Episode 116: Reflections on the Arc of Pregnancy as an Endurance Athlete
In this week’s episode, Elena interviews Katie about her reflections on the arc of pregnancy as an endurance athlete at 39 weeks. Katie shares how movement has evolved in the final month, how the role of uncertainty has shifted both mentally and physically, and what she’s learned about identity, intuition, unsolicited advice, body image, and the moral language often attached to pregnancy and motherhood. She also walks through current postpartum intentions, how goals may change once baby arrives, and lessons that extend far beyond pregnancy to any major life or training transition. We also hit Elena’s thoughts on restarting training after a period of low motivation, including the role of flexibility, winter realities, and creating systems that make showing up easier. A key take-home of this episode is that there are a lot of unexpected parallels between pregnancy and endurance training/racing, so we encourage both pregnant and non-pregnant athletes to check it out!
Main content:
Elena:
Restarting after a period of low motivation / low consistency:
Mentally:
“Just start”
“I’ll feel so much better after this”
“That sounds really fun”
Systemically:
Accountability partner– coach, friends, partner, etc.
FOOD
Fun stuff– music, rewards, etc.
Weekly planning
It’s really winter!!
Using xc skiing more as cross training
The season of super flexibility
Katie:
Thoughts on the arc of pregnancy as an athlete at 39 weeks. Sub-topics:
Check in on what activity has looked like in the final month:
Dabbled in running a bit here and there to keep checking in on how it felt, but mostly shifted to uphill treadmill hikes, Harvard stadiums, occasional swim, 3x per week strength
Some low back pain and pelvic pressure making running uncomfortable as baby gets lower
Daily hip mobility and core/breathwork - a routine I have come to love and hope to continue in my return to sport!
Energy levels feel good and honestly rebounded a bit at around 36 weeks after I was feeling them come down from 33-36 weeks!
Which segways into…
Where I’m mentally and physically at now / role of uncertainty:
Cannot understate how helpful mentally it has been for me to eliminate the uncertainty of what the very end of pregnancy would feel like. “We’ve arrived, and it’s not so bad!”
Related: A reminder that feeling bad doesn’t always mean that your physical state is declining / you are only going to feel worse. I found it really hard when I was feeling rough in the first tri, or when I would have a tough-feeling run at 22 weeks pregnant, because I had it in my head that that meant that it was only going to get worse from there. But in reality it appears that I have good days and bad days in regular life and pregnancy. This is a solid reminder for races too - just because you feel bad at mile 2 doesn’t mean you’re going to feel bad at mile 10, and try to not write the narrative of the race (or pregnancy) before it happens.
Mindset also matters -- I am so much more at peace with not running very much or modifying activity down given the gratitude that I made it so far. Big focus on what I can do (a lot!!) and how it makes me feel rather than what I could do before and currently can’t.
Plus it’s cold! Running outside is just not that fun!
Which trimesters were easiest/hardest for me:
Mentally and physically the first tri was rough. A lot of uncertainty about (1) whether baby and pregnancy would be ok, (2) what the pregnancy would look and feel like
Second tri was rough in the beginning with continued nausea to week 17-18, then improved briefly (hello FKT and pregnant prezi), and then tough again due to high LSS. My take home is that LSS is always hard but pregnancy makes it (or anything else semi-hard) extra hard.
And while I did the most objectively cool badass adventures during the second tri, I would want to re-live that the least - hopefully something less likely to happen with lower LSS
Third tri life got simplest and even though physically I was most impacted in terms of movement, I felt safest about baby and most capable for what I could still do, so it’s been a lot better than expected. Main emotion right now is excitement!
Something I say a lot: there was nothing about pregnancy that would make me never ever want to do it again, but holding out to see what next phase is like
Identity discussion:
Something I’ve been reflecting on a lot is how pregnancy creates a situation in which your identity (at least to other people) becomes pregnant woman first, everything else second.
Creates this weird mix of admiration and restriction (kind of badass but also don’t do too much). Encountered a lot of new assumptions about fragility, risk, and responsibility.
