00:00 When marathon runner Ellie Pashley became pregnant with her daughter Tiggy, now one and a half, she knew she wanted to resume her career postpartum.
00:10 But the physiotherapist wasn't sure where to start.
00:14 I found it really difficult to get information about what I should be doing from a training perspective whilst pregnant.
00:20 So a lot of that ended up boiling down to self-research because I asked a few people and a lot of people were unsure.
00:27 There are Australian guidelines for exercise during pregnancy, but they don't account for elite athletes.
00:34 I know Athletics Australia are using myself and a couple of others who were going through pregnancy at the same time to try and help work out what it is that athletes need through that pregnancy period.
00:45 Australian women's water polo player Keisha Gophers had her daughter, Teleri, in March. She resumed training six weeks later.
00:54 I probably came back a little bit early and of course as an athlete all I want to do is train more, lift heavier, do faster swimming.
01:03 But you have to make sure that everything is on the same page and my pelvic floor just simply wasn't on the same page yet because I just had a baby.
01:11 While she's now seen massive physical gains, the mental load is challenging.
01:17 Lack of sleep, heightened emotions, breastfeeding, trying to pump, trying to work out the logistics of babysitting.
01:23 Hashley and Gophers are hoping to make the team for the Paris Olympics, carrying extra motivation.
01:29 It's been really nice to have something as well after you have a child that you do for you.
01:34 When I'm struggling or I find something really, really tough, I think about my daughter and how she's my engine to be the best player I can be, to be the best mum I can be and I didn't have that before.
01:45 So I think mums in sport have that extra something.
01:49 In sport, every little bit extra helps.
01:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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