Racing 1st day of period?

So racer gals - what do you do if you have a race and it has an unhappy conjunction with your period?

I ask because I went for a long (90 mile) ride with 2 of my workplace teammates yesterday, and it happened to be the 1st day of my period. I'm blessed with very little cramping and only some bloating, but I get grumpy with the best of them and often my body's temperature regulation goes haywire - I freeze at the slightest breeze and start sweating the next minute.

But yesterday I just felt so TIRED! Not the stimulating, lungs pumping, heart pounding, actually working hard-tired, just weak, heavy legs with no desire to work. Most of the time we kept to a very gentle pace (we used most of the day) but once we started picking up a bit of speed I swear the only thing that kept me from begging them to slow down was mumble-shouting "HTFU!!!" to myself.... (learned that one here :D)

So it was the longest ride I've done so far, but my previous longest ride was 75 miles, at a faster clip (but with a large group) and I felt terrific. The one race my colleagues and I are doing as a team is about 90 miles but in 2 weeks time, so I'm hoping desperately I just had a bad day yesterday and will feel much stronger once my period's over.

But I think maybe if I should be checking if the races I want to do happen to fall on the wrong day of the month :confused: I never want to feel this weak again riding a bike, to be honest!

I'm not a racer by any means but I get incredibly fatigued the day before my period and typically the first and second day. Last month for example, I went for a short ride because of time and I couldn't stop yawning. The next day when I got my period it made sense. I think if race events fell on those days of my period I would probably not do very well. You may want to monitor yourself on those days the next few months and see if indeed there is a correlation.

I sometimes feel super energized the day before and the first day of my days. Maybe next time it will be different.

what does HTFU mean? Am I super clueless? Some days are just better than other and I think that we, as women, can usually find a hormone or two to blame it on. ;)

I think we gals are all different the way we respond to our periods. It is impossible not to race on yours - at least, I always found that it was. I have found with me, that the day before my period and sometimes the first day of I am absolutely ripping strong and then the second day, I feel slow and sluggish. The ripping strong feeling is really wonderful! But, this reactions are not always the same every month so it was impossible to tell what is going to happen each month. All I can tell you is play it by ear and hope for the best!

One thing you should keep an eye on is that you might be feeling anemic so if you are training and racing hard near your period, make sure you are taking iron regularly so as to minimize any weakness due to anemia.

spoke

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Originally Posted by ginny

what does HTFU mean? Am I super clueless? Some days are just better than other and I think that we, as women, can usually find a hormone or two to blame it on. ;)

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Harden The F*** Up - this slogan was used on wrist bands last year at the TDF by the Stuart O'Grady (and team), who unfortunately crashed out breaking several bones.... his spirit may have been hard, but his body wasn't hard enough... It didn't originate with O'Grady, but it became popular in cycling circles because of him.

I'm in the tired on the day before and first day camp. I'm not sure how much it affects my performance, but I definitely feel worn out and my muscles feel like they get sore faster. Last year I was quite lucky it never lined up, this year its been way to consistent for my big races :mad:

I have ridden every day... my main problem is not cramps (heck, when it has been too bad I have taken pills - but I rarely do that now because I find the exercise actually helps reduce the cramp pain.

My main problem is the ammount I bleed on in about the second 24hours... Boy are those chamois absorbant!

I think you should monitor the tendency a little more. Now I'm blessed with very little hassle from my periods myself, and my bad days are generally more linked to nutrition and sleep, so I think I would take these factors into consideration too before blaming it all on the period.

You didn't mention any other potentially influential factors, but could it have something to do with stress (crazy drivers while commuting, perhaps? ;) ), several days of too little sleep or perhaps less than optimal nutrition either race day or the days before? I'm not saying that is has nothing to do with your period, and, having few period-related problems myself, I may have little understanding for how the menstrual cycle may influence athletic performance! However, my boyfriend's a long-distance triathlete, and he may be completely taken out by something like a bad night's sleep or too little food. If this race was on the border of what you're accustomed to I think there might be something like that is more influential. Monitoring things like this is really why one should have a training log, but personally I never manage to keep it up... :(

yea, I'll have to monitor this a bit more closely to see a pattern. I could be a bit anemic, I don't take iron but have had good iron levels whenever this has been checked, even through pregnancy. But I haven't trained consistently this hard before, at least not endurance stuff.

Not that I'm really training that hard, but I'm training a lot more with other people, so I probably try harder to keep up instead of just slacking off if I have a bad day, and notice the bad days more clearly since I have someone to compare myself with.

Can't think of any other obvious factors. I'd been mostly off my bike for a week, in the mountains doing fieldwork and skiing. Fairly hard physical work (shoveling snow, toting heavy stuff and galumphing uphill) but with a few good rest days after with just a couple of easy commutes, so in theory I should have been mentally and physically raring to go. Ah well.

Have to get one of those wristbands :D

I read somewhere (I think it was in Gale Bernhardt's "Female cyclist") that most people need more calories in the week leading up to their period. That seems to be true for me, so if I have a race coming up and am at that time of the month I make extra sure that I am eating properly and am well hydrated.

I can sympathise about getting hot and cold - I certainly get hot and bothered very easily and often don't feel like training but once the start gun for a race has gone I'm usually ok (must be the adrenaline) - at least this has always been the case with rowing and ski races so far.

I've also found variations within my own cycle. My energy had been mostly unaffected during/before my period until a couple months ago. That particular month, I felt really fatigued (I almost thought I was coming down with something) and kind of depressed. I felt sleeping and listless :(

Oh yes, and on the occasions I did ride when I felt tired I loved the ride but had tired bouts throughout the ride and afterwards, felt completely drained. :confused:

That month, however, I also had many external factors (stress, less sleep, not eating optimally) so it's hard to say what the correlate was. I have had a few alternating cycles like the one I just described but for the most part, they have been very manageable since I've been monitoring my sleep, stress and diet more carefully.

Hope this helps!

I used to feel the same way on my first day, and I'd pretty much just take a caffeine pill, some Aleve, and HTFU ;)

However, since I started training a lot more, I quit having regular periods, so my doc put me on birth control to help keep me from having problems associated w/amenorrhea. The nice side effect is that I don't have any period now (when they started to go away, they'd just be really light & unpredictable).

So last week I walk into my office thinking "I stink! Must wash up well" and there's a thread jus tstarted about B.O. This a.m. I've got worse-than-usual (which usually isn't bad) first-day symptoms and... here's the thread!

Personally, if I'm watching the calendar and something big is coming when I'm expecting my period, it's come afterwards! (but usually with a bit more cramping). I've gotten to expect it (tho' I still prepare). I thnk I'd boost the nutrition... Unfortunately, this month's little symptom is a bad case of the runs (which maybe was helped by that pomegranate martini last night?) ... which meant that I just ate teh bread and secreted away the chocolate from the birthday spread at work.

Oh, but when I am riding a lot... the periods are usually easier and lighter. (I don't race but I ride as if I do. I'm just not coordinated and don't like crashing.)

I bet in two weeks you'll be in top form :)