Menstrual cycle phases affect recovery more than performance in trained cyclists

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of menstrual cycle (MC) phases on psychophysiological responses and recovery following high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in trained female cyclists. Ten eumenorrheic cyclists visited the laboratory 5 times. The first visit took place during the early folicular phase, when participants were bleeding, they completed an incremental test and familiarized with HIIT. The remaining four visits were divided into two sets of consecutive-day sessions, late folicular phase (LFP), between the period of menstrual pause and before ovulation, or late luteal phase (LLP) one week after ovulation. On HIIT sessions, participants answered total quality of recovery (TQR) and Well-being, performed a 3-min test pre- and post-HIIT. The perception of exertion effort (RPE) was related during the HIIT too. On time trial test (TT) sessions, participants answered TQR and Well-being and performed a 20-km TT. Absolute power output during HIIT was similar between MC phases; however, when normalized by the critical power (CP), relative to critical power (%CP) was higher in LFP (p < 0.05). Mean heart rate (HR) and %HR did not differ. There was no between phase and within-session difference in CP. Time to complete the TT was shorter during LFP. There was a large effect size in TQR in HIIT-LFP compared to HIIT-LLP (1.00) and in TT-LFP compared to TT-LLP (0.89). TQR was higher in LFP compared to LLP (p < 0.05) during the HIIT and TT. In conclusion, this study provides evidence that the MC phase has minimal diferences in performance (%CP), no difference in short-term recovery but has impaired performance in 24-h recovery in LLP.