If you ask trainers of endurance athletes about the most sensible long-term training structure, many will answer: 3:1. This means that three weeks of intensive training are followed by a rest week. The break is used for regeneration, stabilises the increase in performance and protects against overtraining and overuse injuries.
What many people don't realise is that a four-week block fits in perfectly with the female cycle. It is also worthwhile for female cyclists to harmonise their training and cycle. Ideally, hard training should take place when the body can best cope with it. And if the body is tired due to hormones, only easy sessions are included in the training plan.
Unfortunately, this doesn't always work out during the competition season. At the Olympic Games in Rio, for example, the Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui achieved a certain degree of fame. Not because she won a medal. But because she didn't win and explained her disappointing performance in front of the TV cameras: "I got my period last night. Today I feel very weak and tired."
Former cyclist Petra Rossner is familiar with this and remembers that she always had a tendency to cramp and had "strong legs" the day before her period started. And her former professional colleague Claudia Häusler, now called Lichtenberg, once said in a TOUR interview that she found it difficult to train on the first and second day of her period. "But on the third day it goes really well."
Less efficient before your period
According to studies, 75 per cent of athletically active women notice that their menstrual cycle affects their training and performance. Especially during the first two days of menstruation, 82 per cent of female athletes feel weakened. Their feelings are not misleading: in certain phases of the cycle, many women are less efficient and even have a higher risk of injury. Due to the bleeding, female athletes also tend to suffer from iron deficiency - which has fatal consequences for their performance.
For those who have forgotten their biology lessons from secondary school: Hormones control a woman's body so that she is ready to become pregnant every month between puberty and the menopause. Eggs are constantly maturing in the ovaries and the uterine lining is constantly preparing to receive them after fertilisation. If this does not happen, the uterus sheds mucous membrane - with menstrual bleeding, which occurs every 25 to 35 days.
Studies have shown that many women are at their most efficient in the first half of their cycle. Perhaps not exactly when they are plagued by abdominal cramps in the first few days of bleeding. But afterwards! Swedish scientist Lisbeth Wikström-Frisén from the University of Umeå found out in an experiment with 59 female athletes that women build muscle better in the first two weeks of their cycle. She had the test subjects do strength training five times a week for four months - some only in the first half of their cycle, others in the second. Those who had trained at the beginning of their cycle performed significantly better in the final test: they had more muscle mass and better jumping power.
Fit before ovulation
Another study by US researchers confirms the work of the Swedish doctor and shows that most women are at their fittest shortly before ovulation. The scientists measured the maximum strength of their test subjects in different phases of the cycle. In the second half of the cycle, it fell by 23 per cent. "In sports that require a lot of strength and a certain level of muscular fatigue resistance, performance is then likely to be significantly lower," concluded the research team led by physiologist Matthew Tenan.
Shortly before menstruation, some female athletes fall into a real performance slump: training is more strenuous, endurance performance decreases, otherwise strong athletes feel weak, tired and heavy. This is due to the hormones that prepare the body for a possible pregnancy: It retains water, the breasts tighten, the mood is at rock bottom. Gynaecologists call this PMS, "premenstrual syndrome". The good news is that sport helps to combat PMS, as studies have also shown. Moderate aerobic endurance exercise or light yoga dispels tiredness, improves concentration, lifts the mood and alleviates physical complaints.
When you don't get your period
One problem that younger female athletes in particular have is that they miss their period due to the high training load. Amenorrhoea, which often goes hand in hand with an eating disorder, is a warning sign. Because the body has been put through so much during training, its hormonal balance has become unbalanced and the egg no longer matures. This is purely a protective measure, explains Prof. Dr Kurt Götz Wurster, a gynaecologist and sports physician who was team doctor for the German Athletics Association for 15 years: "In a phase of great stress and malnutrition, the body wants to prevent pregnancy so as not to endanger itself." According to a Japanese study, the absence of menstruation is directly related to the intensity and frequency of training, not the level of competition.
Cyclists who miss their period for more than six months should definitely have it checked by a gynaecologist, says Dr Wurster. If the gynaecologist cannot find a pathological cause for the absence of the period, the training load and diet should be questioned - and adjusted. "Otherwise there is a risk of osteoporosis, an irreversible loss of bone mass," says Wurster.
Former professional triathlete Yvonne van Vlerken suffered from amenorrhoea for years - and thought it was completely normal for a long time. "I never adapted my training to my cycle because I never had a cycle," the Dutchwoman reveals in a triathlon magazine. The world and European champion only really realised the problem now, at the age of 41. "Missing periods is not okay and can have unpleasant consequences. If I had known that, I would have done a lot of things differently."
Train with the cycle
Even if periods are sometimes annoying and nobody needs PMS: It's better to train with your cycle than to train it away. Here's how: If the symptoms are severe during your period, short aerobic rides are a good idea. The relaxed movement has a relaxing and antispasmodic effect. This is also confirmed by gynaecologist Wurster: "Even in the past, periods were no reason not to take part in school sports - on the contrary. There is absolutely no reason not to do sport during your period." If the abdominal pain is too severe, Wurster recommends so-called prostaglandin inhibitors and ibuprofen or acetylsalicylic acid. "Both help relieve pain and do not lead to a positive doping test for professional cyclists." The pill also alleviates the symptoms.
From the third day of bleeding, many women feel particularly fit - and they are. Now women can go full throttle in training! The best thing is that the body recovers particularly quickly from hard training during this phase. For many female athletes, the time after their period is the best in terms of training effectiveness: their muscles respond well to endurance stimuli and the hormones circulating in the blood promote muscle building and strength gains. The body now responds particularly well to intensive units such as strength endurance training on hills or interval training.
After around two weeks of the cycle and ovulation, many women find it harder to train. The risk of injury increases with sports that are prone to injury. For cyclists, normal rides are no problem, but overly hard sessions can now be agonising. Shortly before the next haemorrhage, around the fourth week, performance often hits rock bottom. Getting on your bike now instead of sitting on the sofa can work wonders: light training in the basic area lifts the mood and wakes you up. However, women who feel very tired during this time should avoid intensive training.
This results in what makes sense in terms of training anyway: the recommended training rhythm of 3:1, in which three weeks of exercise are followed by a quieter week. If women stick to this, nothing stands in the way of improved performance - not even the cycle.
How women ensure their iron intake
If you lose blood, you also lose iron - the trace element is important for transporting oxygen to the muscles and all other cells in the body. Female athletes in particular should therefore have their iron levels checked regularly, as statistically every third woman suffers from particularly heavy periods and has already suffered from anaemia. If the iron level is too low, the doctor will prescribe tablets. In severe cases, iron infusions can help. They have the advantage that they work faster and better. "Competitive athletes should have their iron levels checked one to three times a year," advises sports physician Prof Dr Kurt Götz Wurster.
Know-How: The female cycle
Shortly after menstruation, the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) ensures that a follicle and egg cell mature in the ovary. The hormone oestrogen also causes the uterine lining to build up. Shortly before the 14th day of the cycle, oestrogen levels fall and the luteotropic hormone (LH) rises sharply. This triggers ovulation: The egg travels down the fallopian tube towards the uterus. In the last two weeks of the cycle, the hormone progesterone causes the uterine lining to remodel so that it can easily accommodate a fertilised egg. If fertilisation does not occur, the uterus sheds the built-up mucous membrane and bleeding begins.
