Help, my top HS girl has anemia, 2 weeks to State

Season over for her. Nothing is going to happen in 2 weeks so she mind as well start resting up for next season/college/whatever.

Need some help wrote:

Just rest and let body make blood? Stop season? Although doc said ok to continue but stop any expectations.

Her health > your schedule. It's 100% up to her, not you.

Did the doctor rule out any other explanations for the drop in crit?

Seriously mate? wrote:

Season over for her. Nothing is going to happen in 2 weeks so she mind as well start resting up for next season/college/whatever.

Pretty much this. Stop all hard training or you're just going to be delaying her ability to return for XC season, and a worthwhile XC season is only in play if she stops training now and goes right on iron supplementation. Her blood numbers are in the tank, and its nearly impossible to improve them while training.

You need to be the adult in the room and make the right decision for her long-term health and development, not look for some loophole to sneak out a few meaningless points in some meet that she still has no chance of PR'ing in.

Shots of liquid iron with orange juice

thetruefactmaniac wrote:

Shots of liquid iron with orange juice

Yeah if you want to get iron levels up this is one of the best ways. But it still is pretty much not going to happen in two weeks.

IV iron will bump it up pretty fast. That's what I had done when my ferretin dropped to 7 and after the infusions it went to over 100. Mine were not the 2-3 hour infusions either. I went like 4 times over the course of 1-2 weeks and it only took 10-15 min. They are more expensive, but it gets results quickly.

Why would you have her do a triple that hard, early season? No wonder she has low iron, you pounded her with those triples. Every race and workout, until her #s go up will bring the numbers back down. Ferritan needs to get back to 50s before she starts training again.

It's time for you to weigh short term vs. long term for her.

Most of the time when we've been in this situation, we've ended the athlete's season. We almost always take long term health over short term results. The only time we go the short term route is if it's a situation where we have a doctor's clearance and the athlete does not have a great long term option (ex: senior with no post-hs running plans).

If you do decide to have her race, I would have her stop all workouts. Start her on iron immediately, cut out workouts, and do the absolutely minimum mileage for her to feel prepared for state.

Her health long term should be the main concern.

Why are you tripling her? If she's already struggling, making her push herself to the brink in three different races certainly won't help.

Let her run just the 800 if anything (since she reported she feels best in that event).

Does she have any long-term goals for running? Is she going to run collegiately or in HS XC in the fall?

Honestly unless this will be her last season of competitive running, just put the brakes on her season and get her healthy.

Being a male anemic runner last year I fully understand what low levels of ferritin do to performance. It's miserable. Even after you start taking in iron it still takes AT LEAST a couple weeks to even begin to start feeling stronger. It's a long process, a marathon not a sprint you can power through in a couple of days.

Get her healthy and like someone else said be the adult in the room. Do what is best for her long term. Maybe and I emphasize MAYBE if this is her lost shot running competitively you consult the doctor and try going for it, but like you said stop any expectations. I know personally what she is going through.

macdaddy wrote:

Why are you tripling her? If she's already struggling, making her push herself to the brink in three different races certainly won't help.

Let her run just the 800 if anything (since she reported she feels best in that event).

Per other posts, be the adult in the room and watch out for the runner's health.

If she is motivated to run knowing her times will not be good, then by all means, run ONE.

She can have the social experience of being there with the team, maybe help the team with all the little logistical things. Change up the role on the team might be good. It certainly will help develop better emotional/social skills one uses in real life.

You're tripling the girl at meets and you want to work her out Tue-Thur and race Saturday? And her Ferritin is a 5?

The problem here is you. You've ruined this girl's season. You need to take a long look in the mirror.

Tripling her is ridiculous unless she's completely healthy AND needed in one or two key meets. With a ferritin of 5, she's completely depleted. I'd rest her yesterday and find out why she's so low. My daughter is gluten intolerant and it caused her ferritin to completely deplete like that. Ferritin was 10, but she wasn't tripling at meets. We got her to a hematologist who ran tests and then gave her four infusions over a month. Then we supplemented orally to maintain her numbers, and she's been fine since.

Trying to train and raise iron levels is like putting someone in deep water with heavy chains tied to their feet. It will take so long that she'll either get injured, burn out, or get so depressed that she will stop running altogether. Let her rest and get her iron back up. With a ferritin of 5, it's going to be very hard with oral supplements alone, especially if you don't know the cause to begin with.

TL;DR. Stop her training and help educate her and her parents about low ferritin. Get her to a hematologist and let her rest now.

If you want quickest results go for IV Iron. Only option that works with your timing.

Make sure your runner gets (and takes!) a good supplement for long-term maintenance, along with adding iron-rich foods.

Best of luck.

I will concur that IV iron is the best option for quick results. My daughter went from ferritin of 10 to 229, and HGB of 11 to 14.6. Make sure she's still getting other nutrients as well. Often we get so focused on increasing iron that calcium and vitamin D get ignored and then we have a stress fracture instead. Please do what's best for your athlete for the long haul. The IV iron will give her a great boost, but as Iron Man said, she's gonna have to comply with oral iron for maintenance.

Redondo Union, Redondo Union! Why must you add to your misery?

She is done. She needs to take some time off and get healthy. You ran her into the ground buddy. Well done.

Some advice wrote:

Seriously mate? wrote:

Season over for her. Nothing is going to happen in 2 weeks so she mind as well start resting up for next season/college/whatever.

Pretty much this. Stop all hard training or you're just going to be delaying her ability to return for XC season, and a worthwhile XC season is only in play if she stops training now and goes right on iron supplementation. Her blood numbers are in the tank, and its nearly impossible to improve them while training.

You need to be the adult in the room and make the right decision for her long-term health and development, not look for some loophole to sneak out a few meaningless points in some meet that she still has no chance of PR'ing in.

+1