1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:04,200 You're listening to episode 214 of the Marathon Running Podcast. 2 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:07,360 In this episode, we're going to talk about hormones and their 3 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:09,280 effect on your running performance. 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,920 This is the Marathon Running Podcast by Letty and Ryan from 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:22,640 We Got the Runs. Join us in our running community 6 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:26,320 for weekly content that is motivational, educational and 7 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:29,360 inspirational and that the Marathon Running Podcast take 8 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:32,400 you from the starting line to the finish line and beyond. 9 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:41,320 Hey runners, and welcome to episode 214. 10 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:45,000 My name is Letty and I am your host, usually accompanied by my 11 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:47,920 wonderful husband Ryan. But right now it's summertime 12 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:52,080 and during the summer IA native German and German speaker take 13 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,960 my children to Germany to immerse them in the language and 14 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,760 culture, etcetera. My husband usually comes too, 15 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,640 but not for the whole time. So I'm in Germany most of the 16 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,040 summer and the kids go to school here. 17 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:05,239 I work from home, so it all pans out right? 18 00:01:05,239 --> 00:01:07,960 And then at the end of the summer, Ryan flies over here, 19 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:10,960 spend some time with us, and then we all fly back to the 20 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:13,840 United States where you live. So that's it in a nutshell. 21 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:18,600 Anyway, welcome back if you are a longtime listener and welcome 22 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:21,760 if you're new. This is a weekly running podcast 23 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,080 on all things running. We try to get the expert coaches 24 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:29,160 and nutritionists, et cetera. We do race recaps and really 25 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:31,200 anything that has to do with running. 26 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:33,520 And we've gotten really good feedback from you guys. 27 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:37,200 If you ever have any topic ideas, then let us know and 28 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:39,800 hopefully we can incorporate that because that's exactly what 29 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,400 we try to do. We try to listen to IO listeners 30 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,120 and see what the questions are and try to answer them for you 31 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:46,680 guys. Now if you're looking for 32 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,280 something more along the lines of entertainment and you want 33 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,600 some visual stuff with it, we have been on YouTube for over a 34 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,920 month posting weekly videos and those weekly videos are more 35 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,120 blogging style. And we do a lot of reviews of 36 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,520 races where we show you our whole getaway weekend for the 37 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:06,920 race. We do shoe reviews, gear 38 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:09,960 reviews. We've been getting our VO2 Max 39 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:13,280 tested and took you along for that, checking out running 40 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:15,560 scenes. We also do some that give you 41 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:19,320 tips such as packing lists and drills, et cetera. 42 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,640 So we're still trying to figure out our place on YouTube, but 43 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:25,040 it's been a ton of fun and definitely something that we're 44 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:27,760 going to continue doing alongside the podcast. 45 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,280 All right, so enough of that. Let's hop into today's topic. 46 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,680 Today's topic is hormones and how hormones affect your 47 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:38,120 endurance and your running. And our expert today is Kelsey 48 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:42,080 Pontius, who is a registered dietitian. 49 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,680 She's a nutritionist. She's also run the Olympic 50 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:49,120 trials in the past, and she practices what she preaches. 51 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:50,640 I've known her for a couple of years. 52 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:53,720 I've been following her methods, and she really seems to know her 53 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:55,400 stuff. So without any further ado, 54 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:57,960 we're now going to play my conversation with Kelsey 55 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:03,320 Pontius. All right, so I'm back on with 56 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:05,640 Kelsey Ponies. Kelsey, thank you so much for 57 00:03:05,640 --> 00:03:09,600 joining me again. Yeah, I was so excited to 58 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,960 reunite and talk about all things running and nutrition. 59 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:16,240 Yes, absolutely. And since it's been so long that 60 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:18,720 you've been on our podcast, I think it's been more than two 61 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:21,800 years and we've grown massively in that time period. 62 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:24,880 Maybe let's start by having you introduce yourself star 63 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:29,560 listeners again. Yes, so I have been a lifelong 64 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:31,320 athlete. I started playing soccer when I 65 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:38,040 was three years old and I dreamed of playing collegiate 66 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:41,480 soccer. And I suffered a pretty bad 67 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,560 injury right before my most important college recruiting 68 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:46,800 years. And that was kind of the 69 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,920 timeline where I started being curious about the role of 70 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,440 nutrition and performance because my goal at that time was 71 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:58,040 to get back on the field ASAP so college recruiters could see me 72 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:03,440 play and give me a scholarship. So that high school was when I 73 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:05,720 started to become interested in nutrition. 74 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,800 And then I ended up playing college soccer and still like in 75 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,160 a place as an athlete where I was an underclassmen and wanted 76 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:14,800 to get more minutes on the field. 77 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:18,959 I was still curious about like, what's the difference between 78 00:04:18,959 --> 00:04:22,120 the girls that are playing all 90 minutes and me who's trying 79 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:24,240 to just be put in for a couple minutes? 80 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,000 Like, is there any difference in our nutrition? 81 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,920 And so eventually I chose the major of nutrition and 82 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:35,120 dietetics. And around that time, too, I 83 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,120 transitioned from soccer player to runner. 84 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:43,840 And so it was a great kind of, it happened at the same time 85 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:47,520 where I was learning more about running, more about nutrition 86 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:49,760 and just how impactful it is for the runner. 87 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:54,240 And that maybe I'm biased, but without nutrition, our bodies 88 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,560 are capable of very little. And on the flip side, we have a 89 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:01,360 whole new world of potential when we're feeling our bodies 90 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:04,520 correctly. And so then I developed media 91 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:06,760 nutrition after I was done with all of my training. 92 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,640 Before I started, I did have a little bit of experience in 93 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:14,640 Clinical Nutrition, which I worked in hospitals and got a 94 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,360 lot of experience there. And then eventually started my 95 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,280 own practice and started working mostly with athletes. 