Week 6 - I am Ironman...

Another solid week for the team.  We our very proud of the hard work and consistent effort put in by so many of you; especially on a week that was so crazy.  The captains did a great job of hosting practice for those that were in town, many of the girls who were at camps still were able to run a bit, and others who were off on vacations got some runs in as well.
I wanted to talk a little bit about a health topic that affects many of us a runners - iron levels.  For a variety of reasons which I won't get into right now, iron levels in runners tend to be a bit lower than for others sometimes even to the point of anemia (there are many great articles about this topic online - do a little research).  This is a problem for runners because lower iron/ferritin levels will lead to fatigue.  One of the best things that each of us can do is try an incorporate more iron into our daily eating habits.  To boost the amount of iron in your diet, try these foods: red meat, eggs (particularly the yoke), spinach and other leafy greens, dried fruits (prunes, raisins), iron-enriched cereals, beans and liver.  In some cases an iron pill (or liquid form) is needed.  It is very important to know what to and not to take your iron with.  Vitamin C has been shown to help the absorption of iron, while Calcium blocks this absorption.
Those who have had lower levels of iron would tell you the significance of an iron-rich diet is to your body.  I would encourage each of you to make a diet high in iron a regular part of your meal plans, and anyone who seems to be abnormally low on energy for an extended amount of time might want to go get iron levels checked at the doctor.
Now, back to other running stuff…  Practice will be back to normal this week - 7:00 am at Washington Elementary (Mon-Thurs) with Friday at a location to-be-announced.  And Tuesday after practice we will have running club.  Unbelievably, we are less than a month out from school starting and our first meet will soon follow.  If you haven't been as consistent in your running as you should be, it is not too late to start - but you must get going everyday and get your minutes in or you will not be reaching your goals and neither will our team!