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In which Phily discovers the wages of overtraining :D

Thanks for the video Phily. I track my cycle and basal temperature using natural cycles. Highly recommend for tracking your cycle, knowing ovulation and times of fertility (helpful if avoiding pregnancy...) anyway, tracking my cycle and temp has basically changed my life . It's great you're putting videos out like this.

I’m 38 and not an athlete; I’m a beginner with running (started last summer). I like dancing, walking, hula hooping, shooting hoops, and kicking a ball around for exercise. Anyhoo, I’m watching this while on my period. I started mine when I was 4th grade and going through puberty so young gave me some of my body image issues. I also had a double whammy with ending up with large breasts. I finally got a reduction last summer and then started a couch to 5K program when I was cleared to be able to work out again. It’s been so helpful as I no longer need to double or triple bra to workout. I also had other symptoms such as back, neck, and shoulder pain, and rashes.

Unrelated to the topic at hand, does anyone know how tall Philly is? I’ve wondered for a while.

I was on the fence about these but you've convinced me. I am typically by myself and run with one airpod in so that I can hear what's happening around me. These just might be the solution. Thank you!

Would you reach out to Sophie Power & sheraces? I can see you guys doing great things together ❤️

I’m an Olympic weightlifter and specifically take the pill to control my cycle. When on my period I can be up to 5kg heavier (which sucks because of the weight classes), I just want to cry all day and the cramps make it really hard to lift heavy. I fully agree that the menstrual cycle is such an important health marker, and that training with your cycle can be very helpful. But I just can’t imagine having to compete while on my period, it seems impossible. So I’d be super curious for an update later in the year, where you also talk about what you do if you have an important training session/competition fall in a not great part of your cycle.

Thank you so so much for being open and vulnerable enough to talk about this. It changes things more than you know. -from a fellow runner who has struggled with amenorrhea and irregular periods

Thank you for talking about this! I’ve been debating getting an IUD but i was a bit worried since it could stop my period, that i wouldn’t have that monthly reminder that i’m healthy. i’ve had a past with ED and red-s and i wouldn’t wish it on anyone else. I don’t know too many runners and their take on hormonal contraceptives. thank you!

Here for this journey!!!

I'm currently experiencing this right now. After not having a period for 3 years, by under fueling and over exercising, I realized I can't live freely without it. When I started making the changes to get it back, I realized the huge difference eating more and exercising less made. Soon I'll be able to run again, and I'll be very happy for that day💜

Had this experience too, a yr of absent period. A lot of endurance,minimal rest plus eating little, kinda towards eating disorders. Once I lower down the workout volume & fuel myself properly,also stress management, it came back

I’m 21 and I’ve never had a regular period. I was on hormonal birth control from 17-19, and had maybe 2-3 periods since getting off birth control, having only had 1-2 periods before birth control. I went to a doctor and even a gynecologist at some point, and they told me not to worry about it. I consulted a nutritionist and they told me that periods only happen when you have a certain amount of fat on your body (which was not the thing to say to someone who struggles with food; still today, periods= too much body fat, in my brain). Even during my last build, as I was running 70-100 mile weeks, it was hard for me not to associate healthy menstruating with body fat, though I know that fueling is paramount to my performance. Walking the line of fueling for my workouts and recovery and navigating the food environment that exists for young women feels impossible.

mantra: Seize the Day

I have secondary amenorrhoea as well, mine not from training but from PCOS but people don't realize how awful it is for it to just be gone.

A few months ago, I finally went off the pill after having been on it for 23 years and not having a real period. Ohhhh boy. Yeah, "exciting" isn't quite the word I'd use 😭 The first one was the worst and with the worst cramping. The few after weren't quite as bad, but still...it's been rough after not having had to deal with it for so long. I went off the pill mostly because it can increase your chance of heart disease and breast cancer, and I'm a bit higher risk for those. If I were running competitively, I'm not quite sure it would be worth it, but everyone's body is different.

