The Inspired Triathlete

Episode #8 - The Expectant Athlete - Racing while Pregnant with Heather Fell

• Celia Boothman

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I had a great chat with Heather Fell presenter from The Global Triathlon Network.
Heather has a passion for racing, and we discussed how she has adapted throughout her pregnancy so that she can continue to exercise and feel good.
 
There is still a lack of information around training and racing while pregnant, and Heather has been talking to experts on her channel which you can 
watch here 👇🏻 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP5npv2xK3I

She also mentioned HRV (Heart Rate Variability) and what happens to it during pregnancy.
You can watch that video here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH8oK8FazUc

You can follow Heather on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/heatherfell_oly/

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[Music] hi I'm tiia boothman founder of LTR coaching and I'd like to welcome you to the inspired triathletes podcast where I'll be bringing you stories from female triathletes and taking on topics that are important to women in the sport okay so hello and welcome to today's episode I'm here with Heather Fel who is a presenter on the global Triathlon Network and we're going to talk about how she's um adapted her training and what she has is actually doing in training now that she's pregnant how many weeks have you got left to go it's really soon um less than four if he comes on time you know it's a boy do you yeah oh amazing I've got two boys so okay good fun yeah excellent okay so yeah really close now to um the big the big day and really exciting Stu and and you've been I think we did cona the same year I I think that's like I found that out a while ago um which was 2017 so that's like how many years ago is that seven no is it seven years it will be this it was six years just gone then wasn't it yeah so it will be by October crazy crazy and so you were training you would have been training quite a lot at that point for k um I just started working at gtn so it was a little bit of a um an assault on my time available and we were traveling like mad so it was more a matter of just trying to kind of yeah get in some training when I could but it was only my second Iron Man so um W yeah it had been a bit of a well wi because I I did my first one in the ail when I wasn't at GTM and then sort of three months later just when your training needs to ramp up that's when I started this new job and it was learning a lot on the on the go and getting amazing kit but sort of Kit given to us last minute and things and I was just yeah a little bit of rabbit in the headlights so it was um I wouldn't say the ideal training but it was more of just a privilege to get to go so yeah definitely so before you did cona how did you what was your kind of background in Triathlon how did you get into presenting the gtn um so I retired from Modern Penton of officially in 2014 and then I and I basically bed a love of cycling and just had had a quite a lot of time I was working at freelance within media and doing sort of work in schools and Charities doing quite a lot of uh presenting commentating comparing that kind of work so I was in the media field writing some blogs and things and then um and yeah and I'd always thought I will do a triathon but kind of weirdly stopped swimming but did way more cycling and didn't actually do that much running at the time and had never really run much in the way of distance I think I did do a half marathon as I retired but that was like felt like an absolute Marathon to me and um and yeah it just took me a long time to kind of go oh well I do want to do a triath on where do I start and then um I thought well half Iron Man is kind of a challenge that's enough to scare me to make me train because I was retired so not sort of that motivated I thought an IR man maybe would be a bit silly and I just couldn't B even running a marathon let alone doing at the end of a triathon so yeah I just entered um did the outlaw half Nottingham um back in oh can't remember maybe 2015 that might have been but it wasn't like I then went and started doing Lo of Tri ons I really enjoyed it and was um yeah just rode my road bike put some clip on Arrow bars on and just St I went um and just yeah I found it fun but then kind of I was like well that's just a sort of fun Sport and kind of carried on dabbling in it and then after doing a few more I don't think I did any shorter ones before I went to um a full Iron Man am I another half or something but I just s right okay now now I need a challenge again that scares me more so hence um yeah I entered then entered IR man oh nice yeah that's amazing so yeah it's interesting people's Journey like how it goes because everyone starts at different points and it sounds like you were already pretty confident in your athletic ability from the pent on so you kind of jump straight when I started I was like there's no way I'm doing IR man it's ridiculous start up really small like sprints stuff to start with I think because I'd come from the shorter distance so I knew I could do that and I just wanted to do sport in a different way so I didn't want to kind of be training for 5K or you know I used to run 3K so I wanted to be doing something that was that was just different and almost more social like I sort of found the longdistance cycling very social compared to the training for modern Penton so yeah it was it was that different just a different type of challenge yeah for sure and so then you did cona and then you said you you kind of didn't ride your bike so much after that is that yeah sadly well I basically got a job weirdly working in triathon which means you have less time and and yeah I used to cycle I don't know I I used to only really cycled for a couple of years intensely before that but I just rode my bike all the time so every other day and like every weekend I'd you do long Club rides and I'd you know do big trips and a bit of bike packing and all of that and then yeah I just started at at gtn and kind of talking about the sport all day doing the sport with work I just a I wasn't freelanced I didn't have the time to ride with friends in the week and then weekends were kind of often away or working or competing in other sort of events so it just and the ironic thing being we got given amazing bikes because we we've got several when we started we had three bike Partners we now partner with Canyon so I've been really lucky to have these amazing bikes but I ride less than when I had my sort of you know very old specialized road bike that I that I loved well it took me everywhere and um so yeah it's kind of I think when you start doing something in your job you almost end up it it's often away isn't it you just a bit less of that and and I ended up doing and I ended up getting back into running actually and and I just love my running um and that was just so much easier to fit around travel and work and yeah you could just do it anywhere and I also because I'd only run competitively at 3K really a little bit at 5K I could still push myself and get PBS and still have done until recently um oh nice in in that discipline and it's just so much easier to do and cheaper to do yeah for sure how about swimming do you still swim I really struggle with swimming motivation I'm so lazy when it comes to swimming I swam I did swim this morning um but before work I have to make myself go down to the gym and um just because I can't run at the moment so it's swimming and cycling and getting a little bit of a reinvention very mildly um but yeah I think swimming because I've swam since I was Tiny and swimming was always very natural to me as soon as I moved into Tron I realized something made such a small impact that I kind of just lost all motivation for it and I just well I can I can swim you know that I can I can spend three sessions to five sessions a week and it would make no difference to My overall placing in a Tron kind of thing so I I lost the motivation for that but got into thanks to gtn I guess and Trion did massively get into Open Water swimming and just the social aspect of that and so I swim in the summer but probably there's more time spent in the pub having a nice meal afterwards