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Runner’s World+ member Colette Berry calls her first post-pregnancy run a disaster.
Just six weeks after giving birth to her daughter, Delphine, Berry set out on a three-mile run. But her core wasn’t strong enough to control her bladder, and her pelvic floor was unprepared for the impact that running demands. Nevertheless, she followed the vague advice of her OB-GYN and continued to moderately jog after those fateful first miles. “I made a bad situation worse,” she says.
It was the lowest point in a life full of running highs. She fell in love with the sport in college at American University, then moved to Europe during her senior year and hit the European marathon circuit after graduating, running Venice and Amsterdam, and earning a 3:37 PR in Berlin. In 2010, while living in Switzerland, Berry joined the Geneva Runners, an international expat running club, where she met her husband, Edmund.
ot long after, she took up triathlon and consistently progressed from sprint distance, to Olympic distance, to completing an Ironman at Lake Placid in 2015 after moving back to the U.S., one month before becoming pregnant with Delphine.
While Berry took some time off after giving birth, she felt like her doctors didn’t give her clear instructions for returning to running. “I’m pretty intense about my sport,” she told them, but they didn’t understand how seriously she trained. After a year of running in frustration and discomfort, Berry started seeing a pelvic health physical therapist who helped her retrain her pelvic floor muscles, which undergo intense strain during pregnancy and delivery.
During the process, Berry became interested in the science behind postpartum exercise and realized that if she had been more informed from the start, she might have avoided her complications. So in 2020, she became a certified pre- and post-natal personal trainer and now guides clients through three stages—prenatal, labor, and parenthood—and gives them the tools to return to exercise safely, including these three strategies.  Runner’s World+ member Colette Berry calls her first post-pregnancy run a disaster.
Just six weeks after giving birth to her daughter, Delphine, Berry set out on a three-mile run. But her core wasn’t strong enough to control her bladder, and her pelvic floor was unprepared for the impact that running demands. Nevertheless, she followed the vague advice of her OB-GYN and continued to moderately jog after those fateful first miles. “I made a bad situation worse,” she says.
It was the lowest point in a life full of running highs. She fell in love with the sport in college at American University, then moved to Europe during her senior year and hit the European marathon circuit after graduating, running Venice and Amsterdam, and earning a 3:37 PR in Berlin. In 2010, while living in Switzerland, Berry joined the Geneva Runners, an international expat running club, where she met her husband, Edmund.
ot long after, she took up triathlon and consistently progressed from sprint distance, to Olympic distance, to completing an Ironman at Lake Placid in 2015 after moving back to the U.S., one month before becoming pregnant with Delphine.
While Berry took some time off after giving birth, she felt like her doctors didn’t give her clear instructions for returning to running. “I’m pretty intense about my sport,” she told them, but they didn’t understand how seriously she trained. After a year of running in frustration and discomfort, Berry started seeing a pelvic health physical therapist who helped her retrain her pelvic floor muscles, which undergo intense strain during pregnancy and delivery.
During the process, Berry became interested in the science behind postpartum exercise and realized that if she had been more informed from the start, she might have avoided her complications. So in 2020, she became a certified pre- and post-natal personal trainer and now guides clients through three stages—prenatal, labor, and parenthood—and gives them the tools to return to exercise safely, including these three strategies. |
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