3:55 Medical student here - you don’t have to choose between reliable contraception and hormonal birth control! The copper IUD is super effective, lasts for 12 years, and it works by keeping sperm at bay - not through hormones like the mirena.

I still don’t know what I want to do or what I’m meant to do. I’m literally a physician, and let me tell you, this isn’t it. C’est la vie. Not so fun fact about Phoenix SkyHarbor Airport. First year of med school I had to drop off a friend the evening of my last exam of first year. I had a cumulative of 8 hours of sleep that week, and a car with built-in, but outdated GPS. I stopped friend off, and tried to go home. THAT FREAKING AIRPORT is a prison. None of the signs were helpful to guide me back to the freeway. My GPS kept telling me “turn left. Make a legal u-turn.” I just recall sitting in my car, defeated, in the rain and dark - bc of COURSE it rained THAT day - sobbing bc I wanted to go home and go to sleep. I hate that airport to this day.

As an athlete who never saw or knew about RED-S, thank you for making this. I wish I had seen someone do this a year ago x

We love you, Philly! You are a great person, a huge inspiration and very funny content creator. Love the grind!

Women need healthy saturated fat from eggs, fatty fish, beef, lamb, deer, elk any ruminant animal. The worse thing you can do is eat a bagel! Or any carbs! You should be doing 80/20 fat to protein and your period will pop in weeks to a months.

I live in the States. I use metric for everything exercise-related because I have no expectations attached to the times, weights, etc. I know what my mile times used to be. I refuse to do the math to see what that would be in km. It allows me to run freely and take the times as merely DATA. Just data that I can use later. I love that. And boy’s shorts pockets ZIP CLOSED!!! They can put stuff in there, zip closed, and it DOES NOT FALL OUT!

I have had real problems with red-s. At first I got stress fractures, but at that point no one knew about red-s, then I had SO many problems with gut issues, I ended up in hospital a few times, then I could ‘t get pregnant… But I have since November stopped weighing myself, and have started a new job, where I eat more😅so once a month I get signs of my period-eventhough I am on the same Mirena as you were💪🏼🤗(eventhough I still have problems with it being a sign of me being too thick, I logically tell myself I am not every month)

One thing to consider for anyone looking for non hormonal contraceptives would be the copper IUD. It’s not for everyone but it doesn’t have any hormones while still providing that security some people may want. I didn’t know it was an option until recently and switched from the pill and am happy I did!

Incredible well researched and informative video! Clearly from reading through the comments this is wildly unspoken about across sports and is very kuch appreciated. Interested ro hear your advice or experience after a regular cycle returns! As someone who has an iud due to severe periods, I look forward *hopefully* to the day I get to experience a normal period again.

All the merch sold out already, holy moly man!

Congratulations to him, nice work. Park run is for me a race against ones self. There's always a bigger fish. Take what you want from a Saturday morning PR. Im trying get my wife to sub 30 minutes. Its not easy. I started running at 41 a year ago and got my PB time down from 23:55 to 19:34. So if an old broken mo fo like me can do it, anyone can. Great channel.

I think this is a super important topic! Just to clarify some things for people - losing a people by taking hormonal contraception DOES NOT put you at the same risks as losing it from relative energy deficiency. You don't necessarily need a bleed - with progesterone based contraception like IUDs, the progesterone is keeping your uterine lining thin, so there isn't much to shed. Your bones are still being protected. It's true though that it can make it mask relative energy deficiency, since it can create withdrawal bleeds (especially with birth control pills) that you wouldn't otherwise have. So contraception itself doesn't put you at risk, but it can make it hard to know where you're at, if you're worried or not sure

I'm currently reading Lauren Fleshman's 'Good for a Girl', where she talks about how coaches and others in the community were aware than many athletes experienced EDs and REDs but no one really did anything about it and watched the athletes rise and fall dramatically because of it. Thanks so much for speaking out about this and being a role model for young athletes that might see restrictive behaviour and not be mature enough to see past it

