Pregnancy & Running

You should continue to exercise and workout as much as possible. Exercise is healthy for you and the baby. If you are competing in dynamic sprint events or jumping events, you should be monitored closely by a doctor. The intensity level depending on what division you compete and train in can be a safety concern. BEST OF LUCK and stay healthy!

Thank you! I typically train for races anywhere from 5k-half marathon. When I found out I was training to hit an OTQ 2020 marathon time so I was running quite a bit. (70 miles a week) I've cut it down to 30-50 miles w/ mainly aerobic runs. Is increasing the intensity dangerous?

Definitely consult your OBGYN. I've seen where women have had no problem running up to 8.5 months with little/no issues.

Butler Fan wrote:

Definitely consult your OBGYN. I've seen where women have had no problem running up to 8.5 months with little/no issues.

Yeah, I haven't had any issues so far. Everything my Obgyn has told me has been so vague. He said running is fine as long as I'm not killing the intensity.

I had a friend at a similar level to you, she had a otq for 2016. She got pregnant right after her qualifying race. She hoped to maintain as much fitness during her pregnancy, so kept running as much as she felt was comfortable. She was still running about 40mpw through her third trimester, feeling great.

Then she gave birth, normal labor, etc. A few weeks after giving birth she tried getting back into running slowly ramping back up. She ended up constantly fatigued and couldnt get anywhere near where she was even during her pregnancy. She is pretty confident it is because she overdid it during her pregnancy. It is hard to know for sure, all she knows for certain is it has been years and she still isnt near where she was, she gets overtrained at 30mpw now.

I'm all for exercise during pregnancy and there doesnt seem to be much risk to your baby with aerobic exercise, but proceed with caution is my suggestion. You may need to force yourself to do less than you feel you can do. Better to lose some fitness in the second half of your pregnancy than never be able to train at a high level again.

Just my 2 cents

I guess that it's better to ask your doctor for advice. I think that if you feel good, it's ok to do some sport

It's better to consult with your doctor. But I think that everything is ok if you do it moderately. Pregnancy is a great time that requires a lot of attention and responsibility. I work in this field and write some content for https://studymoose.com/teenage-pregnancy to help students. I'm sure if you feel good with exercises, you can proceed with them. If there is some problems or risk, just have a relax.

I'm 4.5 months postpartum. Definitely consult your OBGYN, but find one who isn't so old school that they say "stop running, it's bad for the baby." (Meaning in GENERAL -- obviously, if your specific case calls for stopping for some reason, then stop!). Honestly, I was able to run less than I hoped and less than my runner-friends were. But I had a 10 pound baby - and they had 6-7 pounders! I had to stop running around 33 weeks because it was just too painful and unenjoyable. But that is when my baby was around 6 pounds, so it made sense as to why all my friends were able to run to the end of their pregnancies and II wasn't. One tip: find a good pelvic floor physical therapist and book some appointments - pre-birth to get help with preparing your pelvic floor, and definitely post-birth (probably 6 weeks or so after birth) to begin the repair & recovery process. Good luck!

MarkBerni wrote:

If there is some problems or risk, just have a relax.

Well alrighty here I am munching on some cherry tarts and chicken sausage for breakfast, and I just wanna say that these are some words to live by.

Anybody want a tart? Just have a relax.

Omp omp omp

Butler Fan wrote:Definitely consult your OBGYN. I've seen where women have had no problem running up to 8.5 months with little/no issues.

Why do that when you can get free medical advice from the message boards of this website?

I wasn't quite your level pre-children but I was a 3:01 marathoner and 18 flat road 5k runner. I had a few friends who managed to run through their pregnancies, have a baby, and then run a reasonable marathon within 4-6 months afterwards, so I thought that's where I'd be at too when I was pregnant with my first child. But, pregnancy was really rough for me and it became too painful to run around the 6 month point-I think I was doing about 15-20 mpw at that point and I had to stop altogether. I remember about a month before my due date, I went for a two mile walk with my husband and was in so much pain I could barely move afterward. It was pain in the front of my pelvis, right near my pubic bone. I gained less than 30 lbs so for any of the letsrun assholes who assume I got fat, that was not it.

I ended up with an unplanned c section from HELLP syndrome so it was a pretty traumatic childbirth experience, but the actual recovery from my c section was fine and I tried my first run at about 4 weeks postpartum. That was too early. I think I started up for real at about 6 weeks, but very sparingly.

For my second pregnancy, I very much listened to my body and forced nothing. I was able to run until around 8 months, but that meant 2 miles once a week or so... nothing real and definitely not for training, just sanity if I felt like it. I didn't have that pelvis pain nearly as much and I think that it's because I went very easy on myself. I was able to resume running about 4 weeks postpartum with no issue. Runners learn how to push through a lot of pain, but your body has a much more important job than running right now, so if running doesn't feel good, it's not the time to push through it. I know it's scary to not run because it get intertwined with your identity. But it's definitely not the time to be tough when your body is telling you no.

The other thing to note is that many of the people who do come back right after having a baby end up getting hurt, and not just temporarily hurt, but often permanently hurt. Having a baby is a huge change to your body and proving to everyone how badass you are by running a fast marathon four months after pregnancy is reckless, in my opinion. Look at what happened to Aliphine. I remember reading an article about Deena Kastor who said she didn't run a step after 3 months pregnant. Mary Keitany also took her entire pregnancy off. These people whose job it is to run understand that their longterm health is more important than showing they got their body back or showing that motherhood doesn't slow them down. Also, breastfeeding is way harder than anyone could possibly imagine before they do it. And in my experience, as someone who always carried very little fat, I couldn't lose the last couple pounds until I stopped breastfeeding because my body was hanging onto it for survival.