helping young runners avoid roadblocks 🛣️

At the end of July, I'm helping with a local local high school running camp with my friend Jeremy Hammer, owner of KC Endurance.

This four-day camp is designed to bring runners together and sharpen their skills in training, injuries, nutrition, and mental health.

There are a few key things I think all young runners should understand, which I'll be sharing with the camp.

Basic health screenings

High school runners must pass a preseason physical before being allowed to practice and compete.

These are often performed by well-meaning pediatricians who don't always have experience working with endurance athletes.

A common error I see is providers interpreting a high school runner's bloodwork as that of a sedentary adult, specifically regarding iron and ferritin.

Iron is essential for:

Making hemoglobin (so red blood cells can carry oxygen)
Supporting aerobic performance and endurance
Normal muscle and mitochondrial function

Ferritin is an iron storage.

Ferritin is a protein that stores iron inside cells
Low ferritin = depleted iron reserves, even if hemoglobin is still normal

Iron is cash in your wallet, and ferritin is the funds in your retirement account.

A significant number of high school runners (especially females) have low ferritin, leading to decreased performance, lethargy, and potentially BSIs due to iron's role in collagen synthesis.

"Normal" ferritin levels for females can go as low as 13.

Ferritin levels in the teens or 20s need to be addressed, especially since ferritin often drops as training loads increase.

Get the preseason bloodwork, but look at the actual numbers.

Learn more about the role of iron in athletics with this paper 👇
Iron Considerations for the Athlete: A Narrative Review

Sharpening nutrition

It's become common knowledge that runners struggle with nutrition.

While we may have more awareness around disordered eating and eating disorders, many runners simply unintentionally under fuel.

All runners need a nutrition game plan.

Between academic stress, training, and life, it's easy for runners to miss the mark in the kitchen, which can lead to injuries and poor performance.

A helpful question from Rebecca McConville is

"Can you take me through a typical day of fueling?"

If they struggle to answer, they could use some help from a skilled dietitian.

If you want to catch up on the latest research around fueling and youth athletes, be sure to read the following papers 👇
The Adolescent Female Athlete Triad: Part I
The Adolescent Female Athlete Triad: Part II

An offseason is required

Youth sports turn into all-consuming, year-round endeavors if you aren't careful.

Competitive baseball, basketball, and soccer are well known for their growing costs and time commitments for athletes, but running is slowly following suit.

For many young, gifted runners, the competitive fall and spring seasons have gradually grown longer. Regional and national XC and track meets, and growing indoor track seasons, can easily fill an entire calendar year, leaving no space for reprieve.

You need seasonality in life and sport.
Everyone needs times of less.

Periods of rest can be a challenging concept for all ages, but especially for young, successful athletes with a growing list of opportunities presented to them.

Learn more in this article 👇
Youth Sports Specialization and its Effect on Injury Rates and Longevity

A life outside of running

Most runners are type A, driven people who will obsess over something.

It's common for runners to come into the clinic only thinking about running and having social media feeds defined by endurance sports.

It's important to highlight that they have more to them than just their mile PR and finish time at the state meet.

High school runners should ask themselves,

"What do I enjoy doing outside of running/exercise?"
"What information am I consuming that's outside of my sport?"

Here are two articles I've found helpful on athlete identity and social media use.
Athlete Social Media Use and DepressionThe Athlete Identity Measurement Scale

Sharpen your voice

Running is inherently uncomfortable and requires persistence and stubbornness to push compete.

Aches and pains comes along with pushing your buddy.
Learning what to ignore versus what to expect is a life long process for most endurance athletes.

When working with high schoolers, I typically give them a list to watch out for.

Pain that is present over the course of multiple runs
Pain doesn't settle within 24 hours after a run
Pain that is affecting things outside of running
Pain that forces you to run differently

If a high schooler experiences any of the above, they should at least mention it to their coach or ATC and determine whether they need to modify their training or see a clinician.

If I can teach high schoolers these five skills, I think they're set up for a healthy, long-term relationship with running.