Not something I have any personal experience with, but a friend at work who runs (even slower than me!) is still off on maternity leave (her second) and maybe 9 months out from having the kid ran a 30k race and around 10.5 months out from giving birth ran her first ever marathon. Now, despite being tall and thin she is slow, so perhaps there is something there with physical intensity and pacing (she did a 6.23 marathon, which would KILL me psychologically).

On the otherhand, I have a friend whose baby is probably 14 months old now and she's struggled to return to running due to things stretching or moving during pregnancy and delivery.

My guess is it's one of those YMMV things.

I ran a marathon at 8 weeks pregnant. it was indeed slow (not 6 something but slow for me)- no need to kill myself over it, but I was entered and relatively trained so I went with it.

I guess I'll just take it as it comes.

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http://triathletebride.blogspot.com

Corky, you will have no problem returning to racing if you set your life up right. And fast racing is certainly a possibility! My swim times have come down steadily since giving birth 7 months ago and I could easily complete a short distance triathlon without specific preparation right now.

A couple of words of caution: you don't know the impact of having a child until you have one. It is a life altering experience and you just can't know what it means until it happens to you. It could be that you incorporate training and racing into your new busy life without a problem. I have found time to train for short course racing but for me personally, my body and my mind could not handle anything over an Olympic distance race right now. I work part time and my husband works from home so I can put baby down for a nap and get a training session in while he naps.

If you are planning to work full time, then training and racing will mean time away from your child. They are only little babies for such a short amount of time, be sure you give yourself the opportunity to experience this to the fullest. I know a woman who has 3 kids, she works full time in a high demand job, and she utilizes a nanny so she can work and train. That works for her and I wouldn't judge her for it, that is her life choice.

Cheers and best wishes to you!

My wife had a baby 7 months ago and did a half marathon 93 days later. Then in April she ran a 5K PR followed by a HM PR in May. Like you, she stopped running around 26 or 27 weeks and then swam until the day she gave birth and started running 4 weeks later after the doctor said it was ok. Usually she goes out for runs and to the gym when I get home from work while I watch the baby. I usually work out at night after the baby goes to bed or during the day when she is feeding or sleeping. My wife is a great mom and great wife and does all this in addition to training and working out. Likewise I have met some moms who neglect their babies and husbands and do so without working out. I think the key is to plan your day well and be very flexible. Your hobbies, your new baby, and your family can definitely coexist.

I found it much easier to train the first year after my first child's birth than any of the years since! Luckily, I live in Canada and we get a year off work (I still can't believe you guys in the US only get 12 weeks, a year seemed too short!). After the first 6 weeks or whenever your body gets back to normal, take advantage of the time you have while the baby is napping or even sitting watching you. My first would sit in his baby-seat and watch me run on the treadmill or ride on the trainer. Also, after they are able to hold their heads up, kids love the jog stroller. I still take my 4 year old on runs with me. My first also liked his playpen. He would sit in it with his toys while I did my workouts.

As for returning to racing. I did a sprint 4 months after and a couple other tris his first summer. 30k run when he was about a year and an ironman when he was 1.5 years old.

Basically, get ready to be creative and flexible in how you can get things done!

Good luck to you and congratulations!

Kids are so much fun!

I, too, spent the last trimester planning my return to racing. My son is 8 mo now and I agree with the above that you need to have a lot of flexibility in your goals, but it's certainly reasonable to expect to be able to race within baby's first year. My return has been slower than I planned/hoped, but I'm getting there.

I ran until 6 mo, biked until 7 mo, swam until the day, so I had races picked out for 3-4 mo after my due date. I ended up with an emergency c-section that slowed down my recovery significantly, though. I returned to swimming as soon as I was allowed to exercise (6wks b/c of the c-section), then bike, then running at 5 mo postpartum.

