IN CONVERSATION WITH ELS VISSER
On periods, performance & listening to your body

1. For those who don't know you yet – tell us a little about yourself and what you do.

I'm Els Visser, a medical doctor and former professional triathlete from the Netherlands. I spent almost ten years racing professionally around the world, mainly in long-distance triathlon, winning multiple Ironman titles and becoming European Champion. At the end of last year, I decided to step away from professional sport and return to medicine. After a PhD in Surgery, today my focus is much more on health, prevention and longevity: helping people not only perform well, but stay healthy and strong for as long as possible. Sport is still a very important part of my life, but my relationship with it has changed. I no longer train to win races. I train because I love moving, because it gives me energy and because I want to feel fit and strong.

2. You've built a life around pushing your body to perform. Has your relationship with your body changed along the way?

Definitely. As a professional athlete, I was constantly asking my body to perform. There was always a training session to complete, a number to hit or a race to prepare for. You become incredibly good at pushing through discomfort. Now, I'm learning something different: to actually listen to my body without always having to override what I feel. I still want to feel fit, healthy and strong in my body, but I've realised that I don't need professional sport or extreme training to feel that way. You can build a strong and healthy body in a much more balanced and sustainable way. I usually train about an hour a day now, but there is no strict schedule anymore. I decide much more based on how my body feels and what I feel like doing that day. Sometimes that means running, sometimes strength training, tennis or something completely different. It has made exercise feel very intuitive again, and I'm learning that feeling strong doesn't have to come from constantly pushing my limits.

3. What does feeling strong mean to you today?

For a long time, strength was very closely connected to performance: how fast I could swim, bike or run and how much discomfort I could tolerate. Today, strength has a much broader meaning. It is feeling healthy, energetic and comfortable in my body. Being able to do the things I enjoy and having the physical capacity to live the life I want to live. It's also about investing in my future self. I want to keep my body fit and strong now, so that I can hopefully still be active, independent and physically capable when I'm much older. I still love feeling physically strong, but I don't need a finish line or a result anymore to prove that I am.

4. Is there something your body has taught you that no coach or training plan ever could?

That there are often far fewer physical limits than we think. So many times in my career, my mind told me to slow down or stop long before my body had actually reached its limit. By pushing through that barrier a few times, in training, racing and some extreme situations outside of sport, I learned how much my body is actually capable of. Once you've experienced that, it changes your perception of what is possible. At the same time, I've learned that there is a difference between your mind telling you something is hard and your body telling you something is wrong. Knowing when to push and when to listen is probably one of the most valuable things my body has taught me.

5. How does your menstrual cycle show up in your training and performance?

This is actually quite new for me. Until the end of last year, I had an IUD and didn't really have a menstrual cycle that I could notice in everyday life. Since having it removed, my cycle has returned and I have become much more aware of how my body changes throughout the month. What has surprised me is that my own experience doesn't necessarily match some of the general assumptions you hear about the menstrual cycle and performance. I notice, for example, that I often feel less strong around ovulation, while around my period I can actually feel physically stronger. I find that fascinating. It has become a way of getting to know my body in a completely new way.

6. Do you adapt your training to your cycle – or do you think the idea of "cycle syncing" is sometimes oversimplified?

I think cycle syncing can definitely be oversimplified. There is so much individual variation between women and even between cycles in the same woman, that I don't think we should turn the menstrual cycle into another rigid training schedule. I personally don't plan my training according to a certain phase of my cycle. Instead, I use my cycle as another piece of information. If I feel strong, I might train harder. If I feel tired or notice that my body needs something different, I adjust. For me, the interesting part is not following a perfect cycle-based plan, but becoming more aware of my own patterns.

7. You're both a professional athlete and a doctor. Is there something about female performance or the female body that you think we still get wrong?

I think for a long time we treated the male body as the default in both medicine and sport. Female athletes were often expected to train in the same way, while things like the menstrual cycle, hormonal contraception and different hormonal life stages received relatively little attention. At the same time, I think we now have to be careful not to move too far in the other direction and explain everything through hormones. Women are not all the same. The most important thing is to understand the individual woman in front of you: her symptoms, her cycle, her training, her recovery and her life.

8. Has your relationship with your period changed over the years – especially as an athlete?

Very much. For years, my period simply wasn't something I thought about very often because I had an IUD and didn't menstruate. Now that my natural cycle has returned, I actually really appreciate having it. I notice changes in energy, strength and how I feel throughout the month. Rather than seeing my period as an inconvenience, I increasingly see my cycle as information about my body. And I enjoy learning what is normal for me.

9. What do you wish you had known about your period when you were younger?

As a doctor, I knew how the menstrual cycle works, but for many years I had an IUD and didn't have periods. So although I understood the physiology, I wasn't really experiencing or paying attention to my own natural cycle. Looking back, I wish I had been more curious about what my cycle could tell me about my own body. Now that I have my natural cycle back, I find it fascinating to notice how I feel at different points throughout the month and to recognise my own patterns. I think there is a big difference between understanding something medically and actually learning how it shows up in your own body.

10. What's one thing about periods you think we should talk about more?

Individual differences. There are so many statements about how women "should" feel during certain phases of their cycle. But my own experience has already shown me that it doesn't always work like that. I think the conversation should be less about telling women how they are supposed to feel and more about helping them recognise their own patterns.

11. You use the Rayne disc yourself. What difference has it made for you – in training, racing or simply in everyday life on your period?

What I really like is that it feels very hygienic and I simply don't have to think about my period throughout the day. I can wear it for hours, it empties itself when I go to the bathroom, and I don't feel it at all. Especially when I'm training or having a busy day, I don't have to worry about changing period products or leakage. I can just move, work and get on with my day. Most of the time, I actually forget I'm on my period. I also really like that it's reusable. I simply clean it in the shower and put it straight back in, and I can keep using the same disc month after month without constantly having to buy or carry new period products. It's simple, practical and has made my period something I barely have to think about.

12. What has your body taught you lately?

How valuable it is to really understand and listen to your own body. Having my natural cycle back has been a beautiful part of that. I'm learning how I feel throughout the different phases of my cycle, what changes, and what is actually happening in my body. We have so much technology available to measure everything: heart rate, sleep, recovery, stress, but our bodies are constantly giving us signals too. I think the real skill is learning to recognise those signals, understand what they mean for you, and respond to them. Sometimes the most valuable information doesn't come from a device. It comes from simply knowing how your own body feels.

A few quick ones to finish:

13. Your current comfort:
An early workout, followed by good coffee and breakfast before starting my day.

14. A ritual you never skip:
Moving my body every day, whatever that looks like.

15. Your period essential:
My Rayne disc.

16. Something you're looking forward to right now:
Building this new chapter of my life: combining medicine, health and sport in a completely different way.

More from Els: https://www.elsvisser.com/