From Athlete to Mommy Part 1

By Coach Martha Handford

My journey from competitive cyclist/coach to becoming a new mother has been a learning experience, to say the least. I guess I knew that pregnancy would be rough on my body, but I thought that if anyone could handle it, I could. After all, I had raced hard and long on my bike for years and was tough as nails mentally and physically; besides, teenagers get pregnant and deliver healthy babies, so how hard could it be? I'm not an expert on pregnancy or parenthood, but I can certainly share my personal anecdotes with anyone who is willing to read on.

Things I Didn't Expect
I didn't really expect pregnancy to be “that hard” on my body – OK, I knew that I wasn't looking forward to gaining weight, not fitting into my cycling gear, or having to “slow down” my activity level and intensity, but physically I thought, no problem, I'm fit, strong and healthy. A sound theory, but one that didn't exactly play out as I imagined, even though I had a healthy pregnancy. Here are a few of my favourite pregnancy memories:

· 10-12 weeks of morning sickness (most of the day, every day) during my first trimester – keeping in mind that this was really the only time in my pregnancy that I could ride my bike on whatever trail I wanted, at a moderately hard pace, without any risk to the little bean growing inside. The pregnancy books will suggest ways to get through your day at work, but not which energy bars won't make you barf when you're out enjoying some wicked single track. Oh, and they don't tell you how to explain to your usual riding pals why you're a) not available to ride as much as last year, and b) when you do ride, why you're so darn slow. I can tell you all the excuses I used, but after a while everyone gets suspicious and doesn't believe you anyway.

· My morphing body – how strange it is! Everyone knows you gain weight when you're pregnant, but did it have to happen so quickly (or so it seemed)? Did I really need to start producing food for my little bean at 10 weeks? AND, for the first time in my life exercise and caloric intake seemed to have no direct effect on how my body was growing. If I didn't feel out of control before, this did it for me – the world as I knew it was a distant memory. As an athlete, our bodies are the engine and means to perform our incredible athlete feats; we care for our bodies and we can tell if something changes, even it others don't see it. I felt like a caricature of myself – I mean a “glowing” caricature of myself. Still, I fought every naysayer and continued to “ride” my bike, then started to nordic ski when the snow arrived. I had to convince myself somehow that I hadn't lost my athlete edge, even though I had no edges left, my body was completely round.

· Famous last words: “you're so fit, you will breeze through your pregnancy”. Ha! What a cruel joke – pregnancy is physically hard on your body, even if you are one of the lucky women who don't notice the toll it is taking. Clearly, I wasn't one of the lucky ones in this regard. Apparently being fit can actually work against you (or so the theory was with me). I suffered from severe round ligament pain from about 28 weeks until delivery at 36.5 weeks. The round ligament stretches to something like 10 times it's normal length during pregnancy, but apparently all my cycling “tightness” in my hips and groin didn't want to let it stretch, so I had severe “muscle spasms” on my right side for about 2.5 months. Nothing seemed to really help and they continued to get worse as the baby grew. Of course, the strong, fit athlete in me felt like a failure – how could someone like me find this difficult? Ah well, ever since I had the spinal block during my c-section, my round ligament hasn't bothered me, and getting through the surgery made me feel strong again!

The Good Stuff
I had a difficult time finding the “good stuff” during my pregnancy, except of course the end game (the birth of our daughter), but that always seemed so far away. Although, there were certainly many happy moments - first ultrasound, first kicks, and in utero hiccups - I found it difficult to accept that I wouldn't be training and racing this season (even though my pregnancy was planned) and my independent, active mindset didn't seem to be programmed to slow down. I wasn't sure how I was possibly going to fill all my free time now that I wasn't on my bike every day after work. In the end, I read a lot of books, watched more TV than I care to admit, and actually just took it easy going on hikes, mellow bike rides (up until about 20-22 weeks), walking every day, and eventually nordic skiing. I also complained a lot to my husband about not getting to do all the things I used to (very childish, I know, but letting go of my athletic self wasn't easy).

On December 17, 2007, our little bean, Lillian, arrived by c-section (because she was in a breech position). She was three weeks early, but healthy and beautiful.

Stay tuned for my next posting in June, when I will share my thoughts on being a new parent, sleep deprivation, body image, and getting active again.

Martha Handford is a Sport Factory mountain bike and cyclo cross coach and athlete who took the 2007 season off to start a family. Martha found the lack of information available about being an athlete and a mother frustrating, so she decided to write a commentary about her experiences as she returns to coaching and racing in 2008. Martha can be reached at coachmartha@sportfactory.com.