than there is actually on the lake but yeah that's I definitely enjoy so in the winter I last winter I did I remember starting training I think in like February time because I was doing a relay in April I thought oh I've got five weeks I need to get fit and I was doing the swim leg so it kind of often happens it tails off and then I sort of start again in the spring getting ready for the Open Water season so yeah swimming is more of a a an enjoyment outdoor social aspect I think now than it used to be yeah yeah and it is it's one of those sports that you have to stay quite consistent with and and do quite a lot of volume to see many gains well that's what I've found anyway and it's up quite small it's kind of like oh I've worked really hard but I've taken off like a few especially with iron maners yeah exactly oh sorry with the shorter distances it's even more of a kind of less impact um yeah I suppose it has a knock on effect on everything else though as well but yeah yeah depends on what face do I mean I like to be able to I just need to be fit enough to be able to do challenges with work basically across all three disciplines that's the that's the main thing but luckily coming from a swimming background the swim even if I'm not fit I can still swim so it's sort of yeah the one that it comes back like quite quickly doesn't it when you've got the technique and you don't have to really learn that every time you get in the ball um so yeah so now you're pregnant and you've got four weeks left to go so I just wanted to ask you about I don't want to keep reminding you about that but um what you we've talked a little bit about what your training was like before you know getting pregnant so when you got pregnant did you have any kind of thoughts or feelings about like oh how what am I going to be able to do or how is this going to look for me or was it kind of a natural progression um I think I just went very much to like trying to see positive role models that that have done it before and have gone been there done that and I um I mean it's completely unknown and I'm older coming to to pregnancy in a sense and it still scares me and I don't know when there's the right time um and I think I was getting to the point where if I want to have children I need to do it soon but it still is very scary and that that loss of yeah for me I get so much joy from training and from running and just doing social things with my friends that is my life so that was kind of a how's this going to look I'm not sure a difficult one but I also trying to learn the the difference of when to push because we're so used to as athletes just saying well if it hurts that's fine you push you push through that and trying to understand that actually I want to be running again after so I now have to like actually think about will this discomfort affect the after kind of running and the after ability so that's it's a it's been a quite a difficult change in mindset but I think that's when we're lucky in Triathlon that you've got three Sports and you know like to keep strong in the gym as well so it's just been a bit of okay let's look at this differently and try to see the positiv and I've been very lucky in my pregnancy compared to lots of people that I speak to and hear from so I'm trying to see that but then I go through days when I'm like oh I see someone running and I'm like it's so annoying but it's like I'm not injured this is my choice it's different to you know I've had enough injuries that I've come back from so it's yeah I go through I go through swings and roundabouts with with how I'm sort of emotionally dealing with it yeah no that sounds really like I resonate with that completely because I felt very similar and it was it's kind of like your body completely changed you know like you're used to being fit and slim and looking a certain way and then all of a sudden you've got this bump and it's like what my how I supposed to move and it just feels very strange and like you say it's it takes a bit of like adjusting to for sure and then you know that everything's going to be different afterwards as well so you know you kind of like looking into the future for that as well so there's there is a lot to to deal with definitely and I think like which Ro you know when you think about Role Models which Role Models have you found particularly helpful and and useful to you I think it's kind of it's been that balance of trying to find people who've had positive stories but some of those that maybe hasn't been so smooth because then you you realize that they can still come out the other side as well and it's one thing hearing from someone who's like I mean recently just put a video out on gtn and we interviewed Jess lont who had an incredible pregnancy and it all just went really smoothly yet I also spoke to Vicky Holland who just had disaster pregnancy and couldn't train you know from sort of she she had to stop all of that Sports including swimming at some point because of her shoulder so um yeah I think it's been more just trying to like just listen to lorts of Stories and watch people on their comebacks and just constantly be motivated by athletes like just recently at the indoor um Athletics World Championships with Ellie senier won the became world champion in the 3K um only less than a year after well two days before her son's first birthday which are just like stories like that I just think are very cool um but then also yeah understanding that it isn't a smooth trajectory and it's no reflection on on on who they are and I think there is there is a little bit of that in the sport that people do think they have to sort of put on this Brave face and this like oh you're coming back so soon and that's what I had originally kind of looked at as those people that really motivated like oh so and so is back doing an ultra UTMB three months after having a baby that's amazing God like wow if she can do it then you know maybe there's hope but then actually the more I understand I realized that that isn't necessarily the the be and end on I mean a friend a friend of mine who again is a role model but only recently told me that you know she took a very long time to be comfortable running and she's only now sort of going for PBS and her daughter's five but we ran an ultra together four months after she had her baby um and you realize actually that yes it's amazing but was that the right thing for her to do probably not because it actually affected her running journey in the long term so you're just learning from everyone's different stories I think and I think all women who've given birth are I'm in a of so um yeah it's just um enjoying hearing all that information and just trying to be as open-minded as possible yeah I like that because I I definitely think you know I've I have I go from one thing to another and and you like you say you see these in irational stories you know like wow that's amazing I want to be inspirational and and everything but everyone's situation is so different and also like being a m is like a massive life change and you do have to change your life you know you can't just pretend you've not had a baby and carry on as you did before so it's like a the way of integrating it and how you feel comfortable integrating that into your life because you know every everyone's completely different and I did it differently both times as well like the first time was different to the second time the way I integrated things um and I I don't think there was so much of a rush or I didn't feel so much pressure the second time around and I think it's very common thing that people feel like oh it's going to be okay because I think you you kind of like for me anyway I was still holding on to that like personality or the person that I was before I had children still like trying to get back to that person that I but it's like you're not that person you are you've got other stuff that you need to deal with as well so that's what yeah I found it it very different both times I ran till quite late with my first son and then the second one I I just didn't run as as late and like you I was just running I didn't do anything else I didn't want to go on the bike it was like yeah didn't feel right for some reason and swimming was okay though swimming's great for and and afterwards as well is