The More You Know - the importance of that silly mineral called Iron

I haven't written for quite a while, for a couple different reasons.  First, when we got back from Europe it was crazy busy.  Trying to get stuff around the house caught up, the garden was full of weeds, and all the other things that need to be done when you've been gone for a month.  And I was feeling down and didn't know why.  I always said I would be honest in my blog posts, but I just didn't know what to write.  I'm down....  I don't feel like training.... I'm tired.... All true, but I didn't know the reasons or how to fix anything.  So I didn't say anything.  So I decided to cross train.  I love to cross train.  I love doing elliptical!  I can sweat, breathe hard and even watch TV!  Whoa!!!  I have Insanity DVDs that I love to do to.  Shawn T to me is awesome, I love how he motivates, and I love jumping around.  So I flung myself into doing that and running.  And if I felt like race walking I did.  At this point I was thinking, man, the 20K Olympic Trials are coming up, I should be doing this and this and this, but I just couldn't get the motivation up for it.  So I changed my focus, I decided I'd do the 20K Trials just for fun.  I said it in an interview and I meant it, Rome was my Olympics, it's been a good year.

I continued to plug away at the cross training, doing some awesome work.  But I was still tired and down.  My friend from New Zealand who I Skype said I looked really tired and worn out.  I thought it was just because I was doing the equivalent of 30K of training a day.  He bugged me to go get my blood work checked, so I did.  It's been a while, so I thought it was a good idea anyway.  Then I had the massive weekend where I got third in the super hilly 20K road race (my first long running race!  Very, very proud of how I did!  Negative split the race and went from 8th to 3rd.  One woman I passed at mile 10 I beat by 2.5 minutes!)  Then the next day I race walked a 5K road race in a good time considering what I had done the day before.  Then on the Monday I did a solid effort 10K that was feeling really tough for the time I was showing.

That Monday afternoon I got a call from the doctor saying the blood work was in.  They won't tell you results over the phone, so I had to schedule an appointment.  The soonest the Nurse Practitioner had available was July 20th or something (I won't see the main doctor, I have zero respect for him, but the NP is AWESOME and amazing).  I thought, okay, no big deal. They know me in the office, so when I asked her to please just tell me my ferritin level since I had the Trials next week, she hemmed and hawed a little, but told me....  11.9.

I've always been low with ferritin.  When we first got it checked my coach at the time totally freaked out and backed me way off of training.  Over time we realized that seems to just be how my body rolls, a bit on the low side.  But this was the lowest by far it had been in years.  I'm usually at least in the mid to high 20s.  When the receptionist told me that I started to really worry.  So I called back and told her that if anything else opened up, last minute cancelations or anything to call me and I would make it in.  I have a feeling the NP came and talked to her to get me in sooner because in the five minutes between calls an appointment for later that day opened up. 

5:10 on Monday I headed with Dave to see the NP.   First thing she says is, "have you been feeling tired?"  Why yes, yes I have.  Then she said, "I wanted to get you in here, when I saw some of these numbers I was freaking out a little."  Not the words you want to hear out of your doctor's mouth!   Basically I am now officially anemic.   Multiple markers in my blood work are below "normal" and the awesome thing about my NP is that she knows even the markers that aren't technically below the normal range are too low for an endurance athlete.  The good news?  Now that it officially shows low on the tests I can get a referral to a hematologist.  July 15th is the day I go in.   My NP is sending me to a specific person, someone she says is a worrier and will do everything to get to the bottom of things.  This makes me very hopeful.  Imagine what I could do with solid iron levels!

But two things are now going through my mind.  First, the past.... Now it totally makes sense why my training was the way it was before Rome.  Now I understand why I didn't recover from the 50K like I usually do and why I struggled so much in Naumburg and La Coruna.  And it explains my lack of motivation for training since I've gotten back.  It also explains why I can do distance but not speed stuff and why elliptical felt so good.  It also explains my performance at the 20K Trials in St. Louis in April. 

The second thing is now I really have no expectations for the Trials.  If I'm having a good day I could still do quite well, but if I'm having a tired day then it could be pretty miserable.  I rested a ton last week.  Trained very little and did all the things I could do boost my iron; started taking my supplements, ate a bunch of liver, had red meat, no tea, stopped eating the dark chocolate, backed off on the magnesium.  So hopefully I can have enough stores for a hard effort on the 30th.  But if I had any hopes of a PB those are gone.  It's sad.  I know I've been ready for another 20K PB for a while, but I just haven't put it all together.  That PB will just have to wait until all this gets sorted out.

Fingers crossed the visit to the hematologist goes well in a couple weeks.  I'd love to get it all figured out.  Hopefully we can learn why it happens and how to fix it.  I know it's not just a matter of taking iron supplements, that has never worked.    Till then I'll race the 20K trials the best I possibly can.  Then on July 2, 3 and 4th we're doing a marathon each day.  I'll do them nice and easy at a pace that my body can handle.  And if I can't manage all three that's fine too.  Then I'll start up 50K training because I've got me some serious goals!!!!


In the meantime, head to my athletebiz store and head to Running Warehouse to see if there's anything you need for your training.  I get a percentage of what you spend, so you'll be helping me while getting awesome stuff for yourself. 

https://www.athletebiz.us/athletes/erin-taylor-talcott/store


Thanks!  I'll update more after the Trials and the marathons :)