Further, if you're nursing, all the fun soft tissue stuff that you're dealing with pregnant will likely persist. The sources I looked at recommended a very conservative return to running b/c of the potential for soft tissue injuries (which I am prone to normally). All the quick returns to racing that we know of (Paula Radcliffe, etc) - they weren't nursing their babies. So you may need to dial back your goals if you plan to breastfeed. If you think about it, as long as you're nursing you're still sustaining two people just as you did when you were pregnant. And a fast-growing infant outside of you needs even more calories from you than they did when you were pregnant (at 8 mo my 24 lb son is still getting 90% of his calories from nursing. He hasn't taken to solid food with a lot of gusto, which I understand is pretty common until 10 mo or so. Sigh). A lot of people find this is significantly compromises their energy beyond the obvious sleep deprivation (my son is a good sleeper).

Despite the above I completed a sprint tri two weekends ago with a faster run and swim than the last time I did the race - yay! I am on track for a fall 1/2 mary and the Santa Barbara long course in Aug.

While I was pregnant I certainly read a lot of reports of folks who were back racing and at their pre-pregnancy weight in 3 mo, but that hasn't been my experience. I am still 10-15 lbs above my usual weight, but I'm having fun training and my baby is a fabulous, healthy boy. Be kind with yourself and try to be happy with whatever training is possible. If my son were a high needs baby I think my return would have been even slower.

Good luck

Totally. I did my first IM when K was 20 months. Working backwards from that: 3 1/2IMs and a couple 1/2 marathons in the preceding 6 months, a couple of OLYs and some 10k road races in the 6 months before that, and before that crits ;-) (yes I'm crazy). First year was swimming, easy running, easy road riding - not a lot of volume anywhere. FWIW, I ran until week 30, rode until w35, and swam until the day before...

The key things you need to keep in mind are (IMHO):
- as long as you are breastfeeding do not try to lose too much weight. You will kill your milk production and make yourself feel like shit (physically). Eat well, don't "diet". Once weaned, then you can work on the six-pack abs. How long do you intend to breastfeed, or do you not intend to at all?
- you have no idea what the impact of having this baby may be, on your schedule, on your body, etc. You may have a nasty c-section, or snip-snip action down below. Don't think about doing anything except walks for about 6 weeks. Then start EASY. Again, you don't want to over do it, esp while breastfeeding.
- two sports bras help :-)
- don't worry about the weight.
- I question the coach. Not saying a coach isn't a good thing for most people, but I question the timing (how late in Spring are we talking?). Also make sure the coach knows all the details of your situation *AND* if the coach is a man, make sure your partner (I am making a lot of assumptions here, so correct me if wrong) is OK with this person.
- I am glad I took it easy re: volume the first year as when I did finally ramp it up in the second year, it became a BIG problem for the (now ex) spouse. He got put to the bottom of the list of priorities. And he didn't like that (to be fair, there were other issues at play that drove a lot of that situation). You really should try to enjoy your time as a family, and don't sacrifice too much family time for training. Slippery slope there. Be very careful in maintaining BALANCE.
- don't worry about the weight.
- you may want to check your PR/time goals at the door for your first year back racing. Don't set yourself up for unrealistic expectations/disappointment. My first 10k road race back took me 1h05 and I cried for days about it. I got back down to my usual time by year 2, but that first race absolutely crushed me mentally/emotionally.
- don't worry about the weight.

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

I'm glad to see your post since I wanted to ask the same thing, though my little girl is now 7.5 months. I ran until about 27 weeks and stopped since I needed a pee break every 10 metres. Biked to 34 weeks, then indoors and stepmill/light weights/swimming to 41 weeks. Although I kept training, it was reduced in intensity after a bout of pneumonia in my first trimester. As a result, I gained no weight until the second trimester when my appetite came back but I was still limited in activity and strength. I then gained a whopping 47lbs! Granted, I lost 22lbs by the day after delivery.

However, I didn't lose anything for the next 3 months due to some postpartum complications and issues with breastfeeding (pumped after every feed for 2 months, made it tough to leave the house). Originally, I thought I would be back training after 2 or 3 weeks, not 3 months...I'm working with a coach who is onside with my goals: First priority for me was breastfeeding, as I was not going to compromise my supply after all the issues I had; second priority was fitness, third was weight, fourth was finishing a race. I started lightly working out again at 3 months, and the focus has been nutrition. The general goal was 1-1.5lbs weight loss per week, but there have been weeks with no loss at all.

