Rachel Forsyth: article on her ED & recovery

Scene: LetsRun Message board. One thread is occupied by a group of LetsRun Trolls with horned helmets on. Rojo and an anorexic female runner enter.

Rojo: You sit here, dear.

anorexic female runner: All right.

Rojo:(to LetsRun Posters) Morning!

LetsRun Posters: Morning!

Rojo: Well, what've you got?

LetsRun Posters: Well, there's doping and EPO; doping East Africans and EPO; doping and trans; doping EPO and trans; doping EPO East Africans and trans; trans EPO East Africans and trans; trans doping trans trans EPO and trans; trans East Africans trans trans EPO trans Nike and trans;

LetsRun Trolls:(starting to chant) trans trans trans trans...

LetsRun Posters: ...trans trans trans doping and trans; trans trans trans trans trans trans super shoes trans trans trans...

LetsRun Trolls:(singing) trans! Lovely trans! Lovely trans!

LetsRun Posters: ...or hobby jogger running times with a thread about dating and relationships with politics and crossfit discussed with title IX, jamin and Nike project doping on top and trans.

anorexic female runner: Have you got anything without trans?

LetsRun Posters: Well, there's trans doping East Africans and trans, that's not got much trans in it.

anorexic female runner: I don't want ANY trans!

Rojo: Why can't she have doping EPO trans and Nike?

anorexic female runner: THAT'S got trans in it!

Rojo: Hasn't got as much trans in it as trans doping East Africans and trans, has it?

LetsRun Trolls: trans trans trans trans (crescendo through next few lines)

anorexic female runner: Could you do the doping EPO trans and East Africans without the trans then?

LetsRun Posters: Urgghh!

anorexic female runner: What do you mean 'Urgghh'? I don't like trans!

LetsRun Trolls: Lovely trans! Wonderful trans!

LetsRun Posters: Shut up!

LetsRun Trolls: Lovely trans! Wonderful trans!

LetsRun Posters: Shut up! (LetsRun Trolls stop) Bloody LetsRun Trolls! You can't have doping EPO trans and East Africans without the trans.

anorexic female runner:(shrieks) I don't like trans!

Rojo: Sshh, dear, don't cause a fuss. I'll have your trans. I love it. I'm having trans trans trans trans trans trans trans super shoes trans trans trans and trans!

LetsRun Trolls:(singing) trans trans trans trans. Lovely trans! Wonderful trans!

LetsRun Posters: Shut up!! super shoes are off.

Rojo: Well could I have her trans instead of the super shoes then?

LetsRun Posters: You mean trans trans trans trans trans trans... (but it is too late and the LetsRun Trolls drown her words)

LetsRun Trolls:(singing elaborately) trans, trans, trans, trans. Lovely trans! Wonderful traaans! Lovely trans! Wonderful trans. Tra-a-a-a-a-a-a-ans! Tra-a-a-a-a-a-a-ans! Tra-a-a-a-a-a-a-ans! Tra-a-a-a-a-a-a-ans! Lovely trans! (Lovely trans!) Lovely trans! (Lovely trans!) Lovely traaans! trans, trans, trans, traaaaans!

Part of the problem, and I say this as a girls h.s. coach, is that we're given very little (or no) formal training in recognizing eating disorders and how to address them. I'm lucky in that my school has a health center so I can give them a head's up, but I've never had to take a class in how to recognize/address this issue. And there is such a stigma regarding this disease, which makes open communication more difficult.

ED is already taken. This really needs another acronym.

Yes, this needs another acronym.

Also, you can’t pin any of this on HS coaches. If any idiot Coach comments on any female’s weight or appearance, there will be a complete sh*tshow meltdown following closely behind.

I remember last fall when somebody at a press conference asked Valby about her training because she looked more muscular, and Tuohy scoffed, as if the comment was horrible. I mention this because the comment was innocuous to my ear. Somehow we're supposed to pretend that running is a disembodied experience; we're all just a brain in a jar. You also see this with eating disorder recovery. A runner may say, "My weight has nothing to do with how fast I run." Now, that is probably a great mantra for somebody with an eating disorder, but it's simply not true. There has to be a public conversation about body weight and distance running, but it has to be an accurate one that doesn't normalize pathological behavior.

My guess is that it's something like this: lighter runners have an advantage, but it is only one of several physiological advantages a runner could have...AND, individual runners cannot force their bodies to conform to a particular racing weight without risking short-term and longterm injuries and disease.

I don't know what the answer is in terms of coaching. In general, it probably makes most sense to focus on training and advising athletes on healthy nutrition rather than focusing on physical appearance, but I've definitely seen girls who would likely be a lot faster if they lost 5-10lbs. I'm not a coach, but I probably would not have a conversation with any high school girl about body weight.

We're in a tricky social environment because eating disorders are more common in distance runners, there is mass infantalization of teens & young adults and those groups have internalized a sense of vulnerability (this actually makes them more vulnerable), and the larger social environment is obesogenic. It would be difficult to put down more tripwires.

