pregnant women against exercise, fearing that the heat or high heart rate would harm the fetus. Plenty of women listened and felt stressed, tense, and fat throughout their pregnancies.Doctors now say that women who don’t exercise may be doing their babies

, though, that I won’t get back to the standard I’d reached before my pregnancy. What should I do?A There are plenty of examples of female runners who’ve come back just as good, if not better, after pregnancy. Liz McColgan and Derartu Tulu are just two. I

biomechanic structure to men, which means different shoes - and different injuries - and physical changes like pregnancy and the menopause are likely to affect your training. Whether you're taking your first tentative steps into the world of running or you

is the largest nerve in the leg and which passes down the back of the thigh, emerges through the back of the pelvis under some muscles which often become tight in runners.An added complication can be the after-effects of pregnancy and childbirth. In the last

When we posed our Reader To Reader question about running and pregnancy, we were particularly impressed by the detailed and well-informed answer from RW forum member Minks. Here's her answer in full."I recently found out that I'm pregnant, and have

. Complications during pregnancy are rare, but if they do arise they may prevent you from carrying on with your training, no matter how committed and motivated you are to running. A frank and open discussion with your obstetrician – particularly

labour I had, and he was my biggest baby. Research suggests that it is safe and probably even beneficial to exercise in pregnancy, as long as your pregnancy is normal and you adapt your exercise. See your midwife regularly, and review your training

don’t get enough folate before and during pregnancy increase their risk of having babies with birth defects, and both men and women who skimp on folate increase their risk of heart disease. Among women and men, folate keeps blood cells healthy

performances or just plain fun. In this article, you’ll find loads of useful information to help you reach your goals. These facts and tips cover health, psychology, weight loss, pregnancy and motherhood, training, racing and more. Some apply to all runners

with women athletes achieving lifetime bests, despite having recently had children. So what about us lesser mortals? Can we expect to see our running performances improve after nine months of pregnancy? We spoke to three ordinary women whose fitness gains