Back in business after birthing
Yesterday was the first time I attempted to ride since giving birth. Robert was booked in for his first visit to the crèche at our gym. I had booked a one hour slot to take my first real step towards repairing my body and reclaiming my fitness.
It actually turned out to be a 45 minute slot, because Robert took longer over a feed than I expected, and then filled his nappy right before I was about to set off. With a newborn, experience tells me that you have to shrug off 5 or 10 minutes late here and there, or you’ll go mad. C’est la vie! Babies don’t respect schedules.
I arrived at the row of wattbikes on the gym floor for the first time since 21 July 2018 (yes, my last wattbike session was a LE-JoG training session!) with more than a little trepidation. It was 14 weeks since I folded my Brompton up for the last time (at 35 weeks pregnant), and I haven’t sat on a saddle since. What I have done is to give birth: to a 10lb 5oz whopper of a baby. Without wishing to be graphic, that leaves you with some healing to do!
I turned the pedals for 20 minutes before my body told me that enough was enough. I might have been able to tolerate longer on my own bike - the Wattbike pro saddle isn’t a particularly comfortable sit for me on the best of days. Its nose is too long and it’s entirely unforgiving. The lack of airflow around the bikes was also unpleasant, as I am still stuck in the post pregnancy hot flushes as my hormones readjust to “normal”. But to dwell on the negative isn’t helpful.
It would be easy to get downhearted about the fact that 20 minutes of slow pedalling was enough to have me crying out for mercy when relatively recently my body was fit enough to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats, but I am not going to do that to myself. No selfies to go with this post - I’m not doing that to myself either (or to you, dear reader!)
No, my body isn’t yet up to the sporting endeavours of previous years. Yes, that is frustrating, but it’s not the end of the world. My body is kind of busy nourishing a new human. I can’t expect it to be prioritising QOMs. Fitness can (and will) be rebuilt, but not in a single day.
Wattbikes - I’ll be back. Same time next week?