Q: My XC season is spiraling fast! Can weight loss be the cause? Help!
Dear Lauren,
I really look up to you and I’m hoping you might have some advice for me. I am a college runner and just had the best summer of training of my life. My first week back at pre-season went extremely well too (great workouts, feeling good). However, at the beginning of the second week I started to feel really fatigued and dizzy. I dropped out of a tempo workout, and now for the past two weeks I’ve been struggling with everything. I’m tired all the time. I’ve been severely anemic before and my body feels that way again. I just don’t feel like myself. It’s like I’m in someone else’s body. I have no bounce in my step and midway through any workout I just feel so tired I have to stop – which is not like me at all!
I got blood work done, and the results showed no signs of infection or anemia. The only other thing I’m thinking it could be might be related to the weight I’ve lost over the summer. I didn’t really realize it until I got back to school and people started commenting, but I’ve lost 5 – 10 lbs. And right when I did get to school there was a marked decrease in what I was eating due to getting settled and wanting to look extra lean in my sports bra at practice (silly, I know). My symptoms showed up about a week or so after I started eating less. I also have not gotten a period in three months.
And now, I can’t tell how much of my fatigue is related to emotions. I’m just so anxious and upset over the whole thing. Running has always been my de-stressor, my happy place. I would normally go to practice each day not worrying about the workout or if I’ll crash and burn midway through a run, I knew I could push through it. But now I can’t help stressing over how I will feel each day, wondering when I’ll feel like myself again and when will I feel ready to race. And, unfortunately, the anxiety is affecting my usually ravenous appetite and my ability to sleep.
Therefore, my question to you is have you ever experienced anything like this yourself or seen anyone else go through something similar? Could it be overtraining, the result of a long summer, or eating habits? Or could it be possible that by now I’ve freaked myself out so much that my anxiety is causing all my physical symptoms?
Sorry for the long post, but I really hope you might have some thoughts on the matter.
Amy
A:
Hi Amy,
This advice is given with the assumption that you don’t have any hormonal issue. Your symptoms could be related to a thyroid problem, (hyperthyroid can cause rapid weight loss and other symptoms you describe) which if it were me, I’d test for immediately. That being said, I’ve seen and experienced similar issues that were not thyroid related, so the following advice will hopefully be helpful to someone, even if not for you.
What you have described is a common mistake female runners make when they are trying to take their running to the next level. If its not thyroid, I’d bet my favorite Nike Lunarglides that the root of your symptoms are in fact related to weight loss, and that the problem will be quite straightforward to solve.
The Wheel
Think of running as a wheel. The day you caught the desire to be a runner, you were handed a floppy tire tube. You were told that this is the tire that will transport you through your career, and its up to you to build it into a functioning, strong wheel.
The center of the wheel, the hub, is built when you start to visualize your running potential and make competitive goals related to that. Its the focal point that everything rotates around.
But in order for the hub to connect to the rim, you have to build a bunch of spokes. Those spokes are the supporting structures that take your desire and passion and time on your feet and connect it to your goals and your aims. The way you build those spokes is CRUCIAL to the structure and function of the wheel.
Examples of spokes:
- Nutrition
- Physical Training
- Mental Training
- Community/Social Support
- Recovery Techniques
- Life Balance
- Competition
If you build those spokes evenly over time, your wheel will be strong and carry you with relative ease through your career. Put too much emphasis on one spoke or ignore several of them, and your wheel becomes weak and collapses beneath you.
I am not joking when I say that all of the spokes are equally important. But it is natural when you are learning about a particular subject area to over-do it for a while. Your focus moves away from the hub completely and you dwell on that spoke. Looking the part of a distance runner becomes more important than actually running fast! If your nutrition spoke becomes the center of your wheel, think about how lopsided and wonky it will roll! Think of how dizzy you will get!
Take Action
Here’s what you do: literally grab some paper and draw your wheel (do it. you can do it). Redefine the hub and identify the spokes. Find the weak spots and decide how you will reinforce them. Burn this image of a wheel into your mind and keep coming back to it over the next few weeks. This is called creating a visual cue, which is a way to pull your mind back to the place you need it to be to achieve a particular goal. I use these all the time.
I believe your health will return if you do this and you will get back to kicking ass. It may take a couple weeks, or it may take a couple months, but you have to accept whatever time it takes as part of the repercussions of the decisions you’ve made. Be at peace with that. Its part of the deal.
It would be smart to include your coach in this process as well as a sports nutritionist if possible. And if it were me, I’d ease my training down to 85-90% for a month or two while my body rebuilds. After losing weight and getting weak, there is a time lag in which you are probably more susceptible to injury, even after you tackle the nutrition issues. You have to let your nutrient stores build up a bit without subjecting your body to too much stress. This will take a lot of discipline, but you will save yourself a bigger setback if you heed this advice.