nice with the you know once you can go because can't go straight away and then you the little one in with you and all that yeah um okay and so how has your body sort of felt throughout pregnancy like when you've been training and how have you kind of known when to do stuff and when to kind of back off or you know what you felt comfortable with yeah it's a weird one because obviously readed lots and you know the old all of the old stuff saying you shouldn't get your heart R over 140 and things but I was thinking well why not because our bodies are incredibly clever and people have been having babies for years or for you centuries and we didn't have this information before and there's still not that much research so I was just very much and I didn't tell my coach for a while because I I I was just like kind of wanted to work it out myself and want didn't want to be told what to do um and this is when I say coach it's running coach because running was the main thing I was doing but I did actually suffer the first discomfort before I knew I was pregnant and I got an absolute killer of a stitch towards the end of a 5k um and I just couldn't push through it I had sort of I ran the last 500 meters so of bent double and I was like this is really strange i' eaten normally like there was no reason and I was just coming back to trying to run fast because we had um the few months before had done some absolutely incredible crazy endurance challenges with work so I was a bit like all of my speed had just been taken away from me and we'd done um a swim run of ultra in the in the Lake District only a few weeks before that we'd done another big like commute to a triath on then do a triath on and there was some other um crazy challenge we've done as well so there have been a lot of like stuff of really putting your body in The Hurt Locker but like long slow things and I was determined to try and run a 5k PB that last summer that was like my target so I was just starting to kind of find my legs again and get back and then um and yeah then found out quite early on after the five weeks that I was pregnant and I just kept getting a stitch pain and it was just really annoying because it wasn't it wasn't damaging type pain it was L purely like a stitch how I describe it but it would be come on so strong and sometimes I come on on a jog and I just have to like walk for a bit so ever since the summer my running has been really compromised and there's been days when I could train properly and other when I couldn't and then then it just became like a constant Battle of finding that fine line of of wanting to kind of do sessions because that made me feel better and like and the time efficiency and the kind of the importance of being strong and fit yet constantly feeling like sometimes it felt like I needed a we sometimes it felt like a stitch sometimes it just felt another discomfort and it changed all the time so it wasn't like the same thing and I couldn't really find sounded like Rand ligament pain but I had no bump so it didn't really make sense so I just had to basically work that out myself as to whether the the PO the benefits I got from running the feeling afterwards outweighed the discomfort but you know 10 I was away a lot at the around this eight to TW eight to 15 weeks I was probably abroad more than I was at home and running is the one thing you can do when you're traveling to kind of keep you feeling San and healthy and um so I was constantly trying to do it but I was trying not to run with people because I had to keep kind of going for a we or just um yeah changing my runs so that that it could kind of I could still do it um and yeah and then I still quite a few races which was fun but it was kind of a weird weird race with that mentality of like oh I kind of almost felt like I was lazy racing because I was like well I don't have to push it to absolutely Max because I probably shouldn't so I'm just GNA run and it was in a way it was like weirdy enjoyable because I was less nervous but then I also partly felt like a little bit lazy that I was like I'm not actually emptying I'm not actually emptying the tank here and I you know I didn't tell people I didn't really tell people I was pregnant for about 20 weeks so I did quite a lot of races before that and I think people is running a bit slowly or especially like running running local Club races and things and um and yeah and just kind of keeping it quiet to myself and there was one um race very locally I think it was only about um 15K or something I can't remember very hilly but I I had three Wiis on that race I like dark behind and it was this girl that I was having this sort of two and Thro competition with and I kept overtaking her and then I'd have to like she she at the end she was like it's really confused because I just suddenly couldn't see you and I thought maybe you just like run really fast ahead of me and then you'd come past me again I was like I wasn't cheating I promise and it's funny because I had to sort of just accept that like I'm not going to be and the girls that I would normally be you know competitive with were way up the field so I just had to reframe it of like well I still want to try and beat that girl I want to try and beat you know people that I don't know that were just there in the race and um and also another one you normally beat my partner and I had to accept them I'm now not going to beat him for quite a long time I said he can as soon as the baby's out he can be the one carrying I can I can hope you well you do get that boost don't you several weeks later um from yeah yeah yeah I didn't I didn't get that but I I wasn't really racing so I I did race like similar to you actually before I knew I was pregnant and I was we were trying to get I was trying to get pregnant and I did a 10k race and I was like God I'm so tired what's wrong with me I was really exhausted by the end of it and I I just thought I must just be a bit tired from something or other and then I found out that at that race I I was pregnant and I was like oh that be really tired yeah it wasn't just me making it up or being lazy you know that's like a really funny thing to say to yourself well it's kind of like Yeah it's you're not being lazy at all it's a weird mind I mean yeah the last race I did was at 22 weeks pregnant in Ain Oman and I was supposed to be doing the 50k Ultra and I knew that I would be 22 weeks when said yes but I just hoped that maybe I would be okay to do you know long steady stuff and but just running was too uncomfortable that I never did any long runs and and also with the heat I was like I can't do that I had to kind of tell them and I felt really bad they like oh no but luckily

there was a 10K so and it was 6:

30 in the morning so it was not going to be too hot or anything so I think that's the only thing I was kind of careful of really not that I travel that much and it's winter so I haven't been getting hot but just out there I thought an ultra might be pushing it a bit mad but I was more concerned that if I needed to stop to find a bush it's quite it's a Muslim country and I don't want to be offending anybody anybody um but anyway so I sort of lined up for this race and I was like well I'll just jog it you know my partner can race I'll let him go and I I'll just do it because we're out here it's a holiday and it's great and I just um and because the sort of discomfort I have almost was less when I worked harder or when I ran better so I kind of was sort of trying to find this balance of like it wasn't it was never thinking I'm running hard it's more thinking of like how can I run comfortably and then um yeah it was this girl I suddenly got onto this girl's shoulder and it was weird cuz I normally would like I can race her and I was like I can't race her cuz I can't this discomfort is different to like running discomfort but then I I was on her shoulder and we we hit the off-road and suddenly she just went backwards and I was like oh I'm actually I think I'm in front and um yeah ended up winning this race which I just thought I was gonna J so I was almost slightly embarrassed I was almost slightly embarrassed by that but then um and then she came up to me at the end and it turned out there was some quite good prize money I had no idea and um and she was just like oh I was wondering