BOOTCAMP BLOG – MUMS ON THE RUN PART 3

Week 3 - If you are looking at this for the first time, please look at previous posts (Just click on the headings to the right). If you are chomping at the bit to get started, read all three post in one go. You can then start on week 3 NOW - It just means having to be a bit more gun ho about your approach…

So no procrastinating or getting bogged down on whether you have the time, motivation or inclination - as that well known marketing slogan says, 'Just do it'. Or perhaps you'd be persuaded more by another well known marketing buzz line...'It's the real thing', 'Nothing acts faster than...', 'The power to be your best' (It's big honest - look it up!), 'We try harder', 'The better way to fly', 'Vorsprung durch technik' or may be... 'Whooooah body form'...All of these work equally well for MUMS on the RUN, kind of. Anyway, I'll promise to stop wasting valuable blog space if you get your pieds on the plod, NOW.

This week you are again looking to do three slots. You are however going to add another minute to each cycle, i.e. 2 minutes running, 3 minutes walking. You are also, for one of your runs, going to make it longer. This is the run that you do on the weekends, the one where you have a bit of extra time, the one that goes hand in hand with a pain au chocolat, fresh brewed coffee and the Sunday papers. Oh sorry I forgot, that was before we had children! Well anyway, you know what I mean. This run is going to get longer, much longer. For now make it at least 25 minutes. Here's your schedule this wee...

Run No. 1 - 5 minute warm up (see post 2) , run for 2 minutes, walk 3 and repeat for 20 minutes, cool down and stretch (see post 2).

Run No 2 - as above

Run No 3 - 5 minute warm up (see post 2) , run for 2 minutes, walk 3 and repeat for 25 minutes, cool down and stretch (see post 2).

Your other focus this week is to add a thought, or several thoughts actually, to your pelvic floor. Starting to run and not paying attention to this very important muscle is nonsensical. It's like flying without wings or should I just say trying to run before you can walk. Here's the thing...Our pelvic floor muscles are responsible for supporting the spine and pelvis. They also act when you cough, sneeze and perform a variety of bodily functions. Unfortunately, after babies, they tend to be, like everything else, on the saggy side. There are a number of factors I could bleat on about here but to turn this into a positive, if you work on your pelvic floor NOW, not only is it going to stop you peeing your pants when you least expect it, it's going to support your pelvis and make you a better runner! Most important of all, by connecting more strongly to your pelvic floor muscles, you are going to get a better connection to your deep abdominal muscle. This muscle is not the one you see on the front of Men’s Health Magazine (although you do have one of those too, yes really!). Your deep abdominal muscle is the one that lies underneath, like a corset around your middle. The pelvic floor and your deep abdominal muscle, called the Transversus Abdominis, work on the same nerve response so pull up your pelvic floor and your tummy will come in too. This is, without doubt – And I have had over 20 years to work this one out - is the BEST way to work on flattening your stomach! See I told you MUMS on the RUN was going to be soooo good for you!

Your target this week therefore, as well as your three runs, is to work on your pelvic floor muscle, every day by doing the following, any time, any where - At the bus stop, stuck in traffic, or my particular favourite, whilst at a very boring dinner party, just make sure you are sitting up tall...

Pelvic floor Exercise - visualise your pelvic floor muscle running from your pubic bone at the front to your tail bone at the back like a hammock strung between the two. Imagine you could pull these two points together like a peg being closed. Focus on this, feeling as you aim to draw the muscle together and then pull it up inside you. Your tummy should come in at the same time. Relax, then repeat, 10 times. Do this every day, 3 x a day without fail. You should be doing it right now!

Good luck and I will speak to you next week and don’t forget to let me know how you are doing. You can tweet me, www.twitter.com/janewake.

MUMS on the RUN has been created and written by Jane Wake, the UK’s leading authority in exercise for mums and mums to be. Check out her recently released ,Baby A-Wake Complete Antenatal and Postnatal Exercise and Wellbeing DVD.