Need help with an unusual "ThAt TiMe Of ThE mOnTh" problem

You do realize 90% of L.R are males?

Well yeah, but there's the other 10%. And besides that, at least someone in the 90% might even know something about sports medicine or whatever the relevant scientific field is here.

sorry this sounds weird wrote:

Well yeah, but there's the other 10%. And besides that, at least someone in the 90% might even know something about sports medicine or whatever the relevant scientific field is here.

Sports medicine, this is not. This is a matter of mental health. You need to see a psychiatrist or a therapists who specialize in eating disorders. I am disheartened to hear that you are conflicted in this way. You should never sacrifice health for PRs. I have a feeling you’ll run better you seek proper help.

If you go back to your disordered eating, you’ll run faster only until your body breaks down and becomes permanently damaged.

I’m not trying to attack you. It’s your life. But I have seen eating disorders derail lives. You got this. Seek help.

You probably need to start by looking at other factors, like how is your training different. Most people coming out of an eating disorder also drastically change workout habits.

Also, eating disorders are like being an alcoholic. For most, it is a life long thing you need to be vigilant with once you have been down that path before.

Oh yeah nononononono I'm not considering relapsing or anything, it got to the point where it started messing up my running and that was enough for me to actually understand that it was a terrible idea and that I needed to get help. I'm definitely not going to do anything like that, it got me injured when I was doing it so I know it makes it worse instead of better. I did get help for it a few years ago and it's gone surprisingly well. Thank you for the concern though :)

My question was more of "what am I doing wrong now" because I'm obviously a lot better off physically/mentally than when I was dealing with the disorder, but my times haven't gotten better, so I feel like I'm missing something. I'm not looking to go back to what I was doing before, I'm just trying to figure out what I need to do now to get back toward my PR times, except this time I want to do it the right way and I'm not sure how to do that yet.

My training hasn't really changed much, the only thing that's really different is that now I pay more attention to recovery than I used to. Some of my workout paces have actually gotten faster, but my races haven't, which is part of why I'm really confused about this.

Yeah I've heard about relapsing, I think I got really lucky because I got help before it got really bad so it wasn't as hard to fix as it could've been. Plus I started getting more and more injured and it kind of put me off of the eating disorder thing because I figured that if I didn't stop I would physically not be able to run anymore, so that was its own deterrent I guess. I still have a few friends who regularly make sure I'm not doing anything stupid and it's gone pretty well for the past ~3 years.

Thank you!

I'm a man, so take this idea for what it is.

Some types of birth control like mirena (IUD) can make periods pretty much go away, and also not getting pregnant is a huge benefit to running performance!

A possibility could simply be age. Depending on when you started running, if you have been running for 12 years now you might have just passed your prime. I know that I will never sniff my former PR. You likely still have many years of great running ahead and it would be possible to get close to your peak again, but if it is age related then maybe not.

Not female, but a coach.

It could be that the type of training you are doing needs to be changed.

Humans, in general, try to find patterns that explain why events happen - the fact that you have correlated improvement and stagnation with not having and having a period does not mean the two are linked in any other way other than occurring around the same time. As the saying goes, correlation does not imply causation.

It is possible to improve while living a healthy lifestyle, so there is a solution out there for you

You’ve gained 10 lbs. That is your answer.

The entire reason female runners struggle with EDs is because lower weight = faster times and that will strategy will continue to work until serious injury occurs.

I know former anorexic/under-fueled runners. They trained hard and performed amazingly well until a stress fracture popped up. They healed, starting eating properly, and gained weight. Then they didn’t understand why they couldn’t perform at that same level again—the reason is because they were at the cusp of injury that entire time—redlining it as close as possible. Now they are not doing that. They’ll have a healthier body and longer running career, but not necessarily faster times.

Bio Dome wrote:

I'm a man, so take this idea for what it is.

Some types of birth control like mirena (IUD) can make periods pretty much go away, and also not getting pregnant is a huge benefit to running performance!

Birth control just masks the problem. Not a woman, but know a bunch of female runners who have been through this. You need to monitor bone density and work with a registered dietician who works with athletes (hopefully a lot of runners) on avoiding ammenorrhea by balancing energy output with diet. Bone density loss due to ammenorrhea can be permanent and must be taken seriously. You may also need to work with a coach who has experience with training female distance runners without having to go through ammenorrhea. A lot of pro female athletes just train through it and keep an eye on bone density. But balancing your training load with your diet to avoid ammenorrhea does not have to mean a significant decline in performance and if done right, should not cause any decline in performance.

Hey! You're not doing anything wrong---you just have to keep at it. I promise that you being in a healthy state physically + mentally will trump any of the success you felt you had when you weren't fueling your body well. You have to think about it this way---you struggled with an eating disorder for three years, and now you've recovered and you expect to be 100% shortly after recovering? The body doesn't work like that, unfortunately. You did a lot of damage to your body by restricting. It will take time for you to adjust and get healthy again, but you have to stay the course and truly believe that being healthy is what's best for you. If you make it through this hump I know you'll come out the other side a lot stronger, and yes, maybe faster too. Please please please don't fall into the notion that getting your period=you run slower, and no period=more improvement.

Consider getting your ferritin checked, esp if you have heavy periods.

Yeah I'd bet that your right about it being a training problem, my training has pretty cyclical (i.e. doing the same workouts but just at different paces and on a different schedule, then starting the schedule over again the next year) for like 6-7 years so it's basically bound to stop being helpful at a certain point. Is there anything specific that you'd recommend for changing my training, or do I just need to do different workouts in general?

Thank you!

I've considered that that might be a factor, but I kind of ruled it out because I'm 22. I'm not sure if having an eating disorder might've screwed up my bone density or something in ways that I wouldn't usually have to deal with for another 10+ years? I'm not sure if that's the same as it being age-related but it might contribute.

Yeah, I'm mostly trying to figure out what I should be doing now that I can train safely/sustainably in order to get back to my PR in a healthy way. I know some professional runners have had EDs and then recovered and run even better, so it has to at least be possible even if it isn't probable.

Perhaps the reason you are not setting PRs is because your training isn't very good?

Amen.