Last week I wrote about this podcast with the amazing Camille Herron. One of the things she talked about was how much she wanted to win the upcoming Western States race- the biggest 100 mile race in the U.S.
Camille recently set some big world records, and she said she felt very fit and fast. She was very clear about her intentions to win Western States, so I was a little surprised and disappointed to see that she ended up placing eighth. I wondered what had happened.
WELL, this episode of the Strides Forward podcast explains it all. Camille talks in general about menstrual health, and specifically about how she got her period literally in the middle of Western States. She had to deal with nausea, cramps, and of course the bleeding- but she wasn’t complaining. 100 mile races are all about problem solving, so she said if she hadn’t had to deal with getting her period, she would have had to deal with something else.
She also talks about the importance of having regular periods, and says ever since she was a teenager she understood that she needed to eat enough to offset the energy she expended by running. She also talks about being on oral contraceptives for years, and the convenience of that, but ultimately how she went off them because she felt it was harming her health and performance.
Camille obviously runs a LOT, and she looks really, really thin- so it was nice to hear her talk about the importance of eating enough and keeping her period. I never ran enough to lose my period, but I do have a little story of my own related to that subject.
When I met my husband, I was already 34 years old. We got married a year later and I knew I wanted to have a baby pretty soon. I was also running a lot back then. My husband and I ran two marathons together, and I was seriously considering doing a 50K race. I was doing long runs every weekend- and meanwhile we were trying to get pregnant.
I was getting my periods, but very sporadically. I never knew when it might come, and it was impossible to predict when I might be ovulating. We tried unsuccessfully for a while, and then I had a birthday and turned 36.
At that point I had a mini panic attack- I thought about how we weren’t having any success, and how it was only going to get harder and harder, the older I got. I made the decision to cancel my plans for the 50K, and I kept running, but immediately stopped doing long runs. One month later- I was pregnant with my precious son Paul.
I don’t really know if it was a coincidence, or if stopping my long runs was what it took to convince my body that I was ready to have a baby. The funny thing is, I always thought it would be a temporary detour from my dream of running an ultra, and that I would surely come back to it. Now I think of the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken,” where he comes to a fork in the road, takes one path and saves the other for another day- “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.”
Can women run ultramarathons and also have babies? Absolutely! Could I have done it? Hmmmm. Could I still get back to that fork in the road and take the other path? We’ll see.
The Strides Forward Podcast is stories about running, told by women. There’s another episode with Camille about winning the Comrades Marathon, one with Courtney Dauwalter, and many more. The episodes are around 15-30 minutes long- I normally like longer podcasts, but these are a nice length if you want something you can listen to in one sitting.
Check it out if you want to hear some inspiring stories!
I’m linking up with My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and Zenaida for Fit Five Friday!
Have you had any issues with your period and running? Did you run while you were pregnant?
26 Responses
I’ve heard her on another podcasts. She’s amazing.
Well, I didn’t start running until my periods had already stopped due to menopause.
But I definitely would have prioritized having a baby over running. No comparison between having a family and running. Kids win, always.
If you can have both… that’s great!
Yes, I have to admit that when I hear women talk about their periods, my first reaction is a feeling of relief that I don’t have to deal with it anymore! i don’t miss that one bit.
Yes, I love Camille.
I had not heard of Camille but her story is a good one to share. I worked with many girls suffering from eating disorders back in the day with messed up cycles. It can be a struggle to overcome and move forward. I think it’s great she is sharing her story and hopefully reaching some others. Also reminds me of Becs (Peloton) currently pregnant but she has talked a lot about this.
Becs is currently pregnant! I didn’t know that. I haven’t taken her classes in a while. Yes, I was really happy Camille shared this story. It really is important for young girls to hear. I think things are getting better as people become more aware, but there’s still a lot of pressure on younger runners to be super thin.
My three kids were well on their way (the youngest was in kindergarten) when I started running consistently. I had no grandiose plans of distance running for a few years later, so pregnancy was never an issue with my running. The monthly visitor doesn’t ‘always time her visits well, though…and I’ll just leave it at that, LOL
Ha ha… yes, I think I know what you mean.
I started running later in life, but I also went through menopause later in life (thanks, mom).
The year that I had 4 half PRs in one year (well, in 12 months) — it all started with a half that I thought I was already in menopause — in that I hadn’t had a period in 12 months. I was 54. Nope, I get it that day! But I PR’d the race. 🙂
I took birth control pills for about 20 years. I didn’t want kids. I still wish I’d gotten off them sooner — but they say everything happens for a reason and maybe it was just the right time for me (I also didn’t get periods for a year after going off the pill).
I’m sorry you didn’t get to run the ultra, but you just never know where life will take you — plus, you have your kids!
Yes, I’ll take my kids over running that ultra!
Wow, you still got a period at the age of 54 (pretty inconvenient timing, ha.) I’ve heard that people who go through menopause later also live longer? Not really sure if that’s true, but you never know. You should prepare to live to a ripe old age!
I wasn’t logging a lot of miles when I got pregnant as I was finally getting back to running after having hip surgery the final year. I had planned to run through my pregnancy but then I had bleeding starting around 7 weeks from a subchorionic hemorrhage. The OB said I could run but that it would make me bleed more and that might be hard on my mental health (it was). So I stopped running. And then my RA got so bad that running was out of the question. I had the same situation w/ #2 – subchorionic bleeding and bad RA symptoms. You know from my recent post about my journey as a runner that I didn’t run much as a new parent. I’ve only been able to fit it in thanks to the flexibility of working from home!
