4 replies to this topic

[chia]

I just found out today that I have beta-thalassemia minor. The minor form of it is a mild microcytic anemia that has no real implications on the affected's health, other than them having to be careful in choosing who to have babies with. I won't go into the boring details, but you can google thalassemia if you'd like to know more.

I asked my GP if I would be okay to continue running, and he told me to go for it. At that time it didn't cross my mind to ask about how longer distance events would affect me (if at all), or whether I should go on a lighter training regime than most other people, and other things like that. I'd just like to gain other runners' perspectives on the matter.

I suppose some background on my running would be helpful. I'm 24. I've been running for just over a year, and just finished my first marathon a little over a week ago. I designed a rough training program for myself in preparation for the marathon, where I peaked at about 80km/week. I didn't manage to follow the plan closely, and missed a few long runs but it was never due to fatigue or injury, just plain laziness. I'm currently training for the Singapore Marathon which is 10 weeks away, and I've got a rough plan in which I run 4-5 times a week. It's basically one hill session, one long run, one tempo or interval session, and an easy run or two a week. This schedule has me peaking at about 90km/week, and hopefully I'll be able to stick to it this time. I also dream of doing a 100km ultra sometime in late 2010 or 2011, but will see how I go in this next marathon and 6FT first.

I feel fine or normal most of the time, nothing really different from what other runners would feel. The problem is I don't really know what 'normal' feels like. Based on others' anecdotes, I take just as long as other people do to recover from races and hard training runs. In terms of training loads, I've yet to push my body to what feels like a breaking point. The only times I've felt extremely fatigued and took forever to recover was after I had donated whole blood. Otherwise, I feel that my body's dealing with the running just fine.

I'm guessing I should just continue doing what I do while listening closely to my body? Would anyone with knowledge or experience with running with thalassemia care to weigh in?

For those who are curious, these are the numbers from my last full blood count, with normal population ranges in brackets:
Red blood cells 6.6 (4.5-6.0)
Hemoglobin 123 (125-185)
Hematocrit 0.387 (0.4-0.54)
Mean corpuscular volume 60.6 (80-100)
Mean cell hemoglobin 19.1 (27-32)

edit:clarification

Edited by chia, 28 September 2009 - 10:54 PM.

[MattO]

Hi Chia,

I too have thalassemia minor and have been running for about 7 years with a couple of breaks. I've played sport all my life and apart from standard injuries haven't had any issues that I'm aware of. (Did latch on to Viral Meningitis after my marathon stuff up in 07, but my Doctor didn't make any reference to the Thalassemia)

However I have never had a doctor go in to detail about my blood analysis. Most of the time they comment on 'Oh did you know you have Thalassemia... " and that's it.
Maybe you just have a more informative GP, or maybe you have particular things to monitor but I'd discuss your concerns with your GP and hopefully they can put your mind at ease.

Cheers
Matt

PS - you've got me interested now it whether it has any impact on my training...

[FakePlasticTrees]

I don't know about the rest, but with the higher than normal red blood cell count does that mean you've got greater oxygen circulation powers? Could be a performance booster...

[Tim 2]

FakePlasticTrees, on Sep 28 2009, 05:52 PM, said:

I don't know about the rest, but with the higher than normal red blood cell count does that mean you've got greater oxygen circulation powers? Could be a performance booster...

Not quite!!!

More cells but they are smaller and have less haemoglobin.
Haemoglobin at 123 isn't too bad.
You should be able to run normally. Your performance will possibly be slightly less than if you had a Hb of 180 but there isn't a need to train more or less than usual. Do whatever you want to do within the usual guidelines for training.

Make sure you don't get iron deficient as thal and iron deficiency are a bit of a double whammy.

The only real issue is if you have kids. Make sure your partner doesn't have Beta thal minor too otherwise your child could get thal major which is a major illness.

Tim

[chia]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'll just keep at it, and monitor my iron intake.

I don't really have any major concerns at the moment, I was just curious and thought it would make an interesting topic. If I experience anything out of the ordinary in the future, I'll consult my GP for sure.