Competing/training while pregnant

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 08:07:58 GMT

Well, I have one month to go, but I'm still swimming. I am actually considering doing doubles now because it's so hot and humid here and swimming is the only thing that makes my poor swollen ankles shrink back down to a reasonable size. :) I've definitely slowed down a lot, but I'm doing about 2000-2500 per workout and still swimming all four strokes. My breaststroke is totally out of whack now. I'm having a hard time doing a whip kick... I seem to be gravitating to a frog kick. It takes me a while to warm up, but then I'm usually able to do one or two short main sets. For example, this morning was... 600 mixed stroke warm up 6 x 100 free on 1:50 4 x 200 free on 3:30 1 x 200 IM easy Still doing flip turns, however ungainly they look... the baby seems to fall right to sleep when I swim, especially with the flip turns. I'm also finding that I'm having a harder time breathing (especially on my back), so I'm trying not to get my heart rate up too high. I had a bit of a scare the other day when I was doing a 100IM set. On my 4th 100, I started my backstroke and was a little out of breath and then suddenly my airway just froze. I couldn't breathe for about 15 seconds (which seemed like forever). So my solution has been to limit backstroke to no more than 50yds at a time, and to only do it when my HR is still relatively low. I'm hoping to swim right up until the end... we'll see how it goes.

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:42:24 GMT

My theory (and I'm not a doctor, so take it with a grain of salt) is that you can't go by some arbitrary HR limit. It's much more important to know what YOUR body can do. For me, I'm not having a problem if I get my HR to 140-150 because I recover pretty quickly (i.e within a couple of minutes). But for others, even getting up to 120 could be a problem if they don't recover for a long time. This is what I wonder about too. Max HR changes with fitness/activity levels. Over the years my AT tested as low as 150, and as high as 171. When it was 171, I could hit 120 without doing much of anything (resting HR in the 70's). At 150, I had to work harder to get to 120 (resting HR in the 50's). So when they throw the 120 out there, what are they looking for? Shouldn't it be a percent of AT? We're still trying to conceive #2, and I just started in a masters program (instead of going at it on my own). My hope is to keep swimming with them for as long as I can once I do get pregnant.

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

aquaFeisty — Wed, 28 May 2008 06:55:40 GMT

Hey Sarah... best of luck to you on #2! I just read in my pregnancy book from kid#1 (one of the Dr. Sears' books) that research has shown that the baby's heartrate doesn't increase until Mom's heartrate gets above 150. So that, I think, is where my doctor's 140 max heartrate number is coming from... Keep it under 140 and you're keeping baby's heartrate from increasing at all. However, no clue what exactly this 'research' was. Are we talking a study group of 20 or 2000? One study? Multiple studies? Athletes or coach potatoes or some cross-sectional representation of society (which would be heavily skewed towards coach potatoes). I don't know exactly what my max HR is, but I know I've hit close to 170 using the totally inaccurate method of counting pulse for 6 sec and multiplying by 10. I think a % of max makes a lot more sense. Swimwolf, I loved your long-winded post! Feel free to add more. Let us know if you manage to swim all the way up to delivery!

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Tue, 27 May 2008 07:08:47 GMT

Congrats to all of you! You already know how to do the best sport for pregnant women! I am happy to say that the pregnancy phase of my life is over (I threw up EVERY DAY and thru delivery for BOTH pregnancies!), but I will say that swimming was the best thing when I was pregnant. I had clearance from my doctor/midwife, and swam 5-6 times weekly (except for a few weeks when I was high risk with the second). As another poster said, it really helped my nausea- I would get up, throw up, swim, then I could eat a little. It also seemed to set my body clock. The babies would sleep while I swam, slowly and steadily (which, luckily, is how I swim anyway), then wake up while I was in the shower like clockwork! I did Boston Light swim at a few weeks (did not know yet) and did 1650 at NE SCY meet right before I delivered my son- I rather enjoyed the look of surprise (horror?) on the faces of the college-age lifeguards, and my kids get a kick out of the story!

