Menses sparked by marathon taper...prevention and dealing?

It will interesting to see if you get any serious replies.

How long and how much do you taper?

I peak at 85mpw and taper 2 weeks. My PR is 3:04+ but all the half, yasso's etc. say I should be easily under 3:00.

I hope I get serious replies, I want to be faster like most folks on the boards!

Try to get pregnant 1-2 months before your target marathon?

Unless you're offering...

Unless you're offering...

in which case the answer is definitely no. :)

Taper is typically: 85 mpw (peak), 55 miles, 20ish miles

I'm a guy so I don't know about these things, but are you saying that you don't get your period during your normal training?

I actually ran most of my best races off of high mileage -- some people tend to be wired that way.

(I mean off of minimal tapering)

I appreciate the fearlessness of the guy runners helping problem solve here.

I do cycle more-or-less regularly during training. The weird thing is that the taper induces it like clockwork, even if it's not due for weeks. Something about the change in the hormonal milieu that changes when training drops is causing it to start. I know at least two other female distance runners who report the exact same thing (tapers starting their period off-cycle). I'm not positive what is changing that causes it to start, but it's happened too many times for it to be a coincidence any more.

More than 50% of women in the USA are on hormonal birth control, so many women probably would not notice this. The cost is that pumping your body full of estrogen with hormonal birth control limits training gains.

Have you talked to your doctor about different options? I got an IUD and don't get periods anymore at all. Problem solved!

I'm assuming it's that last week of really low mileage that triggers your period, right? If that's the case, what about reverse taper where instead of the last 2 weeks being 50 followed by 20, you go 20 followed by 40 or so. That way your period is over a week before the race and you probably go into the race just about as rested as you would have otherwise.

I'm assuming it's that last week of really low mileage that triggers your period, right? If that's the case, what about reverse taper where instead of the last 2 weeks being 50 followed by 20, you go 20 followed by 40 or so. That way your period is over a week before the race and you probably go into the race just about as rested as you would have otherwise.

You know that's actually a good idea. For example, this week I had a little twinge so I took two days off early in my last taper week. I wouldn't normally be doing that and, sure enough, that's when the PMS symptoms started.

I'd be a bit nervous to ramp back up too high in the week preceding, but I could see taking 3 days cold after the last long run 14 days out (days 13, 12, 11 totally off) just to try to force it to start. Not sure when the next target is after Boston. I'll try to remember to report back.

I would try IUD except my tubes are already blocked. No entry! I suppose it would probably need to be a hormonal IUD if you did (rather than copper) or the fluctuations in hormones might still cause some of these effects? Not sure.

Yeah, I have the hormone one. No symptoms of a cycle at all. No tiredness, no "heavy legs" when I run. I highly recommend it. Too bad it can't work for you, but it's worth asking your doctor, there are all kinds of options out there!

A 20 mile week is a pretty severe taper. Do you keep any intensity those last 2 weeks?

I would suggest trying a smaller taper. Back off your mileage just 10 - 15% and keep some quicker paced stuff and try it over just 10 days. Off of 85 mpw you should recover fairly quickly.

Also, fearlesmale had a good suggestion with the reverse taper.