Should we confront other coaches if it’s clear they have women racing with ED’s

If we fail to squash this wokeish transgender stuff then in a few years 'girls with ED' will be prescribed Viagra and the ones who we now think of as girls won't be worried about losing because the other competitors are too light.

In all seriousness though, the world is so full of liars and con artists telling young girls (and all women for that matter) all kinds of unreasonable things about their bodies -- wishing them to be very thin (or more frequently these days very fat) and pumping them up with all kinds of hormones and medications. I think they call it 'progress'.

Discounting future costs is perhaps the largest problem we all face. It seems to be wired into us from a time when the world was very different. Nevertheless, assuming your diagnosis is true, in order to offer any advice to those involved you'd have to find some way to initiate a dialogue where you respect their goals and priorities and where you can hope that they can also respect your concerns.

I'm friends with one of the runners on said team and have had concerns over this for several months. I unfortunately haven't been in a position to help but hope to be soon once seasons end.

And for those discussing the necessity of being thin to succeed, yes being thin is a natural trait of a high level distance runner but there is a line between high level fitness and being unhealthy thin from disorder. The high prevalence of stress reactions/fractures on the team being a sign

Last year coaches were being accused of body shaming for referencing to weight during training. University of Oregon had the same problem. My "running " friend decided on a run streak this year everyday to reach 2500 miles. She's already thin and admitted to having an eating disorder. Soon as i mentioned she would lose even more weight. She got upset and said I should never bring up weight to her. I didn't understand why she got so upset. But I agreed and left it at that. Since it's her husband who has to live with her and not me. In my opinion there's a problem of accusatory or drama to follow for showing concern. Coaches live in a volatile situation and saying anything about a person's weight or appearance could have unintended consequences.

Um yeahh

As a high school coach I would not broach the subject myself but I would contact the various people at the school (Counselor, Nurse, AT, AD and Dean of Students) so it has been communicated. I'd hope they can start to have conversations or contact the parents.

I've coached collegiate, that would be more difficult because they are adults. I had a few girls almost faint in practice and would have discussions about fueling appropriately but not directly comment about weight or diets.

I would not be surprised if there were 3-6 female runners with ED-type issues on most of the top 50 or even 100 teams. I suspect that if you confront the coach you might not even get a number of them right. I doubt any of the better coaches aren't fully aware of this issue and trying hard to deal with it. I have some personal experience with this and it was difficult because there was little that we could do beyond being supportive and not pushing on more stress. You can educate them, and the coaches almost certainly do but tragedy abounds...

A big part of the problem is assuming that the coaches know AND care that their runners have eating disorders or some disordered eating and exercise relationship. Some must know and not care because they continue to see success year after year as they burn through runners. The program appears to be a success, but at the cost of many individual runners' health.

As someone who has suffered from anorexia, yes, you can tell by appearance with a lot of people. Naturally skinny and malnourished look different - lanugo, thin hair, sunken eyes or on the flip side with purging, puffy cheeks because you're retaining water weight and your body can't distribute weight efficiently. This is certainly not the case all of the time, especially for athletes who may be at a reasonable weight but go through binge/restrict cycles.

I am at West Regionals and didn’t know what team everyone was referring to. Well, it became obvious once I saw the team together at the finish line. 3 runners at least should not be out there. Why won’t anyone say the team name? Will the thread get deleted? It is just sad to know the future those women face.

Not sure which team it is, but did they run well?

I wonder the same….

It looks like they have taken down all references to the team in question. It was up there before but I can't find it now. I have I don't know all the runners on that team but one runner I do know on there appears to have lost a lot of weight this season.

No, mind your own damn business!

Deja vu. Anyone remember this thread?

ED or not, if someone looks like their health is in danger regardless of if they have a diagnosable ED or not, they should be discouraged from lining up by the coach. If an athlete has a dramatic weight loss from season to season that is a serious red flag. Even if they pass a basic physical, it's irresponsible for the coach to let them run because they could be doing permanent damage their bones by continuing to compete/train at a high level. If they get fleeting successes from the damage they do to their body, it sends a horrible message not only to their teammates but to their competitors and spectators as well. I was one of those people who was influenced heavily by this, seeing all my school records be held by a girl with an ED and thinking that being near emaciated went hand in hand with intense training that leads to success.

Since time has passed since the 2015 thread, the context there was from Roy Griak 2015. Concern was given over 3 athletes on the winning team for being incredibly thin, thus starting that discussion. 2 of those athletes had EDs, one being open about it (Allie O) and the other privately dealing with it. The other athlete had numerous medical conditions that constantly ravaged her body and even looking back she commented on how fragile and weak she was in that race. Their team won the meet handily and people started speculating that they had an ED influenced culture. I can't confirm or deny that, but looking back then, regardless if those 3 had EDs or not, they should have been encouraged to sit out and focus on their health before competing again. Otherwise this vicious cycle never ends.

Well, now anyone who cares knows … thread over… we can also all agree that competent coaches can spot an unhealthy runner.

Came here to say the same thing.

I am personally dealing with a family member in the middle of recovery.

Although I have learned a lot more by "googling" (ask me anything), we sought the help of two professionals:

- a dietician/nutritionist to address the physical aspects (that is the easier battle)

- a psychologist/psychiatrist to address the psychological aspects

There are also a few visits with the generalist, and some blood tests.

At a university level, the university should have these kinds of professionals, and the coach should be in a position to recommend or refer his athletes to seek professional help.