96 00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:23,840 And now my practice, I have myself and another dietitian, 97 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:26,520 Sarah, and we're both certified specialist in sports diet 98 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,320 headaches and mostly work with athletes. 99 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:33,280 And so I've been really grateful for this kind of lifelong 100 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:38,280 journey of being curious around the role of performance and what 101 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:41,760 we're we're feeding ourselves. I love it and it's pretty 102 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,760 amazing that you were interested at such a young age because I 103 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:48,560 know as a teenager, especially in the United States, nutrition 104 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:52,360 is not nutrition. It's food, diet, and all that 105 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:53,960 stuff that kind of comes with it. 106 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,080 But I guess that kind of goes hand in hand right now today 107 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:01,880 with our topic on hormones, because that is right around 108 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,120 that time where it's probably the most important to learn what 109 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:07,720 works for your body and what doesn't as we're developing. 110 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,080 Oh, yeah. And where I got to that point of 111 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,960 my education, it was like, I won't say that it was too late, 112 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:19,240 but there's definitely things that you probably know, which is 113 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:22,600 probably why you wanted to talk about this topic that you wish 114 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:24,200 you would have known a long time ago. 115 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:27,760 Because I think that instead of being frustrated or feeling 116 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,520 defeated, you would have just had that more knowledge about 117 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:32,240 like, oh, this is what's going on in my body. 118 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,280 And here's how I can adapt. Well, I'm going to shock you at 119 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:38,040 my age. I'm not going to say the age 120 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,200 that I am right now. I know very, very little about 121 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:45,400 how hormones and nutrition work as an athlete, which is the 122 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:47,880 reason why I wanted to bring this on the podcast. 123 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:50,480 I've talked to a bunch of my friends and we're all kind of 124 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,800 like still at our age, the blind leading the blind. 125 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:58,680 So let me ask you before we talk about any of this, perhaps you 126 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,320 can give us a definition of what hormones are. 127 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:06,240 And as we go and talk in this recording, what hormones are we 128 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,080 talking about when it comes to men and women both? 129 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:14,040 Yeah, So hormones just Simply put, I'll keep it really like 130 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,360 high level is chemical substances that act like 131 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,560 messengers to the rest of our of our bodies. 132 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:24,480 And there's so many different hormones within our body. 133 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,560 And so I think most of your questions collect, correct me if 134 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:32,480 you're wrong, but I think most of your questions seem like 135 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:35,600 you're asking about sex hormones. 136 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,840 And there's there's numerous sex hormones. 137 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:44,200 The ones that I'll probably talk the most about in the podcast 138 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:46,440 are estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. 139 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,400 But certainly even things that help regulate our blood sugar 140 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:55,000 like insulin, Glucagon, there's even more thyroid hormone that 141 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,680 can be suppressed due to over exercise, under fueling and a 142 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:01,680 lot of different things. But yeah, I took most of your 143 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:04,040 questions like you're trying to learn more about the sex 144 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,600 hormones. So scientists have identified 145 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:13,320 over 50 hormones in the human body that are make up our 146 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:15,880 endocrine system. That's a lot. 147 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,240 Wow. It's a lot, it's a lot. 148 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:20,840 And so these chemical messengers are playing so many different 149 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:24,200 roles in our body. And so I think that like the 150 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,120 biggest thing to know is there can be so many different forms 151 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,560 of hormone suppression. However, when we're under 152 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,520 fueling, the reproductive reproductive system is impacted 153 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:38,039 and that's when we start to see differences in our estrogen, 154 00:08:38,039 --> 00:08:40,720 progesterone, testosterone. There's other sex hormones too, 155 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:43,240 but those are the ones most commonly talked about. 156 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:46,480 OK, perfect. So maybe we can start by having 157 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:49,880 you explain like the basic relationship between hormones, 158 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:52,760 endurance, running and performance for both men and 159 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:56,120 women. Before I get too far into it, I 160 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:00,440 want to say that you and your friends not knowing there's 161 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:04,520 there, that's completely understandable because there 162 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,000 isn't women aren't studied that much. 163 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,800 And so it makes perfect sense to me that there's more questions 164 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:12,560 than answers. And I think even people that are 165 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:15,960 kind of in the know, we still have more questions than answers 166 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:20,640 because women weren't aggressively studied, especially 167 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,800 in athletics for so long. It's really been in the last 168 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:27,720 like two decades that we've started to slowly get more 169 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:32,560 information and in research, a lot of times people don't want 170 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:36,000 to study us because there are so moving, so many moving parts as 171 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:40,120 as far as fluctuating hormones and contraceptives and stuff 172 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:41,120 like that. So we're we're a hard 173 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:44,640 demographic to study. Absolutely. 174 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:46,440 Yeah. No, that makes complete sense. 175 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,920 It's always the study of, you know, the young college men that 176 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:53,800 are 19 and 20, it seems like. Military men, yes. 177 00:09:55,520 --> 00:10:00,120 So OK, to answer your question, you asked about the role or the 178 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:04,360 relationship between hormones in men and women and endurance 179 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:07,200 sports, right? Yes, yes. 180 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:12,880 So before we make like a hormone sound like a monster or exercise 181 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:15,600 on hormones sound like a monster, that's that's not true. 182 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,560 Actually, exercise can be supportive of our hormones. 183 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:25,440 Where you know, we start to get in trouble with doing endurance 184 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:31,280 activities and imbalances or suppressing hormones is when 185 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:35,840 there is either overtraining or relative energy deficiency in 186 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:38,200 sport, which just that just means that we're not consuming 187 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:41,560 enough energy or overall calories to support our 188 00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:45,520 activities. And so exercise in general can 189 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:51,160 help support estrogen levels and can help support testosterone in 190 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:55,280 both men and women. And so, you know, I think that 191 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:57,920 it's one of those things that the dose makes the poison. 