Should my pregnant wife continue to train?

1 - congrats

2 - talk to a knowledgable OB that you like. Not a message board

My son's mother (no longer with her) ran a 2 second 5k PR about 7 weeks into pregnancy. She had about the same PRs as your wife. As far as I know, there's nothing wrong with training during pregnancy. Although eventually, she'll need to lay off (obviously). I'm not a doctor, but I don't think there's anything wrong with training during early pregnancy. Just a common man's opinion. Congrats, and good luck.

ask a doctor if she can switch to an exercise with less impact on the joints like bicycle riding or going on an elliptical machine.

in my opinion, going down hills or possibly tripping over the curb could be possible dangers if your wife has gained weight and has to adjust her balance.

My former coaches wife (with a 5K Pr in low 17s) was still winning local races when she was 7 months preganant and still running until a few days before giving birth. Their son is now 13 and is winning races of his own.

Any doctor who tells her she should not run at all either needs to be fired or give a really good medical reason. Obviously, at some point she will need to slow down and reduce mileage, but when and by how much will be dependant on how she feels how her body changes and what her training was like before getting pregnant. I suggest googling Paula Radcliffe and Kara Goucher who both recently went through pregnancies and ran through them.

My wife and I are expecting out second child in 30 days, and my wife "trained" through both pregnancies, but the definition of training was vastly adjusted. My wife has never had an affinity towards speed work, but the hour long tempo was her bread and butter and it shows as her 5k PR was 19:02 but she ran 1:27 on a challenging HM rout.

For both pregnancies she toned down intensity, but not time. She kept everything in the aerobic range (as recommended by both of our doctors) and worked out 0:45 to 1:30 a day all the way through. As the baby takes up space in the abdomen, the ladies ability to take in o2 decreases, so the pace gets quite a bit slower to stay in the aerobic range. With the first kid, this was a humbling experience for my wife, but with the second kid she's just happy to get out.

For the most part she ran, but the running turns into a shuffle as it gets less comfortable around 7.5 months, then swimming and biking takes over, and now she goes on some brisk hikes in the mountains, but other than that she is exclusively swimming and biking. With the inability to see her feet at this point, and the weird center of gravity, running has started to scare her that she'll fall down.

When we talked to our doctors about it, they both said there's quite a bit of research that states aerobic exercise improves cognitive development of the fetus, but anaerobic exercise can impede it.

Basically, it's not time for PRs, and exercise will take on a bit of a new meaning, and the value will also change, but the more active she can be, the more comfortable she will also be later on in the pregnancy. She'll also have less problems with blood sugar and consequently morning sickness, and our doctor also said activity helps with the ankle swelling stuff.

Congrats!

what's the point? As the pregnancy develops she is likely to become more fatigued. a few more weeks, say around weeks 13-15, significant changes will start to occur in her body that will effect her running. Around 20-25 her midsection will grow a lot and put added stress in areas she isn't used to. After that being pregnant becomes pretty awkward and demanding.

I just don't know why you'd bother training hard for something during this period. I would think she will be happier just running in general without the stress of training for something. Running good for the baby and the mom. She should just try and be comfortable with herself and enjoy growing a child.

I am not an expert, this is an opinion. goodbye

I'm currently 6 months pregnant, with similiar PR's to your wife, and all three OB's that I've had appointments with strongly recommend I continue running. Dr. Clapp's book is excellent - and that can give you (and her!) some scientific reasoning and recommendations. Personally, I've run every day so far of my pregnancy (albeit slower!) and I no longer do any track or hill work, but once a week I'll run a "modified" tempo run of 3 or 4 miles. The body just naturally slows down, but it is still so enjoyable just to get out there! Congrats, and good luck!

I agree that moderate-to-easy paced aerobic exercise would be better than anaerobic. Since she's been running that should be fine, unless she is having a problem gaining weight. I had a miscarriage with my second pregnancy so I was very cautious and basically didn't run during the third pregnancy (which went fine). I'm glad to hear you say that the baby's health is more important :-) You really don't want to deprive that fetus of ANY nutrients that may be compromised by too much exercise. Some doctors recommend being extra cautious (with diet and exercise) for the first 3 months.

Congratulations to you both, and I hope the rest of the pregnancy is smooth sailing!

