Pregnant while training for strenuous physical activity?

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Permalink Reply by Cherylyn on May 17, 2009 at 5:30pm

This would be a really good question for your care provider (midwife or OB) because he or she could best answer it medically for you.

My personal opinion is that you should be able to train for the marathon. When you get pregnant you should be able to continue your exercise regimen as long as you've already established it and your body is used to it. The first trimester of pregnancy is often plagued by morning sickness and exhaustion, so that could affect your ability to train and run, but not necessarily. Every woman's body is different and you can't necessarily predict how your body will react to pregnancy.

Body fat percentage can affect fertility in that very low body fat (like in runners) can sometimes cause a woman's body to ovulate less often. Stress is also a factor, as well as any number of other things. Once again, this is a good question for your care giver.

Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Jessica Shirah Grubea on May 17, 2009 at 6:22pm

Thanks Cherylyn! I guess I figured that my OB would probably give me a really conservative answer, like, don't do it. I did figure that being overly lean would inhibit fertility...although that's not a worry for me, hahah!

Good point about the fatigue affecting my ability to train!

Permalink Reply by amber frederick-birbilas on July 21, 2009 at 4:04pm

Being that you are not a marathon runner already, you should not plan to continue training pregnant. Most experts will suggest that you can continue running, just not adding miles, like in marathon training. Marathon training is intense! Way too much for a little fetus, even if you are in shape already. Elevating your body temp too much can cause a lot of problems for the baby. Most experts say you should be able to maintain comfortable conversation during exercise when pregnant.

I have been a runner for years and was training for my first marathon when I got pregnant. I did a bunch of research and it was an easy decision to put off the race and stick with moderate runs. Talk to your OB or midwife. Good luck with the training and pregnancy!

Permalink Reply by Jessica Shirah Grubea on July 21, 2009 at 6:58pm

thanks for the cautionary advice Amber...my OB thought it was fine, but perhaps runners know best. I definitely won't be training super hard... it would be a huge feat for me to finish in 4 hours or less, prob. next to impossible, so we'll see. I'll prob. wait to get pregnant. I really appreciate the caution, so thanks!