**Girl Talk Warning: Guys - this is where I will reference the effects that menopause has had on my running, so consider yourselves warned. For those of you who are married, this might be beneficial info for you as well.**
Almost exactly 5 years ago, I was preparing to run the Badger 100 miler in Wisconsin. I was 50 years old and still running strong, but during this time I noticed that I was starting to gain weight. I had always been lean - thanks to genetics and my activity level - so gaining weight while I was averaging over 40 miles a week of running just didn't make sense. I tried the usual - cutting calories, fine tuning my already clean diet... nothing worked. The weight kept slowly coming on.
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| My last 100 miler finish in 2021 - the Badger 100. Highly recommend this race. |
Never one to sit back and accept things I don't agree with, I did what I could - I had my hormones tested by a pharmacist through a series of saliva collections at different times during the day - they were fine for "my age", so I enlisted a dietician thinking I was possibly developing a sensitivity to something I was eating. I had bloodwork done and my dietician saw in the results that yes, I am sensitive to certain foods, but eliminating them made no difference either. Weight was still slowly creeping up on me.
As crazy as it was, at this time it never occurred to me that I might be going through perimenopause, and my doctor at the time never bothered to do a blood test to check hormone levels even though I was telling her about my symptoms - weight gain, lack of sleep, incredible fatigue. I deferred to her knowledge rather than insisting on a full blood panel. Lesson learned.
**Girl Talk Over
Here I am now, 55 years old and almost to the end of perimenopause, and left with an entirely new body to relearn. When I say new, I mean "like new" or "lightly worn" or even "has great potential". I am even comfortable with "fixer upper".
The last couple of years, my professional life has been all encompassing so running has taken a backseat (think third row) to my job, so here I am a lump of clay with greying hair trying to get my running mojo back. But, I have hired Brandon Bahlawan as my coach and I have complete faith that he can mold me into something vaguely resembling a runner again.
Those were a lot of words to say that if you would like to follow my progress and track my PMPR's (Post Menopause Personal Records) follow me here. There is likely no way I will get back to a sub 24 hour 100 miler, but I have learned a few lessons along the way that you might benefit from.
This blog will be training heavy but will likely also contain anecdotes about life in general when I come across something worthy of both of our time.
This season's races:
September 13th - Visite De Broussard - Half Marathon - this one is going to be ugly but I really want to do it to support the awesome folks who put it on.
October 3rd - Maddie's Footprints 5k - honoring all of the babies lost too soon and their incredible parents
October 17th - No Man's Land 25k - a race is only as good as the people putting it on, and these are the best kind of people
November 14th - New Orleans Half Marathon - this falls on my 56th birthday, so I kinda have to do it
January 17th - Louisiana Marathon - signed up for the full but that depends on training. I haven't done a road marathon in a LONG time.
February 20th - Red Dirt Ultra 35k - to support my girl, run a beautiful trail, and what the hell is a 35k?
Let's see if I can go from "fixer upper" to "new and improved" along the way. Regardless, there will be funny stories to share.
Happy Running!
Edie
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