I live in Canada and am taking 10 months of maternity leave. I'm at the gym 2x/week for an indoor spin, get 2-3 jogs/week with the running stroller, and swim once a week if I'm lucky. So, my little girl is in daycare for an hour at the gym, but otherwise she is with me running, or my husband and I trade off. He is training for an IM. There are definitely compromises and the house could be a lot cleaner. My baby is not neglected, but my husband and I don't get a lot of down time together. I hope the hardest part is over as I finally got back to my pre-pregnancy weight this week and have my first race. Still have a ways to go on the fitness and body composition.

I have a HIM this Sunday. Ironically, my husband signed me up for my Christmas present, but that is another story. That said, I passed up a half-marathon last month as it was too soon and would have compromised being able to try the HIM. After this though, I'm planning to focus on 10ks, half marathons and Olympic races. I have felt maxed out the past month and would just like to have fun with training for the next while. I don't know how I'd do it if I were back at work - not saying it's not possible, but would be tough.

Long story short, it is certainly possible to be active after the baby. I agree with the pps to be flexible with your goals, and don't overdo it early on. Baby might be a good sleeper, maybe not. Some days will go according to plan, and others will not. Let us know how it goes!

IMO it all depends on your work situation and your baby-support situation. I was on maternity leave until baby was 9months, got out for 2-3 runs per week and was able to run a PR in the half marathon off of that minimal training, was basically running my usual speed on 5ks, did an olympic tri 10mins slower than my PR on zero swim and bike training when baby was 7months. However, once I started working full time in the hospital again, the shift work killed me, and I was happy to get in a work-out 3x per month. Assume that if you have a labor without complications, arent working full time and have someone to watch baby while you train, you will have no problems completing your goals. I came back faster after pregnancy, the weight flew off while breastfeeding (I breastfed for 18months), and my running was really effortless. I ditched swim and bike training just because I had noone to watch the baby- most of my runs were with the BOB stroller, plus running is the most time-efficient exercise for me. If you have a treadmill at home, your situation is that much easier, you can get your runs in while baby naps.
I also question the coach idea, as someone said, noone knows you better than yourself. If you will be the primary care-giver, assume you will have to manage your schedule around baby- some days they are cranky all day, some days then dont nap, they do get sick sometimes, or are teething etc.
IMO a marathon 3 months after giving birth is very optimistic. It takes about 3 months for the average baby to get into a nice schedule, some take longer. I ran an 8k race when baby was 3months, and it was HARD. I had some speed, but no endurance, and I ran up to 10k until 39weeks preggo, and started up again 2 weeks after giving birth. IMO skip the fall marathon, and play it by ear.

good luck!
Ziva

Enjoy and good luck - you'll have no problems - just be careful with overdoing the running in the beginning. I ran until 10 days before I gave birth to my 14 month old and did spinning a few days before, and because I was in such good shape my doc gave me the green light to return to training as soon as I felt able (not the normal 6 weeks) - all was well except my pelvis - ended up with severe achilles tendonitis and a huge nodule about 16 weeks post baby and after 3 months of PT determined it was because I started doing fast runs again when my hips were still really loose from hormones, etc. Still managed to do my first Sprint tri 4 weeks post baby - squeaked out 6th in my age group, my first Oly 9 weeks post baby - 2nd in my age group (small race though, but still had solid race), PR'd a 10k running race 5 months post baby, PR'd 1/2 Marathon running race - 43rd overall out of 11k people 1 year post baby and now 14 mths post baby won my age group at the Florida 70.3 - so don't worry about a thing - except maybe enough sleep!!!

I agree with what most other people said - it can be done, but it's purely an individual thing. There are physical and mental changes that you really don't expect (even though people will tell you to expect them).

On the physical side, I think it depends on your pregnancy and delivery. It sounds like everything has gone well so far, hopefully that continues. (I ran until 32 weeks, biked until 33 and went into labor at 36). 18 days after she was born, I rode my bike 10 miles. It was the slowest 10 miles of my life, but it felt sooo good to get out of the house and do something for me! (all other trips out of the house were to show the baby to a relative, take the baby in for a checkup, buy supplies for the baby, etc).

