Abstract:
Purpose of this study was to examine how the menstrual cycle affects rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and running economy during treadmill running, specifically exploring whether a female runner’s point in the menstrual cycle might cause them to judge their perceived effort to be higher or lower. Hypotheses included that female athletes would have a higher RPE than male athletes during an equivalent intensity exercise; that the greatest discrepancies between men and women runners would occur when the women were in the pre-menstrual phase of their cycle; that female runners would be the least economical during the pre-menstrual phase. Results of testing 10 well-trained distance runners indicated that only the 80% of VO2max variable differed significantly with runners’ gender; the author suggests that perhaps a larger sample size would yield more conclusive results in relating the other variables.