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Sat, 24 May 2008 12:18:34 GMT

I'm in my 34th week, still swimming 5x week. I'm still doing flip turns (though they look a little ungainly) and still swimming some butterfly. (Mostly in 100 or 200 IM sets, so never more than about 50 fly at a time). I have been swimming masters for 16 years now, but I didn't compete in HS or college, so it's not like I'm one of those Olympians in the fast lane normally. When I'm not pregnant, I am smack in the middle of the pool, and now I've moved down a lane or two. However, I'm mostly swimming on my own these days because of scheduling conflicts with my team's practice schedule. I did swim the 3000 postal event last year when I was about 11 weeks and pretty much swam my normal speed. I didn't really notice a significant slow down or a lack of capability until I got to my third trimester. Until then, I was swimming my standard 3000-3500 yds per workout, and holding my 200's under 3:00. These days, however, it's a real effort to swim a 200 in anything less than about 3:35 and I usually need to do a 4:00 interval if I want to do more than 1. Here's what I've found so far: 1. My body will not let me do what it can't do. So I don't worry that much about target heart rate. Earlier in my pregnancy I was working hard and still doing sprints. As I have gotten more pregnant, my body has given me the feedback to slow down. Now if I sprint at all in a workout, it's only for one or two 50's and that's it. I was a little concerned at one point that I was pushing too hard, so I had my friend who is an OT bring her blood pressure cuff and her pulse oximeter to the pool and had her test me after my workout and everything was totally fine. My theory (and I'm not a doctor, so take it with a grain of salt) is that you can't go by some arbitrary HR limit. It's much more important to know what YOUR body can do. For me, I'm not having a problem if I get my HR to 140-150 because I recover pretty quickly (i.e within a couple of minutes). But for others, even getting up to 120 could be a problem if they don't recover for a long time. Ultimately, if your body is telling you to back off. Do it. Don't push through it you aren't feeling good. 2. I feel MUCH better if I swim any given day than if I don't. Even if you just get in the water for 20 min and paddle around, it's better than not going at all. Early on, it helps with queasiness. Later on, I'm finding, it helps keep the swelling down in your hands and feet. 3. I can still do all of the strokes, including fly, much to my surprise. I think a lot of this was that I spent 6 months before I got pregnant working with a physical therapist and a pilates coach to strengthen my core muscles to deal with a chronic bad back. I have found that fly and *** particularly require this core strength. You can 'cheat' if you aren't pregnant and compensate with other muscles, but when you are pregnant, you don't have that luxury, so if you aren't using your core in those strokes, you may have a very hard time doing them. 4. I mix up my workout as much as possible to make sure I work as many different muscle groups as I can. And I particularly try to make sure I really work my core muscles on all of the strokes. Here's a workout I did last week as an example. 200 free warmup 400 reverse IM warmup 4 x 150 Kick/Drill/Swim (by 50's) 2 x ...... 350 free on 6:30 ...... 200 IM on 4:00 ...... 100 free on 2:00 easy ...... 50 free on 1:00 fast 200 free/back warm down (alternate by 50) --------- Anyway, sorry for the long winded post and CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who is reading this and thinking about swimming during her pregnancy. I highly recommend it. We'll see how delivery goes, but so far even the benefits of minimal morning sickness, greater energy, and no lower back pain have been worth it for me.

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

aquaFeisty — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:51:31 GMT

I am currently pregnant with my second. I didn't swim at all with #1 (who will be 3 next month). This year, I'd been training really hard all season, hoping to go some lifetime bests at Austin SCY Nats. Well, a planning miscalculation resulted in me being pregnant at Nats! Whoops... Anyways, here's how my meets went leading up to and through Nationals. Note: all weeks quoted are obstetrical weeks, ie. weeks from last period. For actual weeks pregnant, subtract 2. 6 weeks pregnant: Indiana States, unrested. Not feeling pregnant at all yet, no nausea, no fatigue. We only went to one day of the meet and I swam 3 events (50/100 free, 100 IM). Swam a LIFETIME best unrested 100 free. No clue if this was due to surging hormones or just that I had been swimming great all season on my 100 free. Started feeling crappy about 3 days after this meet. 9 weeks pregnant: Illinois States, at very start of Nats taper. Swam 11 events over 2 days. 50/200/500 free, 100/200/400 IM, all 50s of stroke, and 2 50 frees on 2 relays. Good Lord! Anything over 100 yards, I did not take at all out pace, since my main goal was to score points for our team. I still went very hard, but it was more like an all-out practice hard swim (and the times were comparable). Feeling very very nauseous at this meet. I tried to wear my Tyr leg suit for the 50 free and felt horrid after about 10 minutes of wearing it. Turns out the compression was just too much - as soon as I took it off I felt much better. Competed the rest of the meet in a drag suit. Had one fantastic swim... was only 0.04 off my lifetime best ever 50 free split 11 weeks pregnant: SCY Nats in Austin, shaved and tapered. Ha, shaved and tapered. Yeah. I'd say I hit my peak of nausea and fatigue around weeks 11 and 12. I only swam 4 of the 6 events for which I was entered: 50 free/fly/*** and 100 IM. In general, my body felt like it would during an in-season meet where I was pretty broken down. Very happy with my 50 free - only 0.15 off lifetime best. 50 fly was ok, 100 IM was ok (esp. given how my breaststroke turned out). 50 *** was hands down probably the worst race of my entire life. I went over 3 seconds (in a 50!!!!) slower than last year. My dear husband, in an attempt to rationalize the swim, said, "Well, you were riding really low in the water and just couldn't get over the wave. You have gained a lot of weight in the last month." Hmmm... true statement, though possibly not the best thing to say to a hormonal nauseous pregnant lady. Sorry this is so wordy... Hopefully others will find some useful info here about competing during the first trimester. I plan to keep training through this pregnancy (I'm at 14 weeks now and FINALLY feeling a little better!) and put some info up on the Karen's Pregnant Blog thread. My goal is to stay in decent enough shape that I can have a semi-ok meet at LCM Nats in Indy next year. I'll be the one there with a 9 month old and a 4 year old! Note: I DID dive in for all my races, but I stopped doing dives in practice and during warmup at meets. So my first start off the Austin blocks was for my 50 fly! I had no pooch yet, just that nice bloated look, so I figured baby was still safely tucked behind the pubic bone and tummy muscle. My doctor said max heartrate of 140. Since I have no additional risk factors, I figured if I was back to 140 within a minute, I was doing ok. There is absolutely no medical logic for this minute, it's just what I felt comfortable with. My coach, a labor and delivery nurse for over 20 years, said that more important than heart rate was keeping body core temp down. We practice in an 80F pool and since it was taper time, it wasn't like we were doing mega aerobic sets (which tend to heat me up more) so no issues with core temp. Like Allison, I also stopped the hypoxic stuff, which sucked because we do a lot of hypoxic stuff at taper time. I also noticed it took me a very long time to warmup and that I was extremely out of breath for about the first 500-800 yards.

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

swimshark — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:45:18 GMT

I had 4 pregnancies but only 1 kid. I swam during all of them but once problems arose, I was told to back off. With the 4th, I was at Nationals competing not knowing I was pregnant. Once I confirmed it, I was told to cut back a bit and no competing. Of course, I have a history of bad pregnancies so my doctors were more cautious. One thing I noticed was that open turns, during the morning sickness (which for me was 6 months) was much better than flip turns. I did all the strokes and had no major issues until 3 weeks before my son was born. Sadly, then they put me on bed rest. Blah. I have heard about the maximum heart rate. I want to say it's 120 or 130's. Watch it and just listen to your body. My coach told me not to do hypoxic at all and when we did 15 sec of vertical kicking with our arms over head, I kept mine in the water. Just small things to make it easier on my body. Congratulations and I hope this is a smooth 9 months!

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

westseattle — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:50:12 GMT

Congratulations on your pregnancy- you're probably feeling pretty good right about now! I just entered my last trimester and I still feel really good in the water. I've been swimming 3 to 4 times a week the whole time, and have gone from doing 3K per workout to 2000- 2500 now that I'm slower. I'm still doing flipturns too, and I find that butterfly is the only stroke that I can't really do anymore, but I still do a lap or two each workout. I tell my doctor that I still work out 6 days a week and she just says 'That's great'; I too wonder if she knows that what I do now is probably more than what 'normal' people do when they exercise (which is still nothing compared to the old 4 hours a day in the pool!). Just pay attention to your body and swim easy or take extra rest if you need it- you'll know your limits. Just stick with it the whole time- I have acquaintances that are pregnant that don't exercise and they always complain about how they feel. Maybe I'm an anomoly but I've felt good so far and I think maintaining a decent level of fitness has had something to do with it. Good luck!

