I think we all know some of the lyric’s of James Brown’s 1966 hit It’s a Man’s World and no doubt these words would cause uproar if written in today’s world. But for me it has always just been a tune that you hear sometimes and when you hear it, it kind of stick’s in your head for a bit. Today it did a bit more. It made me come to the realisation that it is actually a man’s running world. Why you might ask? Because men don’t have a menstrual cycle. This isn’t exactly a revelation but for me it has never really effected my running. Until recently. It’s called the perimenopause!

So if there are any women out there at around the mid 40’s age group, you might relate to this. For the last few months, being the cold winter months of January to March 2021, I have noticed that during some runs I am sweating considerably. Whether I am running fast or slow. This is expected during the summer months but not in the depths of winter. Not only am I sweating, I am feeling sluggish too. A very unpleasant combination when running.

I was feeling that way this week. On one of my runs I aborted a fast sub 20 5km attempt (which involves running at 4 min/km or 6.25 min/mile) after 1 mile. My body felt like it was going to implode. I had previously done a sub 20 5km and a 20.04 min 5km the previous week. They were tough but this was a different kind of tough. My body simply couldn’t keep going at the fast pace.

Today, later this same week, I did a normal paced 8 mile run. Again I was sweating profusely and each step felt like an uphill struggle, despite running on a flat terrain with the wind behind my back. I felt like stopping not just slowing down. I didn’t as this goes against all of my running principles. So I kept going and was trying to think of the last time I felt like this. And the time before. And Eureka. I figured out that it was happening during the 4th week of my menstrual cycle. For 3 months in a row now as it first started happening in January of this year.

In January, I remember doing a fast 5km training run one day and melting in around 3 degrees celcius. I thought this odd so decided to wear a running vest the next time. Same thing happened. Being new to running at this pace, I put it down to running so fast. But in hindsight I had run at a similar pace both before and after this particular week but hadn’t even considered wearing just a running vest. The reason I now know what week this was, is because it was the 4th week of training for a sub 20 minute 5km. Which ironically is the 4th week of my cycle!

Then during February I started a new running challenge. Running 300km in 30 days. It started mid-February and got off to a great start. Then in the 2nd week I was finding it tough. And again sweating during my runs when neither the temperature nor my pace warranted this. I remember thinking if I’m finding this challenge tough during the 2nd week, this is going to be a tougher challenge than I had anticipated. Looking back now it turns out that this 2nd week of the running challenge was the 4th week of my menstrual cycle. Coincidence I think not.

So when the same happened today, I decided to look in to it. And discovered that these symptoms are intrinsically linked to my menstrual cycle. Up until January, I was experiencing night sweats inner around these weeks. So now I have sweaty runs to look forward to on these weeks too. The joy’s of womanhood! On a positive note, at least I now know why I felt so off on those runs. On a negative note I have no idea how much longer this pattern will continue. And can’t even imagine what summer running will entail. Perhaps a mid-run dip in the sea!

So to all women runners out there, if you’ve been experiencing something like this but hadn’t figured out if there was any rhyme or reason for it, maybe this is it. Unfortunately I haven’t figured out a way to deal with it, other than to recommend that you go easy on yourself on those running days. And look forward to the following week’s running. And hope that when normal running race cycles resume, they don’t coincide with this particular week of your menstrual cycle!