Running again

Now that my pregnancy nausea is pretty much gone, I have slowly started back to running again. Last week, I ran 3 days, 3 miles each time. Today I did 4 miles. I am enjoying getting out and pounding the pavement, especially since the heat and humidity of summer have been replaced by cooler, drier weather. I will say though, that running feels a lot different now. I think that it is a combination of 2 big things: pregnancy and the detraining effect of not running for nearly a month. It is really funny when I think back to a year ago, how I was doing 40-mile weeks in preparation for a half-marathon, a run of 7 miles seemed like a quick jaunt, and a 9 minutes per mile race pace seemed slow. Now, I am quite happy to be done after 4 miles, and I don't think I could run a sub 9-min/mile race to save my life!

All of these physiological changes make my runs feel harder. I feel like I'm running at altitude, and that my comfortable pace has slowed by probably a minute per mile or more. Also, even if I use the restroom right before I head out the door, I still feel like I have to pee halfway through the run (compression of my bladder from my growing uterus?).

I'll definitely try to keep up the running, and it will be interesting to see if things get easier, or not in a few weeks.