Update on the 'problem' that derailed Mary Keitany in NY

Master Class wrote:

Not having a period for 3 months for an elite female marathoner hardly suggest their body is out of whack. In fact, with the sort of buildup one would expect in this situation combined with being lean enough to vie for a win, her body would be more out of whack if she was having her period in the buildup to this past weekend.

Sounds like she just tapered a little too much and was unlucky.

Wow. Sounds like you are both not an MD and not a high-volume female runner who has experienced both sides of this coin. It is NOT ok to just not have it - remember, this 3 month edition was a huge surprise. It is not "unlucky" to receive a signal that your body is functioning in a healthy and normal way.

Master Class wrote:

Not having a period for 3 months for an elite female marathoner hardly suggest their body is out of whack. In fact, with the sort of buildup one would expect in this situation combined with being lean enough to vie for a win, her body would be more out of whack if she was having her period in the buildup to this past weekend.

Sounds like she just tapered a little too much and was unlucky.

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

This. This. This.

Pro runner or not, your body is out of whack if you haven't had a period in 3 months. I'd look into that being the "problem," not the period itself.

LetsRun takes mansplaining to a whole new level.

Eh, I'm a woman and I think three months w/o period is reasonable during pro level marathon training.

It can be dangerous for fertility and bone density when you are chronically underweight and overtrained, but it appears to me that most pro women know how to "tread the line" between high performance and negative side effects.

Three months, perhaps. But this three month visitor apparently was an earth-shattering surprise to Mary and her coach.

If only the rest of us could chalk a bad day at the office up to that! -_-

It is different for everyone. Some women get killer cramps that even OTC painkillers can’t touch. I can totally see getting your period messing up your run, pro or not. I have an aunt who only got hers every 3 months and she would be out a solid 3 days of work each time due to pain and vomiting.

amenorrUGH wrote:

Master Class wrote:

Not having a period for 3 months for an elite female marathoner hardly suggest their body is out of whack. In fact, with the sort of buildup one would expect in this situation combined with being lean enough to vie for a win, her body would be more out of whack if she was having her period in the buildup to this past weekend.

Sounds like she just tapered a little too much and was unlucky.

Wow. Sounds like you are both not an MD and not a high-volume female runner who has experienced both sides of this coin. It is NOT ok to just not have it - remember, this 3 month edition was a huge surprise. It is not "unlucky" to receive a signal that your body is functioning in a healthy and normal way.

And it sounds like you are not trying to support your family by running faster than nearly every other person on the planet. Professional sports has never been and will never be about maximizing one's health. Those in the industry long enough understand that and do their best to minimize the damage and get out before it's too late.

How many of the worlds top 100 female distance runners had their period 10-14 times last year? If there were 4 or 5 I would be somewhat surprised since they could be outliers, but if there are quite a bit more than that I would be shocked and extremely interested in how they are training enough and staying lean enough to remain among the top 100.

You may think it sounds crazy to say it was unlucky for Mary to start her period the day before NY took place, but if you felt like you lost $40,000 because your period came about a week earlier than you anticipated, you might feel the same way.

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

Master Class wrote:

Not having a period for 3 months for an elite female marathoner hardly suggest their body is out of whack. In fact, with the sort of buildup one would expect in this situation combined with being lean enough to vie for a win, her body would be more out of whack if she was having her period in the buildup to this past weekend.

Sounds like she just tapered a little too much and was unlucky.

LetsRun takes mansplaining to a whole new level.

I can't even tell gender by looking at a person and you can tell by a post?

You are completely right. To be at the top of one's field, no matter what that field might be, huge sacrifice is required. Unfortunately, there is a big correlation between health and running performance, and if Mary's health issues due to amenorrhea are causing her "body to not respond" on a big payday, as this guy said, or her inability to deal with running with her period (because it happens so infrequently) also causes performance issues, that screams for bigger fish to fry and a problem to be solved either way. There is medication which can help one control their period, regulate occurrence, tone down severity and symptoms, etc, and (as far as I know) this is all WADA legal. If there would be concerns about taking female hormones and decreased athletic performance, well, that is a balance and each athlete needs to make an individual decision. If Mary has made her decision and it is to go au naturale regardless of symptoms or timing risk, then her coach shouldn't be blaming her 2nd place on it.