192 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:01,200 And so over exercising and under fueling are just not supporting 193 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,880 your body, not just nutrition, but in other ways too, so that 194 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,880 your body can handle the stress. Because even though running 195 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:13,320 often feels good to us, we increase, you know, endorphins 196 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:17,760 when we're running. It feels good that if we're not 197 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,120 taking care of our other needs to support that activity that we 198 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:24,680 all love to do, then that's where we can start to have some 199 00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:30,120 hormone suppression found in, in a lot of hormones, but 200 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,520 particularly the sex hormones, which are the estrogen, the 201 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:35,320 progesterone, and then the testosterone. 202 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:40,480 And another misconception is I think that people think that 203 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:42,760 testosterone is just a male hormone. 204 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:44,920 But really as women, we need some too. 205 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:50,480 And so definitely, you know, as as women approach menopause, 206 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:53,960 they're they're losing a lot of their hormones, including 207 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,520 testosterone, which a lot of women going through that get 208 00:11:56,520 --> 00:12:00,000 hormone replacement through that phase of their life is also 209 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,200 getting testosterone replenished too. 210 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:09,880 So hormone can suppression, suppression due to imbalances or 211 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:14,280 over exercising or under fueling can happen in both sexes. 212 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:20,280 I think for women it is a little bit more obvious in women that 213 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,600 that are menstruating because we get that monthly report card, 214 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:27,440 which is kind of a blessing because we can kind of have that 215 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,560 report card of like Ding, Ding, something's wrong. 216 00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:34,920 Whereas men aren't looking for some of the symptoms of under 217 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:38,560 fueling on a monthly, you know, schedule. 218 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:44,720 So it's still can happen in men. And basically to sum it up, the 219 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:48,360 dose makes the poison. Supporting our bodies with 220 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:53,120 nutrition, with stress management, getting your body 221 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:56,680 like ready, even physically, to handle the load of running that 222 00:12:56,680 --> 00:13:00,960 we do are all things that contribute to having your 223 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:03,440 hormones to be supported. I love it. 224 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:07,200 Thank you for explaining that. All right, so let's talk about 225 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:10,400 how hormonal fluctuations throughout the menstrual cycle 226 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:12,680 can affect a woman's running performance and recovery. 227 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,600 And is there anything comfortable that happens in the 228 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:19,680 body of a man? Yes. 229 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:25,320 So female hormones are for the most part fluctuating throughout 230 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:28,560 the whole month. And so in the beginning of the 231 00:13:28,560 --> 00:13:32,800 cycle, which for a lot of women is ranges from 1 to 14 days. 232 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:36,000 Obviously that kind of depends how long your total cycle is. 233 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,960 Is it 28 days? I think anywhere from like 26 to 234 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:44,760 36 days is considered normal. So in the first part of the 235 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:49,240 cycle known as your follicular phase, your estrogen levels are 236 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:54,720 rising. And so I like to talk about the 237 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:57,680 phases of the hormone cycle. I just love animals. 238 00:13:57,680 --> 00:14:01,040 So I like to pair like the weeks and the stages of the hormone 239 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:05,960 cycle based on like animals. I feel like your listeners will 240 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:08,600 appreciate this because it will be easier to remember. 241 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:12,160 So the 1st and everybody feels a little bit different. 242 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:14,960 And I think that that's why tracking our cycles is so 243 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:17,640 important to know how you feel. For example, my best friend and 244 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:23,120 I, we're training partners and we we're very similar fitness 245 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:26,960 levels very similar, like talent levels and everything. 246 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:30,880 But the weeks that we feel good are entirely different. 247 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:35,720 Like she feels good right or right before her cycle and she 248 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:38,080 feels like trash the first week of her cycle. 249 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:41,240 Whereas I'm the opposite. Like as soon as I start my 250 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:45,040 cycle, I feel incredible, but the week before I don't feel 251 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:46,840 good. So everybody's a little bit 252 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,720 different, but week 1, we call that the cat phase. 253 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:54,120 That's where we're feeling a little bit lazy. 254 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:57,720 You know, you naps might be helpful. 255 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:01,720 Week two, and this is kind of, I feel like most women can agree 256 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:05,280 to this is the dog phase. That's where we are. 257 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:09,040 I always liked on that week. That's where we're like, you 258 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:14,360 know, have a lot of energy. We are creative, you know, we're 259 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:18,280 willing to do, you know, more chores in the house, that kind 260 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:23,040 of thing, just more energy. And so the dog phase, like I 261 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:26,240 know when I'm in that week, like I started going to community 262 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:28,280 track and like I'm like challenging the boys to 263 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:30,000 everything 'cause I know I feel good. 264 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:33,080 And I'm kind of like in my head thinking about how this isn't 265 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:35,880 fair. But to your original question, 266 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:38,880 like how to mends, hormones fluctuate just through 24 hours 267 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,200 and like they don't experience the the dramatic changes in 268 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:44,600 estrogen versus progesterone. So they are just like always 269 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:46,160 locked and loaded with testosterone. 270 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:48,720 So then in that week when I'm like challenging to track 271 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:50,720 things, I'm like, I don't even have a fraction of their 272 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,560 testosterone. So I won't worry about that. 273 00:15:54,640 --> 00:16:01,960 And then Letty's laughing. She can't see, we can't see her, 274 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:06,440 but she's laughing. Week 3, that's when we kind of 275 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:08,760 cross over. That's the ovulation phase. 276 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:10,480 So I call that the Peacock phase. 277 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:15,200 And so estrogen is starting to dip and, you know, now 278 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:19,320 progesterone is about to rise in the second-half of the cycle. 279 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:22,000 And so still a lot of women feel energized. 280 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:26,000 That's why libido goes up. It's the Peacock phase. 281 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:32,480 So hormonally, it supports, you know, wanting to to conceive a 282 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,160 child. And so I call that the Peacock 283 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:37,920 phase. And then the last one, and this 284 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:40,240 is definitely supportive is the sloth phase. 