Luisa Werner on Motherhood & Ultra
episode
Detours: Bikepacking, Ultra-Cycling and Adventures by Bike
48 min
2 speakers
3 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What inspired the conversation about motherhood and ultra‑cycling?
I think women are already quite a minority in sports, but when you think about mothers, it's even more minority, and there are not many mothers, particularly in ultra cycling. So there's definitely a lack of representation, and I think that's kind of scary if you have that lifestyle. Before a kid, I always had a very perfect life. I always had a lot of freedom to do whatever I want. And I was scared that I need to give this up entirely for having kids. It's
Now in my 30s, the question of whether or not to become a mom sits heavier than it used to. And when I go looking for a template to follow, women who've done it without giving up riding, racing, their freedom. I come up with just a handful. Today's guest, Louisa Werner, is an adventurer, an athlete who has won the women's race at Atlas Mountain Race, stood on the podium of many ultras, and she's a mom. In this episode, we talk about identity, the physical changes of pregnancy, returning to sport postpartum, and how Louisa is approaching this season of her life as a mom and as an athlete.
My name is Mel Webb and this is Detours, a show about bikepacking, ultra endurance, and the many different ways people find freedom on two wheels. We share the highs, the lows, and of course, the detours along the way. This show is made possible by Albion Cycling, clothing and accessories designed to help you stay outside for longer. You can get 15% off your next order with Albion with our code DTORS15. Alright, on to today's episode with Louisa. I am brimming with so so so so many questions. I think the best place to start though is like at the very beginning and when you first got pregnant and how that changed things for you as a person, as an athlete, I guess like when did you first notice any physical changes and how it impacted your experience riding and all those things?
So when I got when I found out that I was pregnant, um this was in winter, at first I I think there is at first a period of realization and trying to figure out like what this means. And I mean, my first intuition was to look at blogs or listen to podcasts because I had no idea how this would affect my athlete life. So in the beginning, in the beginning, yeah, I I think there was a period of figuring out. And um it actually took a really long time until I really felt affected a lot. Like in the beginning, I basically felt tired and I felt sometimes sick. But I think this depends this might be different for. other women but for me um it was quite manageable. But I basically did a lot of um skiing still in in winter and I felt actually quite good.
And also in cycling I think I could do um I mean it's already it already feels like so long ago. Actually I like the what which period I really liked a lot is I like the second trimester because there the belly is not so big yet. But um yeah, I mean you can you like the first s trimester is over where you have um often your sickness and fatigue. Like in the beginning I also a lot of insecurities like how much um sports is okay? Will cycling be okay? Until when can I cycle? Then there are also people, I mean, when you're pregnant, particularly when you get more and more pregnant, people tend to tell you their opinion on what you should do and what you shouldn't do. And I think when you're yeah, so so I had to figure out in the beginning at first what I
can do. And in the beginning, this is also stressing me out a lot because I need to find the balance, what I feel. And I think, yeah, I think that's the hard thing about pregnancy that you need to learn to listen a lot to your body because no one can really tell you what is okay or what kind of risk do you want to take, what feels risky and what doesn't feel risky. And yeah.
Yeah. It's so many things. So many things so. So many things to think about, so many things going on in your brain. There's it's also such a different experience for every single person that goes through it. Like maybe you'll have some of the same experiences as other people in their pregnancy, but it will never be exactly the same.
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Chapters
3 chaptersSpeakers
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