Part 2; As a woman this is your unique physiology, isn’t that something worth considering?
Part 6 - Menstrual Cycle basics
✨The day you start your period is day 1 of your cycle
✨The number of days your bleeding Is your period (usually 3-7)
✨Ovulation occurs around the middle of your cycle (day 14 in a 28 day cycle), the average cycle is 28 days; BUT between 20-40 is considered normal !
✨Everything before ovulation Is the follicular phase ( around 2 weeks )
✨Everything after ovulation is your luteal phase (again, around 2 weeks)
✨The day before the last day of your period is the last day of your cycle
I’ll try to explain how my body felt around each phase when I was training and racing and the symptoms (both physically and mentally) those hormones gave me. As I said before I’m no expert, but you don’t have to be to understand whats going on within your body, you just need to be aware that this is happening and be willing to experiment and look at these phases within your own cycle. It could make a real difference to you, your coach and your support team. There are so many things that can affect our energy levels and mood which in turn can have a huge impact on our workouts. Knowledge is power
Part 7 - Phase 1 - Menstruation (Your period)
✨The first day of your period marks the first day in your cycle lasting 3-7 days
✨The hormones estrogen and progesterone peak, then dip quickly just before you have your period.
✨When you bleed your hormones are at their lowest levels and can be a reason many women feel they have low energy levels at this point.
✨Your hormones are most like a males during your period
✨There is research to suggest you can recover faster and have a higher pain tolerance during your period
✨Most people are made to believe this is the worst you feel throughout the cycle, but in fact its the days leading up to your period you generally feel your worst in terms of PMS. Many women, including myself find that once their period arrives they feel as sense of relief.
My experience with my period has definitely changed since having Ida. Not really for the better, but when I was racing once I got my period I felt pretty good both on and off the bike. Usually the day before I came on my period I would actually feel really strong, once my period started my energy levels didn’t feel their best, but I knew from that point on I would only feel better
Be aware of how you feel during your period, write notes, keep a diary, if you use TrainingPeaks add specific feedback there, like how your feeling around your workouts. You could also have a look back over the last few months around the times you have your period, are you feeling the same way every month, do some workouts feel better than others? You will probably see a pattern in what you are feeling around training sessions. All of these things will help you work with your body, rather than against it.
Part 8. Phase 2 - Follicular phase 7-10 days long. This phase represents a fresh start. Prime time
✨This phase begins the day after the last day of your period.
✨Energy levels begin low after menstruation, but throughout this phase estrogen levels begin to surge along with FSH and LH 🔝
✨Often this will bring a surge in energy and a boost serotonin, which is they key hormone that stabilises our mood, feelings of well-being, and happiness.
✨Estrogen has been proven to reduce muscle pain
✨This phase is a time where the female body is primed to hit intense workouts.
✨ Research has shown doing more strength training in this phase of your menstrual cycle, and less in your luteal phase can add 15% to your strength gains compared to strength training that's even throughout your cycle.
In sport, consistency is everything, in training, in fuelling, in recovery. I got to the point where I could sync my races alongside my menstrual cycle. What I mean by that is by me working out what races would likely fall in different points within my cycle I was able to target races knowing when my body was likely to perform its best / or knowing when not to target races (in my Luteal phase). During my last season Koksidje, Namur, Worlds all fell in the follicular phase, they were my goals for a number of reasons, but one of those was the likelihood of me being in my follicular phase was high.
During the follicular phase is where I felt best on my bike, and off it. I felt strong, I was able to complete my sessions well, I hit my numbers, felt focused and had a clear mind. I would always have my strongest races at this point in my cycle. I knew if I had trained hard, followed the plan and all the other pieces of the puzzle were in place, there would be no reason for me not to perform my best on those days. Knowing this gave me a lot of confidence in both training and racing. That was huge.
Part 9 - Phase 3 - Ovulation phase, this is 3-4 days long occurring mid cycle, ovulation takes place on one of these days.
✨Ovulation occurs when an egg is released from your ovary.
✨The luteal hormone is elevated and ovulation occurs, progesterone surges and takes over along with testosterone.
✨The peak in estrogen, FSH (Follicle-stimulating hormone), LH (Luteinizing hormone) and testosterone can either make you feel like you have energy to burn, or for some it can also leave them feeling quite flat.
✨ For those that feel they have lots of energy around this point, its most likely to do with having a bigger surge in estrogen which is anabolic meaning this can be a really good time for PRs within training.
✨You have naturally high levels of energy at this point.
✨Progesterone also drives your core temperature up during ovulation by about 0.5 degrees Celsius.
✨ The risk of an ACL injury can be greater pre ovulation phase than postovulation
✨Once ovulation has happened you have a big shift in hormones which can have a big impact on you both physically and emotionally
In the few days leading up to ovulation I definitely feel a shift in my hormones, I always have 1-2 days where I feel quite tired and flat, when I was a professional this wasn’t just on the bike. On the day of ovulation I often felt super charged with both energy and emotions, sometimes I would feel like I had been given 10 shots of coffee, my mind would be on over drive and I found it actually pretty difficult to not use all that energy up. I had to really pay attention around my races to hold that energy back and conserve it for GO time!
