I'm a sophomore girl who just started my xc season. I trained really hard all summer, so I had really high hopes for this season. However, at my physical, I got tested for ferritin levels and it can back at a 13. I just started taking iron five days ago. My first meet I ran 1.5 minutes slower than last year, and I feel physically tired. People are beating me who I know I am faster than, and it is really frustrating. How long will it take for the iron to work?
It generally takes several weeks of taking Iron supplements to see an increase in performance. This is because your body does not absorb all of the iron you take. There are several people on my team who are "runner-anemic", and one of the bits of advice they were given was to both drink orange juice and avoid milk an hour before and an hour after taking your iron. This helps your body absorb more of it. I hope this helps!
person1738 wrote:
...and one of the bits of advice they were given was to both drink orange juice and avoid milk an hour before and an hour after taking your iron. This helps your body absorb more of it. I hope this helps!
As a HS XC coach, this is an issue we deal with each year. The above is good advice, but I would offer one more piece of advice. When using OJ to go along with your iron, be sure to use OJ that is not calcium fortified because the calcium will negate the benefit of using the vitamin C rich OJ.
This is such a common occurrence it never ceases to amaze me that girls and their parents only ever seem to get iron advice AFTER the event!
This problem is often more complicated than just get tested, take a supplement, and get back to normal. But that doesn't mean you can't or won't get back to full strength. I've coached girls with numbers as low and lower than yours who have done really well.
1) You will need to be patient. It does take some time to build your iron back up. That sucks, but it's reality.
2) What was your hemoglobin number?
3) What supplement are you taking?
4) Are you a vegetarian? If not, how much red meat do you eat per week?
5) What's the rest of your diet like?
6) How many miles per week were you running over the summer, and how many are you running now?
I had the same issue last year (I'm a male.) Same story: teammates who had no business beating me were beating me. Ferritin was 13. I started taking 64mg twice a day. Three weeks later, I definitely felt better in my races. You've got time to recover before the big meets come along. Just don't take iron within 1-2 hours of taking calcium (or drinking milk.)
more complicated wrote:
This problem is often more complicated than just get tested, take a supplement, and get back to normal. But that doesn't mean you can't or won't get back to full strength. I've coached girls with numbers as low and lower than yours who have done really well.
1) You will need to be patient. It does take some time to build your iron back up. That sucks, but it's reality.
2) What was your hemoglobin number?
3) What supplement are you taking?
4) Are you a vegetarian? If not, how much red meat do you eat per week?
5) What's the rest of your diet like?
6) How many miles per week were you running over the summer, and how many are you running now?
Thanks for all the advice from all the posters!
2. The doctor said my hemoglobin was normal, but she also said my ferritin was normal at first too so I'm guessing it's low (I don't know the exact number)
3. I'm taking ferrous sulfate 65 mg once a day...should I go up to twice? (I'm 15, weigh 107 pounds)
4. No, eat red meat twice a week
5. Healthy, lots of salad fruit and veggies
6. Over the summer 25-30, now probably 20-25
It is so frustrating because it seems to be really affecting my running a lot. My coaches know about it, but I don't know how much information they know about low ferritin itself. It's draining my confidence, and I know I'm faster than this.
Don't worry, you can get it fixed. My symptom was that I'd just run out of energy halfway through a race. My legs had nothing. I would definitely check with your doctor, but you could get away with taking two pills a day instead of one for the next couple of months. After the season, you get it tested again.
beenthere wrote:
Don't worry, you can get it fixed. My symptom was that I'd just run out of energy halfway through a race. My legs had nothing. I would definitely check with your doctor, but you could get away with taking two pills a day instead of one for the next couple of months. After the season, you get it tested again.
Same here. Were you fine during practice? Obviously I'm not doing as well in practice as I want, but it was definitely worse in races
im a 16 year old female and my ferritin levels were 18 then after 4 weeks of taking ferograd c tablets i went up to 87. Not everyone will have an increase just by taking tablets like i did but it really helped me! hope you gain back some more energy soon and feel better!!
low_ferritin_runner wrote:
Same here. Were you fine during practice? Obviously I'm not doing as well in practice as I want, but it was definitely worse in races
Much worse in races because it took a mile for the effect to show up. In practice, if we were doing repeats, they were usually shorter than a mile, so I felt OK. If we were just doing a long run, it was OK because it was easy. In a race, though, after a mile, that's when the lack of iron was causing my legs to tire. My muscles couldn't get enough oxygen. Three weeks later, I felt much better. Now, it's been a year, and my ferritin is over 70, and I am running my best times ever. I get my blood tested three times a year. I still take iron, but not as much as a year ago when my ferritin was so low.
Good advice from our resident biologist/world 100K champion:
http://camilleherron.com/2011/05/25/the-little-things-iron-supplementation/