The Female Athlete: Understanding Your Cycle and Performance
Here’s an interesting article from Training Peaks:
It’s not something that is talked about frequently for obvious reasons.
I would like to add some information to the article.
Higher Progesterone levels also increase fat metabolism. That’s one of the reason women crave more food, and especially more fatty foods near the onset of menstruation.
Fluid retention: Women typically gain 3 to 5 pounds within the monthly cycle. This is huge for a couple of reasons: 1) you’re carrying more weight so it decreases your power to weight ratio; You will be working harder to move your body through space. 2) Once menstruation begins the fluid has to go somewhere.
I generally joke about how it takes 2 weeks to put on the weight and 3 days to take it off.
I would speculate that the energy needed for menstruation is higher than energy needed during other times of the month. I feel, this is what makes women feel more tired during this time.
I generally have to take a day off from my training program on the 1st day because my energy levels are so low and I find if I train on that day it catches up to me and stays with me for several days.
The biggest impact on performance would be the decrease in iron stores. We need iron on our hemoglobin so that oxygen can bind to it. With less iron we have less oxygen, and with less oxygen, we dramatically decrease our performance.
This is even more exaggerated with performance at altitude. I always recommend to my female athletes that they iron supplement for 3 days prior to arriving at altitude because lower iron stores can be carried over month to month if there isn’t enough iron in the diet. For male runners this is also important because it has been shown that runners can lose iron stores through the compounding impact of the feet.
So if you want to train well and race well without stopping your menstrual cycle with pharmaceuticals, which has it’s own negative side effects, just make sure your iron stores have been replaced prior to your session. If it’s a race, a big race, just accept that you may not have the best race possible, and give yourself a hug for giving it your all.
On a personal note, I went into my last race on the 1st day of my menstrual cycle. It not only impacted what I could wear on race day, I wanted to wear my tech suit, I’m fairly certain it impacted my recovery between the TT and the Triathlon. Racing on the 1st and 2nd day really derailed my cycle, as it basically left, probably due to the increase of testosterone with exercise.
The strangest part is it’s 4 days post race and I still am not recovered. I should be. I should have been ready to go yesterday, full force.
The trials and tribulations of the female athlete, c’est la vie!