I few months ago, I posted about what a horrible meet, performance-wise, I had at short course nats this year. Couldn't figure out why I swam so slow, and why I was feeling so fatigued.
Anyway, I had a physical a few weeks later, and my blood work showed my ferritin level at 11, and my hematocrit at 39%. Both very low values for an endurance athlete. Doctor has me taking iron pills (ferrous sulfate, 325 mg, twice daily), and I've been taking Proferrin ES for about 6 weeks. Just in the last month, I've noticed a huge increase in performance. I went a :52:33 for my swim split at Ironman Boulder, and I've been feeling great in workouts. Anybody else ever experienced iron deficiency? I'm wondering if the increased performance I'm seeing is due to the replenished iron, or if it's due to something else.
The low iron leads to the low hematocrit(unless the low hematocrit is due to blood loss in which case the 2 low numbers are related to a third cause.)If your hematocrit is back to near normal you will have more energy and endurance.
I had surgery after breaking my femur 5/23 and lost a unit of blood. They transfused that back, but my red count stayed down (called anemia, it think), and they put me on iron pills to build it back up. It took about two+ weeks or so. The combination of narcotic pain killers (causing constipation) and large doses of iron (causing tar) played havoc with BMs, and I was glad to at least get off the iron, as soon as possible.
Red blood cells transfer oxygen throughout the body, and if the count is low, a lack of available oxygen would make you tired. Iron apparently allows your body to replenish red cells and will boost the count and your energy levels. A few years back some of the TdF riders were doping by transfusing and boosting red cell production. You might want to find out why the levels were low.
Doctor said my iron levels where low for two main reasons:
1) I don't eat a lot of red meat (maybe once every other week)
2) Since I run and cycle a lot, I lose iron through perspiration (something I never heard of before-I thought you just lost salt)
My real question is if replenishing my iron stores can cause such a large increase in performance in just 2 months. Not feeling tired is one thing, but suddenly going 10-15 seconds faster in a 500 free seems very surprising (not that I'm complaining!).
Doctor said my iron levels where low for two main reasons:
1) I don't eat a lot of red meat (maybe once every other week)
Your doc is a quack. There are plenty of ways to get iron in your diet other than red meat.
www.webmd.com/.../top-10-iron-rich-foods
10-15 seconds in a 500 free is only dropping .5 to .75 sec. per lap for 20 laps. Training and tapering could easily result in that drop, unless you are very fast. No doubt an increase in iron and red count would be very helpful too, but I'm not sure I would lay the low count on lack of red meat and sweat from running and cycling. A good physical with blood work might provide a better understanding.
Your doc is a quack. There are plenty of ways to get iron in your diet other than red meat.
www.webmd.com/.../top-10-iron-rich-foods
As the doc explained to me, many of those iron-rich foods are non-heme iron, which is not absorbed very well. That's why I've added the Proferrin tablets (heme iron supplement). Probably doesn't help that I'm a caffeine freak, and caffeine inhibits iron absorption.
10-15 seconds in a 500 free is only dropping .5 to .75 sec. per lap for 20 laps. Training and tapering could easily result in that drop, unless you are very fast. No doubt an increase in iron and red count would be very helpful too, but I'm not sure I would lay the low count on lack of red meat and sweat from running and cycling. A good physical with blood work might provide a better understanding.
I struggled at Nationals to go a 5:17, and that was tapered and shaved. The week before, in practice, I went a 5:25 with a push start. Just last week, I went a 5:18 at the end of practice. So for me, 10 seconds per 500 is a big deal. I've got a meet in a few weeks, so I'll find out then how much I've really improved.
I know it may sound like I'm making too much of a fuss over a poor season, but I'm trying to nail down the reason, or reasons, why. Just one of those things that keeps me up all night thinking.:D
Did your doctor suggest any tests to rule out internal bleeding? I suffered from bleeding internal hemroids, and after having a colonoscopy confirmed it was the cause of my anemia. After a few months of taking iron supplements and eliminating the bleeding issue my swim times returned to normal.
I struggled at Nationals to go a 5:17, and that was tapered and shaved. The week before, in practice, I went a 5:25 with a push start. Just last week, I went a 5:18 at the end of practice. So for me, 10 seconds per 500 is a big deal. I've got a meet in a few weeks, so I'll find out then how much I've really improved.
I know it may sound like I'm making too much of a fuss over a poor season, but I'm trying to nail down the reason, or reasons, why. Just one of those things that keeps me up all night thinking.:D
Those are solid times for a 500 fr , so i can see where a 10-15 sec drop is significant and why the iron then seems to be the significant actor. Over the last few years I've tried to focus on a more alkaline diet (with much less red meat) to improve muscle building post middle-age - more spinach and raisins that are high in iron too.