I'll say one last thing: there is a niche culture of romanticizing psychological distress among teenagers and young women. Molly Seidel mentioned Sylvia Plath in her RW interview, and this really stood out to me. A waif-thin beauty battling inner demons and suffering despite her unique gifts and success; this tragic fantasy is intoxicating to a certain type of motivated girl. Notice the headline fo the Detroit Free Press article: How Ann Arbor Pioneer's Rachel Forsyth is Conquering Her Greatest Foe. I'm sure Rachel is suffering and knows how bad things can get, but I don't think it's possible to write a headline that is more romantic and glamorous.

This is 100% true. The only dietary advice I feel comfortable giving my high school athletes is "eat more vegetables." I feel like this is universal advice for all people everywhere and can't get me in trouble, but I will probably be proven wrong.

As a female runner, we'd much rather have 'trans' in the form of discussions on message boards than in the form of males in our sports and changing rooms.

What? If...people still have reading comprehension skills, they will see these stories always point out that the athlete got better when fueling appropriately, not worse. So I would say you are wrong. The ED shuts you down and is life threatening, im not who sees that as a motivation to get an ED? I think these kids that share these stories are amazing and true role models. Can you imagine being that up front when you were 16? Im not sure I would have had that courage. She could have easily kept this under wraps.

I think you are right. I may be mostly tweaked that anyone would rather go to lansing than U of M. I suppose there are always many factors at work. My concern was it is feeling like a pattern. A small one, but a pattern. EMU somehow always gets talent.

BTW, parents...don't recognize it either. So its not that coaches are clueless. It gets picked up often as simply one vital sign at a physical! HR is in 30s or 40s. These energy imbalances can picked up on these smartwatches all the runners wear these days. Not sure how to do that HIPPA-wise, coach cant check their data. Maybe a campaign for parents to check the garmin for time to time. Kid shouldnt be dipping into low 40s and 30s. Often the first sign.

Except that is not true. There are many elite runners who clearly have eating disorders amd they continue to beat their competitors.

Every runner who finishes top 100 in the NCAA has a hear rate in 30s or 40s, male or female.

Many kids aren't smart enough for Michigan. Average ACT is 19. Average at Michigan is 33.

Everything in your post is exactly right. If I had one minor quibble, it would be that collegiate women and older probably can find their particular racing weight that is good and appropriate for them. What they can't do is try to force an arbitrary lower weight that is somebody else's racing weight.

The story out of Colorado was eye-opening. Wetmore got to keep his job (this time). A lesser tenured or known coach probably wouldn't have. They had a nutritionist advising the girls and used other objective metrics other than looks (though sometimes you can plainly see issues on either side). On these boards, one can say just about anything about anybody, but you mention that a female runner appears to not be at a good weight, and even guys freak out in defense of this suggestion that is beyond-the-pale. THIS is the topic that is too taboo for LR to speak frankly about? Incredible.

Anyway, being that we're the experts about running and have seen the devastating effects of eating disorders, it would be good to establish some sort of guidance for what coaches (and even parents) could do to determine a possible ED and what they could say and be 100% backed up. Whatever this is, a social campaign should lead the way. You were exactly right when you said "it has to be an accurate one that doesn't normalize pathological behavior" and when you mentioned the "infantilization" of teens and young adults. Since honest conversations on this are verboten at the moment, we have a long way to go on this.

Thank you for bringing such a great perspective and reason to this overly-sensitive topic. Virtue signalers like the one you mentioned in the press conference who put getting their points above the well-being of others or who glamorize the overcoming of eating disorders are not helpful.

Regarding UM, and having no idea if this is involved in these latest decisions. But UM as a whole(nothing to do with XC/Track coaches) is massively behind the times in NIL. This is the Harbaugh situation continues because the Board and terrible AD Warde Manuel won't let some booster groups do at UM what is happening at almost every other college.

At MSU every single athlete including walk-ons gets $4k a semester from NIL. If on scholarship it's $8k. That does not happen at UM nor anything like it. UM athletes are supported in many many ways and have top class facilities. But $32k over 4 years is a nice little incentive.

We do *not* comment on girls' weight. Period. Many girls who are at normal body weight already think they are too fat. We don't want to add to their stress. We do stress eating a healthy diet along with hydration and a good night's sleep. But every program is different . . . .

Thats the lie that gets these kids in trouble. They are told low HR means you are in shape. Anyone in the low 40s and 30s is red flag. Extremely rare that that would be indicator of fitness. Low 50s upper 40s sure. But no, the top 100 do not have HR in 30s.

My point is...the stories that are printed and people know about are stories of athletes getting better with recovery, not slower. That should be the focus.

Stories like this make me think there should be some sort of standardized, agreed-upon minimum BMI requirement for high school girls in athletics (maybe with exceptions for those with certain medical conditions). That would be a blunt instrument, and I wish it weren't necessary, but maybe it is. This girl nearly died, maybe it will take someone like her dying to bring about a change...