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Running was the only thing that stopped St Albans club runner Lucy Waterlow, 42, from feeling nauseous during her second pregnancy. ‘When I was running, I felt great,’ she says. ‘It was the best I would feel all day. I only had a couple of bad runs, when I felt uncomfortable. On all the others, I felt really strong and often forgot I was pregnant.’
Up until her third trimester, Waterlow continued to run up to five miles, five times a week, but reduced intensity, dropping interval and tempo sessions. ‘I didn’t think of my runs as training – they were just about getting out in the fresh air, being active and doing something beneficial for my health and my baby’s,’ she says. ‘I kept the pace comfortable and my heart rate low, and stuck to routes close to home, so I wouldn’t have far to walk back if I felt I needed to stop running.’
Waterlow also learned that morning runs, eating before she left and Pilates helped her feel strong. But by her third trimester in both her pregnancies, she was less comfortable and the summer months meant she had less desire to run in the heat. She switched to walking with her dog twice a day and swimming once a week.
After the ‘straightforward and superqui
