This episode features a big life update and even more insights for the podcast! We dive into Katie’s A race for the foreseeable future: pregnancy! Topics include: why relatively limited research on endurance training during pregnancy makes individual anecdotes so powerful; how Katie thought about “planning” pregnancy in the context of training and racing (and why pregnancy is ultimately harder to plan than your race calendar); first trimester symptoms—including nausea, fatigue, and food aversions—and how they impacted her training; how she collaborated with coaches, doctors, and other members of her support team to train safely; the decision to “race” a 5K at 8 weeks pregnant and how it went; how Katie’s mindset and mental strategies have shifted so far in the context of pregnancy; goals and intentions for the remainder of pregnancy and postpartum; and some favorite academic papers on exercise during pregnancy. Conversations around fertility, pregnancy and postpartum journeys can be hard, so please know that wherever you are in this journey, you are enough. And even if you aren’t pregnant or planning to become pregnant, this episode has some general insights that may be relevant to you. Check it out!
Links to articles we mentioned:
Miles and Maternity: A Survey of Long-Duration Exercise During Pregnancy
Effect of Pregnancy in 42 Elite to World-Class Runners on Training and Performance Outcomes
Challenge of the Week:
Katie: try a new fuel source
Elena: do something bigger purely for joy
Gear Pick of the Week:
Katie: Nuun sport hydration tabs
Elena: Platypus gravity filter, and re-recommending the Leki Ultratrail FX.one poles