Well, I dont know from personal experience since we never got preggo, but.
When we were trying to get pregnant I asked my doctor if I were to become pregnant, could I plan to compete in the marathon I planned and he said "yes" exercise is good for you, I asked if I could compete in upcoming tri's and he said the same thing "yes". Keep in mind also at the time I was 38 and no spring chicken when it comes to being pregnant. If I were to be preggo, and physically able to continue running, biking and swimming most definitely I would compete.
Some people I have heard here on this site said they disagreed which is fine. Mostly it was men though worried about the woman getting kicked. Well I have never been kicked in the stomach by another swimmer, infact if you think about it , it would be normal to get kicked in the face and not the stomach, the other swimmer would have to be under you somehow. I have however had people swim over the top of me, but that would have no affect on the baby. And I usually put myself out to the side away from people anyway.

Really it comes down to how comfortable you are with it and how comfortable your doctor is (and what ever health issues you may have)

P.S any time I see a girl out running, etc I think "you go girl" . My mom ran 5 miles the day my little brother was born, so I think it is just normal for me to think that away :)

As long as you were training prior to becoming pregnant you can continue. However, thre comes a point where your body temp can get to hi and harm the baby. Everything goes by the doctor. I did step class till I just felt to wierd and the baby moved. The bike was tricky, becuase you don't want to fall. Then comes everyone telling you what to do. I actually read books and just made sure to check with the doc on everything we did. I was going to compete in the being, but I made the decision not to.

I sincerely hope you are kidding :)

There definately is the chance of crashing, yes it could happen but you could also get hit by the bus crossing the street. I suppose if you are prone to this it would be best to not compete. Again it comes down to how comfortable (physically and mentally) you are with it and what the doc says. Most doctors will allow you to continue running if you have been prior to pregnancy (and biking and swimming are non impact).

I do think the attitud toward exercise with women who are already active and those who are not is different. Those of us who do a lot would like to continue as much as possible and not be a couch potato.

as a physician (internal medicine/pediatrics), i would not recommend riding a bike in pregnancy, because of the dangers of falling. most importantly, though, is to consult with your ob/gyn or family practitioner. hope that that helps.

kawika

My wife is 5 months pregnant right now and she is able to swim and run, but her doctor said absolutely no bike riding because of this very reason. He said she could ride on the stationary trainer, but no outside riding.

I trained while pregnant with both of mine. I ran until it got uncomfortable around 6 months, and swam 3,00 yards a few hours before my daughter was born. But I stopped biking very early on in each pregnancy. To me, the risk of a crash and an abdominal impact is just too high. I also would not compete in a tri, because you're not supposed to let your body temperature or your heart rate get too high. I actually knew a gal who competed into her 7th month and she lost the baby a couple of weeks later. That was before I had kids and I have no idea if the two things were connected, but after that I definitely did not compete while pregnant either time.

My 2 cents: pregnancy is just the first step in parenthood where you have to start thinking about somebody besides yourself. And you have to get used to it. It's just not all about you anymore, LOL. That's a hard one for many driven, athletic people to wrap their brains around (myself included here). But putting the baby ahead of my triathlon goals was just the first of many times when I would make compromises and changes to my own plans for the good of my kids. There are always more triathlon seasons out there. I had 10 seasons before my first pregnancy, and now I've had 10 seasons after, so I can definitely attest that triathlon life goes on, even if you take a summer off for pregnancy here or there.

Thank you all for starting this post, we want to start having kids in about a year and was wondering about pregnancy + triathlons. One of the girls I work with is a triathlete too and just gave birth to a baby girl (12 lbs!) She said that she stopped the cycling very quickly becuase her balance was way off. She did yoga and walking most of the time.

My question is, how do you know if your body temp is getting too high? And what is too high? Just wondering, we have talked about this A LOT! He wants kids pretty much right away! Any tips for pre-pregnancy?

Read books and check with your doctor. The heart rate you can monitar with watches, but the body temp is difficult. Again, it is different for each person.

I'd quit working out for the day, before I couldn't keep a conversation going or the sweat felt like it wouldn't go away. I focused a lot of heart rate. Higher the hot rate, more the body is getting heated. I always called the doc when I questioned something and if it didn't feel right, I just wouldn't do it.

I like what Ironmom wrote about stop thinking about yourself and think about the kid. It is very true. I think I caught up in muber of races and distance after baby then before.

Web has lots of info too, but check with the doc on what you read and maybe more then one doc.

Pre book- What to expect when you are expecting? and the Girlfriend's guide.

Have a great journey..

with the blessing of my doctor, i ran until i waddled, and was able to ski (alpine) until i started to show. the skiing ended on it's own, as it gets harder to balance, and the same was true with biking. her take on it was once you show, the baby is no longer in the protective custody of your pelvis and is at risk of impact in a fall.

I think a lot of it depends on your own unique physiology, the size and shape of the baby and where you carry it. Each woman and each pregnancy is different. My babies were over 2 lbs different in size from each other, so I was able to run and work out a lot longer with my 2nd, a much smaller girl, than with my bruiser of a boy (9+ pounds, born almost 3 weeks early). Also, some people feel a lot more effect from the hormones that relax your ligaments in the last trimester. For some women, it's downright dangerous to try and run when their joints are so loose. Some women have longer torsos and their babies fit much more compactly, some women have short torsos and their babies tend to stick WAYYYYYY out. It's obviously much harder to run if you're one of the latter.

In general, I don't think it's a good approach to try and do what anyone else is capable of doing during a pregnancy, but listen to your own body and make sure that what you're doing is right for your own body and your own baby. I can tell you there's no way in heck I could've run the day before giving birth. I'm one of those long-legged, short torso people who looked like she was carrying some kind of torpedo-like projectile, LOL. My abdominal muscles actually tore apart from their connecting tissues (ouch!) in my first pregnancy, so running would've been extremely ill-advised.