Amy, always remember there is no shame in screwing up. Its a necessary part of reaching out into the unknown of your potential. The only shame would be if you don’t use the resources at your disposal to come through this wiser, stronger, and faster!
Keep us updated!
Lauren
A quote I heard from a friend (original source unknown):
“How do you get good judgement?”
“From experience.”
“Oh. How do you get good experience?”
“From bad judgement.”
I love the wheel analogy.
Thanks Lauren.
It’s great to read something that’s both enjoyable and provides pratsagimdc solutions.
Loved this post! Even as a post-collegiate runner, I struggle to keep everything in balance and the wheel analogy makes perfect sense. I will definitely be integrating this tool into my training philosophy, thanks for sharing!
Awesome, Taylor.
The tricky part is making sure to check back in every so often and see how your wheel is lookin.
Lauren,
I literally pulled out the closet blank sheet of paper just now & drew myself a running wheel. I’ve been struggling mentally for MONTHS when it comes to my running. I can see it in my running performance, my weight, and the way I generally feel about what used to be something that brought such peace & goodness to my life. I love running, & I always said running loves me back. I really believe that, but wow, it’s been tough these last several months. Honestly, I’ve been afraid of losing running altogether. That sounds dramatic, but it I just haven’t felt like I could sort myself out. It feels just like I have a flat (albeit somewhat flabby, let’s get honest) tire, weak spokes, and no rotation! I couldn’t make sense of it all, so I’m REALLY grateful for your site & this wheel exercise. Thank you so much for sharing!
No problem Heidi.
A little trick for you. Even though your wheel is all effed up right now, spend some time visualizing what it will look like when its all evened out. Think about looking into that center of the hub, in that place where running loves you back, and the wheel is spinning so evenly that the spokes are all just a fuzzy blur. No dizziness, just beautiful mechanical movement, and it just hums that way. Even if that isn’t reality right now, its the best way to make it your reality!
I will definitely be making such a wheel, maybe for running or maybe for my life in general. I think it should be included in the next Believe I Am journal. Just a thought!
Its a nice reminder. It also reminds me of when you right about all of your energy comes from one place – that the more things you do, the more your energy gets divided. How do you come to terms with not doing so hot in one thing when you are spending a lot of energy on another thing (eg: running a half marathon that you want to do well in on the morning you are hosting a bake sale for charity that you’re putting a lot of work into, too — totally theoretical example 🙂 )
I’ve mainly only used verbal cues, rarely visual. What are some other ones (visual) you use?
For your question about how I come to terms with reduced performance that is a result of dividing energy among too many things…
My coach in college, Dena Evans, used to say that you are always making choices. If you want your best performance in something, then you have to make the choices to support that. If you chose to do something that takes energy away from that performance, then you need to either change the behavior for next time or stand by it.
The key there is standing by all your decisions. As you prepare for New York Marathon, you need to set a date for when you will take a good look at all the things using your energy and prioritize. You can’t have it all, but you don’t have to be a monk either. In fact you can’t or you’d lose your job!
When you make a list of all those things using your energy, you circle the ones that are worth it, ditch the rest until NY, and you stand by those decisions. Own them.
You know, that’s a really good way of articulating it – how to be dedicated to something. I need to write that down in my little black book, planner, training journal, or all 3.
I love all the things I do, so it will be hard. Its starting to cut into sleep, which is bad and usually when I get sick. So, maybe I should pick like…sometime this week or something. Or Columbus Day.
Thanks for the advice! Your “joy” visual cue flower really helped in my race Sat! See you in NYC soon!
Love this wheel analogy! I just drew one for myself. It’s so true that so many runners have gone through this exact same thing – putting one spoke at the hub, and then wondering why the wheel is all wobbly. It’s like a rite of passage. Me, I’ve done the poor nutrition thing and I’ve also put “physical training” at the center and ignored everything else. The results tend to be exactly what Amy describes: high anxiety levels, feeling generally run-down, frustration, and eventually injury.
One thing that totally helped me – apart from embracing healthy fats, getting enough protein, and not weighing myself anymore – is relaxation/breathing exercises to combat anxiety and strengthen the “recovery” and “mental balance” spokes. Yoga is also good for this.
Heather, you are so ON IT. Totally feeling you there. And the yoga suggestion is an awesome one. Developing a coping strategy that helps you gain control over your anxiety is so important! For anyone on here who is unconvinced or uninformed about the biological/physiological effects of stress, you’ve GOT to read “Why Zebras Don’t get Ulcers” by Robert Sapolsky. Hilarious at times, and it will change your life.
The question is the act of strengthening many weaker spokes is itself the challenge. My wife, also training for the Women’s Marathon Trials is struggling with your condition. Is just tested her blood, does have similar life stresses, has great nutrition (she’s a nutrition expert), so if we find the problem(s), I’ll post it.