285 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:44,400 That might be where that's progesterone phases are up, let 286 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:48,760 it can handle it. Progesterone levels are up, 287 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:51,480 which are catabolic, meaning break. 288 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:57,080 There's muscle breakdown with in the this is now your luteal 289 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:00,280 phase of your cycle. You're more tired, you're more 290 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:02,960 sluggish. If you ever try to do a hard 291 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:07,440 workout like AVO 2 Max workout, speed workout, you don't feel 292 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:09,119 your best, you do not feel quick. 293 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:14,920 However on the other side of it, because during this phase your 294 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:21,480 your utilization of carbs isn't as efficient, but your breakdown 295 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:26,079 of of fat is longer, slower runs could feel really, really good 296 00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:27,240 to you. Everybody's a little bit 297 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,480 different. Whereas in kind of that dog and 298 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:34,240 Peacock phase, that's where like the more of the harder workouts, 299 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:40,240 our ability to breakdown carbs is a little bit better in that 300 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:43,040 phase. Also in the the sloth phase and 301 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:45,960 maybe even some of the Peacock phase, we start to have more 302 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:50,400 protein oxidation, which just means like protein breakdown, 303 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:53,560 meaning that we're not recovering quite as well. 304 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:55,960 We have muscle breakdown going on in the body. 305 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:00,640 Wow, I I love that. I love this analogy because 306 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,920 it'll probably stick with us. And you know, when your 307 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,960 significant other asks you what's going on, you can just 308 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:09,920 say Peacock face or whatever is going on, right? 309 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:14,280 But but with that, my next question or I guess follow up 310 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,400 question is if you are on birth control and the type of birth 311 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:19,680 control where you don't get your cycle like the pill or if you're 312 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:24,600 on IUD, how does that affect your, your, what's going on with 313 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:28,280 your body? Oh man, that is such a tricky 314 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:30,320 question. And that's an area that we still 315 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:32,440 need more information on, I would say. 316 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:36,640 And so, you know, with that, I think the most important thing 317 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:40,240 to understand is that you have an an ovulatory cycle, meaning 318 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:42,960 that you the whole purpose is you're not, you're not 319 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,520 ovulating. You know, I think that it could 320 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:50,400 be safe to say that you don't feel the fluctuations of 321 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:54,520 estrogen versus progesterone as heavily as someone that isn't on 322 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:58,080 contraceptives. But and then, you know, as far 323 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:01,560 as predicting when your cycle's going to be, the predictability 324 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:02,960 of it might be a little bit better. 325 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:09,880 But I would say that's an area, you know, I am speaking off of 326 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:16,000 just, you know, kind of knowing women and not necessarily off of 327 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,680 evidence based information. Yeah, no, that that makes 328 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:25,800 complete sense. All right, so now from our 329 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:30,520 sponsor, Tifosi Optics. Tifosi, the brand name is the 330 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,040 Italian word for superfan, and that's who they make the eyewear 331 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:36,000 for. Their slogan is Live Your 332 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,360 Passion. 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But what dietary adjustment 368 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,440 should both athletes make and pay attention to? 369 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:46,200 In terms of like supporting their hormones, right, Yes, Yep. 370 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:52,040 So the number one thing in both of the sexes is eating enough. 371 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:56,960 We have to remember that. So the things that take priority 372 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,360 in our body is our heart beating and our lungs breathing. 373 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:05,040 And so that's kind of a part of our, of our energy requires of 374 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:08,160 our basic needs. Or if you've ever heard of your 375 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:10,880 basal metabolic rate, that's the amount of energy you need to 376 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:12,840 keep your vital organs functioning. 377 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,800 The reproductive system has, has organs in it. 378 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,000 So next. So if you're not consuming 379 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,720 enough, your body's going to prioritize your heart beating, 380 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,240 your lungs breathing, the ones that are essential for keeping 381 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:31,640 you alive because you can't reproduce if your heart's not 382 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:33,240 beating and your lungs aren't breathing right. 383 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:37,000 And so if you're not consuming enough and then you're forcing 384 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,800 yourself to go and run like you're you're spending that 385 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:43,560 money there, then you're not going to have enough energy 386 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:48,520 leftover for reproduction. And so eating enough is so 387 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:50,400 critical. The next thing that I think 388 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,000 about, and this is a hormone that's not specifically a sex 389 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,480 hormone, but it is a hormone, cortisol. 390 00:22:55,720 --> 00:23:00,040 And so after we're eating enough, I think about and again, 391 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:02,880 like cortisol gets a bad name, but it's it's not bad. 392 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,480 It's actually essential for our survival and does a lot of 393 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,960 really great things for us. But the dose makes the poison. 394 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:15,040 And so I think about exercise alone is going to stimulate 395 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:19,200 cortisol and so too much of it, putting your body under more 396 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,880 stress than what it needs to be to carry out a, you know, the 397 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,240 functions of training is going to elevate cortisol more. 398 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,920 So what we can do aside from eating enough is fueling 399 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:35,240 appropriately around exercise, not training fasted, taking in 400 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:39,320 nutrition while you're out there, proper recovery 401 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:41,720 nutrition. And then I would say the the 402 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:45,760 other most important thing next is our nutrient density. 403 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:50,480 And so now we've, you know, supported our body to to handle 404 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:52,040 the stress of training around training. 405 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,520 We've ate. The next thing I would say is 406 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:56,360 nutrient density. And so eating the proper 407 00:23:56,360 --> 00:24:00,000 vitamins and minerals that also help IT support hormone 408 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,920 production. So these are there's a lot of 409 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,400 micronutrients that support it. So if you're listening, you're 410 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:07,840 like, she missed this one. Yeah, there's so many of them, 411 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:11,600 but iron, which has so many different key roles in our body, 412 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:15,920 including oxygen, transport, magnesium, zinc. 413 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,400 So eating foods that have a lot of vitamins and minerals in them 414 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,360 is really important. I did miss this one. 415 00:24:22,360 --> 00:24:23,760 This one is really important too. 416 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:27,280 So protein, always protein is important and does have a role 417 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,640 with hormones. However, I think because it's 418 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,800 always glorified, then it's normally like fat and 419 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:37,800 carbohydrates kind of being the step sister, right? 