Update on the 'problem' that derailed Mary Keitany in NY

Shoebacca wrote:

If her high level of training made her miss out on a period the last couple of months only to get it when she tapered before the race, well, I have some sympathy for her. It may be a sign that she's well rested and perhaps this makes it somewhat common (besides normal cycle) for women to get it right before big races. I would be curious to have a study done in relation to period suppression in elite endurance athletes and if tapering has higher than normal odds of bringing one on.

I can't remember if it was a Letsrun poster or a professional female athlete but I remember reading that tapering does indeed bring on periods in women whose bodies haven't had one for months.

WTFBBQ wrote:

Shoebacca wrote:

If her high level of training made her miss out on a period the last couple of months only to get it when she tapered before the race, well, I have some sympathy for her. It may be a sign that she's well rested and perhaps this makes it somewhat common (besides normal cycle) for women to get it right before big races. I would be curious to have a study done in relation to period suppression in elite endurance athletes and if tapering has higher than normal odds of bringing one on.

I can't remember if it was a Letsrun poster or a professional female athlete but I remember reading that tapering does indeed bring on periods in women whose bodies haven't had one for months.

It was me mentioning that Ingrid Kristiansen had the same thing happen to her.

Progressive Flo wrote:

Apparently Mary is no Uta Pippig

Apparently Uta's problem was actually purely digestive. Not that it really matters.

IT's reasonable that she had some sort of illness, it's not normal for a 2h17' woman, running in 2h28'.

There was a bit of open discussion on this in the UK a couple of years ago

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/30927245

I don't believe that period excuse.

Seriously, we all know what was really happening. She had to hold back to prevent her uterus from falling out.

Sure, it made for a rough day for her, but some guy, somewhere, just had an awesome Sunday morning Maury Povich moment.

YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER!!!

It's different for every woman of course, but I'm always grateful if I get my period the morning of the race or the day before because it means I feel lighter and less bloated than I did in the days leading up to it. The days leading up to it are when you feel the most sluggish, and then the day it happens is like your body is taking one big exhale of relief.

Of course, for Mary Keitany, I'd imagine that the pure shock of waking up on race morning with a period you haven't gotten in three years would be enough to mentally shake you, regardless of the physical effects.

FYI, for those who think that Demadonna's comments were "classless," he reached out to me today after seeing this thread. This was what he wrote:

And that's how it played out. In the press conference, Keitany said she had a problem on Saturday at 3 p.m. She never said what the problem is, so I emailed Demadonna for clarification. He explained what the problem is and said that it caused her to feel bad during the race. He didn't say "she would have won if she didn't get her period." He was asked a question and answered it.

I will also say: 1. It probably got in her head. 2. You're just naturally more injury-prone when you're on your period, and the NYCM course isn't easy on your body..

Anyone else think that Mary looked completely out of her mind bored and irritated during Shalane's speech? Did she not realize she was on camera? I expected her to get out a nail file and cell phone start texting.

Maybe we can take this all as a teaching point for young female runners that it is healthy to be in a condition in which you get your period regularly. If that was Mary's first time in 3 months, then her body has got serious hormonal issues, much higher risk of stress fractures and osteoporosis, and this list goes on. These things affect you way beyond your running life.

Everyone feels different on day 1 - some have great performance, some don't feel good - but I also read this as a bit of an "excuse". I'm sure Shalane didn't feel fresh as a daisy at mile 23 either, period or not, but she gave it what it took when it mattered most.

The bonus is that when you get your period on a normal human's schedule - not the way Mary apparently does - you learn to deal with it, run with it, do workouts with it, etc because you spend a solid portion of your adult life in that condition. Being more used to it/more accustomed to running hard with it would decrease the mental stigma, which certainly would affect Mary's race or anyone's race.

Did you ask him why she cut over to the left side of Fifth Avenue? That has been bugging the crap out of me.

angryjohnny wrote:

Did you ask him why she cut over to the left side of Fifth Avenue? That has been bugging the crap out of me.

To hide the blood running down her left leg?

rational guy wrote:

angryjohnny wrote:

Did you ask him why she cut over to the left side of Fifth Avenue? That has been bugging the crap out of me.

To hide the blood running down her left leg?

my friends and i thought she did that to sneak attack and pass Shalane. I guess she just wanted to run extra far.

“She was not even by far the real Mary Keitany.”

That is the specific quote I’m talking about. It suggests if the “real” Mary Keitany was there then Shalane would never have won.

One of the runners I coach recently had her period for the first time in just over 4 months. The scenario was extremely similar, but not with world class runners like in Mary’s instance. She was absolutely drained and her performance came up about 4-5% off of where we expected it to. So I get it. Tell people what happened, that’s fine, but out of respect to the winner you ought to say something more like, “We do think Mary would have been closer to the win had she not started her period the day before the race, but Shalane was possessed and nobody was going to take her down that day, including Mary.”

Don’t tell me an agent doesn’t know how to BS a little.

This. This. This.

Pro runner or not, your body is out of whack if you haven't had a period in 3 months. I'd look into that being the "problem," not the period itself.

To be sure, I’m clearly in the minority seeing it the way I did, but i appreciate her agent contacting Letsrun to clear things up that nothing unsportsmanlike was meant from saying that.

If her agent is reading this, sorry to have wasted your time. It appears I’m the only one who took this out of context.

Not having a period for 3 months for an elite female marathoner hardly suggest their body is out of whack. In fact, with the sort of buildup one would expect in this situation combined with being lean enough to vie for a win, her body would be more out of whack if she was having her period in the buildup to this past weekend. Sounds like she just tapered a little too much and was unlucky.