Either way, it's interesting to compare athletes and what they do with their position as an "ambassador" and "role model" in the sport. On Good Morning America the other day, Shalane said that she has a lot she wants to do in the realm of athletics after running - if I recall, it included things like spreading good information on nutrition and performance and how to eat for your running, etc., and general goodwill in sports. She knows she is and has been a huge role model (I've been watching her since I was a new track runner in high school). Kipchoge is similar - he trains and runs because he wants to compete and win and all of that but also to show people motivation to work hard and pursue their dreams. Maybe Mary Keitany is not in this same boat.

Master Class wrote:

What makes me uncomfortable is an agent that wants to take the validity of someone else's win away. Is it a valid reason that Keitany ran slower than expected? Absolutely. Is it something every woman who doesn't win could claim? Absolutely. Do they? Absolutely not. There are many instances when stating facts is considered to be classless. For instance, if a person who wins a race tells the second place finisher, "if you would have run faster you would have won" immediately after they cross the line that would be classless, yet it is a fact.

The first runner barely broke 2:27, which is hardly an outstanding time.

That this began the afternoon prior shows that top runners must have their food & drink from trusted sources.

Get over it moron wrote:

Master Class wrote:

What makes me uncomfortable is an agent that wants to take the validity of someone else's win away. Is it a valid reason that Keitany ran slower than expected? Absolutely. Is it something every woman who doesn't win could claim? Absolutely. Do they? Absolutely not. There are many instances when stating facts is considered to be classless. For instance, if a person who wins a race tells the second place finisher, "if you would have run faster you would have won" immediately after they cross the line that would be classless, yet it is a fact.

The first runner barely broke 2:27, which is hardly an outstanding time.

That this began the afternoon prior shows that top runners must have their food & drink from trusted sources.

Are you implying that certain food and drink causes onset of one's period?

Lol....

I'm kind of surprised most pro women are not taking birth control pills since they would then have consistent periods.

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

Master Class wrote:

Not having a period for 3 months for an elite female marathoner hardly suggest their body is out of whack. In fact, with the sort of buildup one would expect in this situation combined with being lean enough to vie for a win, her body would be more out of whack if she was having her period in the buildup to this past weekend.

Sounds like she just tapered a little too much and was unlucky.

LetsRun takes mansplaining to a whole new level.

Are you a doctor? In the medical field? have you studied this extensively or have you just talked to your girlfriends over wine?

The fact is you don't know any more than anyone else. I have very irregular periods my Dr checked me out and it didn't indicate that anything was "out of whack." The fact is that is highly individualized.

It's not man-splaining if someone disagrees with a woman. You need to toughen up

I think this is taking things too far. I think this too much of speculation about her health and not appropriate to discuss for her or any of the other women in the race. She had a bad race, Shalane had a good one, it was what it was, but don't start casting her as not concerned about her health or a poor ambassador of the sport, no way for you or any of us to know that

What's the big deal. At least she waited to give an excuse til after the post race conference. Classy move.

I would love to come in second place after not feeling good.

coastal wrote:

I'm kind of surprised most pro women are not taking birth control pills since they would then have consistent periods.

It tends to cause slight but significant weight gain for many and also has been shown to decrease testosterone, two things that are unfortunately bad for performance.

Why the use of 'problem'? Isn't a simple "update on the problem that derailed ....", or even "update on Mary Keitany after the race" a perfectly reasonable headline? 'Problem' creates some kind of suspicion, and for no reason at all.

Anyone who called either of them classless is an idiot. The fact that he has to comment like this about a letsrun thread is ridiculous. Totally classy by everyone involved, except the letsrun posters. None of the runners or agents should have had to defend themselves here.

Thefactsoflife wrote:

Anyone else think that Mary looked completely out of her mind bored and irritated during Shalane's speech? Did she not realize she was on camera? I expected her to get out a nail file and cell phone start texting.

I'd be bored too.

amenorrUGH wrote:

Maybe we can take this all as a teaching point for young female runners that it is healthy to be in a condition in which you get your period regularly. If that was Mary's first time in 3 months, then her body has got serious hormonal issues, much higher risk of stress fractures and osteoporosis, and this list goes on. These things affect you way beyond your running life.

Uhealthy women have much heavier periods than healthy ones.

In fact healthy women even non runners often skip periods and/or have very light ones, due to being in much better health and physical condition.