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:22:07 GMT

It's been great reading through all this as I have just found out I am pregnant and have been feeling sick as anything and feel unable to do much exercise at all which is driving me mad! I have been running (slower than normal) a couple of times and I plan to get back to the swimming club tomorrow if I can get out of bed early enough to meet them! I feel inspired to 'get on with it' after eading some of these comments so thanks for putting my mind at rest!! And good luck to all those pregnant women out there who want to continue training!

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

That Guy — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:41:05 GMT

My older siblings say that's why I'm so weird. I thin htat's why I can keep secrets. You can keep secrets eh? Cool. My name is //** ERROR 28503 CONNECTION LOST **//

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:46:40 GMT

The woman who was swimming at the pool and disappeared had her baby over the weekend. I was talking with one of my older sisters about exercise 7 pregnancy. she said that the wednesday before I was born my mother played tennis. I was born on a Monday. No one knew she was even pregnant. I was born hte day after Easter. The thursday before, my mohter was up on a lader hanging curtains. She wore a girdle the entire time she wsa pregnant with me. My older siblings say that's why I'm so weird. I thin htat's why I can keep secrets.

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 06:13:41 GMT

Thanks everyone, for your stories and your reassurance. I'll check out some of the links and the books and try to calm down a bit. Considering how long I've been swimming, I doubt I would be able to stress myself to the point I actually hurt the baby. It's just hard sometimes to keep from getting overly worried about every little thing.

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Kathy Casey — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:10:20 GMT

I swam through 2 pregnancies, the first just recreationally (a mile a day, didn't belong to Masters yet) and the second I trained and competed through. I did normal workouts with flip turns during the 2nd pregnancy, although I was annoyed by having to take more bathroom breaks (and couldn't do dolphin kick during fly, so I pulled the fly). In the last trimester, I couldn't stop very long between sets or the baby would stretch out an arm or leg causing me pain when stretching during the strokes (I'd have to quit and get out). My teammates laughed at me because every week I got lower in the water. After she was born, I had the best flutter kick of my life just from keeping myself off the bottom of the pool those last months. In the first trimester I started races in the water because my teammates were freaked out and insisted "No blocks", but I swam so slowly that I went back to the blocks. At close to 8 months the doctor told me to stop going off the blocks (I complied). At 2 weeks past the due date, I volunteered to go off the blocks again (the answer was no!). In the 2nd trimester I was low on iron. When they increased my iron pills, I got faster even though I got bigger. I was fortunate to have progressive doctors who worked well with athletes, although I did still worry about doing something that would hurt the baby. However, I have a theory that pumping that blood through there during workouts helped her because she had a knot in her cord when she was born yet she weighed 10 pounds! The only place I felt normal during both pregnancies was in the water. Each pregnancy was different. The first baby moved during all of my swims and seemed to match my stroke timing. The second one seemed to roll up in a ball and get out of the way (except for fly). This is all just personal experience, every pregnancy is so different, and of course you have to check with your doctor.

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

gobears — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:19:13 GMT

Congrats! I too swam through 3 pregnancies (though I was doing quite a bit of cross-training as well). I never had problems with flip-turns or pull-outs. I didn't dive but I swam as hard as I felt like swimming. I never really reached a point where I had to cut back (swam right up to delivery date) but I tried to listen to my body. Think that's they key. I did quit running after about 3 months because I felt heavier and don't consider myself a great runner in the first place. What's so nice about being able to keep up your activities is the recovery seems to be speedy and you're back doing your old things much faster (though you are sleep deprived and have to be more creative about finding time to exercise):) I read a good book my first pregnancy that might be useful: Exercising Through Pregnancy by James Clapp. Here's an Amazon link: www.amazon.com/.../1886039593

