Finding Your Stride: How to Adjust Your Run and When to Stop Running During Pregnancy

Stopping or phasing out running during pregnancy is something that many women struggle with, including myself. Especially without knowing when I’d be able to start again was so hard mentally.

Is continuing to run safe during pregnancy? (Short answer, yes. more on that here)

Do you have to stop running during pregnancy? (Short answer, no, but everyone is different and if running isn’t serving you anymore there is no shame in taking a break.)

If so, when?

These are all tough questions to answer because everyone is different and many times it comes down to the idea that “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

Going into my second pregnancy I was running consistently, running hard, and seeing lots of gains in my performance. Even though my first 18 weeks, I was still running at a pretty good pace...but then things quickly began to slow down. Over the course of just a few more weeks, my pace and stride went from normal to a slow up, and down plodding. I could feel the mechanics of my gait changing.

Having had a history of pelvic floor troubles, I started phasing out running at around 22 weeks, beginning with run: walk intervals and then eventually all walking at around 32 weeks. I knew, as my form suffered, I was putting more pressure on my pelvic floor and joints.

Many women will be able to run comfortably much later in their pregnancy (especially with good strength training habits to support it). Many women will feel the need to stop before then.

It depends. Where you are with your fitness, volume, and intensity going into your pregnancy matters too. Going into my 3rd pregnancy I was coming off a bad ankle sprain and low volume. This had my run-and-walk intervals starting A LOT earlier.

In both cases, had to ask myself the question:

Why do I want to keep doing this? Pride, fear of loss of fitness?

If I continue, what’s the cost?

Could I still have run? Sure, but was it still the best course of action for me anymore? Maybe not.

The Mindset Switch

I'm a boundary pusher with my body. Always wanting to see how far, how fast, how strong. Chasing that PR in everything from 5k to the marathon, competing in obstacle course races, and adding weight to my squats and deadlifts. I'm always trying to see what my body CAN do...⁠

But that is NOT the case during pregnancy and postpartum.

During pregnancy and the weeks, months, and for some years postpartum it's ok to turn it down and tune in - play the long game.

"Just because I can doesn't mean I should" has been my motto for pregnancy and postpartum for that reason.

This is the reason I stopped running at 32 weeks. I could have kept going, nothing hurt, but it just made me TIRED. Admitting that it was no longer serving me was HARD.

It's HARD for me to slow down in workouts and in life. That's why I love taking this motto "off the mat" or "out of the gym" so to speak and into daily life especially with how intense my life has been lately.⁠

Could I have gone all out with a theme and decorations for my oldest’s birthday? Yes, but I didn’t have too. He was just as happy with pizza, cupcakes and pool time with his friends.

Could we have gone to all of the summer fun activities around town.. the movie nights, the farmers markets, music in the park, and… and… and..? Yes, it’s fun, but it’s also a lot.

Could I continue to work at full capacity up until my due date? Yes, but I didn’t have to. I could also choose to rest and spend more time with my boys.

Saying no to things isn’t easy. But it’s also a skill that will serve you during motherhood and something I’m still working on.

I personally chose to play it super safe knowing that I had a solid strength training strategy to fall back on. All athletes have seasons, this was my season to work the foundations of strength training (pssst. I definitely feel like this paid off in the end).

Try not to worry about “losing your fitness” and focus more on how you can support your body during this time. We can still maintain fitness and potentially get stronger in some ways; it may just take a different approach.

Ultimately it’s up to you. Everyone is different. Many women can run safely all the way up to their due date and many women feel the need to stop much sooner.

Considerations for Pregnancy Exercise Modifications

I like to think about it as a taper.

First, it’s important to understand you will likely slow down and have to cut back on distance. This can be mentally difficult.

I first recommend changing your mindset around how you program your runs. Instead of focusing on distance and pace. Focus on time and rate of perceived exertion. For example, when programming a run, instead of saying something like 5 miles at 9:30 pace, say 40-50 minutes at RPE 3 (easy pace).

Eventually, you’ll likely find that your truly easy pace slows down to the point that it feels like more of a bobbing up and down than a fluid forward movement.

At that point I suggest switching to run: walk intervals. You can go a little faster than easy for the runs and recoup on the walk. Instead of continuing to slow down the pace from there, decrease the run duration of the intervals.

Eventually, that might mean you are doing all walking AND THATS OK. This is just a season. There is no prize for pushing through

Lastly, supporting your running with strength training becomes even more important during pregnancy in my opinion. It may mean decreasing run days simply so that you can increase your number of supportive strength training sessions.

You are not in a competition with anyone! 

There is A LOT you still can do AND you don’t have to continue to do everything. Remember, you are pregnant, not fragile! Your training might look different over the next months/year but... Different doesn't mean bad. Different can actually be better!

Running for 2 U doesn’t give you a list of limitations and things you can't do.

Running for 2 U provides you with a solid strategy to support the needs of your body every step of the way so that you can continue to move in ways that you love!