CAUTION: Waaaaayyyyyy TMI ahead!!!

I have to cover this cause it's been on my mind a lot , you'll see why.

A couple of days ago, IronBenny did a great post on his wife, Nytro, and hormone issues (both of whom have excellent blogs btw). Anyway, this is something I deal with every month, not to Nytro's extent, but a lot. When I woke up this morning and felt that dull ache in my lower abdomen I wanted to scream!!! This whole monthly cycle is really becoming a huge issue for me and I'm not sure why. I have always taken my period in stride and it's never slowed me down, but the last 1-2 years has been increasingly worse. The whole month revolves around it and it's pissing me off. During I get pretty severe cramps. My doctor told me to take ibuprofen, this actually stops the hormone and makes the period lighter and shorter. That does work, great! Except.... After taking ibuprofen regularly for 3-4 days as soon as I stop I get rebound headaches - really bad, for 2 days. That sucks.

The week after is my best week of the month. I have tons of energy, no cravings, and feel awesome. The second week I get pains in my groin area, sometimes severe, that the doc says is me ovulating. The third week I get tired towards the end of the week, horribly bone tired, and crave sweets. Then we are back at it again with cramps. Each month is such a joy.

My reason for this post, and I do have one, is that it seriously affects my training. Yesterday I couldn't get out of bed and thought it was because I stayed up late. Turns out, no, that wasn't it at all. There are days during the month when I can run forever and others when I hardly lift my feet. Days when my hips get sore - hello!!!! Turns out it's the bod getting ready is case I get pregnant. Just for the record, that is sooooo NOT going to happen. Some days when I can't get enough food yet have done no training. Some days when I've trained hard and yet can't eat hardly anything. So much of this is tied to hormones how can I possibly train effectively?????? I completely understand why women train hard enough to stop their periods. If I was younger and more serious I would.

Of course, at this point in my life, I'm looking more towards menopause. I hear so many women who say they are afraid of menopause, huh???? Me, I say, bring it on. I'm ready to be done with this. Actually I was ready for it when I was 29 years old. At that point I knew I was not having anymore kids so why did I need to go through this every month?? I'm not worried about the possible side affects of menopause; loss of bone density, heart disease, etc; I'm way too athletic and religiously go to the doc.

Alright, enough. So I woke this morning to that dull cramping in my lower abdomen and wanted to lash out at something or someone, god, enough already. Anyway, I got up and went for the bike ride I didn't do yesterday. It felt great. I also did it 2 minutes faster than Tuesday - woohoo!!!! I'm kind of thinking of doing a 1/2 marathon in 2 weeks so tomorrow I'm going for an 8 mile run to see how I feel. If I can pull that off without too much problem I'm going to register for the 1/2. Sunday will be a long bike ride. I'm going to ride to the Y, use the weight room, then ride some more and head home. I think that will be fun. Monday the Y is closed but I'm thinking of going to Waikiki and swim in the crappy water :) I may even swim the Tinman swim and then do the bike course. I'll see how I feel.

Okay, I've done enough whining and moaning for today. I have work to do and I'd like to get out of here a little early today since it is a long weekend. Have a good one.