Fitness Purgatory - Saying Goodbye to Ironman 2026

So what is going on?  I mentioned my Ironman journey for 2026 came to a halt in June. Bare with me as this is a longer post.

After the half Ironman race in Boulder in June, I had to face the facts that something was not right, something was very wrong with me. My recovery from that race was not great, trying workout after the race with a short run, bike or swim left me heavily fatigued (not MS fatigue) and ready to nap. Something was wrong but I had no idea what, and then the week after the race I recieved an email from Feisty Media about this thing called REDs. The list in the email and research that followed was exactly what I was experiencing. I had read about REDs the year before in a book about endurance athletes but never in a million years did I think it would impact me.

"You push through fatigue, brain fog, poor sleep, low energy, or nagging injuries — and you still get the workout done. So you must be OK, right? For a while, you can get away it. But the problem is that getting the workout done and actually fueling enough to recover and optimize your performance and health are not the same thing.

Left unaddressed, chronic underfueling can negatively impact both physical and mental health, increase the risk of illness and injury, stagnate performance, and lead to low mood and a loss of joy in the process." From Feisty Media email

So what is REDs? "Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) is a condition where the body lacks sufficient energy to support both daily functions and training, leading to a systemic breakdown.

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport is a condition that occurs when an athlete‘s nutritional fueling is insufficient to meet the demands of their training and daily activities. Essentially, the “energy in” is less than the “energy out.” This energy imbalance can impact multiple areas of the body, including the endocrine, metabolic, hematologic, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and immune systems. It also affects psychological health, leading to a cascade of well-being issues.

Athletes who have increased their training load but have not adjusted their caloric intake to meet their heightened nutritional needs. These athletes are unintentionally underfueling.

https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/women-health/understanding-relative-energy-deficiency-in-sport-red-s-risks-of-eating-disorders-in-athletes/"

How did I get here? As athletes and younger women we are encouraged to fast before short early morning workouts as a fat burning activity, however body chemsitry has different ideas when one is going through Perimeopause. So the short answer is I was chronically underfueling for my training the last 16 months by only fueling before, during longer workouts (over 40 minutes) but not for the shorter efforts. I was ALSO unintentionally chronically under fueling for meals. AND I was dealing with all the issues related to perimenopause which overlap in symptoms with REDs. Unfortunately, recovery isn’t instant — it often takes 6–12 months, but full recovery is possible with the right support. 

So what am I doing? I have met with a dietitian who said I need to be eating 2300+ calories a day not training and over 2800 - 3500 calories in a training state (which I am currently not allowed to be in). I need to focus on quality carbs, proteins, fiber/fat in every meal. I am meeting with a functional health specialist who has run A LOT of tests to see if there are some other underlying things causing or being effected by this. We have had a few smaller red flags with my thyroid, my iron levels, and we are doing one more test to see if my GI tract is pulling nutrients correctly or if I have a leaky gut. 

For fitness, I am doing more gentle things like walking longer with the dogs, doing a really easy swim (mostly for my sanity) once a week, an easy bike once a week, and lots and lots of strength work. NO RUNNING. Targeting three times a week lifting weights or doing body weight/band work (20-45 minutes each session). I am gaining perimenopause weight through this but also gaining muscle (regular inbody checks at the gym) so hopefully in a couple of months the strength work will spike my metabolism and things should start going the other way again. I am checking recovery with the occasional medium intensity cardio activity but so far doing that is not great and causes heavy fatigue. In the meantime, I am doing some low key kayaking adventures, learning pickel ball but with lots of rest, and hope to do some hiking. I am trying to give myself grace and time to work the plan and hopefully recover enough to some day train and race again.

To all my friends out there please please please eat to support the activities you are doing. Don't try to use cardio to lose weight as it can stress your body more (I wasn't doing that but there is a lot of research out there to support this). Make sure you add strength related activities to your reroutine as this is supper important especially once we are over 40, 50, 60...

I'll do another more technical blog on this with research links as well, but for now that is what is going on. Rest (so many naps), strength work, finding new/old things to spend my time doing (kayaking, hiking, pickel ball) and eating like it's my job is the name of the game.

As always thanks for reading.