she's like I was trying to work out if you were pregnant or not or if you just had a little bit of a belly and I think she must have she must have thought she must have worked out that I wasn't unit I I missed that last bit because you froze so you said yeah it's my my internet saying it's unstable that happens sometimes it's really prize money and then you and then you froze yeah so there so girl who came second came up to the end because I think she s of thought that she knows that it's quite a local community so they knew she knew who was who and yeah she came up and said she was trying to work out if I just looked like I had a little bit of a belly or if I was pregnant and I think the fact that I obviously wasn't that unfit she then realized that that I was pregnant and um yeah it was it was just really funny and I was just like yeah I just kind of came to drug this one but um I mean it wasn't it wasn't a high standard race but it was just really fun and it kind of gave me that little boost of feeling like I was doing a race in a competition yet in my mindor sort of was but that was that was then it because there was there was cross country races after Christmas but I was like I'm not fast enough to race for my club and run cross country because that's properly hardcore and there were no other races that were just sort of fun and short enough so yeah that was that that was my last race and I do miss that I just love cross country and going getting muddy and just doing fun runs with friends that that are races but they're not really about racing they're just about pushing yourself and um yeah so I definitely missed that this winter do you think that there's more information out there now for for women or there's definitely more than there was for sure but it's still scary how little there is um and you know even speaking to professional athletes of how they still are having to navigate their own way but but then when I I listen I was actually listening to a podcast this morning and they were interviewing um the marathon runner Cara go Goucher and she I think her baby or her child is 12 so this is 12 years ago that she was talking about and um is saying that she was back at training two weeks after because her sponsorship and her coaches were expected and and she talked about you she was still wearing um in her words a diaper three months after giving birth and she was just like they kind of laughed about it um and she just says how she wishes she and she was made a real role model and ran her fastest ever time seven months um postpartum in the Boston Marathon and I can't remember I think she medled or something and did yeah an incredible performance and she was really celebrated for that and everyone was celebrating that and that really kind of brought home to me and she was talking about you know how she wishes that she had the knowledge that she shouldn't have done that and yeah she doesn't have regrets but it's yeah there there was no science was no knowledge of of what and she was saying oh I feel like a bit loose around my tummy there's nothing her coach just said just do some more call you know like that that is just to me is is crazy that only 12 years ago that a professional Runner had that little support from her govering body and from her sponsors and things so so I think we've we're lucky that we've a long way but that's part of the reason that I sort of want to do research and want to share just through my through work really of of what the information is that's out there um so hopefully we can the more we talk about it the more it can be done and um and and yeah there's there's a lot of women who are really pushing research and I spoke to a woman called Brianna battles who's based in America and she's been and written a few papers with other people and there's there are a few women who are really passionate and very knowledgeable and it's just it's a matter of yeah we've got a long way to go but we've come a long way and the more stories we hear from people the more we can learn from each other I think yeah I think that's really interesting what there two things like picking up on there like the the first thing is kind of going back to what we were talking about before with the role models and seeing people doing it and being like wow that's amazing and you're being celebrated for doing something and which might not necessarily be the right fit for you or the right thing to do and and in some cases it's damaging for people and not you don't always see that side like you know we wouldn't have known about that unless you'd listened to that podcast or you know later on but at the time people would have thought okay I need to be doing this and and pushing myself this hard and you know it's it's just not good for your body to do that when when you're so close in um but I also see the frustration as well that can happen because I I know I was very frustrated and I just wanted to get me I ended up having an emergency c section and was like just I I was really upset about that because it's like abdominal surgery not allowed to do much for quite a long time and I remember going out with a pram just like really angry pushing the pram as fast as I could just to get some I just was like I need some exercise I need to get out um and then feeling really bad CU thinking I was going to damage myself I didn't I was fine but you know there was always that sort fear in the back of my mind that I was going to do something and not knowing like whether you were going to or not because they're just like oh be careful you know listen to your body and this that and the other which is good good advice but also it' be nice to have some concrete stuff as well wouldn't it that like okay you know they give you an arbitrary amount of time but that can vary depending on how fit you are to begin with and how strong you are you know there's so many variables in there that the standard advice doesn't really apply to to women that are pushing things in sports so yeah I mean that's why I've I've actually you spent some money and gone to see a women's health pelvic physio who has quite a understanding of sport and athletic herself and has got some very sportting friends as she and she you does a lot of research and I think it's been quite invested in my journey so I was recommended her by my running coach and my normal physio and I would seriously recommend you if you can afford if anyone's listening to this and you can afford to go and see a woman's health physia even if it's just for one appointment before and then one after just to so you know where you're at and you know yes you can read a certain amount of like what you should do and shouldn't do but you won't know exactly what your pelvic floor is doing or like how your body is from Reading um you'll have an idea of how you feel yes because we all talk listen to our bodies but there's um yeah so she's been really instrumental I've had three appointments with her and I will see her again about six weeks post but she also said you know I can speak to soon after because I was asking like how much can I walk afterwards how soon can I walk and she was like well it does depend she can't answer that as a professional until I've had my birth and then hopefully she can give me a little bit of Guidance just and you know over the phone and then obviously when it comes to like proper checkup then she can tell me a little bit more of exactly what's going on but it's yeah like you say it's it is so unknown of and she even did say you know yes listen to your body but you can sometimes feel fine and you might be doing damage and that's like oh my God so where did you go with that yeah and and I definitely from initially I'd always sort of thought oh you know you start getting back to it six weeks and like run walk and things but they get something I've learned from speaking to Jess and to some other professionals that now the research does sort of show that you're better waiting until 12 weeks before you actually begin a a return to run program so I've got that at least in my head like know it might be longer if I have complications um and even if it can be sooner I kind of don't want to try and push it to be sooner so I've kind of got my head around that's three months and then at that point I've got some really busy