How Marathon Training Prepared me for Pregnancy

Funny story: I actually wrote this a week before our little runner girl was born last October and never got around to publishing it (for obvious reasons). I just stumbled upon it in my drafts and even now at ten months postpartum, much of this still rings true now so I thought I’d share.

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Constantly tired? Check.
Never-ending hunger? Double check.
Feel like you’re never not hydrating? Do I ever!

At some point during my second trimester, it occurred to me: Wow, I feel like I’m in the middle of marathon training. 

I’ve learned a lot over the past eight months—about myself, my body and what it’s capable of, the tiny human who makes her presence well known on a nightly basis—but since the summer, I can’t help but laugh at how much marathon training prepared me for pregnancy.

I’ve trained for and run three marathons over the last five years and the parallels between those training cycles and pregnancy are uncanny. 

At one of my first OBGYN appointments, my doctor told me that my pregnancy baseline was basically dehydrated and I needed to make sure I stayed hydrated. 

I pointed to the water bottle on the table and deadpanned: “I’m a runner. Don’t worry.”

Here are some of the parallels between pregnancy and marathon training that I experienced: 

Snacks, Snacks, and More Snacks

I realized early on in pregnancy that I always needed to have a snack on-hand, never knowing when it might come in handy. A handful of times, I found myself without something to munch on and it was rough to say the least, so I never leave home without some sort of snack (along with a water bottle!)

Aside from being a long run fuel staple, GU Stroopwafels are one of my favorite pregnancy snacks. They’re slim and easy to carry around. 

Hydration is Key

I am never not hydrating. While I mostly stick to water (in my handy, dandy purple Contigo because it’s light and I’m so cognizant of how much weight I’m carrying), I also incorporate Nuun for electrolytes. I’m currently loving their new Nuun Sport Powder a lot—it’s been super convenient to toss in my purse and take with me. I’ve used it at a lot of baseball games and concerts to mix into a bottle of water.

I’ve been having seltzer with a splash of 100% cranberry juice lately to mix things up, but seltzer can also aggravate heartburn (which has been very present lately) so I only drink that when I really have a taste for it.

I’m so used to going to the bathroom frequently from everything I drink in a day that I honestly can’t tell if there’s been an increase in trips or not as we’re coming into the home stretch now…until baby girl kicks near my bladder and then I know it’s time to go.

Go for Comfort

It’s often recommended to rotate between a few pairs of shoes when training for a marathon—not just for different types of runs, but the constant wear-and-tear of training will have you searching for a new pair before you even get to the race.

This summer, I opted for comfort over style, commuting into NYC sporting the Brooks Addiction Walker (velcro style because I’m a cool 90’s kid) and logging my walk happy miles in the new Brooks Ghost Max (2025 update: they’re already on the Ghost Max 2!). I’m a longtime Ghost runner—there’s never not a pair in my regular rotation—so I was very excited to take the comfy Ghost Max out on some easy strolls. These two shoes are staples in my pregnancy style.

Bonus points for the velcro on the Addiction Walker—it made getting my shoes on much easier as I got into the later weeks of pregnancy. Check out the Addiction Walker in action—this was my last day commuting into the city at 30 weeks.

Embrace the Tired and Rest

Another marathon training staple is to rest as hard as you train, which is easy to do when your long runs start creeping in the 10-20 mile range. Pregnancy is no different.

During the first trimester, I was frequently tired and drained of energy—but thankfully no morning sickness or even nausea, so it was tolerable. This was a tricky adjustment for me recently since sleep (or lack thereof) is the main culprit of my tiredness right now and realizing that days won’t be as productive as I’d like them to be is something I’m going to need to be ok with and not beat myself up over. 

Rest is important and necessary.

Find Your Strong

In the second trimester, I was very consistent with strength training! It’s petered off a bit between simply having busier days than I expected and such frequent tiredness (see above, haha). And between both of those, the last thing I’ve felt like doing is lift anything, except maybe a fork to shovel in another meal (have I mentioned the increased hunger?).

I’m trying to at least carve out time for an upper and lower body session once a week with lower weights just to get movement in. Strength training has been a big help with my back/scoliosis both leading up to pregnancy and during—and I know it’ll play a big role for me postpartum as well.

It doesn’t always feel like I’m doing a lot, especially with lighter weights, but “strong” has a different meaning to me now: it’s about focusing on what I can do versus what I can’t, getting myself as ready as I can to welcome this little one into the world, and discovering what “strong as a mother” is really all about.