A runners TOTM

Time of the month for a woman is a weird and wonderful thing. For a female runner, for the partner of a female runner, the father or mother of a female runner, for the coach of a female runner, etc, it is especially important that we know how our period affects us at certain phases of the month. If we understand this we can train better, smarter, wiser and happier!

As a female athlete myself I always welcome that phase of my cycle where I can run a faster pace for an easier heart rate cost. But I am less than impressed when it’s a grand old slog for the same effort. I have to focus my training, my mind and where I am putting my energy.

What we need to be able to do is plan our training around our periods. For example, if we know that on the one to two weeks leading into our period known as the luteal phase of the cycle we are especially tired, fatigued, lacking motivation, always hungry and generally a little bit less passionate for the run we don’t need to see a tempo @10k pace for 20 minutes written on our plan. These runs are aiming to get the most out of our body and accustomed to running at a certain pace for long periods of time. What is going to happen is we are potentially not going to achieve the targets, its going to be a hard slog costing our cardiovascular system excessive amounts of energy and we are going to kick our confidence. Equally, we don’t want to see a huge volume of reps above threshold as we are likely to have a higher heart rate during this phase of our cycle anyway.

What is it I am telling you to do then? We can’t have 7 days plus off every month either! We just must be SMART about our training. We must get the specifics from the phases of the month and plan work around our cycle. What we could try, is during our phase where we know we have limited capacity in many ways to target more aerobic work which is going to be great to continue to release endorphins. We can add more volume but at a lower zone, pace or rate of perceived effort. We target more strength work and strengthen the ligaments and tendons that are perhaps more susceptible to injury during this phase. We add more variety, more fun to enhance the motivation. Perhaps a fartlek of varying paces across different terrain so we are not glued to the paces on the watch. The tempo can still be targeted, but perhaps broken down into greater chunks, bigger rests, lower targets or even going on feel. Add more freedom to this phase, don’t add more stress to what is already heightened in stress. Allow yourself some freedom in the week to move things around and take the pressure off.

On the flip side, if we know that we are super strong and feeling highly motivated and fast during or just after the week of our period this is where we can aim to plan our races. Where we can plan those especially hard tempos or superior threshold work. We simply need to be SMART and honest with ourselves, coach and family.

It’s huge for me that the week leading to my period my ligaments and tendons have heightened sensitivity. They are perhaps more inflamed, and I feel more niggles, tender and sore spots. TLC is needed, taking the pressure of the pace but still making sure I work hard in a different capacity.

My message would be to do an honest monthly record of symptoms. Include physical symptoms, levels of fatigue, any aches, troubles sleeping, etc. Record your mood, energy levels, motivation and general capacity to run. How do the runs feel, what is heart rate like, effort like, etc. Work with the people around you, especially a coach to allow them to get the most out of you in a SMART and sensible way.