stuff on with life so it might even be a tiny bit longer but I see that almost as a positive whereas before Oh no that's going to get in the way because I want to be getting back but I'm trying to really look at you know how I can be running next summer as opposed to this summer kind of thing yeah that's really good that's interesting as well because yeah I was told six weeks it's fine everything's fine after six weeks it's like no it's not not fine and I think especially with the c section I mean I think I recovered quite well I was quite lucky with with everything cuz I know I've had friends that have had problems with their core and things um but I I was obviously just lucky with with things um because I didn't I was a bit stupid to be honest the first time around not the second time around I was much more calm um so what does the pelvic is pelvic health specialist yeah what does well she's a she's a I'm trying to remember her exact title um what we used on the video but she's um a women's health I think I think she LS her Women's Health physio but then does a lot of basically P floor and looking at everything and I think she's sign with me that the rest like my ex sort of the the obvious muscles outside aspect of me in pregnancy has been fine so I think she obviously also treats people with with that who are stiff or who who have you know weakness and things and has given me quite a lot of exercises to do in the gym and certain things to work on that strengthwise that's maybe been adapted slightly from my usual strength program but um actually they having a perfect floor examination and so she now knows what my Norm is so that when I do return as well we know what we're like working towards and whereas if you just go afterwards you don't really know where you're at before that and things so um yeah there's there's um that's been quite of insightful for me as well but also along with the the strength stuff and a bit of Mobility work but I am a physio by um training so the actual muscular the skeletal side I think a being an athlete and B being a physio by background I am quite in touch with how my body moves and where the the tight bits are and where the weak bits are and things but it's still always good to have someone just on the external just giving you that the black and white of you know sometimes things you don't want to hear yeah definitely otherwise you just go I just yeah don't have to worry about that and I must admit she's been very diplomatic but on the like side of airing on the side of caution with running um and she knows how much like I would have wanted to to run and keep pushing but um was sort of doing it in a diplomatic way of giving me the info but obviously noty not telling me I can't because G knows that that's not going to do anything so um yeah been giving me the education yeah you have to kind of decide it for yourself don't you and I think especially with running is so it's that high impact there's that load going through your body or you know whenever you run so it's probably one of the most impact things you can do apart from like jumping around and some kind of gymnastics or whatever so you you're doing specific exercises for like improve so that's going to improve your recovery afterwards as well yeah I mean there's so much talk now from sort of those who have done a resarch of being strong and I kind of always think about it whil I was swimming because I swimming thinking what's swimming doing because I don't really get out of breath and I don't really like feel like I get tired but I did I saw a bit better this morning but I find that gym and cycling like going on the turbo is more rewarding for me but it's all I'm trying to see if it's getting as strong as I can for labor but also for the recovery and then if I've got as strong as possible but then hopefully that how many weeks months or whatever and I'm doing less I will lose less and I'll have that muscle memory to kind of come back to so that's kind of yeah it's partly for for labor and the endurance aspect of that and being strong as I just see everything you read and hear that's got to be a positive and um but then also yeah they beyond that as well and also for my mental health at the moment because being strong and doing sport is kind of you know what what makes me happy even though it's yes not the adrenaline of running or just the outdoors I am doing more walking Outdoors when I find that weird because I kind of like oh I could go on the turbo for half an hour but then I don't get my outdoor fixed then I could go run walk for an hour but then that's not really very aerobically taxing so I kind of be balancing the balancing the the things together depending on the weather and my mood yeah and I think you know it is it's not that long you know it feels like a long time everyone keep saying especially my pic you say it's not long you've not going long like it feels like an eternity and I know you know years time you look back and you like w such a small but I just keep saying that to myself but I can't see it I can't see how it's like and even now I'm like oh my God it still feels there was a few a couple of weeks ago and I just had really bad restless legs and I just suddenly felt like I was growing I was like I don't know if I can do this I don't know if I can last another six weeks I was think bit melodramatic probably but and then I was like I just don't know how women who have sickness the whole way through or who can't walk or who have swollen hands or who have like I don't know all these things I had nothing like that I've not even had any food cravings and I've prob eaten less than normal because I'm doing less exercise so I've not had any of the things that people say you should have with pregnancy and I've still find it hard so I don't have people who do actually have all these symptoms how how they do it and do it again I just yeah it baffles me know I think that's it's one of the it's a real leveler because you're like how did everybody do this before and and you know just everyone just does it well not everyone but a lot of people do that and it's just like it's it's a massive thing but it's really underestimated I think it's just like yeah just pop babies out and have babies and it's easy and it's like there's so much to it like the whole pregnancy is is a big thing especially I think sometimes when you're active it is like a lot harder to to deal with because it's like well this is a complete change in my life or there's just there's so much about it that that is hard to deal with or like really challenging to deal with and how did you find it like with your partner because they're obviously like not pregnant like carrying on as usual do you find that kind of annoys you or like irritate you in any way it did I just keep I just keep it in the bank so that um and he's been really supportive actually so it's more a matter of like all right we can get get you know him in the buggy and we'll be out doing this and we'll go swimming and we'll take it in turns like you swim and I swim and and it's just been a very positive conversation and you know we don't know like whether all this will happen but that's kind of it's a it's teamwork and he's like well I'll just be carrying and you know we'll do these walks we'll do whatever you know he's he's big and strong so hopefully he'll be a to carry the the little thing for you know until he's a decent age but um yeah I mean like I said it was still fun to be able to go and do races and events together um but even then like there was one at the end of Jan when I just yeah I was just I was too uncomfortable I still running a bit but I like I'm not enjoying it so I just went and I had a friend's dog and I went for a two hour walk whilst rest of whil my partner and my friends all raced and then I still felt like I'd done quite a like bit of exercise when we finished and I felt like I was part of it so it's it's just sort of still being yeah still sort of embracing the the challenges but he's actually been great and gone for lots more walks with me so on a Sunday instead of going for a run I was like you know you can go for your run and we'll meet up but then he's actually just ended up walking so um and and it's kind of that balance of and when I when we were still running together he' just tow me up the