Train Like a Woman: Why training around your menstrual cycle matters
Way back in December, a friend asked me if I wanted to run a 10k as a relay leg for Around the Bay. I agreed, thinking this would be a good way to keep me accountable to my run training which has been lacking due to injury (see my previous posts about that saga).
The week leading up to race day was not good. Most days, I would wake up after a solid night sleep feeling fatigued. I lacked motivation and power on the bike. I used to fight these feelings and “push through” by doing whatever quality workout was on the schedule for the week, which would lead to be being even more fatigued, rinse and repeat. This time around I knew better and had a hunch of what was to come, and sure enough, the day before the race my period started.
Period. Time of the month. A visit from Aunt Flow. It was the start of my menstrual cycle; a process as normal as breathing but only spoken about with hushed whispers. Many a tampon has been discreetly passed between girls and women, as if it were an illicit drug transaction. But it shouldn’t be this way, particularly in the athletic community where your menstrual cycle can have a large impact on hydration, fueling, thermoregulation, injury risk, and performance. For the purposes of this post, let’s take a high level look at how and why you might want to structure your training around your menstrual cycle. (This will not necessarily apply to anyone on a form of contraception, or if you are pre-/post-menopausal. I will have some information for you soon!)
Most training programs focus on a 3:1 training cycle, where you build for 3 weeks, then take a week for recovery, repeat to infinity. This does not take your menstrual cycle into consideration, and since everyone’s cycle varies, you might need to tweak your program to fit yours.
Follicular Phase (low hormone): Start of your period to ovulation
Despite feeling pain and discomfort at the start of your period, this is when you can really hit it in your workouts. We are talking V02Max, threshold, high weight/low rep workouts. If you need to do any fitness tests, these are the best days to do it, as you will be able to push to your full capacity. Research has shown that resistance training during the follicular phase can increase strength, muscle mass, and peak torque. This is all thanks to rising estrogen levels that help build muscle tissue. This is your time to shine!
Luteal Phase (high hormone): ovulation to the start of your period
Here is when things get a bit challenging. Thanks to rising levels of progesterone, you might experience increased body temperature, increased breathing rate, a delayed sweat response, and your body cannot access its glycogen stores as easily (your carbohydrate reserves). While estrogen also rises during this stage, its muscle-building benefits are negated by the presence of progesterone. Ideally, you would slot in your recovery week to focus on base fitness and technique the week prior to starting your menstrual cycle. What does this look like? If you are hitting the weight room, you should aim for lower weight/high reps. For cardiovascular workouts, focus on tempo as opposed to threshold and VO2Max workouts.
How would this look like? Let’s take the example of a 28 day cycle (although it was vary significantly):
Day 1-14 (Follicular): Start of your menstrual cycle, you can start bringing back some intensity. This is the time to really lay down some big workouts, do some test sets, etc.
Day 14: Ovulation
Day 15-28 (Luteal): At the beginning of this phase, consider more uptempo work, but you might need to mind your fluid and fuel intake. Take the back half of this stage as your recovery week.
I learned all of this valuable information while I was about 2 months pregnant, and it is only over the past few months that I have been able to apply that knowledge to myself. It has completely changed how I approach training. Pre-pregnancy, I would become incredibly frustrated when I would have a string of bad workouts back-to-back. In hindsight, I was likely pushing myself through my luteal phase, when I should have taken a recovery week instead. I also move test weeks around so that they land during the follicular phase to really get the most out of myself.
Let’s normalize the conversation around menstruation and learn to work with it as an athlete or coach. Just because everyone else is training on a 3:1 schedule and don’t think twice about it, doesn’t mean you need to! Consider tracking your cycle and tailoring your training around it. You might be able to get more out of your workouts and set yourself up to crush those goals!
Want to know more about how to structure your training around your menstrual cycle? Send me an email and let’s chat about it!
