2019-05-01_Runners_World_UK

054 RUNNERSWORLD.COM/UK MAY 2019

period on race day. What am I going

to do?”. It was all last-minute panic.’

But what can you do? Many

women may have heard of, or

taken, norethisterone, the ‘period

delay’ drug. This synthetic form

of the hormone progesterone

stops the womb from shedding

its lining by keeping up hormone

levels. It’s a pretty common way of

that’s what happens.”’ But she

stresses that you should see a doctor

if you suspect anaemia.

Heavy bleeding and anaemia can

be significant detrimental factors

in athletic performance. But can a

perfectly ‘normal’ cycle still affect

performance? Yes, says Bruinvels,

if you don’t understand and adapt

to it properly. ‘Many runners just

don’t prepare for their menstrual

cycle,’ says Bruinvels. ‘They prepare

for everything else, but not for their

period. When I was interviewing

women at the London

Marathon, so many of them

said – just a few days

before the race –

“I’m going to be

on the worst

day of my

ensuring bleeding arrives at a less

inconvenient moment, whether that’s

your wedding day or marathon day.

The trouble is that side effects of

hormonal treatments can end up

affecting your performance, too.

This was what caused Jess Judd to

talk about her period back in 2013:

as a British hopeful in the 800m at

the World Championships she was

worried about the timing of her big

race. So she took the drug.

‘I think it played with my hormones

more,’ she said afterwards. ‘I had to

risk that. I thought, whatever happens

it’s going to be better than being on

my period. But it still affected me,

I still felt heavy-legged. And I was

very emotional, especially after the

race. I wasn’t myself that day.’

Other elite athletes have also

spoken out. Paula Radcliffe said at

the time she felt that it made things

‘a hundred times worse’ and was

critical of British Athletics

for not listening to female

athletes’ feedback.

Bruinvels isn’t a

fan either.

‘Effectively,

‘ M AA NN Y R UU N N E R SS J U S T

DD O N ’ T PP R E PAA RR E F O R

TT H EE I RR MMM E N SS TT R U A L C YY CC L EE ’

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T H E
TRAINING
CYCLE
HERE’S HOW TO ADAPT YOUR TRAINING
TO YOUR HORMONAL CHANGES,
SAYS BRUINVELS
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