hills have to wait so it's kind of that um and actually we're walking up a sleep Hill the other day and I was he was just getting I could tell he wanted to walk faster I was like so he just gives me a push so I'm still puffing and working hard yeah he's also getting working harder than they would do normally so it's like yeah it's kind of a team bit of a team effort which is quite nice oh that's cool yeah so I we had um we just moved like to the area when I got pregnant or we'd been here for a few months and we'd moved because of like surfing and stuff okay and I was like I don't want to lie on a surf but he like carrying on surfing and stuff it was like I can't I just didn't feel comfortable lying on a surfboard and trying to paddle with a big bump so so I just stopped and I think that's why I got frustrated cuz he was still going out and I wasn't able to go and do that anymore um but I was still running I ran with the Run club and things and that was good but yeah it was just a bit like it was a very it was a strange time anyway because of moving here and things where where's here I'm in pem Brookshire oh okay nice so yeah it's nice the seea and yeah it was good but and we moved down actually for the other reason we moved down was for rock climbing like because there's lots of Trad climbing on the sea cliffs and uh because we used to climb together and then we've had children didn't climb at all yeah for many years we've like five years ago we've started back up again but yeah it was like you can't do that when you know it's the it's the time aspect I think like that's why running is so great because you can do it Qui you know you can go for a quick run and you know I found Sprint Triathlon for me I started Triathlon after having children and it was like if I do a Sprint I can fit in a bit of swimming and a bit of biking I don't have to be out for hours or or whatever I can fit it in when my mom's looking after the the little ones um so yeah it that's how I got into it but it's slightly different way yeah from you um but yeah was it's it's amazing like amazing experience and I think yeah you know do it your way is the the most important thing because there's so much like information and and people all have their own opinions but you have to be able to make your own decisions about things that's what I don't think I was confident enough in in that the first time around so but it is hard because you don't really know no one gives you a handbook I know yeah I mean I am lucky being one of the later ones that you know a lot of sporty friends who who've gone through it and come out the other side and all of them have come out the other side well even if it's been a tough journey in the middle so um and and they're all also you know I think just being slightly older that I'm got that confidence to listen to what people have to say but then interpret what I want and and I think also my friends have been very clear of like you get so much advice but like this was my experience but it's not advice it's just my experience and yes I've been very fortunate with that of um kind of find someone who's had you know any experience I can kind of touch on someone who's had that so um and also being later I've just been we've been given so many free baby clothes so a few there a few bonuses with that and but it's funny because everyone I do feel a little bit that pressure oh you're just bed back because I've had a smooth pregnancy and things that like but I'm like I don't yeah that's not what I'm sort of measuring it on and I and I and and I find it very flattering that they say that but they also don't want that to kind of like pressure me and feel like I need to so um and just yeah trying to sort of see it as a compliment but nothing more than that yeah I think that can be like it's it's well-being isn't it but sometimes it can be like okay people are expecting this of me but you know they they don't they don't really I think people just say it because they're trying to be nice yeah exactly um so have you got any kind of like are there any lessons that you've learned from you know training when you're pregnant and you know how you've had to adapt is there anything that you'd want to share with anyone that's I think I've re rephrased it as exercising rather than training it's a and and in some ways I've I've like even this morning when I was going to the pool I can't build the swim I was like well I know it's not going to hurt because I'm I don't have to do a session I'm just getting in and swimming and and the amount of times when I've wished I could be that person in the easy Lane when I've been like trying to train for something so I've tried to S to see it from that aspect and see it and when I've definitely had phases in you since retiring from being a professional athlete of going through phases when I just was so unmotivated and you just not even running for a while and things and and and finding that like losing where I was whereas now I have I have enjoyed you know now I've stopped running but I did just enjoy just going for a run and going oh I can just see how I feel it's that that permission to my words like be lazy but it's weird because I I normally stop saying that but if I don't if I don't have a goal I quite often will just stop running or I won't really I will struggle to get out the door so I'm used to having a goal but it's quite refreshing that I don't really have a goal yet I do in in the same way but it's a very different one so it's kind of it has been refreshing and I kind of feel like it's almost it's not like being injured because it's very different but mentally it's that I it's like being injured with a a date when you know that you will be less injured kind of thing so it's kind of you know when you're in you're coming back and you don't quite know like how much and it's that fear and that anger and that frustration but like well I've chosen this and it's a privilege to be pregnant and you know I'm very lucky so I have to just sort of remind myself of that and try to enjoy the fact that I can still be active rather than resenting it so yeah on the whole it's been just for me Outdoors is the key and like and I've also still been able to do loads of travel we've been away on work shoots um and I think that the team at work we not quite sure we were filming on the bike in January so I was try think how many weeks I was then I can't remember but I was definitely showing um and I think they weren't quite sure of how to like depict me the videos and like doing cycle stuff and and like challenges obviously I can't like I always struggle a bit because I'm doing challenges with the boys who are just naturally stronger than me and I was like now this is exacerbated we were doing one um Hill Climb where we were adding a kilo of weight every time we went up this hill and looking at our power and heart rate difference and the irony being it's like we finished you already got like yeah and I said that so I think um James ended up with 10 kilos and at the time I was about 8 kilos heavier than my normal weight so I'm like welcome to my world but yeah just trying to to see the fun side of it um and see the opportunities of doing like way more you I've got some friends who run slower and I sometimes had to say no to going for a run with them because I've need to do a session on that day and I was like oh I can do the warm up with you but then I really do this session whereas you know for that point when I was running I was like yeah we can just run and chat and I was like I'm really slow she's like no that's great I like slow so that has definitely been you know positive and also like running with my sausage um I can't really run and do a session with him but he quite likes my slower runs and stuff and then I'm like oh he looks a bit tired I'll walk now so it's just been there has definitely been that that like sort of shift in just trying to do it more for enjoyment but also I've tried to remind myself whil doing this that like when I do get back to eventually running whenever that might be that I need to remember all those times when I wanted to run hard as well and bottle that so that when I'm like it's raining and I don't want to go out think now I'm lucky that I can think of all that think of those nine months or 12 months or whatever long