The Four Phases of the Menstrual Cycle: How to Train With Your Body Instead of Against It
For decades, endurance training has been built around one assumption: The body is predictable.
You run the workout. You hit the pace. You follow the plan. You push harder.
But, humans aren’t linear, especially women’s bodies.
They’re spiralic. They are cyclical.
While the endurance world has historically treated hormones as something separate from training, something inconvenient, something to manage, something to ignore, we are learning more about how the menstrual cycle can influence energy, recovery, motivation, metabolism, and how your training feels.
This does not mean your cycle dictates your training.
It does not mean you need to completely rewrite your plan every month.
It does mean you have another piece of data, of information to support your linguistics within body literacy.
Your body is constantly communicating with you.
The question is:
Are you listening?
As a run coach, I believe training is a conversation amongst your goals, your physiology, your lived experience. Hey, maybe it’s my backbone of being a yoga teacher, but I speak human, not robot.
The strongest athletes (individuals who move with intention) are not the ones who ignore their bodies and push down symptoms and whispers.
They are the ones who understand them.
Your menstrual cycle can be viewed as four distinct phases, each with its own hormonal environment, energetic qualities, and opportunities for reflection, growth, and expansion.
You can think of these less as rigid rules and more as seasons.
The external season may also play a part in how each of these phases is experienced, as well as the season of life you are in.
Phase 1: Menstruation // Your Inner Winter
The beginning. The reset. The bottom of the exhale. Your inner wise woman.
Menstruation, your period, your bleed, is the first phase of your cycle, launching with the first full day of your period.
During this time, estrogen and progesterone are at their lowest levels.
For many athletes, this may feel like a natural dip in energy, motivation, or tolerance for intensity. Some women feel more introspective, slowed, or more fatigued. Others feel completely normal and continue on with little to no interruption.
ALL EXPERIENCES ARE VALID.
From a training POV:
This may be a container of time to focus on:
recovery
low intensity or easy movement
yin or restorative yoga
strength technique
This is not a time when you are “weak.”
It’s a time when your body is actively doing some of the most significant and labor-intensive work.
Your uterus is shedding its lining. Your inflammatory markers and hormonal environment are shifting. Your body is managing a complex physiological process.
Your training question for this phase:
What does my body need today?
For some athletes, this may mean an easy training session instead of demands or race-based pacing. For some athletes, it may mean continuing their planned workout because they genuinely feel energized. For some athletes, this may mean lounging on the couch and sleeping in.
The skill is not forcing your body to do anything. The skill is learning awareness and INTEROCEPTION!*
Phase 2: Follicular // Your Inner Spring
The season of creativity and play. The inhale. Your inner child or maiden.
Following menstruation, estrogen begins to rise as your body preps for ovulation. Many athletes report feeling increased energy, improved mood, greater motivation, and a stronger ability to handle intensity during this phase.
From a training POV:
This may be a great time to lean into:
speed development
strength training
higher intensity workouts
skill development
challenging goals
This is often the phase where it may feel like your body is saying, “let’s effing gooooooo.”
Your nervous system may feel more resilient. Your perceived effort may feel lower. You may find yourself excited to empower yourself forward.
This is a dope time to build.
And, not because your hormones make you magically faster, but because your body and energy may be more prepared to absorb and adapt to training stress.
Your training question for this phase:
Where can I challenge myself and grow?
AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS WHERE WE BUILD OUR CAPACITY.
Phase 3: Ovulation // Your Inner Summer
The peak. The expression. The top of the inhale. Your inner sovereign.
Ovulation occurs (and for the love of everything, you should know this outside of tracking fertilityyyyyyyyy!) when estrogen peaks and the body releases an egg.
For many individuals, this phase may feel like their highest-energy window.
Here’s what you may notice:
increased confidence
stronger motivation
improved mood
socially energized
physically powerful, take no sh!t from anybody
From a training POV:
This may be the season to:
incorporate race efforts
benchmark workouts
faster intervals
strength progression
testing your current base levels
BUT FOR THE SAKE OF NUANCE BECAUSE WE’RE HUMANS AND NOT ROBOTS:
Higher estrogen levels may influence connective tissue properties, which means some athletes may want to be mindful of increases in intensity, especially if you have a herstory of injury, inflammation, aka healing experiences.
The goal is awareness. You are not a machine. You are a human system.
Your training question for this phase:
How can I use my energy wisely?
BECAUSE PEAK ENERGY DOES NOT MEAN INFINITE CAPACITY OR BANDWIDTH!
Phase 4: Luteal // Your Inner Autumn
The integration. The revealing. The exhale. Your inner wild.
After ovulation, progesterone rises, and your body prepares either for your next cycle or pregnancy. This phase is often when many athletes notice the biggest changes.
Here’s what you may experience:
increased fatigue
changes in body temperature (hello, night sweats!)
increased hunger (even if your volume remains the same or not!)
lower tolerance for stress and bullsh!t
shifts in mood
workouts feel harder
This is where I see so many athletes get stuck. They assume they’re losing fitness, getting weaker, need more discipline or accountability… but honestly, sometimes it’s our body asking for a different approach.
From a training POV:
This is the coolest time to practice:
pacing by effort
recovery
strength maintenance
fueling intentionally
respecting your limits
And for some of us, luteal even breaks down into two parts, where one is even quieter than the other.
Your training question for this phase:
How can I support myself instead of fighting myself?
BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE TO PUSH AGAINST YOURSELF TO BE POWERFUL.
Cycle Syncing Your Training: What It Actually Means
While this has become so jargon-ed and a buzzword-y popular phrase, it is so wildly misunderstood.
It does not mean, “never run on your period.”
It does notmean, “only strength train during this one week of the month.”
It does not mean, “your cycle controls your ability.”
Your cycle is the skeleton. But you know what makes up a human body? Muscles, organs, tendons, ligaments, skin… you get where I’m going with this.
Sleep matters. Stress matters. Nutrition matters. Pleasure matters. Training herstory matters. Life circumstances matter.
The goal isn’t to create another set of rigid rules or a box to shape shift to fit in.
The goal is to create awareness, conversation, intentionality, learning, and body literacy.
How I Coach Women to Train with their Cycles
When I work with women, we do not throw away the training plan. We build a relationship with it. We talk about the purpose and the reason why and how to see the story of training. Is it is about creating speed, recovering, maintaining consistency, learning when to be flexible and to adjust?
Sometimes, the most powerful decision you can be is completing the workout as written, and sometimes, the strongest decision is adjusting.
Both require awareness, trust, conversation, and ultimately, relationship.
Your Body is Not a Problem to Solve
For far too long, women have been taught and celebrated to override their bodies.
Push through exhaustion.
Ignore discomfort.
Celebrate pain.
Treat hormonal changes as a weakness or lazy.
Your physiology is not something working against you.
Your body is constantly adapting, communicating, and holding you.
Training with your cycle is not about becoming less ambitious. It’s about becoming more intelligent in how you pursue your goals.
The best athletes do not expect to demand the most from their body every single day, copy/paste. They’re the ones who know when to accelerate, when to pause, when to recover, when to trust the process.
When you learn to listen, your body becomes one of your best training friends and your movement moves you.
*Interoception is your ability to sense from the inside. This is not an intrinsic skill, and one that may have been dampened depending on your own experiences. It is one, however, you can build. This is something we focus on in my 1:1 coaching container. 