Perimenopause and sport

[CardiCorgi]

Does anyone have any idea of how perimenopause affects fitness?
After a year of pandemic crap, plus glandular fever last year I am reluctantly coming to the conclusion that I may also be perimenopausal (mid forties, so more than possible).
I’m running and skiing again (Nordic), but feel so slow and an injury is just taking ages to heal. Does this just come with the territory? There are plenty of women who are older and faster than me, so clearly they have managed somehow. Anyone with similar experience?

I discovered fitness in my mid/late 40s and never looked back. Have never been fitter and exercise pretty much every day. I do notice niggles more, but my policy is to be very vigilant and react immediately to any niggle (rest, stretch, rehab exercises, whatever) rather than ignore and hope for the best. Works for me. I don't know how this all compares to pre-peri since I was an obese couch potato for all of that time.

If you are running and skiing then even if slow, you are fit. In fact slow is good as it's sustainable into very advanced years and comes with less risk of injury.
I think as you get older it takes longer to get back to any level of fitness after a break, especially if that break was illness or injury related.
If you don't use it you lose it has never been more true.
For me, following a fracture that put me out of any cardio action for a year, I have accepted that I probably won't ever reach the same speeds as before, but my endurance is as good as ever.
A mental shift, but not a bad one.

I was always slow so just glad I get out there

I had torrential periods in my perimenopause and was very anaemic which really affected my fitness. I am now through the menopause (60 at the end of this month) and cycle and run (just over 5 km in 25-26 minutes) and feel better than ever. I think perimenopause is a difficult time and I remember having problems with my hip in particular, which now seems to have resolved itself, and a frozen shoulder. Good luck OP, in my experience it does get better.

Thanks for the replies. I think I’m frustrated because I’m not bouncing back as quickly as I used to (as my sports doc pointed out, neither of us is 20 any more) and I made the injury worse by racing on it which is entirely my own stupid fault.

At least I can now exercise, unlike this time last year, which makes dealing with home office and home school easier and I know that carrying on doing sports is good for me.

@Boiledeggandtoast that makes me feel a lot better. Especially in skiing there are quite a few older women who are still very fast, so it must be possible. I also have scope for improving my technique.

Do any of you weight train too? I understand that it should help with retaining bone density, although it is not my favourite form of sport.

I was at the top of my fitness in my mid forties, then peri started and it all went down.

In my case, it's the impact the menopause has on my deep sleep. I am not getting enough and therefore not recovering as I should.

Saying that, I also discovered after a few years that I was deficient in vit B12. I started treatment, then had to increase it, and now that it's stabilised, I'm much better again just not as it was, especially when my sleep.is at its worse.

Yes, I agree about the lack of deep, restorative sleep and it's effect on performance. It's similar to the draining feeling I used to have of constant low level exhaustion from working two night shifts per week.

I'm taking liquid magnesium before bed which has improved my sleep a lot, but with magnesium it's important to really watch that you don't get dehydrated, which again is a big factor in performance.

I have a set of hand weights, 4kg, on my dressing table and try to do a range of arm movements and weighted squats with them each day at random times when I find myself in my bedroom.

Other than that cycling 5km to the local village and back is hopefully weight bearing enough to protect the old hips for now

@babybluefish

Yes, I agree about the lack of deep, restorative sleep and it's effect on performance. It's similar to the draining feeling I used to have of constant low level exhaustion from working two night shifts per week.

I'm taking liquid magnesium before bed which has improved my sleep a lot, but with magnesium it's important to really watch that you don't get dehydrated, which again is a big factor in performance.

I have a set of hand weights, 4kg, on my dressing table and try to do a range of arm movements and weighted squats with them each day at random times when I find myself in my bedroom.

Other than that cycling 5km to the local village and back is hopefully weight bearing enough to protect the old hips for now

Cycling is not weight-bearing. It's great cardiovascular exercise but don't rely on it for keeping your bone density in order.

@CardiCorgi

Thanks for the replies. I think I’m frustrated because I’m not bouncing back as quickly as I used to (as my sports doc pointed out, neither of us is 20 any more) and I made the injury worse by racing on it which is entirely my own stupid fault.

At least I can now exercise, unlike this time last year, which makes dealing with home office and home school easier and I know that carrying on doing sports is good for me.

@Boiledeggandtoast that makes me feel a lot better. Especially in skiing there are quite a few older women who are still very fast, so it must be possible. I also have scope for improving my technique.

Do any of you weight train too? I understand that it should help with retaining bone density, although it is not my favourite form of sport.

Yes, I weight train. It used not to be my favourite form of exercise either, but I have now fallen in love with it and it is what I do most days. It's done wonders for my fitness, confidence. mobility and figure.

This could potentially be a symptom of low testosterone. I'd say maybe get this checked but there's not all that much available to treat it as a stand alone issue.

I have low testosterone and it sort of feels like your battery is drained all the time.

Oh yes, the lack of sleep. Good grief, it’s nearly as bad as when the dc were tiny.
@TableNiner, that’s how I feel, but I have done on and off since the glandular fever, so it is hard to know what the cause is.

I’ve signed up to various Strava challenges, to give myself a reason to get off the sofa. Not today though, stupid ankle has flared up again.

@Spodge we now have a nice collocation of kettlebells and elastic bands in the cellar and I’m learning to like weights a bit more. 8 still prefer my skis though.

Good point about vitamin and hormone levels. Fortunately my gynae won’t have any problem doing a blood test if I ask at my next appointment (I’m not in the UK so don’t need to go via my GP).