Not Just a Man's World

I had a tiring reminder this weekend of the impact that my menstrual cycle can have on my physical activity levels.

The usual activity levels

In a standard week I usually do a bike ride on Saturday and Sunday mornings and a weights session that lasts about an hour and a half on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.  As the weather starts to warm up and the evenings get longer I’ll start slotting in a bike ride mid-week as well.

Slotting into this quite nicely is the start of my period. 

It usually begins halfway through Sunday by which time I’ve done my bike ride and I just have to crank out a weights session.  Every so often I get a bit of exhaustion with the first 5 or 6 hours of my period starting and have to take it lightly in the gym for my Sunday weights (or I take it hard and get frustrated by getting no improvement on the previous workout).  I then get a full day and a half of rest before I have to do anything active and my energy levels are usually well-recovered by then.

So by having a regular period, thanks to the contraceptive pill, and arranging my workouts and activities as optimally as possible, I get minimal impact from my menstrual cycle on my workouts.

Changing the activity profile

This weekend has been a four-day weekend for the Easter holidays. 

Making the most of the holiday we took off to the Lake District to do two days of hard walking.  We drove up on Thursday night and slept out before setting off.  There then followed some hard walking up and down some steep hillsides and slogging through some serious snow and bogs.  We clocked up nearly 8 hours of walking on the first day, slept out again, and then did another 6 hours on the second day before lunch and an afternoon drive home.

Imagine my horror on Sunday morning when I woke feeling like a train wreck. 

It was much worse than the usual exhaustion of a couple of days of hard walking.  Usually after a couple of hard days I am still capable of doing a weights session and mentally I am usually in a strong place.  Unfortunately I’d forgotten that, with my period due to start later that day, the combination of the period and the hard walking would affect me. 

As it was, they left me as an emotional and physical wreck.

Climbing a few hills and trotting a few bogs wouldn't usually turn me into an emotional wreck

Emotional lows

I was on the verge of tears for most of the day.  Each time I tried to have a conversation with Chris I broke down again.  The bizarre thing was that inside my mind I was still rational.  I’d think one thing, try to say it, and burst into tears instead.  It was almost like being a prisoner inside my own body.

I found that all I was physically capable of doing was sitting in an armchair groaning quietly to myself (in that way Harry does when he’s feeling sorry for himself in “When Harry Met Sally”), watching numerous films and pouring fluids and foods in.

I have a theory that the problem arises from the physical recovery that I would usually get during my sleep which would help me get over a hard walk like this.  The night before I start my period I tend to find that I sleep less well.  Unfortunately, sleep is crucial to physical and emotional recovery.

Watch the monthly clock

This was a potent reminder to me that I should always keep an eye on my menstrual cycle and how it works in with the other things I’m doing with my life. 

I wouldn’t have minded Sunday’s enforced day of rest so much if I had been prepared for it, but imagine if I had needed to do my training for some reason on the Sunday.  Perhaps if I had a competition that morning.  Of course, if I had a competition I would never had done such a hard two days of walking on the previous two days, but would I have remembered to take it especially easy on the previous days to allow for the slight physical and, more importantly, emotional exhaustion that might accompany my period?  Probably not.

Lesson learned (again).  I’ll try to remember it this time.

Related posts:

1. Lessons learned this week: the menstrual cycle and making workouts more challenging
2. Impact of menstrual cycle on exercise: recent observations
3. Blog-watch: interaction of diet and exercise with the menstrual cycle – part one
4. Blog-watch: interaction of diet and exercise with the menstrual cycle – part two