420 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,280 And so fat actually is a precursor for hormone 421 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,680 development. So I often see in diets that are 422 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,760 low in fat that there is hormone suppression. 423 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:48,320 And the other one is carbohydrates. 424 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:50,920 Because our carbohydrates are our number one source of fuel. 425 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,840 If we're not consuming enough of them, then our bodies can be 426 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:56,320 subjected to low carbohydrate availability. 427 00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:59,480 And that's when we start to break down things in the body 428 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,840 such as muscle, hormones, all these things for fuel that is 429 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:07,160 not meant to be fuel. So supporting your body to have 430 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:11,160 enough gasoline in the system so we're not breaking down other 431 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:14,000 functions in the body is essential too. 432 00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:18,760 That's interesting. And you know, we hear the term 433 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,440 and this is also a follow up, we hear the term under fuelling a 434 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:24,960 lot and you and your practice, I know you don't just train elite 435 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:28,320 athletes, I know you have a broad variety of basically 436 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:30,680 everybody. When we talk about under 437 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:36,320 fuelling, is this really the thing as in people are too 438 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:38,920 skinny and light? Or when you talk about under 439 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,800 fueling, is it more like you're not meeting the nutrition 440 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:45,480 density or you're not feeling right? 441 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,240 Yeah, under fueling the way that I say it is and I think that 442 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:53,040 this is accurate and we can apply it, just this is not my 443 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:57,320 opinion. It can be independent of body 444 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:03,760 size and so often times healthcare providers entirely 445 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:08,040 miss that. Someone can be not meeting their 446 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:11,360 nutrition requirements in terms of energy requirements and 447 00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:16,480 energy calories or they're not eating enough of the macros or 448 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:21,400 micros to support their body because they are so laser 449 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,040 focused on the size of their body and particularly their BMI, 450 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:28,760 which we know isn't a determinant of nutritional 451 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,360 status. Yet time and time again I see 452 00:26:31,360 --> 00:26:34,360 providers using that as an indicator of whether someone is 453 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:36,240 fueling enough or not fueling enough. 454 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:41,560 I think it's a major issue not in especially in the space of 455 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:45,520 running medicine. And So what when I say it, we're 456 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,960 just not consuming enough energy by by calories alone. 457 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:52,720 When I say under fueling to support all of the activities 458 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:55,200 we're asking our bodies to do. OK, perfect. 459 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:59,400 Thank you for clarifying that. So let's hop into another 460 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:01,320 question more concerning about women. 461 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,760 How can women optimize their training schedules around their 462 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,200 menstrual cycle? I mean, obviously we best if we 463 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,080 could pick marathons knowing when our cycle would be, but 464 00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:13,280 that's not the case. But are there any specific peers 465 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:17,000 or conditions that men could also consider when planning 466 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:23,080 their training? So, OK, I have mixed feelings 467 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:25,680 for the reason that you just brought up, because sometimes we 468 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:29,000 have to race on unideal times of our cycles. 469 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:31,920 And I think there's something to about learning how to do that 470 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:37,240 because there was this a period of like a few years where I 471 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:41,560 would get so discouraged whenever it would be not optimal 472 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:43,840 timing. And I think that like there's 473 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,280 something to be said about like emotionally being able to be 474 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,080 like, yeah, I've done that before and I know that my body's 475 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:54,200 capable of it. Believe it or not, most of the 476 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:58,080 evidence doesn't support like a, where we're at right now. 477 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:02,080 Again, like there needs to be a lot more research being done. 478 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:07,320 But our perceived exertion can be higher, but our performance, 479 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:10,720 believe it or not, can be really, really similar even in 480 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:14,400 like those sloth phases and stuff like that. 481 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,640 And so it just kind of depends. And I think like a, a mind over 482 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:22,800 matter, I don't want to say like what women are going through is 483 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,640 real. And it is it does feel harder 484 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:29,960 and there are challenges. So I think with the whole 485 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,120 training thing, as far as adapting your training, I think 486 00:28:33,120 --> 00:28:36,400 there is space to slow down on your easier runs because you can 487 00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:39,840 utilize fat a little bit more as energy. 488 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:42,640 And the lower our heart rate is, the more we're not typing it, 489 00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:46,920 tapping into our carbohydrate stores, which are more finite 490 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:51,320 that our body has a hard time using energy during the later 491 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:54,760 phases of our cycle. I think that if you know, 492 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:56,880 depending on what your training is like and what if you have a 493 00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:59,360 coach in your relationship with your coach or if you're creating 494 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:03,280 your own training cycle, then maybe you don't do during those 495 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:08,000 weeks quite as high intensity or like speed work and BO2 Max. 496 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:13,360 And maybe you learn more on the tempo type of work and threshold 497 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:17,400 type of work. Full disclaimer, I don't do that 498 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:19,880 just because like I want to mentally be prepared for 499 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:23,520 anything for racing. I do think that there's 500 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:27,800 something to like if you're an athlete that takes down weeks. 501 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:32,320 I do like to try to tie my down weeks around like the weeks that 502 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:34,880 I don't feel as good, meaning running a little bit less, not 503 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:38,720 doubling that, that kind of thing, doing a little bit 504 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:42,360 lighter training, but still typically I'll have at least 505 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,440 like one harder run in that week. 506 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,440 So I think that that's a good idea because there is more 507 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,760 muscle breakdown. A lot of times the motivation is 508 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:53,280 lower too. You don't feel like training as 509 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:55,920 much. But if you you can't do that, I 510 00:29:55,920 --> 00:30:00,680 think that the biggest thing is eating more carbohydrates during 511 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:04,240 this phase because your body is having a hard time, you know, 512 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,320 using the ones that you that you are storing. 