when you couldn't run hard so yeah I try to just sort of remember that as well and I found when I've been injured in the past I've always tried to really just remember like being inur you couldn't run at all you see someone running you just think God they're safe they don't know how lucky they are just remember that you are then that lucky person when you do get to do it again yeah definitely like having that gratitude for being able to do it and and appreciating you know you you mention the outdoors I mean that's something that is that's really important important thing for me and a lot of people I think that do triathon it's like this it's an excuse to get Outdoors isn't it go outside and see amazing places and you sounds like you do a lot of traveling which you get to see and ride and run in different places and that is a privilege it is something that we should always be grateful for and it's easy to forget that we're really lucky to be able to do that I think that was the thing I found the hardest to start with when I started to get to the point where running was uncomfortable but like for me it was weird to go for a walk like I don't have my dog in bath he's at [ __ ] at home with my parents because I couldn't really bit running and walking and I'm about to have him back because I will doing more walking and I kind of feel like you can't go for a walk unless you have a dog because you need a purpose so it's taken me a little bit of time to like get used to just going for a morning walk it's a bit strange but it's now I've got my head around that and got into the habit of it it just it even if it's just 15 minutes 20 minutes because you know my 30 minute run when I'm fit it's an easy run is like a walk really it's just a jog and I just go a little bit further so I just had to reframe that to realize that it makes me feel so much better if I just get outside and I don't it's okay to go walking don't have to run everywhere so it's just a weird reframing yeah and just you know just look at everything have you've got time to look at everything around you haven't you well yeah that another thing and I and I listen to podcast whereas when I run I don't ever listen to music or anything so I've had a lot of time to educate myself on some pregnancy things but also just some fun things as well whilst um yeah go for walk yeah I bet yeah and you'll probably be walking with the baby afterwards quite a lot well we had to do a lot of that for getting into sleep oh no didn't well I've also had to do a lot of walking in the evenings because I've had restless legs so I just like just go out and do something that's another thing that um there's not much research on but all the things are sort of saying make sure you do exercise you eat healthy food drink those water I'm like I'd do all of those and then oh maybe because you're doing too much I'm like no it's not because I'm doing too much at all so like going for a walk later that's why I have to make sure I've done enough each day and I know lots of people are tired in pregnancy but I've had like as much almost more energy because I'm doing less training so it's a bit of a strain concept of like I feel like I'm cheating I'm like I almost want the tiredness so that I can go to sleep it's a weird it's a weird concept I shouldn't maybe you need to do some like meditation or something down when you were at night we did the second time round I did something called Hypno birthing because yeah I had a C-section the first time and I wanted to have a natural birth the second time around and there's a lot of that kind of visualizing and meditating and we had like have a hypn birthing class tomorrow actually oh it's really good it's amazing if you if you're doing that that is really good I found that helped so much it was it was brilliant because we went through everything that happened the first time round and kind of yeah really helpful and so your partner does that as well we're both going to yeah it's part of the course so yeah both yeah because they have to help you don't they and yeah and read you the script and stuff so yeah that that really helps it's amazing if you can if you can use that cool so yeah you we talked briefly I'm aware of time so I'm more for youtime yeah yeah I know it's all right I can hear the kids sort of like running up and down the stairs now but um yeah so we talked a little bit about after you know your plans after and it sounds like you're going to keep things quite flexible and kind of see how you did you do you have anything that you really want to do or that you've thought about I think I was talking about to people at work actually because obviously I work within the TR and Industry and I still want to be doing some things that we can make into videos so part of it like oh I want to be educating other people that sounds not educating I guess informing and sharing the knowledge that I find but um yeah I already s putting together a script for postpartum and it's not about my journey per se it's more about like what the information is out there to help other people but I'll be presenting it whilst post but then also doing you various challenges of like it's actually a fresh slate for me but also for the channel of doing things like couch to 5K in a in a sense because you know never I will be almost like you know I'll be starting again so there's different content I've kind of been had my work hat on in some ways of like seeing opportunities of things of Brands we could work with or things we could do that are different to normal because normally people just like oh I have come about a 5k like big deal so it's like stuff like that and I do whether it is in 2024 whether it becomes 2025 but I do really want to try and do a sub five half because I've never I've never really trained properly for the half and I've got much more knowledge and much better kit now even though I'm older I I feel like it's I think I've done a 501 or something so and not not targeted a fast course so that's just something that I would like to do initially I did really I got very excited and really wanted to try and race and I should have qualified last year if I thought about it but to race the 70.3 worlds because I'd love to go to New Zealand and I'll be on maternity lead however it looks like for some reason the qualification ends in June so that's way too soon I had or maybe and I was like no that's silly that was very silly so um unless they extend it whereas the Iron Man World Champs which are in September they you can still qualify in August so why the December race you can't qualify later unless they change but um that aside yeah I would like to that's one of my targets of I haven't done a half Iron Man for so many years and I kind of feel like oh that's a I wanted to do it anyway so now is a good time to kind of see if I can come back to that and you know shared that goal with my partner and yeah so there's just it's almost like I I see it as quite exciting because it's like new it's starting starting aesh in in a way um and then maybe I attempt the dreaded Marathon again because I am I will be 42 the following year and I sort of think 42k trying to i' I've only done it properly once and I got just under three hours but that makes me scared because I know I I want if I do it again I need to try and get under three so we'll see but yeah there's lots of I just get excited by sort of running races and maybe some Ultras but yeah there's there's a lot that I want to do and I might be completely overambitious but I'm not splitting things in the diary that I like you've not time scale on it and it's like there is there is plenty of time like there's loads of races that I wanted to do and I was I had all these ideas about what I wanted to do and and some of them I've done and some of them I haven't and some of them I might do and some of them I might not and it and it doesn't really matter because it's what's what's inspiring you at that moment What's going to get you moving and and wanting to and excited about it again so it's good that you've got those things in your mind but yeah Flex bu out them is going to be really key as well um so you've got some vid so you did a video on uh it's up now isn't it the global Network where you talk to who did you talk to my experts and um yeah so I spoke we we did an