Optimize your Blood for Improved Performance & Energy
When it comes to running, getting faster is more than just running faster and longer. There are many factors at play including some internal factors that you can’t see. Many people just struggle through unreasonable fatigue and soreness thinking that their increase in mileage is to blame but it could be much more than that. Getting blood work done routinely is the best way to keep everything in check but in order to decode the numbers you will want to know what you are looking for. We posted a few articles about this last week but here is a summary breakdown of the most important biomarkers for runners and where you should be to keep you running strong all year long!
Iron
The iron group biomarkers are made up of ferritin, hemoglobin, iron binding level (TS), blood iron, total iron binding capacity, and hematocrit. For runners, any ferritin value below 30 ng/mL will likely result in a feeling of sluggishness and fatigue. For some even dropping below 50 ng/mL will have you feeling less than your best. In some cases you may notice your blood iron levels being high but your ferritin being low. In this case there is an absorption issue meaning you may be taking in the right about of iron but something is preventing it from being absorbed. Vitamins such as calcium, vatiamin D, & zinc block absorption while things like viatmin C increase absorption. Ferritin is essentially the vehicle that delivers oxygen to the muscles so maintaining your optimal level is important. Of course everybody's optimal range can vary as well as what supplementation works. The best way to find out if what you are doing is working you will want to check regularly with your doctor or use a platform like InsideTracker. If you go to your doctor ask for a cbc and ferritin. Ferritin is not included in a cbc panel so it is important to ask for both. For information on how to up your iron levels check this link: http://blog.insidetracker.com/tired-of-being-tired-how-i-optimized-my-iron-levels.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D deficiency can also leave you feeling run down just as iron deficiency or anemia will. The difference with vitamin d deficiency is that it also cant leave you at higher risk for stress fracture. You can drink all the milk you want but if you aren't getting enough vitamin d you bones can't assimilate the calcium into them. Whats more, there are few sources of vitamin d rich foods and if you are wearing sunscreen when you go out for your daily run you may not be absorbing it from the sunlight. Good sources of vitamin d rich foods include seafood, pork, milk (dairy and non-dairy), maitake mushrooms, yogurt, oyster mushrooms, and eggs. Eating more of these or adding a high quality vitamin d supplement to your regimen in addition to vitamin K can help increase your vitamin d levels. For more on this check these links: http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-treatment/the-vitamin-d-dilemma and http://blog.insidetracker.com/can-vitamin-d-restore-low-testosterone-levels
Cortisol
Cortisol is also referred to as the stress hormone. Everything from emotional to physical stress can elevate this hormone. Cortisol typically elevates after a hard workout or race in order to help our bodies cope. The problem arises when we see chronically elevated levels. Things like not getting enough sleep, enduring excessive life stress, or over-training can cause chronically elevated cortisol and thus suppresses the bodies ability to divert energy to all of the areas of the body that need it. In over-training scenarios the body is constantly diverting energy to the muscles in order to help them recover and away from the immune system and digestive system. Normal hormone production is suppressed and inflammation typically increases. If you have ever gotten sick during your taper or right before a big race it may be due to chronically elevated cortisol. In order to reduce your cortisol level, decrease your coffee consumption, take a training break if physical stress is the issue, start a meditation practice, decrease undue life stress. If over-training is a problem assess your training program. Maybe slow down the pace on workout days and through more easy days into the week. Check your mileage and how much you are doing outside of running. Is your strength training too much? Are you not refueling soon enough after runs? For more check this link: http://blog.insidetracker.com/cortisol-how-the-stress-hormone-affects-you
When it comes to your blood levels and performance there are a whole slew of other levels that can tell you a lot about what could be causing any ailments you may be having. There are several vitamins such as your white blood cell counts and monocytes which indicate the level of inflammation within the body. Then there is B12 which indicates your bodies ability to produce energy and repair muscles and your liver enzyme group which shows how well your liver is functioning and if you may have damage to tissues due to over-training. The best way to keep these levels optimal is to know what you have going on. Once you know what your problem areas are you can work on addressing those specifically. Once you make changes you can check in again and see if the changes are working. Then whenever you find yourself feeling a little off you can check in again. One way to do this is to use InsideTracker, a science based blood analytic platform tailored just for you. For more check this link: http://www.runtothefinish.com/blood-test-for-athletic-performance/
If your results indicate a potential over-training scenario you may want to think about VO2 Max testing to help you develop a more optimal training plan. If this is up your alley then stay tuned this week for more on VO2 max testing and creating a fall training plan!