Which leads me to…
Thoughts on unsolicited advice, FFTs:
I can’t go to the gym anymore without having someone (who is usually well-intentioned) come up to me with their take (usually positive but sometimes more critical) on what I am doing.
Something about pregnancy seems to make people think they have a right to talk to you and comment on what you’re doing
And when you’re doing something for the first time (FFT!) it’s easier to take that advice seriously or think other people know better than you do. Some probably do (experts, friends who have been through it that you trust, etc.). But some don’t!
My intuition / smell test for advice has gotten much stronger as pregnancy progresses. Reminding myself that while I’m not an expert in pregnancy, I am an expert in my own body while pregnant AND more importantly an expert in listening to my body
Related: interesting that small uncomfortable/new sensations aren’t as scary to me anymore because we made it through and baby is healthy. Before, any new sensation felt so scary because it was new (ab pressure, back pain, etc.) but drawing on experts who can sanity check me on whether X is ok has been super helpful
Shame / language of morality around choices pregnant women make:
Particularly frustrating that a lot of the framing of the unsolicited advice is around what’s right/wrong or what makes you a good/bad mom. This quote from a book I’ve been reading (“Like A Mother”) really struck me:
“If you’ve ever leafed through the pages of a pregnancy guidebook, you know what I’m talking about—the subtle (and not so subtle) finger-wagging implicit in even the most innocuous-seeming advice… ’Scientific research has not yet determined whether cell phone radiation is harmful to mother or baby. Don’t wait for the science to be ‘conclusive.’ Certainly don’t sit around with your tablet or your cell phone propped up on your belly. Even stashing your cell phone in your purse may be too close. Don’t put any plastic containers in the microwave; choose glass or ceramic instead. Think about what is important to you and how you want to honor this very special time in your life. Be a strong ‘mama bear’ and focus on protecting yourself and your baby.’ This attitude isn’t limited to books—just look at the way pregnancy and motherhood are typically portrayed in popular movies and television shows. In American culture, motherhood is inextricably tried to the language of morality. Over and over, the message reinforced to expecting mothers is that there’s a ‘right’ and a ‘wrong’ way to do things. You are supposedly a ‘good mom’ if you abstain from caffeine and alcohol while pregnant, don’t gain excess weight, plan a so-called ‘natural’ childbirth, breastfeed for at least a year, and glow with happiness throughout the whole process.”
This hits harder than someone saying “you should try to do 80/20 to optimize your aerobic base and top-end efficiency.” No one thinks you’re a bad person if you do that. But if you make certain choices in pregnancy or motherhood like “pushing yourself too hard” etc., you’re labeled a bad mom. That can be hard to tune out, especially when other people’s biases about what is easy vs. hard for them intersect with the advice they give.
Body image: arguably the worst part of the unsolicited comments
Body becomes a site of public commentary largely for its appearance
We’ve talked about this on the pod before, but something about pregnancy makes people think they have a right to comment on bodies or that pregnant bodies are widely available for discussion
Quote from Lauren Fleshman: “The picture of me in my racing uniform spread through the larger women’s running community and created an unexpected reaction online. ‘I can’t believe she had a baby three months ago.’ ‘This makes me feel like shit.’ ‘How did she get her body back so fast?’ ‘What’s wrong with my body?’” Women face immense pressure to experience pregnancy like leave-no-trace camping, with the goal being zero evidence on the body that it occurred at all. I felt sick that my photo reinforced that ideal, which was the last thing I wanted. On my blog, I reminded people that the image of me on the runway was one of hundreds of photos taken during that twenty-second walk. It was selected for its lighting and angles and whatever other standards the industry valued, and most likely edited. I posted the runway photo alongside other photos taken around the same time at my home that showed my belly rolled over my waistband, a constellation of dimples on my thigh.”
Want to add some nuance here because I think there is a lot of talk about the unsolicited commentary on weight gain, getting bigger, etc. -- if it’s happening “too soon” or “too early” and all of the fraught emotions that comes with diet culture and emphasis on thinness etc.
