Your iron came back normal but you still feel flat? For female runners, normal and optimal are not the same thing. Here is what ferritin really tells you.
Every female runner knows the feeling: the alarm goes off for your interval session, but your legs feel like they're filled with concrete. You're breathless on hills that used to be easy, and your recovery seems to take forever. You go to the doctor, get a standard blood test, and the results come back: everything is normal.
But here is the secret the running world is finally starting to talk about. There is a massive difference between clinically normal and optimal for performance.
When a standard lab looks at your iron, they are often looking at ferritin, your body's iron storage. A normal range might go as low as 15 or 20 ng/mL. For a sedentary person, that's enough to get through the day. But for a woman running 40, 60, or 80 kilometres a week, it's a recipe for a plateau.
Research in sports science suggests that athletes often feel the drag when ferritin drops below 35 to 50 ng/mL. Iron is responsible for transporting oxygen to your working muscles. If your stores are low, your heart has to work harder to do the same amount of work.
Female runners face a triple threat when it comes to iron:
Stop guessing why you're tired. By tracking your ferritin and iron levels regularly, you can see the trends before you hit the wall, instead of finding out the hard way on race day.
This article is general information for runners and is not medical advice, a diagnosis, or a treatment plan. Always discuss your results before making changes such as starting iron supplementation with your GP or a qualified health professional.
SuperRun is blood testing built for runners. The RunHer panel tracks 50+ biomarkers built for female runners, covering iron, hormones and thyroid, scored against athlete performance zones. No GP referral needed, with 4,000+ collection centres across Australia.
