Running during pregnancy

[ellpea]

Hi. I am 5 weeks pg so very early days. With my first pregnancy I put on loads of weight and developed SPD in the last half. It's taken ages to get sort-of fit again and i've started doing quite a bit of running (up to 8 miles at a stretch). Am really keen to keep going as long as I feel ok, but have been given lots of contradictory advice. Most of the medical advice suggests it's fine as long as i don't run too fast or overheat (no danger of that!) but I'm paranoid about any risk to this pregnancy as am getting on for 40. Any advice? thanks

The advice is usually that you can continue doing most things that you did before you were pregnant, but not to take on new challenging things.

I used to do a alot of running similar sort of distance to you and was advised that so long as I wasn't doing anything different to what I had always done, i.e trying to run further, faster or more often etc then it would be OK. I've had to give it a rest as I had such bad morning sickness there was no way I could run. So I now just go on brisk walks with the dog, I've decided not to start running again while pg as I'm conscious that over the 14 or so weeks I had morning sickness my fitness levels really dropped.

hi there
i'm a keen runner and tried to carry on in my first trimester with my DS (now 15 months) once the morning sickness wore off but it was soon almost impossible because i needed the loo the minute i got going! that did ease much later on and i remember doing a bit of gentle jogging at five/six months pregnant, drawing alarmed looks from passers by. Running in later pregnancy is not massively recommended because of the additional pressure it puts on your joints and your pelvic floor (i looked into all of this in detail at the time) but if you feel up to it early on and it doesn't make you want to rush for a pee then i understand it's fine, if you're used to it.
I put on 3st in my first pregnancy despite keeping very fit (just too many cakes...) and am determined not to put on as much next time, but if running doesn't work out, there are lots of other ways of doing it.
good luck

Hello, i ran up to 15 wks with DS1, was just too knackered after that. I was advised it is fine as long as you dont elevate heart rate too much or get too hot.

I had SPD too at he end. With DS2 i started early to try and manage the SPD as it was so awful. So no running and only gentle walking to places...From 12 weeks i harly walked anywhere, got the bus lots. SPD better than in first pregnancy. Even though i felt dead lazy i think it helped.

Have lost weight more easily this time..having a toddler and a baby i guess; so try not to worry about the weight too much.

I was too knackered to keep on running as i used too but i did run until about 20 weeks, though it was much shorter runs

Thanks for all these comments. I think my fear about it is really irrational - like I might somehow dislodge the baby by all the jiggling around! But that's just silly, right? I was hoping to do a (slow) half marathon in December - which would be a bit of a jump, distance-wise but I was going to try to train for it. I think, on reflection, that's a bit ambitious and I should just carry on slowly jogging round 8 miles or so until it gets too difficult.