Now that I have a better idea of the condition of my pelvic floor (thanks to my PT appointment), I can move forward with training. At this point my only goal is to build mileage safely. Race goals will come later after I find out how my body is responding to the added load of mileage and harder efforts (hills, speed work, tempo). To back track a bit, in early December I started running after taking the entire month of November off. This is what my weekly mileage looked like in December according to DailyMile:

Last week was my first real week of "normal" running after fully recovering from the holiday madness and mastitis/flu (might have been a bit of both). I ran a total of 17 miles last week, my longest weekly mileage since back in August. Here's how the miles stacked up:

Notice that I ran three days in a row: December 30, 31 and January 1st. This, I feel was the ultimate test for my pelvic floor. After my run on New Years day, my pelvic floor felt tired, but not "damaged" or weak. I took Wednesday off, ran a "hill" workout on the treadmill Thursday and then took two days off to give my pelvic floor rest in anticipation of a long run on Sunday. (Note that on the rest days I do pelvic floor PT and the Hab It DVD).

Sunday's long run went really well. I ran with my sister-in-law, Danielle who is really more of sister and the miles flew by. (We are finally running together again after two pregnancies and living on opposite sides of the world for a year and half!). We chatted about everything, but also about our running goals for 2013 and possible races. After our discussion, I decided to heed her advice (she's an amazing Physical Therapist) and start with a Novice 1 marathon training plan from Hal Higdon.

Now normally, I'd jump right into the advanced training plan, plug in my times to McMilllan, plan for a PR and register for a race. But I am taking things much more slowly and cautiously. So I will start to build miles via a beginner marathon plan. [To give a little background: Last January, before finding out I was pregnant, I was averaging 35-40 miles per week and had just run a 3:48 PR marathon in October.] Here's what my training plan looks like. As of right now I have no marathon planned, this is just my way of getting back into "racing shape." I've modified the plan slightly to changing the long run to Sunday (works better with our family's schedule) and have moved the rest day to the middle of the week so that I'm not running three days in a row (better for my pelvic floor).

I am not sure if there will be a half marathon race as the plan calls for, but at some point-I'm thinking February-I'd like to race a 5K just to see where I'm at with my fitness. For right now with a feisty three year old and a still-so-new three month old I think this is a good plan for me.

Are you training for anything this spring? What is your plan?

--Sarah

Training Plans: Three Months Postpartum

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