I had seen her website when I was pregnant--that would have made me a lot less anxious!) but no answer to my question.

Then I came across Robyn Flores. Her tiny little TMI paragraph at the end of her Keys 100 Mile Report gave me the inspiration I needed. I contacted her and she was nice enough to specifically answer my questions about running ultras and breastfeeding. She never responded to my followup email but that first email was practically gold to me. Her advice was a great starting point to my return to running.

After relaxin stopped making my hips feel like they would slide apart, I dove into getting my running legs back. These two women are very dear inspirations to me. I think of them constantly throughout training. I've meet only one of them. Shannon was at a health expo and introduced me to her Moeben line, probably my favorite race gear in my possession. Her Moeben line, much to my dismay, seems to be non-active as I never received responses to inquiries about starting a charity campaign with them for Team BfB, and there has been no recent activity about the company for the past 2 years.

Thanks to Facebook though I've been able to get my Shannon-fix (personal page only, Moeben appears dead with only me posting lately) and my Robyn-fix for the past year.  I have eagerly followed Shannon's quest for the Grand Slam. I was constantly checking the live feed yesterday to see her progress but she suffered a bad fall during the Western States 100 and had to drop. Love you Shannon! Heal up and get back out there! My Robyn-fix is momentarily dead too since after announcing she would again attempt the Keys 100 (very much to my excitement) she has deactivated her Facebook account.    


I wonder if either of these women ever realize how much of an inspiration they are to others?  I would probably faint if I ever got the chance to run with either of them. 

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A mile run is still a mile no matter how long it takes

Lacid came about when I couldn’t even pronounce my own name correct. My husband can attest to the bizarre word mushes that I utter. We tend to refer to Lacid as my alter ego. A well-tested technique many athletes use is visualization which is a method of mentally visualizing your goal to improve real life performance. Ah, the workings of the brain! Somehow it really works. I used it quite a bit during training for my first marathon. Now I’m taking it a step further. Lacid, my alter ego, is who I visualize I will be in March and I think of her often…as an ultramarathoner!

My first attempt at ultramarathon training came to a doctor-ordered halt when I became pregnant. A part of me really thought that I would be able to do it. If women were able to run full marathons while 8 months pregnant then what’s another 6 miles if I walk most of the mileage? However, once the doctor started talking about oxygen deprivation to the fetus I backed off that idea. Apparently if you reside below 2,500 feet and go above 5,000 feet you may wind up compromising your cardiopulmonary system, especially when you are pregnant as the fetus increases your demand for oxygen. I hadn’t realized I was pregnant at the time but a few weeks earlier I had gone on a camping trip at about 4,000 feet with my running group and ended up with badly swollen hands and feet. On my next camping trip when I only would have been a month pregnant, and also at 4,000 feet, I had the same swelling which quite frankly was freaking me out. I can only imagine how my body would have reacted running at 5,500 feet during my 2^nd or 3^rd trimester. I did, however, get the doc’s approval for a full marathon, as long as it was at a sea level where I reside.

With my ultra goal postponed, I immediately signed up for a marathon as well as warm-up races. I started to read everything I could get my hands on dealing with prenatal exercise. I wanted all the facts. I abided by doctor’s orders to stay sea level for the marathon, but I couldn’t stop myself from hitting the trails for the first two.

@12 weeks ran Dirt Devil Race#3 15k – 2:27:20  

@17 weeks ran Camp Pendleton Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon – 2:40:29 

@21 weeks ran Camarillo Marathon – 6:36:43

A mile run is still a mile no matter how long it takes – I repeated this over and over as it about killed me to be so far back in the pack. I sucked up some humility and ended up doing approximately 60% running and 40% walking at each event. Looking back I could probably have done more, but I’m okay with my efforts back then. There was only so much fatigue I could push through and back then it was so easy to give up and walk. There was one defining moment between miles 15 and 16 during the marathon when my baby kicked. I had an anterior placenta so it took longer than the norm to feel those precious kicks. I had only felt a few at that point so I was quite overwhelmed to feel kicks mid-race!

Fast forward to today. Those kicks are now precious little Milla feet. My daughter is 8.5 months old and is my everything. Ultra training has taken a back burner to raising my daughter, but I’m finally at a point where I can kick it into gear. I used to laugh at women running behind strollers. Now I have a BOB stroller that has been tricked out with an aftermarket dirt bike brake lever and I’m well on my way to being a fitness instructor with a company who’s a leader in prenatal and postnatal fitness.  Yes, life is forever changing…but I’m loving and embracing it.

Training is in the very beginning stages as I’m still building my base up postpartum, but I feel strong. The Oriflamme 50K is in March 2012, so I feel I have time to get the job done. I’m working on a rhythm to training as I continue to breastfeed my daughter. I have no plans to wean before then so I am very cautious about overtraining which I have been guilty of doing in the past. I know I will sacrifice performance for my daughter if need be but perhaps I can find a balance. 

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