My Leadbaby

I embrace the Leadville mentality to “dig deep-you’re tougher than you think you are, you can do more than you think you can!” However, finding out I was pregnant four months into my training for the Leadwoman race series made the mental tenacity needed to complete such a challenge seem like an unlikely goal. While I am already a “geriatric pregnancy” by OB standards and don’t have a lot of fresh eggs left to create my beautiful 4-year old a baby sister, the timing frustrated me somewhat since I had already put so much work into training. I already felt the satisfaction of doing back to back long runs easily without pain or week-long recoveries. I felt ready to begin the series. Though I could no longer push myself to the extreme physically, I could participate at a lower-than-max intensity and do the best I could.

Judgment from virtual strangers and friends alike slammed me over and over when mentioning the Leadwoman venture I was continuing to contemplate doing while pregnant. As any mother knows, unsolicited parenting advice abounds about everything that you are clearly doing incorrectly. While most didn’t have any actual medical knowledge, they insisted I was going to cause a miscarriage and would never forgive myself. I stopped telling people I was pregnant because I didn’t want to deal with the judgment. And kept running.

As an Emergency Department physician, avid rock climber, trail runner, ski mountaineer and Wilderness Medicine aficionado, I consider myself more comfortable with calculated risk than many others. Guidelines for pregnancy are very conservative, often based on nothing but opinion. I read every scientific article on exercise during pregnancy. Historical recommendations to limit exercise during pregnancy based on the theoretical risk of preterm labor have proven unfounded. Current recommendations support that continuing pre-pregnancy exercise levels throughout pregnancy is not only safe, but decreases your risk for back pain, diabetes and preeclampsia. The altitude studies are likewise reassuring; for short-term exposures to high altitude during pregnancies, there does not appear to be any increased risk of complications. Basically, the baby is a parasite, taking what it needs before you get what you need. So, if you feel good, your baby is probably fine.

I completed the marathon, the first event in the Leadwoman series at 9 weeks of pregnancy. I kept my heart rate below 140 the whole time, eating and hydrating much more carefully than my typical haphazard style. My training had been suffering a bit with fatigue and morning sickness, but exercise consistently made me feel better, not worse. I listened to my body and kept training, just not to the intensity I had hoped. I quit my training program with Travis Macy, Leadman 2013 winner because I couldn’t keep up such a defined regimen. I just went with how I was feeling on that day.

I was fully prepared to drop out of the Silver Rush 50-mile race, which is not a very good mental state to be in at the start of a such long race. But I again felt good. I had to slow down from what I had hoped, to keep my heart rate below 140 and my effort moderate. And I was much hungrier than normal-I ate sandwiches at every aid station. And I peed about 20 times. But, I still finished in just under 11 hours and was still leading the Leadwoman competition.

The Leadville 100 mountain bike race proved more of a challenge. I had just started mountain biking in March since I wanted to do the event. The race was my first bike race ever, and am not quite comfortable descending such steep rocky terrain. I certainly was more cautious than I otherwise would have been, since I didn’t want to fall for fear of hurting my baby, though she is still only turnip-sized and would probably be just fine. While I passed many people on the uphills, they passed me right back on the downs while I played it safe. That combined with several more than normal pee breaks likely cost me the finish-I missed the 12-hour cutoff by 4 minutes.

I’m ready for the 100-mile run this weekend. I don’t know if I will make it. I know I won’t be psychologically willing to push through those walls I will likely hit for the safety of my baby. At 17 weeks, I am 12 pounds up from my pre-pregnancy weight and getting slower by the day. But I will do my best. And either way, my little Leadbaby will have done this crazy mountain adventure with me before she is even born.