Hey, what's up? Motivators taren here.
Professional triathlete Olympian and fellow Roka team member Katie Zafaris
recently went through her first pregnancy having her first child.
As somebody who stays fit and healthy for a living, katy had to learn how
to balance lens, being a mom for the first time, going through this pregnancy
for the first time and maintaining some form of fitness.
We've teamed up with Katie for this video to provide her seven best tips
for exercising around your pregnancy and coming back after you've given birth.
Let's do it.
Regular people want to do something personally amazing in an endurance event.
They use motive training plans.
Whether you're just getting started or
you've done several events and want a little more structure to step up your
game, we know what it takes to get amateurs to their goals.
No matter how big or small, you can accomplish anything you want.
You just need a plan designed
for the unique needs of people with families, jobs and a busy life.
The motive training method is that plan to get you to the start line feeling
confident, and across the finish line feeling strong.
Hi, I'm Katie Zaferis, I'm a professional triathlete and I'm also
a new mom to Kimball who is almost two months old.
And for me, pregnancy and postpartum was a really big learning experience
and my main goal during that was really just to stay healthy and stay connected
to triathlon, but not necessarily trained as a professional triathlete.
My first tip for both pregnancy
and postpartum is just to enjoy it as much as possible.
I didn't really enjoy being pregnant
and just how that was affecting my training and getting out the door.
And so things I did to make it way more
fun would be go with Tommy if he was doing a training session, but I would just walk,
or maybe I would do a run walk, I would meet up with someone at the pool,
so that kind of made it a lot more fun for me.
She was also pregnant and had her baby six weeks before we did.
And then also for the bike.
I actually stopped riding pretty early
on just because it wasn't fun for me and I really wanted to focus on doing things
that I enjoyed during this time, knowing that at some point I will get back
to being an elite triathlete, but that moment wasn't during my pregnancy.
My second tip is to try not to compare your journey to others.
Do the same thing you would do in training
and racing, which is don't compare yourself directly and take stuff in,
but make it flexible so that you can have your own experience.
I think it's really challenging as
an athlete not to compare yourself to others.
And I know just during my pregnancy there were times where I felt the same.
So really just doing what's best for your body, what's best for your mind,
and making sure that you stay focused on yourself.
So one of the things that I learned.
Both in pregnancy and now that we've had
Kimball and I'm getting back into training.
Is to be flexible and be adaptable.
Whether that would have been wanting to run more and ending up walking more.
Or having the intention of swimming four k and then ending up swimming one k.
And also there were times where I felt really good.
And I didn't really expect to.
So I would actually run.
Maybe I thought I was going to run five
minutes, but I could run ten minutes straight.
So that was something that I found really valuable, is just to be able to adapt
whatever I plan, training wise, to how my body was actually feeling.
Another tip that I have is to have a good team surrounding you that you trust
and that you know will be good in this specific transition in your life.
So I really connected with two women who really guided me in my pregnancy.
One is a physical therapist
who specializes in pregnant runners and postpartum runners,
and then another one is an exercise physiologist who works with the USOPC.
And I really leaned on them during my pregnancy.
And now coming back from having Kimball
to really help guide me, because I really didn't know what I was
doing, and I for sure didn't want to be injured or do anything more importantly
that could harm Kimball before he was born.
So a tip that was when I was not feeling so great.
Both before having Kimball and after.
Is really just get out the door.
Even if it's not for as long as what you intended originally.
I think it's been really positive to get out the door.
Even when I'm not feeling it like it.
And even when I'm not motivated.
At least for myself personally.
It's really good for my brain to just do something during the day.
And I remember at the end of my pregnancy,
I was not feeling so motivated to do anything.
I just didn't feel great.
And so normally, I would be like, oh, I'm not going to swim less than two k
in the pool, or I would just go and I swim 500,
or just got in the water and would walk back and forth in the pool with my mom.
Even when I was super tired and physically
not feeling so great, I always felt better after I did that.
So I think another huge way to make sure that you
maintain some fitness during pregnancy is just communicating well with those
around you of what your needs are and
being able to maybe be with a different
group of people than what you would typically train with.
I know when I was first pregnant,
there was a pro team in the area that invited me out to start running with them,
and I literally just found out I was pregnant.
So it was pretty early on but I was pretty nervous.
And also these runners are faster than
what I run when I'm at my fastest by a lot.
I actually bonded more with the coach
and would go on walks with the coach and go on run walks with the coach.
And so I really adapted and communicated
that rather than try to do something that I both didn't feel comfortable doing
and probably physically not so capable of, even at the best of times,
and also with my husband, making sure that he's able to support me
the best way possible, I think one of the greatest things we did
right after Kimball was born was made a deal.
I was in charge of everything that went into Kimball, and Tommy, my husband,
was in charge of everything that came out of Kimball.
And especially as I was recovering
from having a baby, I really appreciated that we've made that pack.
Something that's so important
as an athlete is always to make sure you fuel and hydrate well.
And I am definitely bringing this as a tip as a new mom and in pregnancy.
Really in life in general.
To be able to make sure that you're both fueling properly and getting in enough
water and hydrating because it's just going to make you feel better.
Give you more energy in a time when your body is really going through.
At least for me. Something I've never done before.
And especially now having Kimball and breastfeeding.
I really can really sense when I'm under fueled or under hydrated.
So to take a huge water bottle with you always have snacks on hand
for yourself, and to be able to make sure that you're getting enough in,
it will make training that is already feeling harder, just feel
a little bit easier and make you probably a lot more happy in the end.
Hopefully you found this helpful.
Motivators if you are considering getting into the sport of triathlon,
we have a video that is up on the screen for you right now.
Now that is our complete guide to beginner triathlon.
Click on that if you're interested in getting into the sport later.
Motivators.