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:52:52 GMT

Congratulations, swimchick! I hope you have a comfortable pregnancy and a smooth delivery. Like you, I wanted to continue swimming during my pregnancy, and my doctor was in favor of it. (I was worried b/c this was my first, and I'm over 40--but my doctor had no worries. I even swam a meet when I was 11 weeks; it was, though, a slow go for me.) I found an additional good resource was a book called Exercising Through Your Pregnancy by James F. Clapp III, MD. I found swimming to take the edge off of morning sickness, and it also helped me get through the foggy & sleepy period that comes w/the first trimester. Second trimester was great b/c I felt good, but as I got bigger, I had to modify workouts somewhat. (Open turns, etc.) I found breaststroke to be very difficult as my belly expanded, and I swam mostly freestyle and backstroke. Longer distances became pretty challenging, but I just continued to modify. If the group was doing 200s of something, I did 150s. As the pregnancy went on, I moved to a slower paced lane, but kept swimming. During third trimester, I recall asking my doctor if I could still swim hard (sprints) and he had no problem w/it. He kept reassuring me that swimming would have a big payoff during delivery, and he was right!!! Overall, I felt confident in my doctor's ability to assess my situation, so I felt comfortable swimming. I also know that each situation is different, so I hope the anecdotal info as well as the book give you some guidance. Keep us posted on your progress, and best of luck to you in the coming months!

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:39:09 GMT

Congratulations swimchick! Although I was not a swimmer during my pregnancies, my team has recently had three expectant mommas in the pool, one of whom is now doing an encore. All three were very fit, competitive swimmers before thier pregnancies, so thier experiences may not be typical. All swam with our team practices throughout, moving to slower lanes as needed when feeling tired, or when they got bigger towards the end. I remember hearing them talking about doctor recommendations. They were all told to watch thier heart rates (there was a max heart rate one mentioned, but I can't remember where it was. Maybe your doc could answer this one?). The other caution was about swimming in warm water, but it seemed that that was more applicable to therapy pools or hot tubs. Realizing that you're not sure your doctor understands swimmers, maybe he/she could give you general guidelines for athletes. One would think that target heart rates should be the same for runners, cyclists, or just pre-natal aerobic or yoga. Good luck! Dana

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:20:32 GMT

Congrats swimchick... the main thing that my doctor told me about being pregnant and swimming is to not do anything new or harder than what you are used to doing. Just do your flip turns/underwater pullouts like you usually do, don't push it. Listen to your body, if you feel uncomfortable - lay off a bit. Your doc may eventually tell you to do less as time goes on, but just keep up the good work. I wanted to swim throughout both my pregnancies, but I got so sick I could barely move... so hopefully you will not get sick and be able to exercise for these great 9 months! Congrats again!

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:14:59 GMT

My wife swam 4-5 days a week in light masters workouts while pregnant with our first child. She even did a small meet and swam a 50 backstroke in her 2nd trimester. It was rather amusing. Toward the end of her pregnancy, she didn't "workout" per se, she just floundered around and losened up for an hour. John Smith

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:08:19 GMT

Well,I obviously cant add any insight on this subject. However, just wanted to congratulate you on your pregnancy. There is a thread on here "Karens Pregnant Blog". That might answer some questions. Congrats again, Greg

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Former Member — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:18:51 GMT

Last week I was swimming with a woman who was pregnant. I told her that it seems like she has benn pregnant for a really long time. She replied that it had been way too long for her. Today she wasn't at the pool.

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

aztimm — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:14:02 GMT

One of my (former) coaches, Camilla Johansson, swam nearly up to her delivery day, twice. Unfortunately, she's moved to Alabama and not here anymore. Even at her slowest, I think she was still about my speed. The 2nd time I told her that I'll know when she's moving along, since she'll be swimming in the lane with me again. I was able to tell people that I swam in the lane with an olympian.... I found her USMS top 10 times: www.usms.org/.../toptenind.php I think some of these were while she was pregnant....quite an incredible woman and coach.

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Allen Stark — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 05:20:30 GMT

Congratulations.My wife swam through all 3 of her pregnancies.She seemed to have no problems with free or back,but did change to open turns toward the end.

RE: Competing/training while pregnant

Karen Duggan — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:31:32 GMT

Hi, I just had number 4 and swam consistently with the first 3. Number 4 was really tough, and I didn't swim much. However at 6 weeks I swam at Nationals, and at 28 weeks I swam in our SCM champs (didn't swim fast, but I swam) with no diving of course. I just listened to my body always. If I felt I was overdoing it I'd take a rest. Do swim and compete if you feel like it (with docs approval of course). Interesting you mentioned breaststroke. With my first, my crotch hurt so bad when I kicked ***, like I was continually pulling muscles- stopped swimming *** for over a year... with the others though I was just fine, and with number 4 actually felt my stroke again! CONGRATULATIONS, and post a blog if you're so inclined!