The biggest change in that time of my life was not being able to stay asleep. That side effect of menopause affected everything else, including my training.

10 years later, my body does require more warm up time to run (relative for me) fast and more recovery time after hard efforts.

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DFL > DNF > DNS

I am over 50 and have completed many IM's. I took a break and haven't done an IM in about 8 years now (tired of the training, injuries, etc). I am contemplating signing up for another one later this year (assuming pandemic calms down, vaccination, etc.). I battled injuries in my late 40's + and realized that I need to be more cognizant of nagging things going on, mostly from running. I use to think I could just power through things (I had a coach at the time who had this mentality) and can't now and have had to just let that be okay. I need more time to recover from hard training and I have changed how I train (self-coached for now) so I train days on (ie. 2 weeks or so) and then days off (2-3 days off). I also focus on developing strength and power through weight training, more protein and focusing on developing power in my training. I focus on the quality of my training rather than massive amounts of overdistance training. Hope that helps. Good luck!

KK

I would say my biggest drop off started after age 55. Like mentioned, I also need a longer warm-up, though that may have something to do with exercise induced asthma. When I was doing two Ironman races a year I also did strength training because my coach was very big on strength training for masters athletes.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Also, nutrition is more important as well. I really believe in a more nutritious diet now.
One more aspect of training is doing what works for you!

Thanks for the replies! Appreciate the insight.

My coach was always good about giving me quality over quantity. I learned the hard way training for my very first IM in 2015 that too much volume was not my friend.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

If you haven't already, I highly recommend you check out Live Feisty's podcast - Hit Play Not Pause. It is focused on training, racing, recovery, nutrition, lifestyle, and more for the peri/post menopausal women. It has so much great information. They also have a very active facebook group (Hit Play Not Pause Group) that is a great supplement to the podcast.

Wow thanks so much! I recently re-activated my facebook account to keep informed about IM Maryland, local fat bike trail conditions, and other local or sports stuff. And I just put in a request to join the facebook group!

It's hard to find information about endurance sports and older women (around menopause). And most people including other women don't really feel comfortable discussing it. At least that is my experience. And I don't have any close female friends (just acquaintances that don't feel comfortable discussing the big change of life).

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

The group and podcast will be perfect for you. One of their goals is to normalize menopause so we can have these discussions with our friends, coaches, and doctors. They are also bringing together experts for us that are active women as we are not just different from men but we are also different from inactive women of the same age. Dr Sims and Selene Yeager are two amazing women who are doing so much for endurance and strength athletes of all ages.

And trust me, you will have no problems finding someone who wants to discuss any issue on the Hit Play Not Pause FB group. Everything is up for discussion and everyone is so open and willing to share what had worked (and what hasn't) for them. The community is amazing.

That is awesome! Thanks again!

As triathletes we all (or many of us lol) are not shy about discussing the less glamourous aspects of racing and training (i.e - pooping during a race, peeing on the bike, projectile vomiting during the last 3 miles of the IM marathon, etc ) but when it comes to menopause or discussing hot flashes, that seems to make others uncomfortable. Or it's some sort of secret.

I think I'm getting off easy with menopause with just a few mild hot flashes here and there. (my husband calls me Flash). I was still going strong as an IM athlete at age 49. Now taking a year off due to Covid in 2020 and no more periods at age 50, almost 51, I'm wondering what surprises I'm in for. It seems like guys have it sooooo much easier. My husband is going to be 53. He never had problems going from 40s to 50s athletically. Maybe a tad slower but he's getting off easier than myself!

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.