My sister has had issues w/ period regularity when she is running a lot. So I believe she eased up on running when they started to try. I got lucky and got pregnant the month after our wedding! I had been on bc for years and thought it would take forever for my cycle to come back. So I was over 5 weeks along when I took a pregnancy test and never thought it would have been positive. We had a much harder time getting pregnant with Will and had to take some meds to help me ovulate. I’m glad I will never go through the stress of trying for a baby again and my heart goes out to people who try for sooo long and go through so many procedures. We ended up trying for Will for about a year and I thought that was hard, but that is nothing compared to how long others try.
Well, my first pregnancy was a dream and then the second one, it seemed like everything that could go wrong, did. I tried to run but it got harder and harder and then I ended up on bedrest (!) so that was that. Funny how different each pregnancy can be. And also getting pregnant- it was so easy for you the first time and problematic the second. But, we have our kids- we’re lucky. You’re right, others go through so much and have a lot of heartbreak over it.
I visited my mom last week and we spent a lot of time talking about menopause and menstruation. My mom said she would check with her older sister about her experience with menopause and I told her that she didn’t have to do that on my account and my said “we should talk more about these things – I wish I had talked with my mom and older sisters before I started going through it and I want to make sure you’re not unaware of things” and I think it’s great if role models start talking about women’s health in a serious way.
Yes, I agree! Periods AND menopause should be talked about more. Maybe I’ll write a blog post about menopause- but it might be kind of boring because it was relatively easy for me.
Amazing story about Camille and how she dealt with her body and menstrual health throughout her running career. Wild that she got her period during the Western States. I’ve heard this is a really gruelling race so the fact she placed 8th is still impressive to me.
I don’t have children so I haven’t gone through any of that. I also only started running when I was 40 and I had an IUD at that time. Now I’m in menopause and it’s messed up a lot of things where running is concerned. Sometimes I wish i had run earlier, but it is what it is. I know that especially being good at a sport can get obsessive and it’s just so so important to not lose normal functionality of your body simply because of your sport.
Yes, Camille is amazing! To place in the top 10 at that race is incredible, and she did it under tough circumstances.
Menopause is a whole new challenge- have you read Stacy Sims’s book Next Level? It’s written especially for us!
Love that picture of you with the pregnancy test!❤️😘
Ha ha… thanks honey!
Thanks for sharing Camille’s story!
By the time I started running I had already had my two boys. I did struggle with crazy periods a few years ago thanks to uterine fibroids which definitely made running pretty challenging. A partial hysterectomy was a game changer.
Wow, I know I’m lucky I never dealt with anything like that. I’m glad you were able to get the issue resolved! Yes, there’s a lot we women have to deal with.
I am so glad to hear that Camille knows to offset her running with lots of nutrition. I think that can sometimes go by the wayside. Also, yay for your getting pregnant! My own periods are so irregular, and now I’m in perimenopause, but I was on the pill for many years before having babies, and for a little while after too, and so who knows what my own natural cycle is!
Oh yes, perimenopause will wreak havoc with any kind of schedule you had! I would get a period every other month, then I would go six months in between, then get a couple more… that went on for years. But it really wasn’t that bad, other than never knowing when or if I was going to get another period.
This is really interesting and thank you for sharing Camille’s story and your own. I have always suffered from endometriosis; I did find in the years I had periods and was running that running did (just like school nurse said!) help ease the cramps and pain. However, as I got older it got worse and worse, I came off the combined Pill when I went through (unsuccessful) IVF in my early 40s and then had to go back onto the progesterone only pill to keep things at bay as I was having several days a month where I couldn’t exercise (or leave the house!) and that was having a bad effect on my mental health. Had surgery for an ovarian cyst at 45 and discovered then that I had endo (they hadn’t looked for it when I was going through the fertility treatment; I was so relieved I knew what was “wrong” with me finally) and then I need to stay on the pill till menopause to prevent it building up again (successful so far). The menopause is messing with my life and running but fortunately I just use running to stay sane and healthy so I don’t worry too much most of the time that I’m slower and stiffer!
I don’t know a lot about endometriosis, other than it’s bad. Sounds like you’ve really been through a lot. I think Wendy said you’re both ready Next Level and are going to do another joint review? I’ll be interested to hear what you think of is, and if it’s helpful considering the issues you have.
I think Wendy’s read that one already and reviewed it but I do have it and will be reading it quite soon. Endometriosis is where bits of womb lining type material grow around your other insides, wax and wane the same, often stick your innards together and cause scar tissue (mine did). The impact is very heavy bad periods with severe pain and often it’s associated with particular types of ovarian cyst (I wouldn’t have got to have mine removed if they’d known I had endo, weirdly, as I swore I didn’t have it (as I didn’t know) therefore the cyst looked dodgy on imaging (sorry if TMI there)) and also infertility. It can be associated with IBS around your period as well, and I had it quite mildly, only fainted once a month, flooded three or four times a month, couldn’t leave the house a couple of days a month, couldn’t do yoga a week a month … What happens is that doctors don’t believe it is a problem for people and the average time from first report to diagnosis in the UK is TEN YEARS!! I didn’t even bother my doctor with it so at least I didn’t have that battle. So roll on the menopause please and yes, will be interested to see if the book can make me get back to weights and stuff!
Ugh, it sounds like a NIGHTMARE. Are they at least getting better about identifying endometriosis now? I would hope so- I keep hearing about more and more people having it.
Menstrual health is near and dear to my heart because I’ve had issues since my very first period (currently waiting to get a surgery date for a hysterectomy). I love, love, love when women are open and share because so many women struggle and/or have to make major life decisions based on their cycles.
I agree with another commenter – that picture of you with the pregnancy test is beyond wonderful! So sweet and your joy is palpable <3
Yes, I love when women- especially professional athletes- are open about these things and set a good example. It’s important for young girls to hear that eating enough is a good thing!