Clearly Not Pumping Enough Iron

Thanks to sneaker sister, I had a total "AHA!" moment this morning. It's about time. And I couldn't be more excited.

My running this year has sucked. I am slow, my HR is high, and I have no motivation. Even when I scaled the mileage way back, I could not seem to bounce back. I have not bounced back. My health hasn't been the greatest and I've had all sorts of crazy "issues" this year. For example, I tend to get very sore after runs I shouldn't. Sunday I ran just over 13 miles (very slowly) and was sore afterwards. What? That happened a lot during Boston training too. Weird muscle soreness. I remember one 18 miler this spring and I was sore before I even finished the run.

I have been getting headaches during the past several months. I never (used to) get headaches. Sometimes I have felt a little dizzy and shaky. I always have been chalking it up to too much coffee and no breakfast yet, but sometimes it has happened even when I didn't have much coffee.

This morning, I was reading sneaker sister's blog and saw she had just been diagnosed as iron deficient. Hmmm. I have never been iron deficient before, but her symptoms sounded much like mine. Duh, I immediately found one of Pfitz's articles on iron deficiency and overtraining, and how it is particularly common for female endurance athletes. I started researching symptoms and check/check/check/check. Sheesh. And then I though about my training over the years. By last summer, I was a little sluggish. After poor performance at the Capitol Mile, I LOADED on my training to Boost for Chicago. I ran 20 milers (or longer) 3 weeks in a row and had jumped from 40 mpw to several upper 60 and 70 miles per week. I was battered, but kicked ass in Chicago.

However, after Chicago, I was really spent. My first real sign was in doing the Tyranena Beer Run Half marathon a few weeks later. I went out at my HM pace and was dying by mile one. By 6, I was mostly walking a death march. Since then, my training has kind of sucked and I just haven't felt as good or as strong as I used to.

Flash forward to this morning's revelation and I literally could dance on my desk I am so excited to finally have figured it out. It was funny too because one of the "signs" that sometimes is tell-tale is if you pull down your lower eyelid, it should be pink/red. If not, you could very well be anemic. I went into the bathroom to check, and my lids are literally white. Ick. (it actually freaked DH out when I showed him).

Needless to say, I promptly hit up Walgreens for an iron supplement. From what I've read, I should start feeling noticably better in a couple days. However, it will take a good 4 months until my blood levels are normal. We'll see what my doctor says.

But for now, I can tell you that I'm on my way, peeps.