Fit Mama Friday – Meet Heidi

Meet Heidi

This week on Fit Mama Friday, meet Heidi, a soon-to-be-mama and blogger at Idlehide. Heidi is pregnant with her first child with husband Kenny, a little boy they’re expecting in January 2014. Heidi, a Canadian, has the NYC Marathon on her bucket list and I’ve told her when she gets in, I will be there cheering for her! (I love that Heidi has her bucket list on her blog – she crosses off events and experiences as they happen. It’s such a cool idea!) This is the first time I’ve featured a mama-to-be on Fit Mama Friday and I’m excited for Heidi to share in her guest post how she is staying active, fit and healthy throughout her pregnancy. It’s such an important start to being a fit mama!

 

Hi to all the readers of Fine Fit Day! Carly asked me to do a post for Fit Mama Friday and I was so excited to say yes. I love connecting with new mama-to-be’s and learn new things from them. Being a first time mama myself, I have lots to learn and am certainly open to advice and little tricks of the trade.

My name is Heidi and I blog over at Idlehide, a place where I write about my life which includes my hubby Kenny, border collie Sadie, (anti-social) cat Maggie, running and pretty much life in general! I am a dental hygienist and we live in Halifax, Nova Scotia. P.S. That is in Canada 😉

My husband and I are expecting our little boy on January 20, 2014 and we are seriously so excited. His little big kicks keep reminding me that he is growing and becoming more active. One thing that puts him right to sleep is going for a run. He must like the bouncing nature of running because he’s pretty quiet for a couple of hours afterwards. I am loving this time of my life, being pregnant has been an overall enjoyable experience for me so far!

I’ve been fairly active for most of my life, more so after I settled down in Halifax, though. I really started running back in 2007-2008 when I ran my first official 10K race. That was it – hooked. I then started training for a half…and then I kept training for half marathons until this year when I ran my first full marathon (about a month before baby came into the picture). 😉 Running my first marathon was an amazing experience. I’m not going to lie, it was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, but it was an amazing feeling to cross that finish line and be able to call myself a marathoner. Hmm, I like how that sounds! One word of advice?  Maybe don’t choose the Oakland Running Festival as your first full…there are easier ones out there! (the hills of Halifax couldn’t have prepared me for those Northern Californian hills!) 😉

During my pregnancy, I have been maintaining my exercise routines and have been running a bit. I was overly cautious at the beginning so I lost my distance and only feel comfortable with 5-6 km runs because I want to play it safe. I was determined to run a half marathon while pregnant, but maybe next pregnancy I will be a bit braver! 🙂

One of the challenges with keeping up with exercise while pregnant is the fact that I get tired so easily and my back has been giving me trouble. If you can imagine- being a hygienist while pregnant isn’t always the easiest/best thing on your back. Thank goodness for Chiropractors! I try to push through my tiredness and work out even if I don’t always feel like it because I know how good it feels to get a sweat on.

My diet has remained the same, except I drink less coffee. I hope to maintain this after my baby arrives. Too much caffeine is never a good thing and I love that I only need one if it’s cold out and I want a cozy drink. My diet is fairly healthy overall and we don’t indulge too much on “bad” food. Well, lately I love chips & salsa and gummy candy. Everything in moderation, right?!

My upcoming goals (after baby of course) include training for a full marathon next year. I am going to apply for the NYC Marathon again and let’s hope I’m one of the lucky hopefuls! That is a major bucket-list item and it would be good timing for after baby, it will give me enough time to recover and heal before getting back into running/exercise again (I’m just a tad envious of all the PR’s I’ve been seeing during this fall racing season) However, I’m totally happy to be taking it easy though for our little boy…who I cannot wait to meet in just under 3 months!

Questions:

1. Did you run through pregnancy/do you plan on it?
2. What were some of your favorite things about being pregnant?
3. What was your plan for getting in shape after baby?

 

Thank you so much for your guest post on Fit Mama Friday, Heidi! I’m so excited for you to meet your little man next year – I’m sure he will be a runner just like his fit mama! 😉 You can follow Heidi on Twitter: @idlehide, and on Instagram: @heidi_o_brien and of course, check out her blog, Idlehide!

 

 Do you want to be featured on Fit Mama Friday? Or do you know someone you’d like to see featured? Please contact me for details!