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Women and endurance running part 4: training through puberty and menopause

In our final chat with Dr. Stacy Sims, we learn how girls and women can work with their bodies during these two major life stages

older female runner

Over the past several weeks, we’ve been talking with researcher, entrepreneur and recreational athlete Dr. Stacy Sims about what makes female athletes different from their male counterparts, and how they can train, eat and recover in a way that works with their physiology, rather than against it. This week we’re back with our final instalment of the series to talk about two very important stages in a woman’s life: puberty and menopause.

RELATED: Women and endurance running part two: nutrition for female athletes

Puberty

Sims explains when it comes to training young athletes, the methodologies and protocols that most coaches implement don’t acknowledge the changes young women go through, particularly in the year they get their first period. When girls go through puberty, they experience a multitude of physical changes, like changes in their hip and shoulder angles, putting on more belly fat, and even a shift in their centre of gravity. During this time, many of them will experience a decrease in athletic performance, which is part of the reason why so many girls drop out of sports at a young age.

“During this time we need to work with girls on building functional strength, and looking at re-learning how to run, how to jump, how to throw, all these mechanics that are ignored,” explains Sims. “Then we can keep the progression of girls in sport.”

She adds that during this phase, girls often feel gangly, and like they can no longer do their sport because they haven’t been taught those basic mechanics. Once they’ve gotten through the bulk of their puberty transition, they’ll be able to run even better, once they’ve built better habits and stronger bodies.

Sims says that during puberty, girls should focus on a couple of higher-intensity interval sessions each week, and a couple of shorter mileage runs. She recommends avoiding long, slow distance, because running too much volume can feed into the “calories in, calories out” mentality, and girls might try to run more volume in order to avoid weight gain and to maintain their pre-puberty bodies. Just like with women and their menstrual cycles, we have to teach young female athletes that their physiology is an advantage, not a hindrance to athletic performance.

RELATED: Nike announces the Coaching Girls Guide

Perimenopause and menopause

At the other end of the spectrum, women’s bodies go through another series of changes as they enter perimenopause and menopause. Nutritionally, Sims says women in this stage should aim to consume most of their carbohydrates in and around their training, and focus on fruits and vegetables as their main source of carbohydrates at other times of the day.

“When women get into peri- and post-menopause, they become more insulin-resistant,” explains Sims. “So this is where you want to look at a big plate of veggies, some fruit and lean proteins, especially at night.”

She emphasizes that women should focus on eating protein at regular intervals throughout the day in order to keep their amino acid levels up for brain health and cognition and to counteract some of the issues that arise when estrogen crosses the blood-brain barrier. Sims suggests aiming to eat 20 to 30 grams of protein at every meal, and having protein-oriented snacks throughout the day.

“This is not to neglect carbohydrates,” she says, “but the focus of carbohydrates should be in and around training, and then the focus should be on protein, with a little bit of carbohydrate the rest of the time.”

She cautions women against using soy as their main source of protein, however, and instead recommends pea isolate (not just regular pea protein) for women who don’t eat animal products. Sims says that while many women in Asian cultures consume large quantities of soy, their diets are completely different from North American or Western diets, and women who have a risk of breast cancer should not be consuming soy. Additionally, when it comes to the amino acid profile of soy and pea isolate, the pea isolate is significantly better.

RELATED: Protein intake is key for masters and youth athletes

Training during menopause

During perimenopause and menopause, your hormone levels (like estrogen and progesterone) begin to drop off. Progesterone is responsible for putting glycogen into the muscle and helping control blood sugar, which is why women end up with more insulin resistance. Estrogen is anabolic and responsible for putting on lean mass, so when that drops off, you have less of a stimulus for building lean muscle. For this reason, women need to focus on training to counter this new lack of hormones. This means high-intensity work and heavy resistance training.

“It’s no longer the long, slow distance stuff,” she says. “For women who are looking to maintain performance, the focus is now on lifting heavy and doing high-intensity work, including plyometrics for bone density.”

Sims says women should start this before they hit menopause, because body composition changes start to happen about five years before menopause actually starts. She claims that, if you’re training for longer distances (like marathons or longer), your focus should still shift to more high-intensity training and strength work to keep your bones and the rest of your body strong and healthy.

The bottom line

No matter what stage of life you’re in, Sims says the best thing women can do is to learn as much about their bodies as they can. That way, you can adjust your training to fit your life and your body in order to feel and perform at your best.

RELATED: Women and endurance running part 3: contraceptives and performance

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