In my last season, the world championships in Bogense fell on the same day as ovulation. I remember feeling super strong and as though I was totally zoned in on the job in hand, yes I had worked incredibly hard towards that race I had a taper and was fresh but I also felt I could dig deep on another level, I had been used to feeling this already from tracking my cycle. I knew from experience this was one of my peak power days! Now when I coach any female rider I do my best to share this information with them, if they have an understanding of what's happening within their bodies it can become their super power
Part 10 Phase 4 -The Luteal phase
✨ The High hormone phase!
✨The hormone progesterone is produced at this point and starts to surge, along with oestrogen and testosterone.
✨Estrogen suppresses your appetite, BUT progesterone increases your appetite. There is the reason you crave foods at this point, give your body what it wants and needs.
✨Progesterone Is catabolic, meaning it breaks muscle down.
✨Evidence has shown a 5-10% increase in metabolism at this point
✨During this phase, the body is not primed to workout at high intensities and will actually prefer fat as its primary fuel source. We tend to conserve glycogen stores (carbohydrate stores) but have an increased ability to burn fat. So, our bodies need more carbohydrate during this phase to offset that.
✨You can often feel more fatigued and have lower energy in this phase.
✨You might not feel as strong in this part of your cycle.
✨Research has shown reduced reaction time and coordination can be off (so for a cross rider you can imagine the impact this might have).
✨Plasma volume can decrease (up to 8%). Improved performance occurs with a high plasma volume so therefore this phase can make performing more difficult.
For me, this is and was the toughest phase. Before I came to understand what was happening in my menstrual cycle I can vividly remember having my periods return and I would often have a string of 2-3 weeks of good racing or training and then randomly a week to 10 days of being utterly useless. I never knew why🤯. I would beat myself up after races, question what I had done wrong and try to figure out what had happened. For me it was like a flip had switched overnight from one Nikki to another in terms of how I could handle sessions, I would go from feeling strong and on it, to struggling with everything I was doing. This sounds quite dramatic, but this is how it felt. When I watched back races at this point I could see the changes right there in front of me.
It was only once I began understanding these phases these feelings all made sense. In my luteal phase I struggled with training, sleeping, my mind felt foggy and would make constant mistakes. For around 10 days of every cycle, I often felt like I had one speed, which isn’t really what you want in a cyclocross race ;). My legs felt heavy, and my moods were very up and down. This had a huge impact on my performance
Once I understood what was happening with my physiology, I could accept that at certain points in the month I wouldn’t necessarily feel my best, BUT I could still give my best and work with what I had on the day. I adapted my training to suit how I felt at this point and accepted this time would be more of a struggle which in turn took the pressure off me.
I remember the last National champs I did was on a super-fast course, you needed to have speed, you need to have fast reaction times and you needed to feel snappy, I knew beforehand this would be within my luteal phase and that It would be more of a struggle than usual so I didn’t have it as a goal that season, I simply aimed to do my best with how I felt on the day, and rather than it being a physical battle I used it to work on my mental strength. I won, but I felt rubbish and it was a relief to put my hands in the air given how I had felt.
Does this feel a familiar for you?
Part 11 - Final Thoughts; So, the final post in my mini-series on the menstrual cycle is here.
It's been overwhelming to receive so many messages on this, from young juniors to some of the best women in the world racing at the top of the sport, whilst I won’t be naming names it's obvious that this topic Is huge, but its also not the norm to be talking about it in so much detail. There is an obvious lack of knowledge about menstrual health, whilst I knew this was the case, I wanted to make it clear that it's not ok to just sit back and accept it.
Women are not small men, they shouldn’t be trained like one. The main reason for sharing these posts was to bring awareness, if we dismiss this is happening we are losing a whole lot of opportunities to perform as strong, healthy humans. As women, as young girls, as coaches, this has to become something we speak about in order for it to become normalised. If you have a basic understanding of the phases you go through each month then you can begin to work with your body, and not against it. We might not all have the same sensations around each phase, but be open to learning about it.
As a cycling coach, this is a part of my job i feel is vital, I do my best to share this information with the females I work with, this is one way to give them the confidence to go out there and perform their best. Understanding and listening to their own bodies is key. If they have a goal race in their luteal phase, it doesn’t me they can’t perform their best, it just means we adapt how they are training to give them the best chance of success.
In training there is never one session which turns you into a superwoman, never a superfood that will make you unbeatable. Being the best you can be is a whole combination of things, the menstrual cycle is one part of it, but its a part we have failed to recognise, our sport is based on a male model, train like a man, race like a man, that's how it's always been. But why? our physiology is totally different to a man!
As a woman this is your unique physiology, isn’t that something worth considering?