Lap swimming through pregnancy - 33 weeks

sot

New member
Hi there. Me again. I wanted to write a continuation of my previous post. The purpose is to offer an enthusiast level perspective on lap swimming through pregnancy. I’m a life long swimmer, currently a member of a masters team, but never a high level swimmer. I can’t find much out there between Olympic level athlete and novice athlete, so I’m trying to fill that niche.

Please comment with your experiences so that others reading get a fuller picture of what they might experience.

Here is a linkto post I wrote at 23 weeks summing up my lap swimming experience until then.

Body wise:

Its pretty funny now that I thought I was so huge back then. Here is a current picture. I’m 5ft 7in. Pre-pregnancy I was pants size 4, Speedo size 32, and weight around 140lbs +/- 5. Currently I’m up 30lbs and defiantly a size Medium in Motherhood pants. I feel like I gained in my hips/thighs/butt, then belly, and then arms and face. I am pear shaped, so no shocker there.

Work outs:

23-25 weeks is when I really started noticing the belly in the water. Somewhere in there I was having a crap workout, feeling like I had no power, and feeling like I couldn’t get a good ‘grip’ on the water. It wasn’t until near the end of the workout that I realized I was letting my belly just sag, rather than engaging my core and “hugging baby up and in” like they talk about in yoga. It made ALL the difference in the integrity of my stroke. My workouts at this point were still hit and miss. Some felt great and some I battled shortness of breath and low energy. I was still able to push my speed and keep up with my regular group, as long as it wasn’t sprints. Some days I got out early because my abs had all they could stand. I did start ‘over doing it’ more often at about this point. I was just be totally dead the whole next day after what felt like a good work out. I had transitioned to doing mostly freestyle at this point. No full on butterfly. Breaststroke just depended on how my hips were feeling that day. Backstroke I could do 25s or 50s, but not more because of the lower core engagement. Kick without fins and pull without a buoy were still a go.

26-30 weeks is when I started counting myself lucky to swim more than an hour or more than 2,000yds (pre-pregnancy a normal workout was 3,500-4,200yds in about 75min). My suit started to get pretty tight toward the end of this period. The circle cutout on the back sloooowly morphed into an oval. Still swimming what I can and taking at least 1 pee break a practice. I felt more and more like I’m wielding a belly back and forth while trying to get proper stroke rotation in. I’m still doing flip turns, but they’re more of a slow barrel roll with a gentle push off the wall. I never felt worse after swimming, but I didn’t always feel great after either. So, it was always worth the effort to get in and move my body and elevate my heart rate.

30-33 weeks my swimsuit is getting too tight, but I’m being a tight wad about spending money on a maternity suit. It becomes clear that I can’t make it through the rest of this pregnancy with the suit I have. The suit is coming up lower and lower on my chest and its downright smashing hard baby parts into my soft parts until I get in the water and the fabric relaxes a smidge. I still couldn’t bring myself to spend $80 on a maternity 1 piece lap swimming suit, so I bought a workout bikini during the black Friday deals. My workouts are almost never more than 2,500yds or an hour. I’m plodding along, but really I’ve only added 10 seconds or so per 100yds to my pace, though I do need more rest between sets. I’m lagging way behind my normal lane mates, so I’ve moved in with other people so I don’t feel rushed or pressure to overdo it.

I’m planning to keep swimming as long as feels right with my body. I’m still doing a prenatal yoga class, which is getting so much harder for me. I’m trying to walk my dog most days, but some times baby is too low in my hips and its not at all comfortable. I don’t feel that same limitation in the pool because baby shifts when I get going.

Swim Suit:

0-8 weeks I was in my regular lycra endurance suit

9-18 weeks I switched to a spandex based suit in my pre-pregnancy size

19-32 weeks I was able to wear a spandex based suit two sizes up from pre-pregnancy

33 weeks I’ve switched to this suit that I got for $40. I don’t love it, but it’s a lot more comfortable on my belly. I’ve life guarded before and wore a lifeguard bikini and lap swam in it no problem. I didn’t get a lifeguard bikini this time because they only come in solid colors and I wanted a pattern to hide my much more pronounced pregnancy nippage. The suit I bought doesn’t come up high enough on the chest to not scoop water, which is a bummer. I’m also so used to not having any material in my arm pits that the slight rub while I’m swimming irks me, but I’ll get over it. I do like that the top and bottom have a draw string, though the bottoms are tight enough I don’t need it. I’ll probably need it post pregnancy, if I keep using this suit. I didn’t go with a maternity suit because 1) they’re $80 and I couldn’t justify it for the up to 2 months I’d get to use it and, 2) I read a bunch of reviews and it seems like large bust ladies love them and I am small bust.

I hope this is of value to someone out there. Please add your 2 cents on how your pregnancy swim work outs are going/went.
 
@sot You look great! I, too, am 33 weeks and swimming has been a pregnancy life saver. Reduced then eliminated urinary stress incontinence and kept my back and knees strong and reduced pain. I plan on swimming as long as I feel able. I need to pace slower while pregnant (1.5 times normal blood volume and reduced lung capacity will do that), but that doesn’t interfere with getting in a great full body work out.
 
@sot Thanks for the post! I just moved and really need to find a pool here now that I’m starting to feel a little less crappy (almost 11 weeks). So looking forward to getting some exercise again and swimming has always been my favorite.
 
@sot I’m not normally a swimmer but pools workouts have been great. It’s been nice to feel “weightless” for a bit (I’m 29 weeks).
 
@sot Thanks again, I really enjoyed your last post and your update.

I'm at week 25 right now. I haven't been swimming much since being pregnant (~1x/week) but I find 2 weeks ago I could still do a pre-pregnancy pace on a 100m with a little more rest. This week I'm like ~10sec slower per 100m. I can still do all the strokes though freestyle/crawl is the most comfortable.

First tri and early second tri I cramped up a lot in my calves as soon as I try to do a faster pace. Lately I'm barely kicking as I don't feel like I'm generating much speed. It's like I'm swimming with an aquafit belt around the belly and my legs are dragging behind. My upper body is getting a great pulling workout because of this! I also find it harder to breathe now but likely just because I haven't been pushing myself much cardio-wise.

I think I kept using my regular race-size polyester suit until week 15 so I got a new polyester 3 sizes up after that. This new size is actually what the chart has always recommended for my chest size. There's still lots of room to grow so I'll see if I need a new one later on. Preferably I would go for one-piece polyester again but we'll see. They're cheaper than the bikinis.
 
@sot Now in my last month of pregnancy I've been trying to go to the pool and keep swimming my slow, poor technique laps for an hour.

It feels really good because I'm so sedentary otherwise.

I wish I actually knew good swimming technique! I was a low-key runner pre-pregnancy but immediately on the first trimester I just lost all motivation (and energy) for running.

Squeezing into a bikini.

I'm swimming outdoors and getting melasma pigmentation -- I need to find a sunscreen that really sticks pronto.
 
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