Iron?

So far, so good on the schedule posted on Monday. I ran a little over eight miles yesterday and right on around five miles this evening.

I've started thinking about the reason why I'm tired much of the time. I think the constant pounding of running, combined with a diet that does not regularly include red meat perhaps has me a little low on iron. Although my morning cereal (eaten dry, without milk) is iron fortified, I'm probably just not getting enough. From what I've read, this condition is a common occurrence in distance runners, and being a woman doesn't help matters. This realization further reinforces the need for me to focus on diet. I need to fuel my body rather than comfort my tastebuds with cookies, chocolate and ice cream. One running resource (Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning) indicates that iron absorption can be aided by consuming a beverage such as orange juice in tandem, particularly over other beverage choices such as coffee or tea. Hopefully starting to take a multi-vitamin and paying better attention to iron intake will alleviate some of this low energy problem.