D-Day
Our baby girl , Grace , was born on 30th November 2020 . It was a relatively speedy and straightforward process , and I was in active labour for only seven hours . She was placed on my chest , and I was hit with a wave of emotions – it was instant love .
I ’ ll save you the gory details , but I lost more than two litres of blood during delivery and was rushed to surgery . The long and short of this meant that my recovery took longer than hoped , but there was no rush to return to training ; after all , I ’ d just spent the past nine months expanding , which concluded with a monumental endurance event .
I stepped back on my board on a chilly January morning around four weeks after Grace ’ s arrival but not for long as we were then faced with lockdown # 2 . So instead , I remained active with Grace – doing long wintery walks and following CARiFiT , a baby wearing workout , which just so happens to work the major muscle groups used for paddleboarding . Think of it as a HITT session wearing a weighted vest that gets heavier over time !
Between nappy changes and feeding , I populated my diary with SUP races , which in some ways was like trying to pin jelly on the wall as no one had visibility as to when restrictions would be lifted , regardless it was important to set a direction of travel .
Motivation
My motivation to return to racing never really went away . I had three aims : 1 ) To maintain my strength and fitness prenatally as best as possible ; 2 ) To be as strong as possible for the birth ; and , 3 ) To progressively regain my paddling form and fitness to enable me to return to racing postnatally .
With early season staple races such as Head of the Dart ( HoTD ) and the Cardiff International White Water Paddlefest ( CIWW ) postponed , the first race back was Battle of The Thames ( BoTT ) 2021 . At this point , I was six months postpartum . I ’ d never been as nervous about being on the start line – I guess we were all a little anxious as there hadn ’ t been any racing for over a year . However , my sweaty palms and butterflies were more to do with the apprehension of my new status as a mummy – was I as strong as before having Grace ? Did I still have it in me to race ?
The race went well . I placed second behind the marvellous Marie Buchanan and was ecstatic with my result ; I gave the race all I could . I stepped onto the podium with Grace feeling exceptionally proud – my achievement was sweeter and more meaningful as a parent .
Post-natal but not for long
The BoTT was a great confidence and motivational boost and was a good marker for knowing my form and fitness were heading in the right direction . With that first race under my belt , I had the confidence to sign-up for ‘ The Norfolk Ultra ’ ( 72km ) in mid-July as a non-stop event . This helped me to focus my training and justified the need to do some longer paddles within the limits of the time available . To achieve the training effect of a long-distance paddle , I trained fatigued , which meant consecutive training days of 2-3 hours per session , with some bursts thrown in for good measure .
I had a great race . My focused training paid off , and my nutrition plan worked well – I maintained a good pace for the race , and I rolled in the first lady at 9 hours and 19 minutes , which put me in second place overall . Not bad , considering I was unaware that I was pregnant for the SECOND time !
Yes , you read that right . Yet again , another phase of mental and physical adjustment was ahead , but the situation felt less daunting this time . I knew that the return to form and fitness was possible ; it was more a question of how the logistics would work – after all , with two-under-two , it would inevitably be a juggling act .
With my second baby due in March 2022 , I was now in a mode of making the most of my freedom . I was determined to get as much paddling time racked up , especially as the third trimester would be in the chillier months of the year , which in the end , forced me off the water for safety reasons .
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