Daughter Struggling in XC iron issues

Can we not waste our time with lane spam-like or smart-ass posts please?

Just one thing I noticed, her easy pace seems a bit quick. all the best though.

Justamom wrote:

Can we not waste our time with lane spam-like or smart-ass posts please?

I think you misunderstood - I was talking about pics of you, not her. Simmer down mom!

I was wondering the same... I'm thinking she may not be getting adequate recovery time between workouts, and now with racing added to the mix, it might serve her well to slow the easy pace?

Additional info: she is gluten-free (non-Celiac, just sensitive to gluten), and she DOES eat meat (beef, chicken, seafood).

And that would help this topic how lol

Honestly it took me 2-3 months to start feeling better. Her numbers are still a bit on the lower side, although better. Is she still supplementing? During that time of me trying to get my numbers up, I was not allowed to run the full mileage and intensity of workouts because I was already in a deficit and didn't want make it harder tying to come back.

She might want to consider taking liquid ferrous sulfrate which seems to get the iron levels up and stabilized much quicker. Best of luck!

Justamom wrote:

And that would help this topic how lol

"hey, how about a little something, you know... for the effort, you know?"

No, iron is not the issue, a ferritin around 50 is totally fine. Under 20 you might notice it, 10-15 is pretty bad.

Lots of girls hit a major slowdown around that time. I would question whether she is actually "gluten sensitive" (lots of people say they are as a fad) as she might be doing these runs in a glycogen depleted state.

HardLoper wrote:

I would question whether she is actually "gluten sensitive" (lots of people say they are as a fad) as she might be doing these runs in a glycogen depleted state.

Same. It could be a red flag any time someone restricts something from their diet. This is just coming from personal experience (my own and teammates'). Make sure she's getting enough calories and nutrients.

I also agree that she's running her easy days too fast. Again, coming from experience as my times were about the same as hers and I ran too hard on my easy runs trying to hit 7:30s or faster no matter how I felt. At that age, you can handle it for a while, but eventually you can dig yourself into a hole energy-wise, or worse, get injured.

All depends on the person... I knew a guy who had struggled with it for about 8 months (hard to say where exactly the effects started). He took a full 6 months with all the supplements to get back to better than ever. (15 sec PR in the mile, 30+ secs in the two mile).

Another guy never really recovered but I think that was more to do with his mental outlook. He quit running after high school.

I find that kids that can get through it will be more mentally tough.

Good luck to your daughter.

HardLoper wrote:

No, iron is not the issue, a ferritin around 50 is totally fine. Under 20 you might notice it, 10-15 is pretty bad.

Lots of girls hit a major slowdown around that time. I would question whether she is actually "gluten sensitive" (lots of people say they are as a fad) as she might be doing these runs in a glycogen depleted state.

Hi HardLoper!

Justamom wrote:

Can we not waste our time with lane spam-like or smart-ass posts please?

Gulan Rapp wrote:

Just one thing I noticed, her easy pace seems a bit quick. all the best though.

Levins was running 8 to 10 minute miles on his easy days, as a low 13 / 27 runner for the 5 and 10k. There is no reason for her to run any faster than 9 to 11 minute miles on easy days. Personally I feel she needs to get faster for the mile, run easier for her distance so she can recover and handle it more easily, and not wear herself out so much with the repetitions in the middle.

Another thing is that she's not going to run well with a diet of just meat. She

needs to have carbohydrates to run well, for example lots of fruit, and vegetables.

How much time did she take off running? She sounds mentally drained.

Ok a little more info. When she eats gluten, she feels bloated and has GI issues, so the GI doc suggested she go gluten free. She reluctantly did it so she won't feel sick anymore.

As for her eating, I mentioned that she eats meat because I know a lot of teenage athletes avoid meat while running... she doesn't. She has meat several times a week. Otherwise, her diet consists of eggs, fruits, veggies, GF pasta, GF bread, peanut butter, black beans, rice, potatoes, etc. She eats more than a lot of her teammates... Thyroid was checked and is normal too, according to her hematologist.

As for her ferritin, it WAS at 15 one month ago, it JUST got to 49.8 a week or so ago. I'll look into the liquid ferrous sulfate as well. Yes, she is still supplementing.

I want her to have a chat with her coach. I'm wondering if she should run by herself instead for a week or two so she can run her easy runs by her own feel and not necessarily keep up with her top teammates. Workouts she can give more effort but not full-out?

She took a break from workouts for two weeks and took 10 days completely off just two weeks ago.

It's frustrating seeing her want this so bad but something is holding her back.

Have you considered "vitamin injections"?

Such as? Are you talking iron infusions?

I agree with the other posters that those easy runs seem quick. My kids of her caliber rarely run under 8:00 pace for easy runs. I would shy away from interval style workouts and long runs for her for a few more weeks until she can maintain those iron levels. Stick to easy runs and light tempo work for a little while. She also needs to be training are her current level of fitness, not her PR level of fitness. If she can only run a 22:15 min 5k runner right now, her easy runs and workouts should be with other girls of that caliber, probably closer to 9:15 pace on easy days.

Gluten free also raises a red flag for me. I've seen that as a way to mask eating issues in other runners because it gives them that ability to strictly control food. For most kids that have GI issues, altering just the meal before they run tends to take care of the issues without requiring a total diet overhaul.