E
Elisa Francesca
Guest
I cycle regularly on an apartment trainer and before that, I
used to train on a kick-scooter. For both of these
activities I keep records in a database.
Over time, I began to notice distinct fluctuations in
performance in keeping with my menstrual cycle.
It took me two and a half years to learn the trick of
balancing on a kick-scooter. My training consisted of
doing five runs up, and five runs down, a track of
sidewalk perhaps 80 m long, with a very slight incline,
and counting the number of steps on each run. The object
was to minimize the number of steps, since each step meant
that I was falling off the scooter and needing to correct
my balance from the ground. A competent scooterist would
not need more than one or two steps on a downhill run,
just to hop on and get started and let gravity do the
rest. Also, the object was to have equal competence on
both legs. I started using the right leg to push uphill,
and the dominant left to push downhill. The best possible
score was two steps downhill and twelve uphill. Then I
switched legs until I achieved the same score on the right
leg downhill, thus becoming ambidextrous, or more
accurately ambisinistrous, on the scooter.
But my progress was not steady. I would have a brilliant
day, when I broke records on fewness of steps, and a
short while later would find myself way back where I had
been weeks before, with forty or fifty horrible steps on
both runs!
Out of curiosity, I also had a field in the database to
track "menstrual day", with day 1 being the first day of my
period. Over time, it became apparent that the good days,
when I broke records, were in the second half of the cycle,
days 19-28, usually just before my period began, but that as
soon as I hit Day 1 and in the week following I would have
those frustrating throw-backs when I could scarcely balance
on my two feet, let alone on a scooter. I mentioned this
fluctuation to my regular doctor, who detected a light
anemia and prescribed iron tablets. I feel better and more
energetic with the iron, but it didn't seem to make any
difference to this monthly eclipse of my balance.
Now, both on my trainer and on my wild bicycles, I am
noticing similar fluctuations. My trainer score is
calculated on the number of kilometers the odometer records
in 60 minutes, with my heartbeat averaging not more than 136
beats per minute. Once again, records are broken in the
second half of the menstrual cycle, whereas the throwbacks
to much lower and earlier levels of skill that I thought I
would not see again (under 32 km?!) happen in the first half
of the cycle. On the wild bikes, I also notice that on
certain days I have much more trouble, for example,
negotiating turns, than on others, as well as greater
difficulty starting my pesky bike Behemoth. I haven't
tracked these incidents to the lunar cycle, because wild
bike activity is not in my database, but I feel confident
that there is a connection.
So, it seems like some cyclical hormonal factor - not iron -
is linked to a monthly diminishing, not only of strength and
vigor, but also of ability to balance. Has anyone else
experienced similar? I'm assuming this question concerns
women primarily, but in fact that assumption is not
scientific, since not all werewolves are female.
EFR Ile de France
used to train on a kick-scooter. For both of these
activities I keep records in a database.
Over time, I began to notice distinct fluctuations in
performance in keeping with my menstrual cycle.
It took me two and a half years to learn the trick of
balancing on a kick-scooter. My training consisted of
doing five runs up, and five runs down, a track of
sidewalk perhaps 80 m long, with a very slight incline,
and counting the number of steps on each run. The object
was to minimize the number of steps, since each step meant
that I was falling off the scooter and needing to correct
my balance from the ground. A competent scooterist would
not need more than one or two steps on a downhill run,
just to hop on and get started and let gravity do the
rest. Also, the object was to have equal competence on
both legs. I started using the right leg to push uphill,
and the dominant left to push downhill. The best possible
score was two steps downhill and twelve uphill. Then I
switched legs until I achieved the same score on the right
leg downhill, thus becoming ambidextrous, or more
accurately ambisinistrous, on the scooter.
But my progress was not steady. I would have a brilliant
day, when I broke records on fewness of steps, and a
short while later would find myself way back where I had
been weeks before, with forty or fifty horrible steps on
both runs!
Out of curiosity, I also had a field in the database to
track "menstrual day", with day 1 being the first day of my
period. Over time, it became apparent that the good days,
when I broke records, were in the second half of the cycle,
days 19-28, usually just before my period began, but that as
soon as I hit Day 1 and in the week following I would have
those frustrating throw-backs when I could scarcely balance
on my two feet, let alone on a scooter. I mentioned this
fluctuation to my regular doctor, who detected a light
anemia and prescribed iron tablets. I feel better and more
energetic with the iron, but it didn't seem to make any
difference to this monthly eclipse of my balance.
Now, both on my trainer and on my wild bicycles, I am
noticing similar fluctuations. My trainer score is
calculated on the number of kilometers the odometer records
in 60 minutes, with my heartbeat averaging not more than 136
beats per minute. Once again, records are broken in the
second half of the menstrual cycle, whereas the throwbacks
to much lower and earlier levels of skill that I thought I
would not see again (under 32 km?!) happen in the first half
of the cycle. On the wild bikes, I also notice that on
certain days I have much more trouble, for example,
negotiating turns, than on others, as well as greater
difficulty starting my pesky bike Behemoth. I haven't
tracked these incidents to the lunar cycle, because wild
bike activity is not in my database, but I feel confident
that there is a connection.
So, it seems like some cyclical hormonal factor - not iron -
is linked to a monthly diminishing, not only of strength and
vigor, but also of ability to balance. Has anyone else
experienced similar? I'm assuming this question concerns
women primarily, but in fact that assumption is not
scientific, since not all werewolves are female.
EFR Ile de France
