Staying in the saddle: a case study of an elite cyclist during pregnancy

There is a distinct lack of understanding regarding the training patterns of elite athletes during pregnancy. This retrospective case study of training data is the first to our knowledge to examine the training patterns, performance, health, and delivery outcomes of a 35-yr-old professional cyclist across the perinatal period. During her pregnancy, she cycled a total of 351.15 h (approximately four times the current minimum recommendations) with an average of 9.00 ± 5.42 h/wk with no health complications or injuries. She trained regularly (4 ± 2 sessions/wk) at moderate to vigorous intensity for the majority (95%) of the training sessions during her pregnancy. The average altitude that the participant cycled at during pregnancy was 564.83 ± 587.52 m with a maximum altitude of 2,310 m and a maximum solar load of 46°C. She delivered via planned cesarean section at 38+5 week of gestation and experienced no maternal or fetal complications.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This case study provides one of the first descriptions of a pregnant female cyclist's training patterns, performance, health, and delivery outcomes across one pregnancy.