Hi,
Not much has been said about Rachele Schulist's Instagram post, the follow up pieces and the reaction it's gotten. Hopefully this won't get deleted because I feel like it's worth talking about. Her main post is linked on the front page, yesterday she did a great flotrack podcast about it.
In a thread that was deleted someone in a round about way said that someone like this shouldn't be commended because you only hear about these things after the fact and it doesn't help prove the point because they are never good again.
I'd argue this is not that way because she did get good again and weighs 20 pounds more than she did when she was running in 2014. She ran only 14 seconds slower in 2016 and the course was much slower.
To me her post, the reaction and follow ups are all great. It's not even all about weight and body image but also confidence, mindset and thinking you can be good again after any kind of setback.
Thoughts?
Schulist Instagram & Reaction
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Unfortunately, in a forum such as this, all the good that her message is doing will be lost.
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So you come to a message board where you believe nothing positive can be discussed?
Come on, we have lots of goof conversations. If you have something to say about this, speak your minds and hopefully not too much trolling goes on. -
This is undoubtedly a good thing.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of high school and collegiate female runner right now sacrificing their health for perceived performance improvement.
The message that you do not need to succumb to an ED in order reach your runner potential is a great message. It's even bettered when it's delivered by someone like Schulist who's dealt with exactly what many are going through right now. -
Agreed. Seemed well received. Definitely necessary to get the word out too.
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Yeah, it is awesome. However, 4th to 12th has got to sting. But I am hopeful she will come back even stronger in track to further prove her point.
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tricky part is, not everyone can maintain performance after 20 pounds weight gain
example: mc -
come on guys wrote:
Yeah, it is awesome. However, 4th to 12th has got to sting. But I am hopeful she will come back even stronger in track to further prove her point.
Yeah it has to be tough. I mean, I think I could be a faster runner if I lost a little weight, but I also think that I would turn into a crazy b*tch. So, guess I'd rather work hard at the weight I'm at and if at the end of the day I'm just a tich slower, it's okay because at least the other areas of my life aren't suffering. I bet/hope Schulist feels this way, too. -
P.S. She does NOT look 20lbs heavier. Guess her height helps her.
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Hlfcrzy wrote:
P.S. She does NOT look 20lbs heavier. Guess her height helps her.
+1.
She def looks maybe 7-10 lbs heavier. I don't know though... -
Well she was 4th to 12th but that included a year in between where she was hurt and most of this regular season where she didn't perform even close a high level, so getting her confidence and fitness back at the end of the season probably actually felt awesome.
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It's worth noting that there are a lot of male runners in the same boat - with full-blown eating disorders or just chronically restricting calories.
Part of the problem is that, because eating disorders are considered a "women's issue," many of these men are either 1) afraid to come forward about their conditions, or 2) unaware of what they're going through, not recognizing the behavior for what it actually is.
With respect to the Schulist pictures: as a former male anorexic runner myself, I still look at photos of runners with the same high levels of scrutiny that I applied to my own body during my dark period. The first thing I notice about other athletes is their body composition and structure. I still think about weight every day.
That said, even I struggle to distinguish between the two images. The key differences that I can pick up on:
- Her skin tone is much paler in the "before" picture. She looks ruddier/rosier/healthier in the "after" shot.
- Somewhat fuller about the face in the "after" picture
- Somewhat fuller in the thigh in the "after" picture
She certainly doesn't look as though she gained twenty pounds. I know that I would look like a completely different human being if I did so myself. -
Bottom line: we need to approach our sport from a holistic perspective, offering athletes honest information about the importance of physical and psychological health - not just aerobic fitness and leg speed.
Weight does matter. Period. But athletes can reach racing weight in a totally healthy, sustainable, and socially-normal way.
Coaches and mentors can help athletes do this by providing them with more nutritional education, as well as by keeping tabs on their charges' mental health. If a coach sees an athlete who is at risk or is in the throes of an eating disorder, it is his or her responsibility to connect said athlete with the necessary support staff. -
I don't want to discredit all of the good that her post has done. She is promoting a positive message to female and male runners everywhere that it is not worth it sacrifice your health for performance. That being said, this has been blown way out of proportion as some kind of posterchild for body image disorders. I know it may be hard to separate the two of these, but her post is about how her WEIGHT affected her PERFORMANCE, not how her WEIGHT affected her IMAGE.
I have several friends who have shared her post saying that body shaming needs to stop and that runners should not develop eating disorders in order to "look fast". But I don't think that was what Schulist intended. She dropped weight, she ran fast, she was unhealthy. She had to make a decision that all of us make to some extent, "How much should I risk my body in order to run my best?". She realized that it was not good for the long term, made a change, and luckily was able to maintain about the same performance.
Anybody who makes this about image is projecting a cause on this that is not there, it is about PERFORMANCE. If she had been running slower after losing weight, I guarantee that she would have purposely put on weight immediately, even at the expense of her "image". -
she looks the same to me. let's check her out from behind maybe?
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The Athletic Department wrote:
Weight does matter. Period. But athletes can reach racing weight in a totally healthy, sustainable, and socially-normal way.
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What I'll add to the above is that weight should be viewed just like training. You aren't in peak shape all the time and you shouldn't be at "racing" weight all of the time either.
If runners are taught that instead of just less weight equals faster times, they can take a better approach to running faster during the season and getting their bodies stronger the rest of the year. -
Her decision to come forward will have consequences. She will not be as welcome to some of the top level training groups if she plans to continue in the sport. Maybe she doesn't care.
I've had discussions with a couple of coaches that were afraid of the Molly Seidel situation and I know that sponsors got wet feet with Molly as well. That was based on speculation. With Schulist there is no speculation. -
anemiadude wrote:
I don't want to discredit all of the good that her post has done. She is promoting a positive message to female and male runners everywhere that it is not worth it sacrifice your health for performance. That being said, this has been blown way out of proportion as some kind of posterchild for body image disorders. I know it may be hard to separate the two of these, but her post is about how her WEIGHT affected her PERFORMANCE, not how her WEIGHT affected her IMAGE.
I have several friends who have shared her post saying that body shaming needs to stop and that runners should not develop eating disorders in order to "look fast". But I don't think that was what Schulist intended. She dropped weight, she ran fast, she was unhealthy. She had to make a decision that all of us make to some extent, "How much should I risk my body in order to run my best?". She realized that it was not good for the long term, made a change, and luckily was able to maintain about the same performance.
Anybody who makes this about image is projecting a cause on this that is not there, it is about PERFORMANCE. If she had been running slower after losing weight, I guarantee that she would have purposely put on weight immediately, even at the expense of her "image".
While I agree that it is mainly about performance and I'd say you are right on body shaming I do believe that image is important and that was her point which I think got across. What she meant was she felt like she had to look a certain way otherwise her performance was not going to be there. So she would look herself in the mirror everyday for 2 years probably and think "Not quite to what I was in 2014, guess I'm not going to do that well today." That's a combo of image leading to performance which I think is what these people go through. -
I have the opposite problem- look fantastic, but run slow as #[email protected]$
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Good story. I hope more people come forward with similar experiences. It's better to be happy and healthy than to be good.
