The female monthly cycle and how it impacts training and competition is a conversation that athletes and coaches should have. The reality is that it can be awkward for both parties, so to avoid awkwardness it usually gets pushed aside. Which means that female athletes can feel isolated in navigating this part of their life. We should also include perimenopause and menopause in that conversation as it will affect most females at some point.As a coach I do believe that we need to have these conversations, and that they should not be awkward.Education is a big part, so to help us better understand the ways in which training and competition can be managed, I have invited Dr Natalie Brown onto the show as a guest. Natalie is a research assistant for the Welsh Institute of Performance Science. She works predominately with Sport Wales, leading on research with female athletes and the impact of the menstrual cycle on sport participation and performance. In this conversation with Natalie we talk about:

• To truly understand the patterns of your monthly cycle, track it for at least 3 cycles
• Lifestyle factors have a huge influence on the severity of your monthly cycle
• Carbohydrate supplementation prior to HIT sessions might mitigate some symptoms
• Menstrual cycle apps are good, but listening to your body is better
• Perimenopause is ‘chaos’ but healthy lifestyle factors can help
• How to arrange your training during the menopause
• HRT for females? It depends!
• Some guidance for coaches on how to open a menstrual cycle/menopause conversation with their athlete

To find out more about Natalie Brown and her work please visit these channels:Instagram Optimal.Period Website www.optimalperiod.com, You can find some other really good resources at the following links:Podcasts The Female Athlete, For continued education please check out Menstrual cycle online coaching modules:UK Coaching resourcesI also asked Natalie to recommend a book. This is her choice:Good for a Girl Lauren Fleshman

To contact Beth regarding Life Coaching, please visit her website at BethanyWardLifeCoaching.uk.

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