Sunday Sweats: Working out during your period

Yep. I went ahead and put that word in the title.

It's natural. It happens. I'm not going to censor it.

My workout routine is really important to me. I prefer to be active five out of seven days, and I've been trying to incorporate some strength to go with the cardio. I've really gotten into a groove the last few months, but I hit a bit of a dip last week.

I went for a run on Saturday morning. My legs felt fine, but as I continued, I just didn't feel right. My whole body felt heavy and cumbersome. I finished my two miles, but I didn't feel as victorious as usual.

The following Monday, I hit the treadmill. Again, I had a hard time continuing to run. My energy level was so low, I did a lot of walking with a few running intervals mixed in. It was the best I could do. OK, so I don't love the treadmill, so that might have been part of it, but I don't think that was all of it.

Oh, I forgot to mention that my period started between those two workouts. I'm pretty sure that was the culprit for my depleted energy and endurance. So I decided to do a little research about any connection or information about working out during that time of the month.

As it turns out, there's no specific science to explain why I felt more tired and less motivated to get my sweat on. In fact, Refinery29 said working out during your period may increase intensity of workouts because of the way the hormones are working and affecting energy storage.

Most articles I found actually said working out during your cycle actually has a lot of benefits. It can reduce PMS, headaches, enhance your mood, and regulate irregular periods.

So maybe I was just plain tired those two days. Or maybe this was the lead-up to the migraine that took me out of commission on Tuesday and Wednesday.

+++++

Last week's workouts
Sunday - Off
Monday - Treadmill run (30 mins)
Tuesday - Barre (60 mins) + Treadmill run (20 mins) Migraine said no workout
Wednesday - Outdoor run (30 mins) + BodyPump (60 mins) Migraine hangover kept me down.
Thursday - Barre (60 mins)
Friday - Off
Saturday - Outdoor run (60 mins) skipped

I was pretty bummed to miss BodyPump and other workouts because of a migraine. But I decided I should be nice to my body while it fought off that pain.

As always, be sure to check out Sunday Sweats posts from Holly and Christy.