Running After My Twin Pregnancy – 6 Month Update

Oh hi, remember when my blog was all about running!? Well, I have been training for the Rock n’ Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon (I am a Rock n’ Blog Ambassador for the 4th year in a row!) and it’s coming up quick! I have less than 3 weeks til race day so I figured it was time for a training update, since I haven’t been posting my weekly training log since I finished LIIFT4.

Getting Back Into Running After Twin Pregnancy Recap

After the twins were born, I was kind of uncertain about where I stood with running. Just before I got pregnant, I had trained and felt faster than I ever had, but ended up with another disappointing race at Mountains 2 Beach Marathon. I enjoying running for fun during my twin pregnancy and was able to run way longer into it than I expected, even running a half marathon at 12 weeks pregnant and a 5K at 29 weeks pregnant before stopping around 31 weeks.

I was cleared to exercise at 4 weeks postpartum but decided not attempt a run until 6 weeks. Shortly after this I also saw a postpartum physical therapist who confirmed I do not have diastasic recti (my doctor also confirmed) OK’d running and gave me some exercises to help strengthen my pelvis floor (highly recommend ALL postpartum women do this!).

I started by doing postpartum workouts on Beachbody on Demand and then moved on to 21 Day Fix. Getting workouts in was tough at times as I juggled a preschooler and twins, with a lot of sleep deprivation thrown in there, but the more I worked out and ate healthy, the better I felt. My husband Mike was incredibly supportive and helped me get the time to get in my 30 minute workouts – and at times I had to do them when the babies were awake so there were interruptions, but I got them done! In the beginning  it was more common for me to skip a workout for a nap and have days without any exercise at all, but consistency was more important than perfection.

Meanwhile, I ran when it felt good and was convenient, which ended up being about 2-4 miles at a time, 2-3 days a week. With 25 pounds left of the 50  to lose, I was more inspired by my home workout programs than running at first but still got some miles in, usually about 12-15 a week. After my first 7 weeks of doing postpartum workouts, 21 Day Fix and other Beachbody on Demand programs I lost 8 pounds and then after 8 weeks of LIIFT4 I lost another 11 pounds.

Half Marathon Training After Twin Pregnancy

In early August, about 3 weeks into LIIFT4, I started half marathon training, with about 12 weeks to go until the race. My friend Kelly (I have two friends named Kelly/Kelley, this is the one you don’t see me post photos of as much!) and I had signed up for the Los Angeles Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon on October 28th and the main reason I signed up was because I knew that having that race on the calendar would motivate me to build my mileage back up. Plus, I love having a long run to look forward to on Saturday morning. Call me crazy, but it’s one of my favorite things!

At first, however, I wasn’t super into running – LIIFT4 was really challenging me in a good way and it was incredibly rewarding and convenient. I loved running but pretty much was just doing it when a friend could join me and wasn’t going out of my way to fit any runs in. I had a few good runs, but overall running was still feeling hard. But, I was thankful to be running. I didn’t attempt any kind of formal speed work, but I had downloaded the Strava app and was enjoying challenging myself to running the segments hard when I had the energy to do so and comparing it to my previous attempt. Another thing that really helped me was clearing out all the “PRs” on my Garmin so that every time I had a particularly good run, it would tell me that I set a new PR.

Kelly and I slowly worked our long run mileage in, starting at only 7 miles and then I worked my way up to 11 miles last weekend. I ran 9 miles twice, 10 miles 4 times, 11 miles once and when we went away for our anniversary I just hiked and didn’t run. We plan to run 12 miles this weekend and then we’ll have one more weekend long, probably just 8 miles. Last week I had my highest total weekly mileage, 21 miles (11 miler plus two 5 mile runs). I’m now on week 4 of a modified version of 80 Day Obsession and running, where I do 4 80 Day Obsession workouts (I skip the two cardio workouts) per week and 3 runs. Needless to say, my mileage hasn’t been super high, but thanks to my home workouts I’m feeling strong and fit.

Rock n’ Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon Goals

At first my goal was just to finish the race. And that is still the case. As the weeks went by though, that little competitive voice in my ear started getting louder. With the announcement of the new Boston Qualifying times and some super inspiring Chicago/St. George/Long Beach marathon performances last weekend, I’ve got some fuel in my fire. Now that I’m about 2.5 weeks away from race day and have several 10 mile runs (and one 11 miler with some goal pace miles in it) behind me, I’m starting to think more about realistic time goals. The #1 goal is to finish the race. The #2 goal is to break 2 hours. The stretch goal is to break 1:55. My half marathon PR is 1:40 and I know I’m not getting anywhere close to that, but I still find it incredibly motivating to set goals.

We’ll see what happens on the 28th – I won’t be putting a ton of weight on the outcome. But what I know is that for a while I was considering taking a break from training after RnR LA and now I’m back to plotting out future races and figuring out how to get as fast as I can… given my crazy life as a mom of three 3 years and under!

Have you ever run Rock n Roll Los Angeles? Any tips for me? If you’ve returned to running after pregnancy, what was your return like? 

If you’ve been wanting to try one of these home workout programs, please join me on Monday, October 15th for my next 4 week accountability group! LIIFT4 (4 days a week) and 21 Day Fix are my two favorite programs for mixing with running. Join us!

I can provide guidance on how to safely return to exercise postpartum and/or provide you with a running and strength training schedule if you’re a runner! Fill out this form to get more info and sign up!