513 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,080 So there is evidence to support that, like eating more of them 514 00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:15,760 can help and then making sure that you're eating enough 515 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:18,120 protein because of the protein breakdown. 516 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:20,600 And realistically like it shouldn't make you nervous. 517 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:24,120 A lot of times appetites and drives to eat go up because of 518 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:26,320 the other hormones that we didn't talk about that regulate 519 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:30,240 our appetite because our metabolic rate is going up in 520 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:32,920 the later phases of our cycle. So we really are burning 521 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:36,320 anywhere between 200 to 500 more calories during that phase. 522 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:40,240 So the appetite can kind of support the increase in 523 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:44,200 metabolism. So I, I feel like I kind of like 524 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,920 answered that question a lot of different ways, but I think that 525 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,880 there's value in being prepared if a race does fall on it. 526 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:57,080 But also like, you know, if, if you can take like kind of a down 527 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,360 week or whatever from training to kind of offset, you know, 528 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:02,640 that your body's already burning more calories, that you're more 529 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:05,040 tired and everything. And then really focusing on 530 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:08,280 increasing calories, carbohydrates, protein, 531 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,360 increasing hydration too. Because during that phase of the 532 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:15,320 cycle too, we have to remember that like the whole point of a 533 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:20,840 menstrual cycle is, is either like at the end of of the the 534 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:24,560 cycle, the 30 days, either A, you're gonna shed that uterine 535 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:26,680 lining or B, you're gonna be pregnant. 536 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:31,360 And so the body by increasing like a lot of the fluid is 537 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:35,040 getting you prepared in the event that you are pregnant. 538 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:39,000 And so your hydration needs and your electrolyte needs are going 539 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:43,360 to go up during that phase. And so that's another way you 540 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:47,280 can prepare. As far as men goes, I mean, 541 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:53,080 yeah, Lee, I don't know. I just feel like men are fine. 542 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:54,640 We're not worried. They're fine. 543 00:31:55,960 --> 00:32:02,360 All right, let's talk about the impact of hormones. 544 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,440 Just a general question. How does long distance running 545 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:09,680 impact estrogen and progesterone levels in women and testosterone 546 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:12,200 levels in men? And what are the potential 547 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:16,640 effects on overall health? Yeah, that's kind of, you know, 548 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:18,880 again the the dose makes the poison there. 549 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:23,680 So I mean, I think that there is, you know, we know enough 550 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:29,080 that if you're over exercising and running too much relative to 551 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:33,240 how much you're consuming, then distance running can have a 552 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:38,240 delirious effect on not delirious, a delirious effect on 553 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:42,120 on those hormones for for females. 554 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:47,440 That's why you know, when you're under fuelling, you have you're 555 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:52,080 at higher risk of bone stress injuries because testosterone 556 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:56,240 and estrogen in both men and women are being depleted. 557 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:01,080 And so and the same thing can occur with men. 558 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:04,920 There's actually something so the absence of a cycle for women 559 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:09,400 can't for three months is known as hypothalic amenorrhea. 560 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:16,840 And so which can be a result of low energy availability for men. 561 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:21,320 Low energy availability can perpetuate something known as 562 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:27,600 exercise, relative hypogonadism condition, which can result in 563 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:32,360 low testosterone, low bone mineral density, kind of an 564 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:36,920 overlap of, you know, what can happen with females when they're 565 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:39,440 when they're not consuming enough calories. 566 00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,760 And so, yeah, I think that distance running to say that it 567 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:45,760 simply depletes hormones, that's that's not true. 568 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:49,920 I think that the dose and the support of of the activity makes 569 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:52,120 the poison. OK. 570 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:56,280 And so then for guys that do you want to be long distance runners 571 00:33:56,280 --> 00:34:00,520 and, you know, push it to the extreme, what is a way for them 572 00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:04,000 to upkeep their testosterone? And I guess the same for women 573 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,000 with the progesterone and estrogen. 574 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,600 Yeah, they're just, you know, with men, I'll answer that one 575 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:13,920 first is eating enough, doing strength training can have 576 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:18,080 advantageous, you know, benefits to testosterone levels in both 577 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:20,840 men and women. So that's another way. 578 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:25,560 And then there's a big role, too, with getting enough vitamin 579 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:27,880 D. So if you're running a lot in 580 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,719 the dark, then just getting your vitamin D levels checked, 581 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:35,920 supplementing if you need to, and so forth with progesterone 582 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:39,600 and estrogen, and I guess too, like with men and hormones too, 583 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:42,800 there's a lot of overlap. If you're not saying is again, 584 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,120 the eating enough kind of what we talked about with, you know, 585 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:49,239 eating before or during and after your runs. 586 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:54,360 Also, I haven't mentioned this yet, but especially with 587 00:34:55,199 --> 00:34:58,840 regulating progesterone levels is managing your stress. 588 00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:02,520 And so a lot of times I hear runners being like running is my 589 00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:04,520 therapy. And while running can make us 590 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,920 feel super good because we're we're creating endorphins. 591 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:13,000 If something is going on in your life and you go on a run, it 592 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,520 will in the moment, it can make you feel better. 593 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:19,880 But if like, let's say that I'm dealing with my dog sick and I 594 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:23,000 go on my run and then I feel a little bit better when I get 595 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:24,840 back, my dog's still going to be sick. 596 00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:28,520 And so I think that like finding other ways to manage your 597 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:33,680 stress, running can't be your only outlet, can have a really 598 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:37,520 big impact on our hormones. That's interesting. 599 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:38,800 Yeah, I know we do hear that a lot. 600 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,960 And obviously we know that there, I mean, running is not a 601 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:44,680 substitute for therapy. So that's interesting. 