Marathon Training vs. Labor Training

Last Sunday, one of my very best friends ran her first marathon. She trained diligently for over five months for the perfect race experience, only to end up with an injured IT band 4 weeks before the big day. She went to PT every other day in the remaining weeks, did all her stretches and exercises, discussed all her options with her therapist, mentally prepared herself and in the end, decided to just run the full, get out there and see what happened.

What happened was four miles into the 26.2 mile journey, her knee started bothering her and she went from her 9:30-10:00minute/mile pace to a 13:00-14:00 minute/mile pace. She ended up finishing about an hour and half slower than she had trained for all those months and cried pretty much every step of the way.

But when she called me afterwards to tell me about her race, she still had that sound of amazement and joy of someone who just ran her first marathon. Sure, she said she was never going to run another one again (who hasn’t said that after their first marathon?). Sure, she said it was the most painful, strenuous, exhausting thing she could ever imagine doing. But even still, you could tell she was amazed by her will, astounded by her body and proud of her accomplishment and the fact that she didn’t give up, even though it really, really, REALLY sucked. I know in a few months or maybe even weeks, she will have fleeting thoughts of her next big race. She knows she could’ve done it better if the situation were different. She put in all the training and was doing great for weeks. But no matter how much preparation you put into it, you just never know what you’re going to get on race day.

Which reminds me of something my wise husband said to me a few weeks back.

One afternoon, I was sitting there listing off all of the things I wanted and did not want for the delivery of Bean and the endless ways I was going to make sure these things happened. Jeremy just lovingly smiled and then gently reminded me that preparing for labor and delivery (and parenthood for that matter) is like training for a marathon. You can train and prepare all you want for the perfect race experience, but when the big day comes, you only have so much control over what cards you are dealt and you have to be mentally prepared for many different game plans.

How did my husband become so smart all of the sudden?

It really is funny how true this statement is. And all runners/parents can relate to it.

As soon as you sign up for the big race or see that positive pregnancy test, the first thought through your head is:

“What the hell did I just get myself into?”

When that wears off, it’s time to prepare.

First you get a ticker.
(marathon ticker/pregnancy ticker)

Then, you need to figure out what kind of outcome you want.
(run for fun, a new PR/ natural childbirth, epidural, c-section)

What plan do you need to adopt to make sure you meet your goal? (Galloway, Higdon/Lamaze, Bradley, Hyponobirth,)

Then there is the need to read everything you possibly can on the subject.
(Born to Run, Runners World/ What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Ina May’s The Guide to Childbirth).

Not only in print but online.
(Running Lounge, running blogs, running forums, weather.com/the bump, baby blogs, pregnancy forums, babycenter.com)

There is the change of diet.
(Eating healthier to lose weight, finding something that wont upset your stomach on a run, loading up on carbs/eating healthier to gain weight, finding something that wont upset your stomach in the first trimester, loading up on everything for no good reason)

There is endless product comparison and shopping for your new obsession.
(running shoes, running clothes, gels/ strollers, car seats, diaper rash cream)

There are the friends who can relate to you and LOVE to talk about their experiences.
(marathon runners who will tell you how AWESOME it is and how you should follow their training plan, marathon runners who only want to talk about their horrible race experiences and try to scare you/ mothers who will tell you how AWESOME labor and delivery are and how you are dumb if you do it any other way, mothers who only want to talk about how horrible their labor experience was and try to scare you)

And friends who totally cannot relate to you.
(Why would you EVER want to run a marathon? /Are you sure you’re ready to have kids?)

Then, it's time to taper. And the real obsession begins...

This Wednesday, I will be 37 weeks. That's officially full-term. My taper is about to begin.

And no matter how much I've prepared. No matter how perfect I want everything to be, I know I can only obsess so much. Because on that day, it's out of my control. I just need to show up prepared and focused, but with an open mind and ability to trust myself if I need to switch game-plans at the last minute.

No matter how the race unfolds, this time I'm coming home with the best medal yet. A definite PR.