I am 49 and just entering menopause and have noticed that my muscle mass is depleting( and unfortunately slowly being replace by fat cells). I swim about 15000 ( 3000 5 days per week) meters a week and lift weights 2-3 days per week. My last meet was horrible and wonder if my poor performance is linked to this loss of muscle. I am not taking hormone replacement therapy because I don't have the other nasty symptoms of night sweats and hot flashes. My only other complaint is not sleeping well. (awake at 2 a.m. and have trouble returning to sleep).
My question to you women who have already come out the other side is really this- menopause is here to stay, no way around that. But does that mean I have to swim so poorly?? Obviously there are still 45-55 year old women who are still quite fast. Would horomone replacement therapy help me there? When lifting weights, should I do more weight and less repetition? Should I cut my yardage some so that I have more rest?
I know there was an article on this in Swim magazine, but it didn't address these specific questions. Thanks for any input.
Great thread- thanks! I appreciate the opportunity to hear what you are all going through, so I know what to expect. (By the way, I'm 48 and couldn't fall back to sleep after waking up at 5:15am, so I fired up the computer to read the forums... :D )
So, my question: I had an endometrial ablation, in 2004, due to non-stop bleeding. How will I know when I have entered menopause? My doctor told me, "You'll KNOW!" But, some experience symptoms worse than others. Is there anybody out there in the same boat who can answer this question for me? Thanks!
Your physician can tell from a blood test I believe.
As far as symptoms I can tell you a hot flash is very unique. It is very much unlike "just being hot." For me it seems to start on the inside and radiate to the outside. Sometimes I feel like my skin surface is cold but I'm burning up inside! When I'm having these flashes they seem to come in waves (like labor pains) on a regular interval. I might have this problem a week or so then it just goes away for awhile. The main problem with these is that they wake you up at night.
As far as emotional symptoms I'd say menopause makes me a little bi-polar. I am usually a happy person but I've noticed lately small, unintentional things people do really hurt my feelings and can almost ruin my day and make me somewhat depressed. I try to be cognizant of the way I am and just keep on going. I was having a day like that yesterday; it was hard to do but I just kept telling my psyche there was really no problem and my feelings are hormonal (or lack there of) induced whining or self pity. Today I'm back to my normal self! I am sure HRT would help these problems but so far I think I'm doing okay just working with myself. I'm 54.
:cane:
Thanks for letting me know. I never had kids- or the hormonal experiences or symptoms that seem to go along with it. This will all be new to me!
Good luck to you, Bobinator! :bighug:
Not an elite swimmer, went through menopause early (46) with very few symptoms (hmm, why am I suddenly hot? Noooooo!). For me it was more emotional than physical. I wanted to have a baby and didn't.
I got through it, over it, am fine with it now. Muscle mass, I don't think I lost much, just the quality of the fat on top of my muscle is a little jiggly. I try to accept that and am verrrrry glad I am a woman and can wear a one-piece suit. Jammers and bra top would be very devastating for me and I probably wouldn't want to be seen in public.
My best times were 2006, just a few years after I stopped having periods. Then I did slow down significantly, which was very discouraging, but then I said "Screw it" and continued to race and swim for fun, messing with a teammate by discovering that swimming the first half of the 1000 very slowly and then the second half with a real race feel to it really pissed her off because my split for the second half was 20 seconds faster than for the first half. My time was still about 30 seconds slower than my best times, but it hurt much less to swim this way and I achieved the same slow time, so why put myself through that pain? Plus it was so much fun to mess with her! I did it for a lot of races and she would just shake her head at me at the end.
All this helped. Now I am getting closer to my 2006 times. If my shoulder would be kinder to me I think I would surpass them.
Sleep, always a problem for me, is absolutely critical. I try the bootcamp approach to sleep, which is: get out of bed until you are sleepy, go to bed, if not asleep in 15 minutes or so, get out again, go to another room and try to be sleepy, etc., often only getting 4 to 5 hours of sleep, but then not taking naps and hoping for a better night the next.
As I recall, the research that a poster did on this forum, and that was written up in Swimmer magazine, showed that initially women slow down, but then after a certain time has passed, they once again speed up.
Of course, eventually we all will slow down. But I hope to keep improving well into my 60s, as one swimmer here showed me the improvements in times for a swimmer between her 50s and 60s. She got much faster.
OK.
In short, I think I still have good muscle mass. In sadness, I have jiggly fat which I try not to think about that covers my awesome strength. What I love about swimming, either hard swimming or moderate, is that I forget about appearance entirely and feel quite powerful.
Whatever you do, DO NOT READ Germaine Greer's "The Change"! Although it is so awful it is funny. Look instead to people like Madeleine Albright, who I believe was a college swimmer, and see how amazing she is, how much she continues to contribute to the world.
Also, do not spend much time looking at your profile in the mirror.
I went through a long period of spending too much time obsessing over my loose neckline. It's there. I don't need to look at it.
It took maybe 8 years to come to terms with not being a flower of youth anymore, physically. Now I just try not to think about it. Though I do struggle with how to dress. I don't want to be a MAL (middle-aged lady). So a friend and I have a saying about certain outfits: very MAL. Or of certain cool outfits: very not MAL.
Isobel, of the long posts
Thankfully we still have the Short John available to us.
I have to admit to having the sleeping issues sometimes but I think it is more from being on edge when I am on call for work (1/2 the year). Hopefully I will be like my mom, nothing significant as far as symptoms.
I do know that my muscles don't repair as quickly any more, but that never stops me.
Former Member
Jammers and bra top would be very devastating for me and I probably wouldn't want to be seen in public.
Jammers are the best for covering up cellulite, and for us bashful insecure boys and girls.:blush:
