Women 40+ in Endurance: Shifts in Training and Nutrition
Thelma Navas explains on Café com Tri the key adaptations needed to sustain performance and health during perimenopause and menopause.
Learn how hormonal shifts in perimenopause and menopause impact female endurance athletes. Coach and sports nutritionist Thelma Navas explains why heavy lifting, polarized training, and adequate carbohydrate fueling are vital after 40.
Historically, the vast majority of athletic training guidelines were developed based on male physiology. However, the surge of female participation over age 40 in long-distance events like Ironman triathlons and marathons demands a fundamental rethink of these practices. On Café com Tri, hosted by Beto Nitrini and Wagner Spadotto, coach and sports nutritionist Thelma Navas broke down the nuances of female aging and how perimenopause and menopause require tailored strategies across both training plans and nutrition.
Physiology in transition: the impacts of perimenopause
Perimenopause, the transitional phase that can last from five to ten years before menstruation stops, is characterized by sharp fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone levels. According to Thelma, the initial decline in progesterone directly impacts neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, triggering sudden drops in motivation and disrupting sleep patterns. This lack of drive, far from being a mindset issue or lack of discipline, is rooted entirely in physiology.
Beyond mood shifts and impaired thermoregulation, this hormonal environment drives up sympathetic nervous system activity and baseline cortisol levels, slowing muscle recovery and making heart rate more erratic. There is also a marked decrease in muscular glucose uptake and metabolic flexibility, necessitating direct adjustments to training loads.
Tailoring the training plan: mechanical stimulus and heavy lifting
For women past 40, relying solely on continuous, low-intensity workouts (zones 1 and 2) is no longer optimal. With aging comes a progressive decline in the recruitment of type 2 (fast-twitch) muscle fibers and glycolytic function. The physiological stimulus that was once heavily driven by hormones must now be triggered through mechanical tension.
Thelma recommends incorporating polarized training, pairing true active-recovery sessions with short, high-intensity intervals in zones 4 and 5, while honoring rest intervals that prevent cortisol spikes. Heavy strength training is no longer merely supplementary—it becomes essential. It should be performed two to four times weekly with substantial loads to preserve lean muscle mass, joint integrity, and bone mineral density, moving away from the outdated model of light weights with high repetitions.
Nutrition without myths: fasting risks and the power of fueling
When it comes to sports nutrition for master female athletes, restrictive habits like fasted training are strongly discouraged. With diminished muscle glycogen storage and increased insulin resistance, working out in a fasted state spikes cortisol to highly catabolic levels, breaking down muscle tissue and worsening cognitive symptoms such as brain fog.
The guidance is to prioritize carbohydrate availability before, during, and after workouts, alongside evenly distributed protein intake across all daily meals. Evidence-based supplements also play a protective role: creatine supports cellular energy metabolism and cognitive health, omega-3 and curcumin help manage systemic inflammation, and dietary nitrates offer valuable support for vasodilation in this demographic.
Redefining the performance benchmark
Setting absolute personal records established decades earlier may no longer be realistic due to natural decreases in power and metabolic flexibility, but Thelma emphasizes that relative peak performance is entirely achievable. The mindset must shift away from retrospective comparisons toward maximizing potential within one’s current biological stage.
In endurance events, tactical pacing, effort management, mental resilience, and precision fueling tip the scales in favor of experienced athletes. Close collaboration among athlete, coach, and medical professionals is essential to sustaining longevity, health, and consistency in the sport.