My natural birth story & 10 ways it can help you level up your marathon training
I share my son’s birth story in the podcast and on Instagram. 2 hours in the hospital, 2 minutes of breathing him out, a dream come true of a birth story (besides being slightly traumatic for my husband…). Which has gotten people curious. What did you do to make for such a quick labor? You only pushed for 2 minutes? Aaaand no tearing?
I wanna compare what I did preparing for this labor, to marathoning.
In training, it’s not SOLELY the nutrition and fueling (even tho I talk about this A LOT). It’s not SOLELY the mileage. It’s not SOLELY the speedwork. It’s not SOLELY the strength. It’s a combination of factors.
With this birth, I trained for it like it was a marathon. What I LOVED about our birth story is that I went in with a prepared body and mind- prepared for months. Just like I would a marathon.
Here are 10 things I did to prepare for a natural labor and converted to 10 things you can do to level up your marathon training. Each of these are SUPER APPLICABLE to marathon training, so I hope you can use it to evaluate what you are doing during your training cycles.
Strength sessions at least twice a week. You should be doing this, of course my strengthwork was modified being pregnant. Your strength training should be specific to your marathon training.
Running & walking close to an hour a day. This would be where your running and cross training would fit in. Time would vary- maybe a 45 minute recovery run, 90 minute speed session, long run, or rest day.
Daily 15 mins of pregnancy mental preparation. This consisted of labor-related meditations, affirmations, visualizations, and breathwork. I’ll be honest this was the toughest to get in but possibly one of the best ways to prepare myself in the mental area. For you this might mean envisioning your race course, practicing race-day affirmations, or focusing on your breath during a run.
Daily yoga and stretching (specific for labor prep). This is something I personally don’t do super well during marathon training, but like we need to prep a body to push a baby out, we need to prep that body to be ready for 26.2 miles. This might look like a running-related yoga routine after a hard workout day.
Hip mobility on the yoga ball. Mobility is slightly different than the yoga and strength, in that we need the body to be able to move the right way. Look up a running mobility routine on YouTube, and you’ll find some great resources.
Focus on quality nutrition, hydration, and daily teas/dates to prep my body. You know what I’m gonna say, fueling makes a difference- both in the daily nutrition (see some recipes here), in the pre-run, during-run, post-run recovery, and race day. See what that involves here.
Good posture during work & getting gentle movement as much as I needed. This relates to marathoning in terms of your daily habits.
Quality sleep nightly. You know what this means in terms of marathon training!
Including God (or another higher power, prayers, music, etc) in both leading up and the day of. Finding a power outside yourself to draw on to give you that energy, motivation, and support.
For accountability, I used a little notebook and tracked each day I completed these tasks. In marathoning, you can do a training journal, get kudos on Strava, or find yourself a running buddy.
All of these can be compared to the daily/weekly grind of training for a marathon. Remember it’s not just one thing.
And lastly, don’t let the training and final show day go to waste without the REST & RECOVERY. After this delivery, I tried to stay in bed as much as possible, reconnect with my breath, and prioritize nutrients/calories afterwards. I know it’ll make my next marathon buildup a lot better. After your marathon race, take that time to get in your recovery using nutrients, sleep, massage, gentle movement, etc. I’m looking forward to getting back to the grind, but give me a few weeks of baby snuggles.
I think the main thing to keep in mind with how this relates to running a marathon is the power of the mind. I focused on my breath throughout the entire labor. Yes, there was pressure. Yes, there was some pain but I was able to get through it by focusing on breathing affirmations, and calling upon a higher power. I marathon, I truly believe that the mind can accomplish more than we might think we can. I think that physical preparation is essential, but it is really made complete when we have that strong mental game.
Just because I’m curious- for those of you who have run a marathon and given birth, which one was harder?
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