Why it's OK to run when you are pregnant

 

Many top sportswomen continue training - and even competing - after they get pregnant. A new report commissioned by the International Olympic Committee confirms there are fewer risks than you might think.

On 20 March 1983, the Norwegian long-distance runner Ingrid Kristiansen took her place at the starting line of the World Cross Country Championship in Gateshead, England.
For the past couple of weeks she had been feeling a little tired, which she put down to jet lag from two recent trips to the US. She was still one of the favourites to win though, having come first in the Houston marathon a couple of months earlier.
But to her surprise, that isn't what happened.
"The first lap I was the last of the Norwegians, and my coach didn't understand anything," she recalls. She managed to overtake her compatriots but still finished a disappointing 35th.

"My coach's wife was sitting, looking at the television. And she called her husband afterwards, and she asked him, 'Is Ingrid pregnant?'
"I think it was the way I was running. Maybe I was a little bit heavier in the upper body, I'm not sure. But she saw it."
Kristiansen soon confirmed that she was pregnant - by almost five months. That meant she'd won the Houston marathon pregnant, with a time of two hours 33 minutes.
Female athletes often have irregular menstrual cycles, so it's not uncommon for them to become pregnant without knowing. Over the years, at least 17 women have competed at the Olympics pregnant.

 

 

Pregnant women have improved temperature regulation (which is why they may sweat more) and greater cardiovascular capacity. Hormonal changes may mean they feel more flexible in their joints, and an increase in the concentration of red blood cells means they can carry more oxygen around their bodies.
Studies indicate that elite athletes who train during and after pregnancy may see a 5-10% increase in their maximal oxygen consumption in the months after giving birth, though this was not observed in recreational athletes.
Rather than dispensing a list of technical dos and don'ts, Bo has a simple message for pregnant women athletes: listen to your body. If you do something that feels wrong, it's probably best to stop.
"The few studies that we have, they show that pregnant athletes are reducing the intensity and the frequency of training by themselves," says Bo. "This happens when your tummy is growing and you can feel the child jumping up and down with you - it doesn't feel very good."

                            

Pregnancy and training: Four tips
Prof Kari Bo believes women athletes are their own best judges when it comes to training during pregnancy - but she has a few tips:

• For the first trimester (12-week period) it's best to avoid getting too hot, so consider wearing light clothing, exercising in air-conditioned environments, and refraining from strenuous exercise on the hottest days

• Female weight-lifters should probably reduce the weight they lift, since it may increase blood pressure, stop blood flow to the foetus and strain the pelvic floor

• Scuba diving is not advisable during pregnancy, and women in their final trimester may also wish to avoid participating in sports such as football or hockey where they may have a fall or collision
• A small study of Olympic athletes showed that blood flow to the foetus was reduced when the mother exercised above 90% of maximal oxygen consumption - in practice this means that moderate exercise in training is fine, but pregnant women should refrain from maximal efforts during endurance training