Sophia Ibert 
Last time I told you in detail how a woman can best track her cycle. Our body talks to us – we just have to listen carefully. Today I want to talk about my training plan and how it is adapted to my hormonal situation. I would like to give some examples of what cycle-based training can look like. As every woman reacts differently and sometimes has different symptoms during certain phases, it is unfortunately not possible to make any general statements. I’ll just take you with me and would be delighted if you shared your experiences with me.
Let’s start with cycle day number 1. This is the day on which your period begins.
The first day of my period is by far the worst every month. Very severe abdominal pain often forces me to take a complete rest day. Sometimes light stability training is possible. It’s important to give your body the rest it needs on a day like this and not try to work through your training plan with all your might. That usually doesn’t work anyway and you’re even more frustrated than before. Since I’ve been training at Kickass Sports after my cycle, I’ve become much more relaxed when I can’t go through with my training due to period pains. The body takes the rest it needs and that’s a good thing.
My tips if you also feel very unwell on the first day of your cycle or during your entire period:
- Hot water bottle
- No caffeine!
- More sleep than usual
- A short walk in the fresh air
- Possibly light stability training, mobility, stretching or yoga
After rain comes sunshine
The first half of the cycle is now unfolding its full power. From the second day of the cycle, things start to pick up again and now I can do really intensive sessions. Due to the increased oestrogen level in the first half of the cycle, our body is better able to cope with hard training sessions and also regenerates faster. Before, I would never have thought that I could cope with so many intensive sessions in a row. But it’s definitely possible during the first half of the cycle. Many women describe the first half as an energy high, when they can manage and achieve much more. Our body temperature is lower than in the second half and our blood sugar levels are also more constant. We want to take advantage of this characteristic until ovulation.
Was ich mit intensiven Einheiten meine
- Mountain runs, e.g. 2 series of 6×60 sec. fast uphill
- VO2max intervals on the bike, e.g. 3x10x30/30sec.
- Tempo change runs, e.g. 5×1000 m race pace in combination with 1000 m GA1
- Cycling intervals in the development area, e.g. 4×6 min
- Strength training with a lot of weight
Eine Trainingswoche während der ersten Zyklushälfte könnte dann bei mir zum Beispiel so aussehen
- Monday: Core & Mobility
- Tuesday: Vo2max intervals on the bike
- Wednesday: Run Track Session
- Thursday: Easy Rad
- Friday: Mountain runs
- Saturday: Race pace intervals on the bike
- Sunday: Long run
Not bad, is it? Personally, I always really look forward to the first half of the cycle and the many fast training programs. But after two weeks, it’s good to take my foot off the gas pedal again. I then start the second phase of the cycle with the feeling that I’ve trained really well.
Second half of the cycle – Winter is coming
From ovulation onwards, we are in the second half of the cycle and the hormone progesterone dominates events. We find it somewhat more difficult to regenerate. Some women also complain of abdominal pain on the day of ovulation.
Now is the time to reduce the intensive units and focus on basic endurance and movement sequences, for example. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t do any more fast training sessions, but definitely not at such a high intensity. We are still trying out for ourselves how many intensive sessions I can handle in the second half of the cycle. You have to approach it slowly. When we started with cycle-based training, we only planned relaxed sessions in the second half of the cycle. In the meantime, however, there are always small stimuli, such as a tempo run, especially between days 14 and 21. High-intensity intervals are much harder for me in this phase. I also reduce the weight during strength training and do a few more repetitions instead. However, we can incorporate longer intervals or short runs from time to time. In the last week of the cycle, before menstruation starts again, on the other hand, we rely on relaxed units throughout to keep the PMS symptoms at bay.
Subscribe to the Kickass newsletter now
What happens if we overshoot the target? I have noticed that I have significantly more abdominal pain when I have trained too hard in the second half. On New Year’s Eve, for example, I did a 10 km run. This run was in the second half of my cycle. Despite the less favorable hormonal situation, the run went very well and I was even able to set a new best time. A few days later, when I got my period, I had to deal with extremely severe abdominal cramps. This showed me that you can also perform well in the second half of your cycle, but that you may have to make allowances for this afterwards. That’s why we try to avoid such situations in training.
What experiences have you had with cycle-based training? Do you have any questions that I haven’t answered here? I look forward to hearing from you.
See you next time!
Fia