602 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:48,080 All right. So let me track back earlier you 603 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:51,000 mentioned a little bit about cortisol, but perhaps you can 604 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,520 kind of dive deeper into how the role of cortisol and endurance 605 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:58,520 running impacts performance and recovery for both men and women? 606 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:03,280 Yes. So cortisol kind of reminds me 607 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:06,840 of like the word not because they're the same, but it reminds 608 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:12,000 me of kind of the stereotype of inflammation because I think 609 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:14,960 that like inflammation was having a moment and then people 610 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:19,280 became terrified of inflammation and inflammation is actually 611 00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:21,440 there for a reason, much like cortisol is. 612 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:26,120 So some of the benefits of cortisol includes it helps us 613 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:29,200 wake up and feel alert so that we're not like dragging and 614 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:34,440 feeling like sloths, helps us manage our inflammation, help 615 00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:37,600 support our metabolism, helps manage our salt and water 616 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:40,680 retention levels, which again, for a runner is extremely 617 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:45,320 critical, helps us modulate our blood sugar levels, which again, 618 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:48,880 for an athlete that is really, really important that we're not 619 00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:53,000 like having, you know, hypoglycemia in the middle of a 620 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:57,480 run. And then it helps, you know, our 621 00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:00,160 brains make memories and stuff like that too. 622 00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:02,800 So cortisol levels like we need cortisol. 623 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,960 Like the the other things that I've talked about too much of it 624 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:12,720 is kind of where where it can be, it can be detrimental. 625 00:37:12,720 --> 00:37:17,640 And so I kind of talked about this already, but doing fasted 626 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:21,320 runs can be extremely stressful in the body. 627 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,280 Or having that cup of coffee and then not eating anything and 628 00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:27,040 going out on a run that's raising your cortisol levels and 629 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:30,760 not taking care of regulating your blood sugar levels and then 630 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:36,360 throwing a stressor at it, overtraining and not supporting 631 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:39,920 it with your body with enough calories we know can increase, 632 00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,000 you know, cortisol levels, inflammation, all of that in the 633 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:46,600 body. So it's not at all a bad thing 634 00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:50,000 that we want to rid out entirely, but definitely not 635 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:53,480 supporting your body, taking care of your body, throwing a 636 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:57,480 bunch of stressors at your body without the proper support can 637 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:01,760 create the the the imbalance there. 638 00:38:02,720 --> 00:38:04,600 Wow, there's, there's so much to it. 639 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:06,880 Kind of like you know what you said, there's so many different 640 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:09,840 variables to all of this. Yeah, yeah. 641 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:12,920 There's so many moving parts. Or it could be that you're not 642 00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,640 over training, but like, let's say like you're going through a 643 00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:18,400 divorce and you're training for a marathon that those two pair 644 00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:21,200 together. Like stress is stress, and it 645 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:25,120 can have the same end result of what's happened symptomatically 646 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:27,840 in your body. Yeah, yeah, that's a, that's a 647 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:29,760 good point. And I guess that's why it's so 648 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:34,280 important to have a coach as as no runner is the same. 649 00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:37,440 Nobody's background is the same, nobody's sleep levels, food, 650 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:39,760 everything, and just so many things. 651 00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:45,760 All right, So let me ask you, I guess along those lines, my last 652 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:49,000 question is what are some effective ways to monitor and 653 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:53,000 manage stress levels throughout your diet and training, just to 654 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,400 make sure you know that your hormonal health is in a good 655 00:38:56,400 --> 00:39:00,480 place for both female and males. What what is your couple of main 656 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:04,200 tips that you would tell people? Yeah. 657 00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:09,320 So I would say my favorite things to to recommend for 658 00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:12,200 people is a don't do fasted runs. 659 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,840 Always, always find a way to get calories and even if it's liquid 660 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:20,960 nutrition, try to eat every three to four hours. 661 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:25,040 Focus on, I always talk about on my page performance plates. 662 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:30,200 And I think that like it, it can be, oh, that's what we eat so 663 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:32,600 that we run fast. But really like when we're 664 00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:35,000 thinking about performance plates, the different components 665 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:39,720 have so many different roles in the body and body support is I 666 00:39:39,720 --> 00:39:42,520 think one of the biggest benefits of eating protein 667 00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:45,600 paired with carbohydrates and fats and colors that have a lot 668 00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:48,800 of micro nutrients in it. So aiming to eat performance 669 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:51,760 plates at meals, aiming to eat every two to four hours for 670 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:56,000 athletes not doing training fasted, I think on the nutrition 671 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:59,720 side is important. And then I would say two like 672 00:39:59,720 --> 00:40:03,360 twice a year getting laps, seeing what your micronutrient 673 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:08,400 panels look like, especially, you know, things like vitamin D, 674 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:13,600 iron status, thyroid function, stuff like that while checking 675 00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:17,000 things like. Like women's sex hormones can be 676 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:19,480 dependent on where they are in their cycle. 677 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:22,000 That can be a little bit harder. But even seeing things like oh 678 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:24,960 wow, like my thyroid function is off because it's a hormone and 679 00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,440 hormones work in a Symphony. A lot of times that can tell us 680 00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:30,000 that other hormones are off if you're not wanting to check or 681 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:32,680 it's difficult for you to check the other sex hormones in your 682 00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:36,840 body. My other thing not food related 683 00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:41,280 is getting enough sleep. Also, it's like a double edged 684 00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:42,920 sword. The sleep and hormone things, 685 00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:47,280 'cause if your hormones are suppressed, having insomnia can 686 00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:50,280 be a major symptom of that. But on the other end, like a lot 687 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:53,920 of hormone production happens when we are sleeping. 688 00:40:54,680 --> 00:40:58,480 And so it's like kind of like what came first, the insomnia or 689 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:02,320 the hormone suppression. So really, really trying to 690 00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:04,400 support your body's ability to sleep. 691 00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:08,920 That kind of leads into my next one is like finding time. 692 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:13,600 That's just, it's not like with electronics, it's not running. 693 00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:18,520 It's just an activity outside of your athletics and our 694 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:22,080 technology that consume us to relax. 