Peri-Menopausal Athletic Training Challenges

I am finding that as my body goes through this hormonal change, that it really affects my ability to train in the gym, dance, etc. When I was experiencing bad PMS/heavy menses in my younger years, and I was as regular as clockwork, I would just take a break and let my body rest. I always knew it was just two to three days off max, then I'd be back in the gym again. Life was simple and predictable then. I didn't realize how good I had it.

Now I never know how late I'm going to be, and every day that I'm late feels like the day the my period is going to start. So, I go for days and days of backache, abdominal cramps, bloating and water retention, super-irritability/depression and mood swings, crazy itchy skin like spiders and ants are crawling all over it, hot flashes, and the level of pain that used to only occur when my period was imminent/already happening. It's really confusing and frustrating! Obviously I can't just keep taking day after day off, expecting the period to happen at any moment.

Today is my *fifth* late day feeling like my period is going to start at any moment. So I just said to heck with it, I'm going to train today no matter what! I went to the gym, did an hour of belly dance, and an hour and half weights, plus half an hour of stretching. I did just fine but I made sure to keep myself properly hydrated, and appropriately nourished (I make sure to Eat Clean all the way, every day!)

I ate a cored apple stuffed with TBSP natural unsweetened nut butter before training. Then I kept myself hydrated with lots of pure unsweetened coconut water the whole time I was working out. And right after training I ate three chopped up hard-boiled egg-whites mixed with fresh pico de gallo. Yum. About an hour after that I had a protein bar (Vega) (because I couldn't go straight home after working out - I had other stuff to do), and then when I finally got home I had about a cup to a cup and a half of steamed, lemon-juice spritzed, brussels sprouts and chunks of tamari-marinated super-firm tofu (organic). (I've developed a major craving for super-firm organic tofu the last little while...I find that I'm usually either cooking with tofu or with egg-whites for my protein).  I also have been drinking a lot of (organic, unsweetened) pomegranate juice. In the mornings I always have a cup of hot no-sugar-added soy milk (organic) in my espresso. I'm doing everything I can to get the natural-sourced phytoestrogen levels up in my body to balance out those dropping hormones.

My conclusion is, that if I allow the increasing unpredictability of my failing reproductive cycle to interfere with my athletic life, I am just never going to get anything done! If I take day after day after day off, week after week after week, it's only natural and predictable that I'm going to fall behind in my cardio, my muscle building routines, my dance practice, and my body-fat-percentage weight maintenance.

I've been reading up on how to naturally handle peri-menopause and menopause, and exercise is highly recommended. I guess that means I just have learn to work through the back pain and abdominal cramps no matter how bad I feel. If I don't push through the pain, I'm just going to fall apart and become a fat, miserable, menopausal old and wrinkly couch potato. Yuck. I sure don't want that! I want to stay as limber and strong as I possible can as I age.  I guess we'll see how that works out over time...

It sure would be interesting to read how other athletic women going through the same thing I'm going through handle things. I wonder if I'll find anything on the internet if I do a search.