I'm pregnant (about 7.5 months now) and am also fairly competitive on the running scene. I PRed in the half-marathon while pregnant, before I realized it. With the support of my doctor, I continued running, although I've gradually cut down from 60-70 miles / week pre-pregnancy to mileage in the 50s, then 40s plus walking, and now 30s plus walking. I pretty much immediately stopped any type of "workout," and run easily 100% of the time. That being said, yesterday I was advised to stop exercising completely due to low(er) amniotic fluid levels, which the doctor suspects is being caused by insufficient hydration paired with the relatively significant exercise. (It doesn't help that the temps where I live range from 80-100 degrees with high humidity.)

SO, from my limited experience I would just advise your wife to REALLY hydrate and also just be prepared to go with the flow. I absolutely thought I would be one to run until the day our baby is born, and perhaps with better hydration I'll be able to return to running again pre-birth, but . . . I'm realizing sometimes plans must change. :)

Congratulations, and good luck!

One thing you have to be very, very careful of is that you don't want the fetus to get overheated. No once, not ever.

captainwildcat wrote:

Any doctor who tells her she should not run at all either needs to be fired or give a really good medical reason.

Of course this statement is ridiculous but I guess you sufficiently qualified it with the last seven words.

Every woman is different; every pregnancy is different.

My wife "trained" through the first pregnancy, running up until the 35 week mark. After that it would have been next to impossible. Her stomach was huge.

This time around, she stuck to the elliptical after about 18 weeks.

My older sister is also a runner and ran through 7 months of TWINS! On her third child (2nd pregnancy), she tripped and fell on a run and had a major scare. Her daughter was totally fine, but it made her (and us) realize how insignificant a run is when you are carrying a child. There are other ways of exercising.

We were told by two OBs that anaerobic exercise is a bad idea, so I would refrain from racing and hard workouts. Keep it aerobic and enjoy the pregnancy.

Congratulations!

We are expecting our second child in early Sept after many miscarriages. So my wife (who used to run) is on a no exercise order and had a week of bed rest as well. Now she is on modified bed rest but my point is everyone is different.

I would have her tone down her training signifcantly but not stop. You don't want to have regrets later and nine months is really not that long.

Although my advice really meands nothing compared to your doctor.

YMMV - every woman is going to be a bit different. Some woman can run, and run hard, all the way through and their children have no ill effects. Others are forced to stop at some point during the pregnancy. I knew a 4 time OT qualifier who was forced to stop running for each of her 4 pregnancies - and yet was able to come back and qualify for the trials each time. The fact that she did not train or train hard during the pregnancies did not hold her back. OTOH, some woman who do train have difficulty coming back afterwards because they develop injuries. I was able to run until the day I gave birth to my two oldest, but I could not run comfortably after 30 weeks with my third child. I was able to start running again shortly after birth and had a steady, though not fast, recovery.

My pregnancies were in the 90s, so doctors were just starting to change their recommendations. My own OB called me her "crazy patient" as I continued to run, but she didn't tell me I had to stop - she told me she trusted me to listen to my body. My times were faster than your wife's, and I was 30 with my first. My mileage dropped from 70+ mpw to about 20 over the course of the pregnancy. I only ran at a moderate pace - no speed work once I found out I was pregnant. (Being out of breath and unusually tired were always my first clue of pregnancy). I didn't race, but did do a relay event where I ran 15 miles when I was about 5 months along with the 3rd and it was hard. Of course, that was the pregnancy where I had to stop at 30 weeks.

My advice is for her to listen to her body. If she runs by effort, she can ensure that she isn't running too hard. Naturally, as she gains weight, her times will slow down, and she probably will need to reduce her mileage - but those things will happen naturally.

She should be running to get some exercise and stay fit - not to improve times. As I noted before, hard training during pregnancy does not guarantee a quick recovery, but I think staying fit and healthy does. She doesn't want to injure herself running hard with the extra weight and I'm sure you don't want to injure your child by needlessly depriving him/her of oxygen.

Listening to her body when recovering from pregnancy is important too. While she may have big plans to jump back into racing and training, she will be limited by what her body is capable of doing. Coming back too hard or fast can result in injuries. Note that Paula Radcliffe is experiencing that right now.

Your wife is really young and should bounce back well. As long as she listens to her body and uses common sense, she should be fine. The adjustments to her training will happen pretty naturally.