695 00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:25,240 Maybe it's reading a book, maybe it's prayer, maybe it's 696 00:41:25,240 --> 00:41:27,760 meditation, maybe it's just sitting outside and listening to 697 00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:29,200 nature. But I think that's really, 698 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:32,960 really important because all of our technology a lot of times 699 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:36,480 consumes a lot of our brains. And it's not always bad, but 700 00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:38,680 it's like cortisol. The dose makes the poison. 701 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:42,800 And so having you know, that balance of other things that 702 00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:45,560 help you manage stress. And if you do not plan to do it 703 00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:47,560 or build it into your day, it will not happen. 704 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:50,560 I promise you that. We're all too busy doing so many 705 00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:54,800 things and a lot of us, it can be so easy, like I can find find 706 00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:57,880 5 minutes somewhere. But if you don't prioritize it, 707 00:41:57,880 --> 00:41:59,880 it will not consistently happen at least. 708 00:41:59,880 --> 00:42:01,560 So finding something that works for you. 709 00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:07,880 My example is before I consume any social media in the morning, 710 00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:10,160 I write in a journal and then at night I read. 711 00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:15,800 And so that really, really helps me not, you know, manage my 712 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:18,720 stress a little bit, but that can look different for 713 00:42:18,720 --> 00:42:20,960 everybody. So I think that those are the 714 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,600 main Oh yeah. And then take rest days. 715 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:25,640 Love it. I love all these tips. 716 00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:31,320 Thank you so much for that, For the blood work, the lab work, is 717 00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:34,080 that something that people can work with you? 718 00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:37,200 I know there's a ton of companies, but in reality, it's 719 00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:40,640 kind of like, you know, the DNA testing, which company is good, 720 00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:42,440 what works and what are we even looking for? 721 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:45,400 So would that be something that people could come to with you? 722 00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:51,320 Yeah, absolutely. I think that we can do lab 723 00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:55,240 testing for all states except for three states. 724 00:42:55,240 --> 00:43:00,400 Off the top of my head, I'm like it's it's New Jersey, New York 725 00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:02,240 and then one other state we can't do. 726 00:43:02,240 --> 00:43:03,760 I can't remember off the top of my head though. 727 00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:07,240 So we do lab panels with with our clients. 728 00:43:07,240 --> 00:43:11,360 The benefit of perchiness it through us and not a third party 729 00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:15,320 company is a you have access to a registered dietitian which 730 00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:18,920 specializes in sports and we'll be able to get to. 731 00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:22,680 If you do have any deficiency or just levels that are not within 732 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:26,720 normal limits, you have an expert that's able to a find the 733 00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:30,080 root cause of what's going on and refer you to the appropriate 734 00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:32,120 provider. Should we not be the ones that 735 00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:37,160 have the scope to handle that or, or in a lot of times, it's 736 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:39,480 not as simple as like for example, I've gotten labs 737 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:40,680 through one of the third parties. 738 00:43:40,680 --> 00:43:44,880 And for example, if like your iron's low, it will tell you to 739 00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:48,680 take more iron. But my hot take is that a lot of 740 00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:50,080 runners are consuming enough iron. 741 00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:55,360 The problem is, is that they're not absorbing it for a whole 742 00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:57,640 number of reasons. And that's not something that 743 00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:00,600 these third party cutting out the middleman of the provider 744 00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:02,160 will be able to navigate with you. 745 00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:05,400 And so if you're simply taking more iron, when your body 746 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:08,320 doesn't necessarily need more iron, we just need to work on 747 00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:11,280 absorption and metabolism of iron, then you can reach 748 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:14,440 toxicity. And so we're able to think about 749 00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:18,080 all the different things that influence labs in your health 750 00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:20,600 other than just like looking like, oh, your vitamin D is low, 751 00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:23,720 here's more vitamin D because it's not that straightforward. 752 00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:27,920 And then also we don't, we don't inflate the cost of the labs 753 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:30,360 with clients that are working with us. 754 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:33,920 I I it's through Quest Diagnostics and what Quest 755 00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:36,120 Diagnostics charges me, I charge my clients. 756 00:44:37,240 --> 00:44:38,240 I love it. Awesome. 757 00:44:38,240 --> 00:44:41,520 And if people want to get in touch with you for that or for 758 00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:44,000 any other reasons because they want to work with a dietitian, 759 00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:45,480 what is the best way to get in touch with you? 760 00:44:46,720 --> 00:44:49,360 Yes, my e-mail is kelsey@meteornutrition.com. 761 00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:53,200 I am on Instagram as sports dietitian Kelsey so they can 762 00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:56,040 send me Adm and then also we have a website and it's just 763 00:44:56,040 --> 00:44:58,160 Meteor nutrition.com. Perfect. 764 00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:00,000 And we will link all of that in our show notes. 765 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,000 Kelsey, thank you so much for coming on. 766 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:04,560 You're so welcome, it was so fun. 767 00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:11,520 Thank you so much, Kelsey, for speaking with me and giving me 768 00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:14,880 all this wonderful information. All of Kelsey's information is 769 00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:16,320 going to be LinkedIn the show notes. 770 00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:20,320 So if you want to get in touch with her, please do and let her 771 00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:22,400 know how. She can also help you if you 772 00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:25,560 have additional questions. All right, so that's it for this 773 00:45:25,560 --> 00:45:29,400 week, short and sweet. Stay tuned for next week. 774 00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:31,800 Next week we're going to have somebody on who's going to talk 775 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:36,440 to us about the different energy systems in our bodies and how 776 00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:38,800 they work and correlate for different distances. 777 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:41,520 So definitely tune in for that. If this episode has helped you 778 00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:44,560 in any way, please let me know and you can let me know by 779 00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:47,440 leaving me a 5 star review. I would greatly appreciate that 780 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:50,400 because that'll help us grow our podcast even more. 781 00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:53,720 And until next week, have a great week of running. 782 00:45:58,200 --> 00:46:00,720 Thanks for tuning in. For more information Ant 783 00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:02,680 Marathon Running News, please head to 784 00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:08,000 www.marathonrunningpodcast.com and we'll be back next week. 785 00:46:20,520 --> 00:46:23,200 Are you looking for the perfect apparel that mirrors your love 786 00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:26,080 for running? Look no further than Run Swag, 787 00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:28,680 the go to store by Runners forerunners. 788 00:46:29,120 --> 00:46:32,240 From witty Tees to hoodies that commemorate your marathon majors 789 00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,800 to crops that get you motivated, Run Swags got you covered. 790 00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:38,880 Discover the perfect blend of comfort and style. 791 00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:43,000 Visit www.runswag.com. Run Swag. 792 00:46:43,160 --> 00:46:45,160 There's something for every runner.