interview with the um physio the public health physio who I've been seeing privately as well then um with a athletic trainer who's worked with Olympians and people of all all sort of sporting abil in America called Brianna battles and she runs her own actual training program where she trains other coaches to coach um pre and post pregnant women and and she's yeah just sort of found 10 years ago there was nothing out there and basically took it upon herself to the start and she's made made a sort of curriculum and things so she's quite inspiring and very knowledgeable and then also we interviewed Jess liont the Olympic champion who's um on a her sort of very steady return she had a really smooth pregnancy really smooth birth but she still you know she waited till 12 weeks she's waited that long and she's still in theory maybe trying to get to Paris I'm like that's a real sign that you know that's a real yes that must be should that should be the way you do it because um yeah she's she does have as much support as anyone's gonna have around her so yeah yeah definitely cool so what I'll do is I'll put the link to the video Below in the in the um in the show notes so that people can access that video and kind of find out digging a little bit deeper into all the information that you've got in there it's really great that you're putting more content out like that as well and I'm looking yeah I mean I've been really I've been really flattered by the comments because you know our audience are mainly male and even the ones who are female are probably not that many are pregnant right now or thinking of being pregnant right now so the ratio when you think of our viewership is Tiny yet the video is is growing and the comments have been so encouraging and and what the most encouraging part is quite a few men have commented really positively and just how they found it really interesting or you know they wish they'd known that to be able to support their partner and stuff so I find that you know a lot of this stuff now I think men are becoming more open-minded to to the fact that 50% of the population are women and their their friends and family will be women so there's a there's a a greater a much greater understanding and a greater sort of want for the knowledge so that's that for me has been really rewarding but also just hearing from from other women whove shared their Journey a result of watching that video so I just find that really cool too yeah that's really good it's really I'm really happy that you're doing that and it's nice to see that that people are responding to it positively because we do need like more of it out there I think you know like you say that the triathlon population is mainly male and you know when I started coaching it was like oh I need to do it this way because that's what all the coaches do and most of the coaches are men and then I was like well actually women aren't necessarily interested in the all of these things they're interested in other things so I started kind of thinking about it in a different way and how I approach things in a different way and I've probably changed a lot of stuff that I do I know still it's just like there's a different mindset and and it's really important to acknowledge that and share content that is relevant and interesting for us as women because it isn't all really you know it doesn't all appeal but you know not everything appeals to everyone anyway but there are there are differences for sure so it's good to have that awesome so is there anything else you wanted to like add or or say to people finish I I don't know if this is too Niche but um I've just today an interview actually with a um a specialist or scientist from woop which is the wearable I'm not I'm not sponsored by them but it's more the fact that um we were looking at HRV so heart rate variability and I've been wearing since November and been following my HRV and I put up a personal post um I don't know month ago just sort of sh sharing mine and questioning why it's so low and I had so many people like asking about it and being really interested and then a few people were like oh mine was low when I was pregnant and um and and yeah speaking to Emily today she was saying that she's 14 months po her baby's 14 months old and she said that interestingly your HRV does massively reflect pregnancy and I've only used it since I've been pregnant so mine has been low all the time and she said yes it is much lower and then as you get towards the end of your pregnancy it should start coming up mine isn't really at the moment so I'm like come on I hope it's like gonna start coming but she said actually after you give birth because you know a lot of stresses uh things that make it lower um you know just lack of sleep and all this I thought well Sur it'll be worse but she says no actually after birth bizar your HIV shoots up because your body is no longer working as hard as it is at the moment and she kind of you know was just of explaining that of like how this is like a massive endurance thing for your body and that's why your HIV is low once you've given birth your body is no longer yes it's doing other things and mentally you might be really tired and things but actually the physiological the way your nervous system is reacting is giving you a much higher HIV and that can stay high for a really long time and that actually is kind of a a benefit along with all the other iological changes and I just found that really fascinating so I'm hoping that my HRV is going to shoot up and stay higher it's it's I literally just finished making a video about it today and it's not about your numbers compared to anyone else's but we're all competitive and you still do look at yours compared toone else's and mine's so low and I'm just like but I'm more just curious because I haven't ever looked at that measurement when I've not been pregnant so um yeah that's something that if your your listeners do measure their heart rate variability and things and also resting heart ratees being relatively you know High compared to normal so I'm interesting just I find that quite fascinating to track those sorts of things yeah and see just to understand a little bit more of how your your body is reacting and and what my body's doing and yeah that's quite interesting to see it with the HRV because it is like you know you're pregnant you just think oh yeah I'm just me like with a bump or whatever but your body's doing loads of stuff isn't it it's like massive changes and it's just incredible what it's doing and you don't really think of that but to see it in Num num that would be like really interesting to see yeah yeah that'll be so you that video is coming out soon is it yeah I think it's coming out this weekend I think they're editing it tomorrow so yeah okay yeah well depending on it's one of those hard ones there because it was a very interesting interview and I've got tomorrow work out what we can cut out because there was too much info in it but she always always a good problem to have yeah definitely yeah well if it's depending when I get the podcast out I can link to that video as well um but people will find it anyway if they follow your channel on YouTube they'll they'll be able to get hold of that video but yeah it's been really good talking with you I could have carry on asking later questions for ages it is my B time yeah sorry sorry for eating no no no don't silly that's fine I I'm just like I I'm quite sort of routine in the evening I have a bit of a like wind down and stuff like that and uh but it's good to do things differently as well every now and then because otherwise you just get you know I'm like getting older I'll start getting stuck in my way so so yeah but great to talk to you and I'll put the links below um and yeah people can find you on the global triath on network and you know four weeks good luck with everything I hope it all goes great smoothly and if it doesn't it'll all be fine anyway you know you'll you'll get through whatever we said women have done it before us so I'm sure it's it's doable whatever that that route might look like exactly yeah and it'll be the right route for you whatever happens amazing thanks Heather no worry thank you good night cheers night night thanks for listening today have a great day take care bye for now[Music]