But my trajectory was a little different. I had a ton of nausea for almost 20 weeks and for whatever reason my body did not change a lot until well into the 2nd trimester. I was getting constant feedback but it ranged from “you don’t look pregnant at all” to… “you look amazing! / you don’t look pregnant from the back / you’re going to bounce back so fast.
I’m not saying it’s better or worse, but any type of body comments in pregnancy are messed up because:
(1) Body reduced to appearance rather than functionality or lived experience
(2) Doesn’t always match how *you* feel about your body at any given time
(3) Implicit comparison to other pregnant bodies / implicit “right” or “best” way to experience pregnancy
(4) Pressure to maintain a certain image and subtle fear of very natural change over time, or not “bouncing back”
Creates a bit of a pressured situation where your value/success is measured by how fast you can erase the evidence you were pregnant. Very toxic for anyone, but especially so for athletes where body image is so fraught to begin with
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: just don’t comment on appearance, only functionality. Or don’t comment at all
And reminder that weight gain or appearance in pregnancy and in life is influenced by MANY uncontrollable factors including: genetics, maternal metabolism, hormones, medical conditions, medications, etc.
In pregnancy, how someone’s body looks or doesn’t look should never ever be boiled down to exclusively lifestyle or nutrition choices (and this is a truism for life too)
Postpartum goals and intentions:
Grateful to have a pelvic floor PT who has outlined all of this for me! If all goes well with L&D, progression will be light and short walks (C will carry baby!) and some breath work to start, then folding in light spinning and bodyweight strength at 2-3 weeks, swimming at maybe 4 weeks and slightly more weights, progress the strength and do some impact testing with PT, then hopefully running 8-10 weeks.
BUT want to stay open to capabilities and goals/intentions shifting once baby is here. I may just want to hang out with baby a lot and not feel rushed to get back into things on a plan
Interesting example of goals shifting for Skye Moench postpartum:
What I thought I would want after having my baby:
Get back to my pre-pregnancy fitness, results, and racing schedule.
Hire a full-time nanny to take care of my baby so I can train 20-30hrs a week + recover to accomplish my athletic goals.
Retain all my sponsors for next year after showing them I was still a high performing athlete.
Quit breastfeeding after 6 months so I can feel better and “get my body back.”
What I have actually ended up wanting:
More time and energy for my baby, and no pressure on my racing career.
Me as the primary caregiver as much as possible, coordinating schedules with my husband, and help from family when available.
The freedom and flexibility to figure out how elite sport fits into my life, even if that means less sponsors.
Keep breastfeeding until it feels right to stop.
It has absolutely taken time to accept what I really want, but I feel so much peace leaning into what I want for my baby, and for my motherhood experience right now.
Intentions:
Checking in with myself regularly on what I really want to do
Asking for help when I need it so I can get some movement in *if* I want to
Making sure I am checking the boxes of sleep and nutrition as best I can before scaling the activity up too much
Highlighted pregnancy-relevant episodes:
Episode 90: Reflections on the First Trimester of Pregnancy as an Endurance Athlete
Episode 92: Minimum Effective Dose, Setting Expectations, More Racing Takeaways, and Heat Bonking
Episode 93: Mental Prep for UTMB, Pregnancy Mindset Modifications, and Reconnecting With Your Why
Episode 95: Training Insights from Elena's UTMB Prep and Katie's First Half of Pregnancy
Episode 107: Committing to the Off Season, Imposter Syndrome, and Running in Pregnancy
Episode 109: Getting Back Into Training, Turkey Trot Takeaways, and Mental Prep for Time Off
Challenge of the week:
Katie: On finding and following gut feelings / intuition -- wake up every day for 2 weeks and jot down a couple words (or even just a yes/no) on how you are feeling about something, like a goal race. If it’s consistent yes or no, that’s a signal. If you’re all over the place, you probably just need more time
Elena: Make a vision board!
Gear or resource pick of the week:
Katie: Some books I loved in pregnancy
Excerpts on pregnancy from Good For A Girl, The Longest Race, Let Your Mind Run
Elena: Miisso mini charger