Hello! My name is Clara Peterson. I am a professional 5k and 10k runner and before that ran for Duke University where I was a five time All-American. From my picture you may notice that I am on maternity leave however. In the beginning my running career I suffered from something called Athletic Energy Deficit (AED). What this means was that I was not providing enough fuel for the amount my body was exercising and as a result I suffered some serious bone loss. Since I became educated on how to fuel my sport, I have built my bone density back and feel stronger than ever. I am here today to help other young athletes like myself become strong young women who do a good job eating for their sport so their bones done suffer the way mine did. Enjoy!Boys Lose Bone Too!!!
I recently read an article about a professional cyclist named Blake Caldwell. He was a rider for a team called Garmin Slipstream, which is a prestigious cycling team similar to the ones that Lance Armstrong has ridden with (they were in the Tour De France along with a lot of other world famous bike racers). The article however, was not about many of the success that Caldwell has seen as a cyclist (he has placed as high as second in a few tours such as Utah and was second at the pro championships in 2008) but about his recent discovery that he has osteoporosis. Due to Caldwell’s low weight and lack of weigh bearing in cycling, Caldwell’s bones are frail. It is important to include weigh bearing exercise on a regular basis to build bones. This means sports with running and jumping can be fantastic for your bones. Sports like swimming or cycling are not weigh bearing so often times these athletes are at higher risk for low bone density.
Caldwell is probably one of many cyclist who suffer from osteoporoses. He was not aware of his condition until he experienced a minor crash that shattered his hip. Granted Caldwell was in a crash, but he thought the impact was not strong enough to have broken his hip. So he had a bone density test. Once the result came back that he had low bone mass for his age as a young, 25-year-old male, Caldwell decided to take a break from cycling and focus on building bone.
Caldwell will not stop competing, but he is planning to put effort into bone building while he is still young. This means less hard training, weight bearing exercises and better nutrition.
It was so interesting for me to read this article. I am always so focused on female athletes losing bone density that I often forget to think about the guys. Over 2 million men suffer osteoporosis in the United States in addition to the millions of women. People can easily become victims of this silent disease. As young females we need to build our bones up now so they will stay strong for the rest of our lives. Be healthy and make the right decisions just like Caldwell!
Nutrition tip of the Day: As Americans, it is a part of our culture to stop a the local coffee shop on a regular basis to pick up a nice hot cup of coffee to get an extra burst of energy and warm yummy fluids in our tummy. The problem for us female (and male!) athletes is that coffee can dehydrate us and strip us of the calcium that is VERY important for bone building. Start using your coffee stops as a way of getting extra nutrition instead of depleting it. Get a large steamed milk or a green tea latte. If you feel desperate for coffee, at least get a latte instead of black, because then you are getting a whole cup of milk in your system. By changing little habits like this, they can add up over the course of time and our body and bones will thank us for it!