“Give it what you have for today’s conditions.”
That’s what I told myself as I tried to charge up the last and biggest hill of the 10k on Saturday. But I wasn’t really charging. It felt like I was hanging on for dear life to a pace that was just above walking.
My cheering squad: Dad, my youngest sister and Jack drove along the course and met me at the turn around for high fives. Couldn’t have made it up those hills without them.
Even before the start of the race I was fighting excuses: I was up three times in the middle of the night with Liam. I’m still coughing and don’t feel 100%. It’s HOT. Why is it so HOT!? Some were legitimate reasons to doubt my ability to race at my best. Sleep is critical to performance and to a healthy immune system, which was (and still is) fighting some sort of cold. And the unusually warm temperatures had me sweating buckets during my warm up. These negative thoughts danced in my head for the first three miles of the race as I came to terms with the fact that this race wasn’t going to be what I had wanted it to be.
As much as I wanted to Saturday’s race to be a bit of a breakthrough the conditions were all but breakthrough conditions. So as I mustered up as much energy as I could to give it my all I had to push the doubts and the excuses (however legitimate) out of my head and put one foot in front of the other as fast as I could.
Saturday’s race might not have yielded the overall time I thought I was capable of but it was a “win” for me on a few levels.
Run by Feel. I went into this race wanting to run by feel and I was true to that. I wore only my Timex Ironman watch on the stopwatch setting and hit the splits at each mile. I prefer to race this way. I race best when I race by feel, not by a pace goal on my watch. If I’d had my Garmin on and seen my pace I guarantee that I would have not paced myself well and probably ended up running slower.
Pacing. I paced well. I started slow and finished fast. My first mile was 7:48 and my last mile was 6:46. And in between my mile pace were commensurate with the hilly course.
Be comfortable with being uncomfortable. The first race after not racing for a while is a bit of a shock to the system. Pushing yourself for 45 minutes is…well, uncomfortable. Even more so when you’re in the process of getting your fitness back. For me, there’s a huge difference between racing when you’re properly trained and racing “on the comeback.” When I raced my 41:58 10K last year I had an entire marathon training cycle in me. Believe it or not that 6:45 per mile felt “easier” than Saturday’s 7:24 pace. When you’re fully prepared, even though it’s hard, you feel “on top of” the pace, you can be tactical with your pacing and strategy. But when you’re not prepared racing feels exceptionally hard, it takes every ounce of physical and mental strength to just keep moving forward, so racing tactically is out of the question. It will be a while before I get back to that point.
Embracing my Postpartum Body. I had planned to run in a tank top on Saturday but after my warm up realized I was going to be way too hot. So I ditched the tank top and decided to let it “all hang out.” I’m not going to lie, I feel self-conscious of my postpartum body. At four months postpartum, I’ve still got an extra 10 lbs on me that probably won’t go until I’m done breastfeeding. It’s just the way my body does postpartum. I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to show off my softer, rounder self. But it is what it is, just like the conditions were what they were. I know I’ll get there eventually, maybe not to the chiseled abs part. But I know the weight will come off if I keep eating healthy and training hard.
Saturday’s race isn’t necessarily and indicator of where I’m at with my fitness and it certainly isn’t an indicator of where I want to be. Right now, I’m just passing through on my way to my goals.
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-Sarah
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You are crazy inspiring, Sarah! Thanks for sharing this. And I’ve never run a 10K that fast, postpartum or otherwise!
Well done! Your postpartum body looks fantastic! I love how you are embracing it!
Great job on the race - even if didn’t go quite as you hoped. Glad you took something away from the race …I’m sure with all the hard work you put in you’ll be back to where you were pre-liam in no time. Keep embracing it and checking of goals! Side note heard you met my sister! I am excited she got into running while I was pregnant - trying to persuade her to train for big lake half with me in may
It was so fun to meet her! I’ll be running big lake too. That’s may goal race right now:)
This is awesome in EVERY WAY! I absolutely love that gut-it-out to the finish photo of your fierce face!!! Such determination and I can almost feel your pain because I know what it’s like to race like that. Awesome inspiring post Sarah! Can’t wait to give you a congratulatory hug
Aww can’t wait to see you too! It finished on a hill (!!) and so you just have to gut it out!
It’s refreshing to see a blogger who is so honest about her body and postpartum how it looks. So many mothers starve themselves to look good immediately after they have a baby and it is not only unhealthy but unrealistic that you will return to your pre pregnancy size/body. Congrats on a great race. You look awesome and so focused in those photos.
Awesome job Sarah! I love this on so many levels! First, what you are able to do this close after Liam was born is simply awesome. So fast and fierce! I also love your courage to talk about your post-baby body and be so open about how you feel. I think you look amazing and I love the realness of this. Also I had forgotten your 10K PR time. Whew! Amazing
xo
Thanks friend!! I can’t wait to see you soon!
Congrats on an awesome race!! You will be back to where you want to be in no time - this is such a wonderful beginning!!
Thanks Natalie! I really appreciate your support!
great job! You look great! I love your determined look in the pictures!
Thank you!
I would say you crushed your first race back!!
Thanks so much girl! Xoxo
Amazing Job Sarah!! I love all of the photos and how you decided to just embrace the hills of less sleep and a cold 😉 You look great- No one would ever know you just had a baby! You are such an inspiration to me
Way to go!
Aww thanks so much Sarah!
Gosh you are so inspiring! Way to rock that sports bra and your post baby body (which looks fabulous BTW)!!
Aww thanks so much Sue:)
Lindsey Hein says
Nice work! I love your post partum body.
Rocking the spandex with a sports bra and looking strong and fierce…. with or without being 4 months post baby, you look great and what s strong effort for your first post baby race.
I love this! You are such an inspiration! I’ll be in your place in 6 months or so and I’m sure I’ll come back and read this. Congrats on the race and the awesome race photos, you look so strong in them!