Thanks for talking about this. I lost my period for 18 months between 2013-2015. I also developed osteopenia due to it and also severe anemia due to the underfueling. Unfortunately, it also corresponded with my eating disorder and exercise addiction. Thankfully I've been regular since 2015 but it was tough for sure and when I'm deep into marathon training my period is really delayed some months and I've skipped the occasional month maybe twice. I think I'm now more prone to injury as I still have REDS. I know it's my fault though as I tend to do a lot of my runs fasted. It's just taken me almost a year to recover from a tibial stress fracture. I just recently saw a performance nutritionist though and have started using carb drinks before exercise so I'm trying to be better 😊. The NHS are so awful for REDS and exercise addiction in my experience. I haven't been able to get any support because my BMI has always been in the 'normal' category. I hate BMI it is so useless. Oh and I'm definitely one of those people that feels best when working out during my period or the first week after it. My HR is always lower so I can run faster at a lower effort.

Hills are not just for trail runners?!?!? I love road & trail BOTH, and hills when they appear on my road routes are just extra good training :-) Understand it's different when you have super specific planned sessions,

Minimum BMI, body fat and water levels. If I can do that with absolute accuracy in 30 seconds on my bathroom scales then there are zero arguments against it.

Thanks for bringing this topic up! Hormone health and periods are such an important topic. I love that you mention the different situations and how they can vary. Losing a period due to RED-S is always bad. I like that you explain that some people may be better off (endometriosis) without their period but that it's so important to be aware of what that may mean due to a lack of monitoring/visible monthly cycle and therefore potential difficulty monitoring hormonal and therefore whole health. It also slightly separately can be a huge change and have an impact on fertility if getting pregnant does become something a woman wants to do. I also love that you de-stigmatise the topic in general! Another interesting point we don't know much about (chronically under-researched women's health) is what our "natural" reproductive life would have looked like. It's likely that pre-modern age and birth control women would have had FAR fewer periods in their lives than we do now. Women would have spent much of their lives pregnant or breastfeeding. So while this is for a TOTALLY different reason hormonal birth control (hormone side effects aside as obviously it's a different mechanism of action) may in some ways replicate this. But we actually don't know yet what the implications are either way e.g. what are the consequences of having so many periods compared to "cave woman", is it better or worse to be on birth control compared to this? The more we talk about it, the more research is encouraged the better informed women can be, the more research can take place and the more choices and knowledge will be available to women, whatever turns out to be the result of research.

For me its the opposite, I had super heavy and painful periods and for the first one or two days i'd be in so much pain, painkillers did nothing and all I could do is lay down and wait for it to go away, which made training hard. I even got my period once in the middle of an Ironman, had no tampon with me so had to free bleed on the run and the cramps really slowed me down. Now I have an IUD and it is soooo much better to not have really heavy bleeding and cramps and doesn't affect my day to day life! But I do know some triathletes that build their training around their cycles, its really interesting to see how different our strength and energy levels can be depending on the time of the month

I hope it works out for you. I have osteoporosis. I was shocked after my Dexa scan because I've been a runner for years and I thought it would protect me somehow. The drugs they have for bone loss have horrific side effects - trust me, you do not want to get this.

I’m 62 years old I was a Lon distance runner with some marathons on my carrier my best time was 2:45 in the New York 1992 after 25 years stop I back to running again now I’m old and use pace maker and defibrillator because of my heart rate but I’m still running with the same love for the sport and I want to let you know that I love your channel and I hope you enjoy your beautiful life keep on going you will be accomplish your goals ❤

As someone with really bad period cramps, I just am so hesitant to go off hormonal birth control, despite the benefits I’ve heard. I feel like this is such an easy choice for people with mild periods, but it feels like sophie’s choice for me. :(

I stuck around, two daughters. Thank you for making this video 👍

Period party 🥳 🎉 LoveTheBleed 👍

This topic is so important, and we should keep sharing, it's not only elite athletes that are susceptible. Thank you Phily for spreading the word. 🙌 As a very average runner and climber, I was diagnosed with RED-S when being seen by a sports physio. I had already had an ankle fracture and disc degeneration in my lower back and months without periods but this had never been considered by the many GP's I saw, in-fact I ended up sharing my resources with my GP and back specialist to educate them. Some of the damage i've done to my body is permanent and it was preventable, if you watched this and found similarities in your story definitely seek advice and please push if you're ignored!

