r/fitpregnancy • u/jessicaclairee • 1d ago

Speed work during pregnancy?

Have any runner mamas kept up with speed work during pregnancy? Since the start of my pregnancy I’ve kept my running to Zone 2 and 5/6 effort, but missing the feeling of speed workouts and wanting to improve my speed. Curious to see how that’s been for other pregnant runners out there! :)

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u/No-Consideration1494 1d ago

I think this is going to be incredibly dependent on your body and where you're at in this pregnancy! I had to stop doing speed workouts early on as I was experiencing symptoms of poor circulation afterwards (lips going blue, sever lightheadedness, and pain/swelling in my legs). I've been able to do some threshold workouts on the bike, but already accepted that speed will be part of my comeback post pregnancy! This is my third pregnancy though, and I gain 40 lbs/pregnancy and pregnancy is hard on my body😅 There's many incredibly women who I'm sure will have different stories, but all that to say it's going to depend! Listen to your body, it will give you signs if you need to slow down or not!

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u/Patient-Quality6119 1d ago

I was able to keep it up until like 18 weeks

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u/rachelleylee 1d ago

I just want to say I recognize the feeling that just going slow/moderate pace isn’t always enough! I’m 27 weeks and today ran an interval workout because I realized I wasn’t enjoying my boring, one-pace treadmill runs anymore. It’s important to me that running be fun! And for me that includes some speed play and definitely some walk/run intervals. I hope you can find a way to keep in your speed work that works for you!

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u/jessicaclairee 5h ago

That's amazing and thank you for understanding! What type of interval workouts have you been doing?

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u/Psychological-Log315 1d ago

This is so dependent on how you are feeling. I didn’t do any speed work till week 15. But haven’t gone in to longer interval territory. Basically all I have done is 1 min marathon GP with 2 min of either walking or a super easy jog to bring the HR back down. I have worked from 6x1 min to about 10x 1 min but Walk between intervals. I would change pace expectations I am about 1 min slower on all fronts and just go by feel. ( watch is usually showing time/milage/hr so i can go off feel and not be distracted by pace)

I have a “downhill” half in a few weeks and my only goal is to be slightly faster than the one I ran at 10weeks feeling awful lol