Ferritin Blunders

I have not written in a while because I have had some hiccups in my training. I'm back on track now, so not to fear.

After our trip to Cuba, I had two months of solid training. My long runs had reached 20 miles and my workouts were very strong. I did a 20 miler, where I felt great on March 5th. I did it in Birds Hill Park. The next day I felt terrible. I figured it was from the 20 miler, so I took a day off. The next day I was bagged, so I did a really short workout. By Wednesday, I was frustrated that I could only run 5 miles. Over that weekend, I struggled through some easy runs. By the next Monday, I knew something was wrong, so I headed to the doctor to get a blood test.

Not only were my runs feeling terrible, but I was exhausted throughout my days at school. I would come home and nap, wake up, try to run, eat, go back to bed. Finally I just gave up on the running part of the cycle because I honestly could not keep my eyes open throughout a day. I took the entire next week OFF training. It was a total blow to my self confidence and my attitude. I quickly became depressed and barely left my bed for the week.


All of the Iron

When my blood test came back, I found out the my ferritin levels were low, which means my body wasn't getting enough iron. I have no idea what the numbers meant, I was told that my level was 12, which is at the low end of the average scale. I started taking Ferrous Gluconate twice a day, as well as, eating way more meat, leafy greens and vitamin C than normal.

There are so many crazy rules for iron absorption, like: no caffeine and no calcium. For someone taking iron in the morning, what the F*** am I supposed to have for breakfast? It was quite an adjustment.

Spring Break came and went, I tried running 3 times during my entire week off and still mostly felt like garbage. The first week of April I was FINALLY starting to feel better. I was very cautious as I was starting to get back into it. It seemed like a switch just flipped though. One day I felt great, the next, I felt terrible. I described it to some of my friends as if I was superhero that lost my superpower. It was truly terrible. I couldn't run a mile without becoming out of breath, meanwhile, I knew I was in shape because I had just run a 20 mile run @ 7:20/mile pace.

After several disappointing runs, I felt good again by the second weekend in April. I felt totally back to normal. I honestly don't even feel like I missed out on any training. I did 21 miles this past Sunday and felt totally normal. I have my superpower back and I feel like I appreciate every single run I go on now.

I don't know what caused this change in my body. I have never been low on iron before. Nothing major changed in my training or diet. Low iron is something that affects so many females and runners, but I always thought that sucked for "those people". Now I'm one of those people and I will be very careful to never get low again!

There is one month until the Ottawa Marathon. I have every intention on racing to go sub 3:00. I think if anything, this whole experience has given me time to rest and it ensures that I will not be over trained for this one. I'm registered in the Elite field 💀. If I run much slower than 3:00 it's going to be embarrassing for sure. So that is going to be my motivation for being strong and smart over the next month.



OOOOWWWWW!

Other news that is kind of related:

• I've been listening to some new Podcasts: My Favorite Murder, Run Selfie Repeat, S-Town. They are all great in their own ways. MFM is hilarious, RSR always says what I am thinking and S-Town is super addictive and a great story.
• I got weirdly into running to Cat Stevens
• I chaffed worse than I ever have before in my life and had to bandage my arms up for a week and a half, like an IDIOT
• Hunty got me a guitar and I am taking lessons!
• I've been working some shifts at City Park Runners, the best dang running store in the city

  

  I'm so cool

• My bestie Megan became a co-leader of November Project Winnipeg because she's the bomb and I'm so proud of her!

That's all for now! Happy running everyone.

November Project #PBCM