How to juggle Workout Goals with Postnatal Responsibilities
Meet Jane, our southern hemisphere representative. A registered nurse who’s literally seen and been through it ALL. She has been a runner for 34 years and along her fitness journey has smashed 3 marathons (2 in New Zealand & 1 New York), 19 (yep you heard) half marathons and 3 mountain runs… oh and did we mention she’s a Mum of 4?!
A true, real life superhero who has kindly shared her story with us on restarting her fitness journey after giving birth to her first son. A great tale from an even greater lady so we highly advise you read on…
Jane completing the Shotover Moonlight 30 km adventure run at Moke Lake, Queenstown, NZ.
Running and the little ones.
When I had our first baby Thomas, we were over the moon with happiness. The porcelain skinned little red headed bundle of joy arrived in our lives in the wee hours of the morning a few weeks before Christmas in 1990.
We had not long moved into the neighbourhood so on returning home with Tom, and Paul heading off to work (no paternity leave in those days), it was just me and Tom together. He was such a good boy I would sometimes wake him up just so we can hang out.
Seven weeks after Tom was born, we headed to Nelson to attend my sister’s wedding. I was a bridesmaid. I remember the dress was blue with tons of flowers over it. With my post baby weight I felt like, and am sure I looked like, an over sized floral arrangement on legs. I recall leaving the wedding reception to nip home to feed Tom who was being cared for by a friend. I rearranged myself back into my bridesmaid dress and went back to the reception. On returning to Wellington, I decided it was time to get moving and re shape this body into something a little more robust than it currently was.
Like looking for a trusty old friend I went and found my running shoes. I had been very unwell for the first half of my pregnancy so although I was eating well (too well!) I had lost a lot of muscle tone and strength.
I decided to start back slowly and began walking with Tom. Every day I would get the pram out (mountain buggies hadn’t been invented then) and we would head off. Tom was happy in the pram and would mostly sleep, occasionally opening his eyes to take in the view. It was the perfect level of exercise for me at that stage. I grew stronger and stronger. We lived on a hill so whatever way I went at some point I had to navigate a hill climb. We would walk for hours at a time. You can do that when you have one child.
As my strength grew so did my confidence so it was time to start running. On reflection the most important thing I did was not put too much pressure on myself. So what if it takes a while to get back into shape? So what if you have a bit of post baby weight for a while?
It was particularly important for me to breastfeed for as long as I could. I had 12 months in mind. I did not want anything interrupting that experience. I valued that more than having a six pack (please note I have never in my life ever had a six pack).
To safeguard the run I would express breast milk before Paul got home. When he got in the door I would head out for a run. I had tea ready and everything sorted so Paul wasn’t coming home to chaos (you can be like that when you have one baby) and off I would go. I don’t recall I ever went for too long maybe 30-40 minutes building up from 15 minutes.
Running in combination with walking made such a difference to me then. I felt fitter and fresher. I had added a positive component to my day. I like to think some of that rubbed off on Tom. The movement, the fresh air, but mostly a Mum who was very, very happy.
All grown up.
Jane and her slightly bigger son, Tom pictured at the Huntly Half Marathon in Waikato, NZ in 2017.
