Running and Amenorrhea

Amenorrhea is the medical term which refers to a prolonged absence of menstruation during the reproductive years of a woman for reasons other than pregnancy. Exercise is well known to affect the menstruation cycle, although it is not fully known how. [Read more…]

Best time of the month to race

As already mentioned, all women have different menstrual cycles, so, the best advice is to start making a running log, a recording of how you feel each day during your run. This way you will be able to see if a pattern establishes itself. Many women find that they feel slow and sluggish in the couple of days leading up to their period and then fine once their period begins. Others feel really terrible the first day of their period and run very poor times if a race coincides with that day. [Read more…]

Runners and the risk of Osteoporosis

It is generally accepted that exercise promotes bone health. However, research which has been undertaken on the relationship between intensive exercise, bone health, and estrogen (estrogen is a hormone responsible for growth and development of reproductive organs and maintenance of bone health), and irregular menstruation cycles show detrimental results on bone health in female athletes. [Read more…]