Running ‘at that time of the month’

Most of us will run whilst on our periods. And that may pose challenges both with training and racing. Elite runners have spoken about the impact on performance and some elites utilise their regular hormonal circle to inform their training choices since performance is not linear throughout. But for most of us, the practical implications are simply how to manage the flow if you want to keep running even on those heavy days.

For me, there has always been a day where my bleeding has been very heavy and difficult to manage at home or work let alone out on a run. A ‘super’ tampon would not manage the flow during certain times and Lycra is not great absorbing any excess! The reddish crust on the black Lycra as the excess blood dries in not a good look but can be covered with a strategically placed jacket if needed. 

Of course, managing the training calendar pro-actively and taking a rest day is an easy strategy to avoid having to manage the flow whilst running. But this is not always practical given the total number of days that we will have our periods for. And if the heavy flow day falls on your long-run day, then there are sometimes just no alternatives. 

Before the emergence of period pants, I used cut-up quick-dry microfibre travel towels to use as liners since I’ve found ordinary liners would chafe. This worked well in combination with a ‘super’ tampon although required changing over during heavy flow days on longer running days. Given I have a dog, I always had an abundance of poo bags in the house and would use these to store the used towels in. 

Period pants are as effective, and maybe even more so than the microfibre towels I tended to use, although the more absorbent ones will usually be padded across a large area and cannot just be strategically placed like the cut-up towel. This may also not work well with sweating as they will also absorb the sweat and just get heavy throughout the padded area. I also found that they may chafe especially if the size is not quite right as you may have put on/lost weight or simply because they were ordered on-line and difficult to try on and return first. They are certainly worth giving a try and I use them for runs that require that little extra and no on the run changes.

Another obvious solution is a moon cup. I’ve tried this and failed. But it’s certainly worth giving a go and maybe I should come back to it also for the environmental benefits of it. Much easier to care for then the rinsing and washing towels. I’ve read a blog of someone who used their’s on a (successful) Bob Graham Round (a circa 66 mile/106km loop with 27,000 feet/8200m of ascend that people attempt to complete within 24h) so it can clearly work; she referred to emptying it out on one of the legs/stages. 

Which brings me to the question of how to manage changing tampons/towels on the long run or marathon/ultra race day. I’ve had to deal with this on ultra runs that coincided with my period. My solution for this has been poo bags for used towels/tampons and wet wipes for on-the-go hygiene. This is assuming that access to toilets will be restricted of course or that it may be impractical to time changes to those the times when toilets are available on the course which adds in a logistical dimension to the whole endeavour. I have tended to simply try and find a discreet spot, which tended to be plentiful, on the trail ultras I used to run. 

Anyway, these are just some of my experiences. Share yours in the comments below; I am sure there are many more ingenious solutions that people have found!