Should Women Train on Their Period? | Dr Hazel Wallace | Extra Mile
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What is cycle syncing and why is it trending among female runners?
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Untapped the Extra Mile with me, Spencer Matthews. And me, Ollie Patrick. And this week we have a very special guest, Dr. Hazel.
Hi, thanks for having me.
It's actually the first time we've had a guest. It's very exciting. A
very, very special guest. An actual expert is on the show.
Yes, well, hang on a second. You are also an expert, are you not? Well, there's degrees of expertise. We've brought in the big guns. Is Dr. Hazel uh uh more of an expert than you? Yes.
We m
we must have
her come in more
often.
We
we
haven't taken your job. No, no, I I
genuinely when when I heard when I heard Hazel's coming, I'm like, I assume I'm not in the episode.
We've genuinely never seen someone shoot themselves in the foot quite so hard. Uh on this show we do like having the the greatest experts available, Ollie, as you know, but you know, all all good Doctor Hazel is here and today we're gonna talk about the much discussed topic of cycle syncing.
Yeah, it's it's very relevant. It's been in the news this week. And I think a lot of people are are seeing information about it without context. And again, we would love to give a little bit of context to what cycle thinking is. So this general idea that again there is a a menstrual cycle. And within that, there may or may not be ways of training or expected differences in performance. And I think the fitness community in particular, Hazel, has got right into this, thinking that there's certain things they are more capable of, less capable of from a performance point of view. Does different stages of the menstrual cycle affect my performance, my well being? Can you help us? Because as much as we love physiology, we don't have a menstrual cycle, Spencer and I.
We are a couple of guys that like physiology, but when this came up, we thought we should probably get expert advice.
The experts experts.
The experts experts.
Dream. So you're seeing you're seeing the cycle syncing everywhere. Can you can you give us a quick snapshot of what you're seeing and and what you think about this phenomenon? And again, with your extensive running experience, we've got so many runners, they'll love to hear that lilt into the running community.
Yeah, absolutely. I think a really great place to start is like talking about what the menstrual cycle is and I I think a lot of people understand what it is, but if we break it down into phases, it's really helpful to talk about and to answer your question essentially. So
I feel pretty good about the menstrual science. Do you feel
like your knowledge is a little bit more? I think
I've got Spencer on this. I don't see
myself playing a huge role in this particular question. Okay, well, I I'm I'm I'm back
to basics. Back to basics for everyone listening.
It's good for me to learn it again. I'm I I feel I've got it. Yeah. But I'm not gonna go pressure. Yeah, I'm gonna pretend I know it and then as you say it, I'm gonna nod every time you say something. I think that's my recollection of that. Do
you
know
what, Doctor Hazel? Uh A lot of our listeners are men. And I think, despite the fact that we probably all think we know what a menstrual cycle is. Yeah. Um, as I would assume I knew what a menstrual cycle was, I think it might be handy for you to just properly explain it and define it so that even the most knowledgeable men listening to this podcast can be enlightened by your knowledge.
Yeah, got it. Okay. So menstrual cycle 101. Let's say there's on average a 28-day cycle. Some women are slightly shorter, some women are slightly longer in that. In that 28-day period, there are hormones fluctuating. And they kind of dictate when you ovulate and when you have your period. So your fertility. Yeah. So day one of your cycle to roughly day five is what we know as the period. I think everyone has heard of that at least, menstruation. Yep. Your hormones are very low during that time. After that, estrogen increases just before ovulation, which helps you release that egg. During that time, then we find estrogen comes back down and we're into the second part of the menstrual cycle where both hormones, estrogen and progesterone, rise again.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is cycle syncing and why is it trending among female runners?
0:00–5:26
2
How does the menstrual cycle’s hormone phases affect training performance?
5:26–11:56
3
What does the research say about performance dips during the period phase?
11:56–18:43
4
Should athletes adjust their training intensity based on their cycle stage?
18:43–24:38
5
How do hormonal fluctuations influence injury risk and recovery?
24:38–30:56
6
What are the signs of low energy availability (RED‑S) and how can they be addressed?
30:56–34:22
7
How do perimenopause and menopause impact female athletes’ health and performance?
34:22–35:05
8
What practical nutrition and strength‑training strategies can support women throughout their cycle?
35:05–35:44
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from UNTAPPED with Spencer Matthews
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