For the first half of my pregnancy, I was heeding the old-fashioned advice of limitting my heart rate at 140 and doubling the during of my workout. But since that was about as boring as can be and I had done a little more research, I upped it to 160, which is the most conservative limit being suggested these days.
I had taken a couple of weeks off the treadmill since I'd been feeling a cold coming on. I never got sick but the feeling has been lingering. So when I went for a workout today, I decided to go easy, keeping my heart rate around 140. I control my heart rate with the pace and incline settings on the treadmill.
Well, today, I had to increase and increase the settings - way past the settings that normally get me to 160. I took me 30 minutes of increases to get to 140 and I was sweating buckets, so I just stuck with 140 for the rest of my workout.
Just a good day? or am I in the best cardiovascular condition I've been in all year - maybe since playing varsity? I felt like a machine.
I'd heard that pregnant women oxygenate better than other women and that elite endurance athletes who are mothers outperform non-mothers (I don't know if that is controlled for age/experience). I guess pregnancy is like altitude training.
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