You don’t need to have got up on the wrong foot in the morning, or to have a bad feeling. It’s enough for the level of the hormone estrogen in a woman’s body to drop to have bad days before the actual days, which lie like a veil over day X. Female athletes are tied to competition schedules, but find ways to keep their performance high. For example, the doctors in the ÖOC team, Lara Vadlau and Marlene Jahl, do.
Diet, stress and high training loads can lead to irregular cycles or the absence of periods. This is what Dutch triathlete Yvonne van Vlerken described in an interview in the NZZ. “I ate too little for my high level of training and was in an energy deficit every day. At some point it was natural for me to stop having my period. As a top athlete, I had no idea how important a regular cycle is for my health.”
Hormone levels in balance
The monthly bleeding shows that the hormone levels are in balance. It is important for physical and mental health, but it often comes at an inconvenient time and is heralded by premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and symptoms such as headaches, abdominal cramps, tiredness, irritability or depression. Especially during the Olympic Games, many women wish they were in the ovulation phase, when they are full of drive and energy.
“I’m a doctor and I spend a lot of time on this. I’ve been working out for a long time whether I’ll get my period at the Olympic Games. I’ll get it afterwards,” said 470 sailor Vadlau in an interview with APA. “The main problem is the week before. All the hormones drop and then you’re in this not so great time.” She has spoken to various experts, but no one really knows what to do. “It’s all trial and error. I’ve tried a lot too. Now I’m trying to control it with my diet so that I can postpone it for one or two days a month.”
“I can’t use that in my job”
For her as a sailor, it is a particularly important topic because she has to make a lot of decisions. “And it has been proven that you are a bit hesitant. I can’t use that in my job.” She has nothing against the pill, which can be used to control the start of your period, but she doesn’t take it. “I want to take advantage of these highs and I don’t have them. I notice that I am more efficient when I ovulate or before I ovulate, and I can use that to my advantage in training.”
And then there are the phases where you are not as efficient. “I try to use the highs and balance out the lows.” In a nutshell: “You can do a little bit, but you’re really out of luck.” She also sails against men and sometimes thinks: “They don’t care what their hormonal status is at the time.”
Physical disabilities
Taekwondo fighter Marlene Jahl not only feels strong mood swings during her premenstrual phase, but also physical limitations. “In the week before, I feel rather weak, slow, not as strong as in the ovulation phase. I need more breaks, I need to sleep more. After the first day of my period, it’s fine, that’s the day that has to be bridged. After that, I can train normally.”
Since cycle training is not possible in competitive sports because the training plan is fixed, she takes a day off when she is in extreme pain. She said that it helped to have an osteopath massage her stomach and ligaments. “After that, I was pain-free for two periods,” she told the APA. The regulation and control with the pill did not work for her. “I started crying out of nowhere, got extreme acne and gained weight. I stopped taking it again.” But everyone has to find a way that works best for them, said the doctor.
“I am sad and that has no place in a competition”
For her, it is more the emotional factor that often comes into play in the phase before her period, added Jahl. “I am sad and that has no place in a competition.” She does not want to use that as an excuse, but when it came to qualifying for the Olympics and she lost the decisive fight, that emotion was there. She is optimistic about Paris, where she was ultimately able to take part with a reserve place. “It should work out well, I hope that it doesn’t come down to stress. Then I have to make the best of it. There are extreme athletes who still achieve extreme performances.”
European javelin champion Victoria Hudson describes herself as lucky. “I hardly have any cramps or pain. I know plenty of people who suffer from it in a completely different way.” Nevertheless, she notices the side effects of menstruation when she does her sport. “I would like to snatch as much as possible, but my core won’t hold up. My body is always changing a little.” However, you can adapt things in training, and she has a very open relationship with her coach Gregor Högler.
However, no cycle is done after training because you can’t plan the competitions around it. “I think to myself, I’ll just keep going like I did during training,” said Hudson. She has had her period a few times during competitions. “Surprisingly, I’ve always thrown pretty well. I think it’s just my mood on the day. I’ve had competitions that were really bad, but where I was in a great phase in my cycle.” It’s therefore difficult for her to say how much her performance depends on it. For a marathon runner who is active for a much longer period of time, it’s certainly different.