I love this, thanks so much for mentioning endometriosis because everyone seems to demonise the pill but without it I wouldn’t be able to run or cope in general! So it’s really nice that you emphasised that actually it is better in some instances but of course great if you can just have a normal cycle If that works for you. Thanks for talking about this!

This conversation is SO important. Well done Phily.

I haven't had my period in a few years and your genuine positive outlook and advice has encouraged me to be brave and take the step to see a gynecologist. I'm young and still want to be healthy and running when I'm older! Thank you Philly. 😊

Many women have male coaches and those coaches need to be educated. They praise women for "looking fit" cutting down their weight and insufficient fuelling which encourages eating disorders. I had the Merana in for 5 years and didn't have a period. Now I have ovarian cysts and a 8.4cm fibroid. No idea if no period caused this or menopause. Hormones are tricky and I think its a very under researched topoc that is a vital part of health.

Thank you so much for this Phily. Watched Allie Ostrander’s similar video on this topic, commented on that one as well, and I’m in the same boat as you more or less. I’ve been on the pill for nearly 4 years now, and I’ve been explaining to my teammates and my family that no it’s not the same thing as having a period, no it’s not a panacea for all sorts of things, and I think this video and Allie’s are the push I needed to finally come off of it. Thank you so so so so much for being so honest and vulnerable.

Thank you for this. I'm an ultra-runner and I was diagnosed by my GP as having RED-S. I eat a ton but I guess I also run a ton as well (and maybe wasn't eating as much of a ton as I thought?) Anyway, came here to say three things: 1) I'm 34 so I'm living proof it can strike everyone 2) this us a such a sensitively presented fab video. Thanks SO much for making it and sharing your story. 3) My two-cents is the rise of running platforms and apps are great and they get people moving and running (big yay). But doing programmes without a real live coach can be a risk too. My (unnamed) app I'm using casually told me to go out and do a 60k run as my long run one week. There are SO many issues with this, mostly that it can make you overtrain and underfuel without really thinking too hard about it, which probably was part of the reason for my period loss. Thanks so much again <3

Thanks for this <3 i didn't have my period for several years because of an eating disorder and years later i still get so happy every time i naturally get it. It is incredibly important, and you made it so clear! Lots of love from Spain

i'm not an athlete by any means, but i did take up running and become more serious with it recently. i suddenly lost my period for 7 months. at first, i thought it was maybe PCOS. went to my GP and mentioned my new exercise routine. right away, she suspected that it was exercise induced. ultrasounds were normal, so i went to the gyno. there, i told her the same thing about starting to take up running. she ordered blood tests and they were normal, so she suspects that it is also exercise induced as well. looking back, it's definitely because i was under eating while wanting to run more. i'm trying to eat better now and have finally gotten two normal cycles. hoping that this will continue. these 7 months, i was pretty stressed about not getting it. back then, i would wish that i never got my period. now, i'm happy to get it as i take it as an indication that i'm healthy in that way. cramps and bloating still suck tho.

I'm not an athlete by any means, but took up running in conjunction with trying to lose weight. I completely lost my period for over two years at the age of 33. It's actually only recently come back after gaining some of the weight back, and dropping my mileage (due to injury). Trying to lose weight while running is a surprisingly bad combination.

Thanks for talking about this. I'm a male, but this should be known by everyone, also it should not be a taboo. We still have so much to learn regarding women's health and women's health in sports. It's incredible to see how poorly covered those matters are in scientific research. This should change, and your video is adding a voice towards that. Happy Period Recovery ✌️👍