The training partner nobody asked for.

Remember when running was just… running? When you could roll out of bed, throw on whatever vaguely resembled sportswear, and head out the door? No warm-up routine that looked like a 45-minute yoga class. No niggles. No mysterious injuries that appeared overnight like unwanted houseguests. Just you, your legs, and the quiet confidence that you could do it all again tomorrow.

I don’t.

These days, as a woman in my 40s, it sometimes feels like my body has joined a rival team. One that I didn’t sign up for.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m doing all the ‘right’ things. I eat well. I sleep like a champion (or at least I used to, before 3am became a time for deep life reflection). I train consistently, plan proper recovery, fuel training like I wrote the guidelines, and I even strength train. I stretch too… occasionally… when I remember that I am no longer 25 and invincible.

I’ve also entered that exciting new phase of life where I own more supplements than a small health food shop. Omega-3? Check. Creatine? Obviously. Something in a capsule that promises ‘hormonal balance’? Sure, why not, add it to the pile.

And yet, some days, my body simply refuses to cooperate.

It aches in places I didn’t know existed. It’s slower (rude). It’s permanently too hot—like I’m doing all my runs in a personal tropical climate. I’ve developed a stubborn layer of fat around my stomach that seems completely unmoved by the fact I run 100km a week. And my period? Oh, it now operates on chaos theory, arriving early, late, or the day before a race, just to keep things interesting.

Which is when it started to dawn on me, maybe this isn’t just ‘getting older.’ Maybe this is perimenopause.

So… what is perimenopause?

Short answer: it’s the warm-up act to menopause.

Long answer: it’s a chaotic, unpredictable, hormone fuelled rollercoaster that can last for years.

Perimenopause is the phase where your body starts transitioning toward menopause (which, fun fact, is officially confirmed when you’ve gone 12 consecutive months without a period - something that currently feels about as achievable as a perfectly paced ultramarathon with no mid-race existential crisis).

During perimenopause, your hormones, particularly oestrogen and progesterone don’t just gently decline like you might expect. Oh no. That would be far too reasonable. Instead, they fluctuate. Wildly.

One day you’re cruising along thinking, ‘I feel great, maybe I’ve got this all under control’ and the next day you’re irrationally annoyed at someone breathing too loudly near you while also sweating profusely and wondering why your legs feel like you’ve just run an ultra, when you definitely have not.

These hormonal swings can affect pretty much everything:

Your cycle (longer, shorter, heavier, lighter… surprise!)

Your sleep (hello 3am wake-ups)

Your mood (from zen to rage in 0.3 seconds)

Your temperature regulation (why am I overheating in January?)

Your recovery and energy levels

And yes… your body composition (because apparently running 100km a week isn’t enough to win that particular battle anymore)

For runners, it can feel especially frustrating because so much of what we rely on - consistency, progression, predictability suddenly becomes… unpredictable.

And the really fun part? A lot of us have absolutely no idea this is what’s happening.

We’re told about puberty. We’re told about pregnancy. But perimenopause? Not so much. So instead, we assume we’re doing something wrong. Not training hard enough. Or training too hard. Not eating right. Not recovering properly.

When actually, our bodies are just changing the rules.

Perimenopause looks different for everyone, some breeze through it, others feel like they’ve been dropped into a completely different body overnight. Most of us are somewhere in between, just trying to figure it out as we go. There’s no single right way to navigate it. No perfect training plan, no magic supplement, no ‘if you just do this’ solution.

And some days, it’s really frustrating. Learning to accept this new phase and a body that doesn’t always respond the way it used to takes time. It also means learning to listen more carefully to what my body is asking for, and accepting that sometimes, extra rest is part of the training.

But there are positives. What I lack in speed, I make up for in experience, stubbornness and better fuelling. And I definitely give less f**ks about what other people think.

The bottom line is, if like me you love running and racing you’ll learn to adapt, even if some days ‘adapting’ means getting out the door and calling it a win.

And if you’re in this phase too, you’re not alone. We’re figuring it out as we go. There’s a lot of misinformation out there but also some really good, well researched information which we’ll share on our coaching page @runtogethercoaching