I did easy rides on the trainer and some hip-stablizing PT and strength training until I got the all-clear to swim at 5 weeks. Didn't run until 6 weeks because I've had a history of hip problems and didn't want to irritate that. I came back to running very conservatively. I ran a 5k when she was 9 weeks old, a half-marathon when she was 6.5 months and am doing my first sprint this weekend. I'm training for IMWI in September when she'll be 10 months old. My coach is fantastic and very understanding about when I have to miss a workout for baby-related reasons. My husband works out of town a lot, but we are fortunate enough to have a great babysitter who is very flexible (we both work more than full-time).

There are definitely days when I feel guilty about the training - Long ride days on the weekends are the worst. But I also know it's easier now than in 2 years when she will be able to say "mommy, don't ride your bike - let's play in the sprinkler instead!"

I would just advise you to be ready to make adjustments. Sometimes what was supposed to be a hard interval ride ends up being an easy falt ride on a bike trail with her in the trailer behind my husband because I would rather spend time together as a family than shave a few minutes off my PR. Sometimes I just don't go to the pool because there are bottles to wash, baby food to make, diapers to wash. (I could probably buy baby food and use disposable diapers, but those things are important to me)
I do almost all of my training between 5-7 am, and try to limit it to only one weeknight. On weekends, I do my long run very early, so I have most of the day with her, but like I said, the long bike days are the hardest mentally for me because I know I could be at home playing with my super cute baby.

Other things have definitely suffered (I don't clean my house during the week, so by Friday, it's pretty messy; I don't see my friends as often as I would like; can't remember the last time I got my hair/nails, etc done because I don't want to spend the time sitting in a salon; the grass goes a few too many days between mowings.) but I know I won't do another IM after this one (it's my 3rd).

I think in the long run, it's a good thing that I returned to racing right away because I had an extremely hard time with the whole "becoming a mom" thing mentally. I really struggled with fear of losing myself but my super supportive husband understood that and encouraged me to sign up for IM. There are still days that I think I don't want to do the race, but my coach and husband and I have discussed it and as long as I know I don't HAVE to do it, I am able to take the training day by day and week by week.

I still have 10-15 pounds of my 50 to lose, and some women are ok with that, knowing the reason they have that little leftover belly is because of a beautiful baby, but I haven't been able to come to terms with that yet, so the weight still really bothers me. I don't know how realistic it is to think I'll get back to race weight over the summer, but I'm going to try to get close.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy and delivery and baby. Just remember to be flexible and don't worry if you change your mind about the race 100 times between now and October :)

Wow... I haven't been on this forum in years but for some reason I decided to log on today and saw this.

I had my daughter in Mid-sept, also a c-section. Therefore, I had the 6 weeks of rest time afterward. I spent that time taking walks and stretching.

Last month I did NO 1/2 IM. I assumed I'd be the only one crazy enough to do this with an infant but I was wrong. The girl who got 2nd in the 35-39 AG had a baby one month older than mine. We were both still nursing the babies. I have a friend who gave birth to her 3rd son on St Patrick's day. She took a week off from working out and has just won 2 sprint races in the past two weeks. I'm not saying everyone will get faster but I think the people who have already set up a pattern of working out make it important after they have a kids.

So it can be done but I think it takes some effort. I am lucky, I am a SAHM now. Therefore I can workout during naps. I do not worry about a schedule, I do what I can when I can and try not to worry if something gets cut short b/c the baby takes a short nap. Almost all of my runs are pushing a baby jogger but that's what my baby knows and she seems to be quite content in there. I suspect some of the comments of others are true, she is not mobile now and takes long naps so it is easier to workout. I am taking advantage of that now, I don't know what the future will hold.

I eat A LOT of food. I have never worried about the weight but I did not gain much during pregnancy and I'd basically lost it all before I started working out.

Could write a lot more but my sleep is also important and I must go to bed so I can get up and ride the trainer before my husband goes to work... A good husband is also key!