Parents,
This weekend Coach Polito and I heard more of the girls mention being "tired" more than usual. As the school year continues, this will be a constant concern if you and they don't keep a consistent eye on it. There are a lot of factors that can lead into fatigue, but usually fatigue in athletes comes from a combination of many things. I will list some of the factors below. Additionally, there are articles linked below about the importance of calcium and iron (especially).
Sleep. Teens need at least 8 hours per night, every night. Its funny because a girl will sit in my class and say "I don't know why I'm so tired, I went to bed at 9:00 last night". However closer inspection will show she averaged going to bed after midnight the previous 3 nights. 1 good night of sleep will never make up for a week or month of bad habits. Sleep has to be consistent to help the body recover from workouts, allow information from classes to be properly handled, and to improve emotion.
Diet. When we asked the girls how well they eat, the common answer is "okay, but not good enough often enough". In particular concern to teenage distance runners is a lack of iron in the diet. The articles below are short and concise about the impact of iron. Red meat is the best source. Without iron, the runners will lose the ability to carry oxygen to the muscles which will lead to the obvious inability to run well. A VERY HIGHLY SUGGEST having your daughter take a one-a-day PLUS iron if isn't yet. Please consult your pediatrician if you're not sure about this, but such a simple thing can honestly make all the difference. Iron deficiency is common! Please read the articles!
Hydration. Most of the girls make 2 common mistakes about hydration. The first mistake is they think they only need to drink water when its hot out. That is incorrect. Proper muscle function requires plenty of water all the time. The second mistake is thinking that hydration only needs to be done the day of or day before their race. For the muscles to stay healthy all the time, hydration has to be done 24/7...just like sleep. Additionally, hydration is more than water. Getting electrolytes, especially on the hot days is crucial. Gatorade 2 or water with some crackers or pretzels is a great way to stay hydrated the right way.
Hard workouts/mileage. When kids are training hard this can obviously lead to fatigue. This week we actually ran very few miles compared to normal and only ran hard for 2000 meters before the meet at Walsh. It is perhaps the easiest training week I've EVER given. This is due to the holiday on Monday and the fact we have so many new runners and not enough depth up front to risk pushing the runners as hard as we might normal push. For these reasons I'm guessing the girls are "fatigued" the most for the reasons listed above. I have little doubt its a combination of all the factors, but the iron one scares me the most, especially for the "semi-vegetarians" and the top runners who get more mileage.
Thanks for reading. Check out the articles below and feel free to ask me anymore questions you may have.
Being a good runner requires a commitment all the time, not just at practice.
http://bewell.com/ArticleDetail.aspx?id=1338&type=1&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?con=299
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/iron.asp
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