Good luck!
Thanks for offering to post info you learn, Dave. I really appreciate that.
The first step in strengthening the other spokes is recognizing that the other spokes are just as important as the ones you are over-stressing. It can be a hard sell for some women to value community/social support as much as nutrition or physical training, but I can assure you from what I’ve seen at the World Championships, it is true. Once someone realizes that and believes it, building the spokes is a cinch! Runners are some of the most hard working resourceful people out there!
From what I’ve seen as a runner (NOT a doctor), losing weight can affect runners in very different ways. For some people (like me), it can really affect your brain. Which can cause anxiety/depression/etc and makes it even harder to figure out what’s wrong. Other people can do it for awhile without those kinds of problems. I think its worth finding a doctor who truly knows about running and maybe even does exercise/metabolism testing because they can give you a good baseline for what might be causing fatigue. I had 31 blood tests that came up perfectly normal. Turns out I wasn’t eating anywhere enough carbohydrates. Knowing this saved my running (and my sanity) for sure. Its worth going to other people for help to find out what’s wrong!
I made the low carb mistake once too. It was great until my body fat got to a certain point, and then I needed to get the energy from somewhere but there wasn’t enough in the stores! The result was feeling very weak and tired for me. I didn’t get anxiety, but as you say, we all react differently.
Lauren’s advice is always good. I like the wheel/spoke concept very much. We used a building block approach, which was effective, but perhaps not quite as clear a visual as the wheel.
As for Amy’s dilemma, I think she should really get a 2nd iron profile done, ask for the numbers, and have them assessed by an expert in sports medicine. Also, paying particular attention to iron-rich foods will be important in the longer term, and a nutritionist can help with this.
For someone with a history of severe anemia, and now experiencing physical symptoms identical to previous episodes, I would put a healthy iron profile right up at the top of possible issues to be dealt with, along with others already mentioned.
Great advice Ron. Its important to see the HGB, the HCT and the ferretin together to get a complete picture of what is going on, and having the right doc familiar with endurance is key.
Amy,
As a runner with some experience in this subject, I want to reach out and say hello. I understand you asked Lauren for advice, not me, so feel free to disregard my comments. I sense from your letter that you may be susceptible to caring about what you perceive others to be thinking about you, which is totally normal and cool, but can spiral into a negative thing. I am making no judgment on your weight loss; however, I do want to make sure that you remember that sometimes female distance runners, even teammates and close friends, can be quite ruthless when they see someone lose weight. They may assume things that are not true and treat you in ways that contribute to your already-elevated levels of anxiety. Your letter to Lauren demonstrates that you are definitely trying to resolve your weight loss issue and regain your health. Remember that you are awesome and that you are working hard to restore a fully-functioning, balanced wheel (awesome concept, Lauren). If you have not experienced the possible situation I described above, fantastic! If you have, block out the haters and surround yourself with your support team, the people who love and care about you and want to help you regain your health.
Thanks Victoria! Great to see you on here, and its so awesome for you to share your experience. You are right on. Your attention to the social side of things is really important here. Women really can pick each other apart, so the advice about the support team is KEY.
Hey everyone. I can’t thank you enough for the advice and the support. It means a lot to have the running community behind me in some way! Ron, I did get more blood work done about a week later and it showed that my H&H are lower than the normal range but not my ferritin. I’ve since bumped up my iron pill intake. It’s strange that it dropped so much in a week, but perhaps I had finally hit a point where I was drained. I’ve also reached out to my coach and he set me up with a sports dietician to help me develop a plan. And Victoria, I showed certain members of my team this post and Lauren’s response to let them know what was going on. I am lucky enough that they are extremely supportive. And after all this and drawing my balanced wheel, I finally feel like I have a handle on this setback. It can only make me wiser and stronger in the future! Thanks again.
Lauren,
i admire you so much. Your general outlook is so upbeat and inspiring. The wheel analogy is wonderful, but i do have a question. In my few years of running, i have found that sometimes there is the actual NEED to focus on one aspect more than another. Perhaps nutrition has gotten off balance, or there is an injury that needs to be addressed, etc. Whatever the case may be, i have found that when the aforementioned situations came up, (and for any runner it could be a different situation), it causes the focus to become more…well, focused on one spoke of the wheel— on that one aspect. (Injuring my leg, not eating like a runner etc..and spending too much focus on fixing those aspects). Has something like this ever happened to you? Where due to a situation you realized you had been focusing too much on one aspect and not evenly distributing the focus? Because it seems hard to get back to the middle ground again.
You say its a common problem for female runners, does it afflict the men too? I find myself worrying about my appearance (not necessarily how I look in my sports bra) and weight more often than not as well, same advice applies?