Cycling Through the Menstrual Cycle

Overview

With an increase in number of female athletes in sport events, it is becoming more important to gain insight in female related sports physiology. A main difference between male anf female athletes is the menstrual cycle. During the menstrual cycle, female reproductive hormones fluctuate. These hormones are also of influence on endurance, recovery, muscle strenght and mental state. Therefore we hypothesize that training efficiancy, power and motivation to train differ during the menstrual cycle. In case there is a pattern seen during the menstrual cycle, training programs can be individualized taking the menstrual cycle into account leading to more effective training programs.

More and more women are trying to take their menstrual cycle into account when it comes to training effort, planning and performance. This is called menstrual cycle-based periodized training. However, it is still unknown what the exact influence of the different phases of the menstrual cycle is on training and performance. This includes the influence of hormonal fluctuations during the cycle on training capacity, effort load, restorative capacity, motivation to train and perform, daring to take risks and the mental aspects surrounding training and performance. As a result, general advice about cycle-based periodized training cannot be given at this time. It has been described in the literature that professional-level cyclists regularly have menstrual cycle disorders (ie RED-s). This has short-term health consequences (less rapid recovery, fatigue) and long-term (osteoporosis, increased risk of cardiovascular disease). At a professional level, this knowledge is slowly penetrating. Less is known about the menstrual cycle of amateur athletes and there is also a lack of knowledge about the effects of the menstrual cycle on performance (endurance capacity, heart rate zones, power achieved). To gain more insight into the menstrual cycle, the influence of the cycle on training and performance and the influence of training on the cycle of the sporting woman, the aim of this study is to monitor the menstrual cycle of female cyclists in combination with their subjective and objective training parameters. This allows us to create insight and, if useful, adapt training on an individual basis to the phase of the menstrual cycle. The aim of this research is to investigate how the cyclists' menstrual cycle progresses and whether the cycle has an effect on performance.