A look back: 1st & 2nd trimester

Here's a little write about my pregnancy.
​Being pregnant has been a wild experience. From seeing two lines on a test, to see a mini human on a screen, who supposably is inside of me, to then feel this little human moving and kicking around. What the h(b)elly, it’s crazy that the female body can do this (with a bit of help from a man yea). 

Before I start, thanks for being here, and reading along. You’re probably reading this because you’re interested in pregnancies, pregnant, or perhaps having a partner that potentially could be. But I just want you to know, that this is my experience, and pregnancies comes in their own unique way. And I'm still not finished :)

​We’re in Nove Mesto Na Morave, I had gotten the opportunity to do a world cup. I felt great leading into the event and actually also doing the race itself, but I had a feeling something was different inside of me. On Monday when we got home, I took a test and realized that’s maybe why things had felt a little different. Because things were different. 

The first 3 month I felt quite normal, I saw myself as an incredible lucky individual, knowing how ill some women get. Training wise I could keep an average of 14hours of training per week, with intensities, I couldn’t handle more though, because I had to nap a lot, and my recovery time went up. Around two months pregnant I won the national title on the marathon distance. I felt great on the day, and I was so proud of my body. Should I have won the tandem category instead?

​An intersting thing I observed on my watch was that my resting HR went 10-15 beats up, after only a few weeks and it haven’t gone down since. Meanwhile my HRV did actually stay in ‘green’ in its quote-on-quote normal zone, and has just now dropped complete into the red zone. Which I think will be like that for the next months.

I felt a bit nauseas and I saw the power to HR on my Garmin had been very different to normal. That day I realized it was time for a new normal. ​

A couple of weeks later I also attended a gravel race, The Octopus, but there I decided to let the distance (6,5hours), be the challenge and not the intensity, again I felt goood. ​

Heading into the 2rd trimester I felt a shift. I went out to do an interval session, 4x10 minutes sweet-spot/low threshold, a training zone I had felt quite good about for the past weeks, but that day was different. I had for weeks not looked at power output, only heart rate, but that day my heart rate went up to 180bpm within the first minute without I felt it in my legs really. 
​Normally I need to puuuush to reach 180bpm, but that day it felt different. I tried to slow down the pace, but I was still determined to finish the training. When I got home, I felt a bit nauseas and I saw the power to HR on my Garmin had been very different to normal. That day I realized it was time for a new normal. 

So, in the second trimester I was done with the structured training and went completely on feel and mood (and sunshine). I went down to 11 hours of training/moving per week on average and without any intensities, just me having a good time. Now also including hiking, beside the riding. Luckily, I still felt great on my bike, even on the mountain bike. Felt so comfortable and strong, it was great. ​

​And also, somehow freeing? Well, both freeing and scary. Freeing because this trimester took the pressure of performance off my shoulders, but somewhat scary because who am I when my life is not centered around training and racing? 
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Who am I when my life is not centered around training and racing? ​

​I was and I am forced to slow down and live life at a slower pace. Makes me feel incredible restless, but I deep down think it’s an opportunity for me to learn. Coming to peace with the fact that my fitness curve and my weight curve is going steadily in two opposite direction and that is exactly how it’s supposed to be. 

People asked me how it felt to step away from the World Cup circuit in the beginning of the year, was it difficult? Yea it was strange. But it felt like the best thing I could have done for myself. I must say, getting pregnant as an athlete has for me been a mentally much harder challenge. That really puts your athletic identity under pressure. Who is this version of Malene? Who suddenly can’t just ride here, there, go racing anywhere. She needs extra snacks on demand, nap constantly and needs to sit down whenever it’s possible. Which now when I read it sounds a lot like an athlete, haha, but trust me it’s not the same.  

​I’m now in my 3rd trimester and I know I’m on the home stretch. It might just be the countdown to the biggest athletic event of my life. Which preparation does not consist of Vo2Max killer intervals, for a change, haha. 
​So as of today, with a resting heart rate as low as 63bpm, I’m sitting here in front of my word document, and it felt great to write this. I was so unsure about what I should share. But maybe I would have liked to read this 6 months ago and that’s what matters. 

​There is a Malene 2.0 version coming next year, mum and athlete, and I have come to the conclusion that I’m so excited to meet her. Hope she will be cool. 
Lots of love
Malene

Still able to ride the Bike Park at 3,5 months!