Opinions wanted from the Ladies of the forum

[Dirty Toes Joe]

I finally got my wife out the door in Vibrams. She did a mile and loved it! I can't get her to go barefoot....yet. {Everything is going according to plan....whuhhahahahhahaha}

She's a month out from her third C-section, so now was excellent time to start running in the VFFs, since she hasn't been running for several months and will have to build up her mileage again. I was able to help her on basic form questions, but there are a few things that I cannot help her with.

1. Bouncing. She said she had a lot more than she had with regular shoes, which I told her I thought could be attributed to form, and that it would get better as her form improved. That's true, right? I remember the "boob wobble" topic, but oddly enough, I don't remember anything specific.....must not have seemed relevant to me at the time. She's also in the market for a new bra, but I think that's being covered in the brafree running post. Feel free to leave a recommendation here, though, if you've got experience running with 36D-ish jumblies while breastfeeding.

2. Running skirts. She'd like to try one. I would also like her to try one. Any recommendations? Any to stay away from?

Thanks girls!

 

[fetish4running]

I can't really offer up any

I can't really offer up any help since I don't have any of those problems. But I wanted to say that I think it's really great that you're being so helpful and supportive; it's no easy task getting back into shape after having babies!

 

[Norm Deplume]

 1. Yes, a light stride and

1. Yes, a light stride and better form will help bounce & wobble. However, her postpartum body will have extra issues in that area for a couple of months until everything starts to come back together. Pregnancy really changes the nature of ligaments throughout the body.



2. I have a skirt from Runningskirts.com and it's really nice.
I also have an okay one from Kohls-- it's fine from a structural standpoint, but its one pocket is too small for anything useful. It would hold a flashdrive like no one's business.
I love Target's running shirts, but the one skirt I tried last summer had some really unfortunate seams. I returned it after wearing it about 5 minutes. They might have fixed their seam issues in the last year, but it's definitely something to be careful of.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I was going to say the same

I was going to say the same thing about a post-pregnancy/post-c-section body. Everything is going to feel awkward for a few more weeks. Most doctors don't even recommend exercise for at least 6 weeks after a natural birth and 8 weeks after a c-section.

I like that you got her out the door in a pair of VFFs though. That's cool. I'm trying to get my hubby to try a pair.

Congrats again on the precious new baby, Joe. How's it going? Getting much sleep?

 

[barefoot.zumba.runner]

I'm with the other ladies,

I'm with the other ladies, definitely taking it slow for the first few mos and keeping a light stride should help with the bounce factor. I've liked Freya Active Underwire bras, great control. Though with nursing, she may want to try the soft cup ( I never had issues with underwire while nursing, but some Moms do).

Running skirs, I have a champion one I got on sale brand new for $5 at a Goodwill. So far so good. I don't have anything to compare it to though. I'm not one to spend more than $20 on individual peices of exercise clothing.



Congrats to you both on your newest arrival and to her for getting out there

 

[Dirty Toes Joe]

Thanks for the replys so far,

Thanks for the replys so far, ladies. As for excercise - the nurses told her 4 to 6 weeks. She is jumping in a little early, but she has also healed up really well. She knows to stop if anything feels wrong. She picked up a skirt on clearance tonight at Meijer (think one or two rungs up from Walmart on the socio-economic ladder - not that we're above Walmart, though). She's gonna try it tomorrow.

TJ - Things are going great. Lilly sleeps at least 5 hours at a time at night - Tiffany usually has to wake her up to feed her. She usually eats around 10:00pm, again at 4, and again at 7 or so. That's pretty much been her schedule since she came home from the hospital. No complaints here!

Zumba - It was easy to get her out there. It's harder to hold her back. She really liked the vibrams and wants to go further than a mile. She was running 3-4 miles 5 or 6 times a week before this baby - it's killing her to stop at 1.

 

[jschwab]

We had sleepers, too - it's

We had sleepers, too - it's hard for folks who never had through the night sleepers to imagine how much easier it is to do stuff and heal up. We had it cushy (all of them did 8 hours overnight by 6 weeks). I think running will help with healing, but going slow is really important. You could try googling nursing sports bra - there must be a few. Good places to check out bras are www.herroom.com and www.ladygrace.com. She might not need a nursing bra while running, but just something that doesn't make her crazy. On here http://www.fitmaternity.com/maternity-clothes/b2.html I thought the Melinda bra looked like it might work.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Bunch of braggers!  Must be

Bunch of braggers! Must be nice. Both my boys did not sleep through the night for the longest time. I'm still trying to catch up on sleep, and my youngest will be 4 in just over a month. Enjoy the break, Joe. You all deserve it anyway.

 

[Norm Deplume]

Barefoot TJ wrote:Bunch of

Bunch of braggers! Must be nice. Both my boys did not sleep through the night for the longest time. I'm still trying to catch up on sleep, and my youngest will be 4 in just over a month. Enjoy the break, Joe. You all deserve it anyway.

I looked like :tired: for about 3.5 years after my younger child was born. I'm always a little jealous of those parents who get to sleep regularly.



Let us know how her skirt works out. I'm not a fan of paying a zillion dollars for running clothes, either. And I really prefer skirts to shorts.

 

[barefoot.zumba.runner]

haha, I'm in the non-sleepers

haha, I'm in the non-sleepers crew here too. We're struggling with our 7yr old waking up throughout the night right now Sleep was really horrid during that first year for all of them.

Joe, I bet it's hard to hold back at 1mi. That's were some good discipline comes in handy. Maybe some lower impact workouts (belly dance is awesome, swimming, strength training, bike etc) paired with her runs would help her feel more satisfied with her workouts? One thing you may want to have your dw consider is making sure she is wearing the right size bra. She'll want the majority of the support to come from the band, NOT the straps or cups. A good snug band is crutial. Good rule of thumb when moving up and down band sizes, is that if you move down a band size you move up a cup and visa versa.

Schwab, great resources. Those are all bookmarked over here in my "for the boobs section in my bookmarks" LOL, I'm always looking for good online bra resources. Though nothing beats being able to go to the store to try them on first. Sigh, something I don't have the luxury of being able to do very easily. I agree with you on her not necessarily needing a nursing bra while running, since it's likely she won't be nursing while running

Some other good online stores:

www.barenecessities.com/

breakoutbras.com/

www.figleaves.com/us/

www.biggerbras.com/

 

[barefoot.zumba.runner]

Also, another interesting tid

Also, another interesting tid bit of info. I never did this because I stumbled upon the site after I was done nursing. Here's a page on how to convert your regular bra to a nursing bra www.mamasworldwide.com/2009/02/07/how-to-make-a-regular-bra-into-a-nursing-bra/

 

[peacekaren]

Lots of good advice already

Lots of good advice already given. My added suggestion is that she feed the baby and/or pump from both sides immediately before going on a run. It will greatly reduce the weight she's carrying up there.



Congrats on the new baby!



Peace,

Karen

 

[BFWendyBird]

  I love love love my running

I love love love my running skirts! Most of mine are from Target, but I have two from the Lucy.com outlet that are my favorites.

Bouncing too much? Have her bend her knees more and lower her center of gravity. If she is bouncing a lot she is wasting energy.

The only bra I can think of to suggest are the Danskin High Impact bras (available at Wal-Mart) one of the styles is a zipper front which makes it easy to get on and off. The best tip I ever got about running bras is to make sure the bra does not stretch when pulled from top and bottom, if it does, there is nothing to keep boobs from bouncing. They can stretch side to side for comfort, but not up and down.

Since I didn't start running until my youngest was 8, I can't speak on the post partum running stuff, but good for her getting out there!

 

[Dirty Toes Joe]

She ended up finding a

She ended up finding a running skirt at Meijer - she loves it. In fact, she wore it for half the day yesterday after her run, because it was so comfortable. She looked for those Danskin bras at Walmart - they were out of her size.

She said she didn't bounce as much - almost not at all - during her run yesterday, so she's getting the form down a little better.

Thank you all so much for the information!