A shot in the arm is worth four in the butt

All my iron supplements seem to have achieved is to inflict me with a persistent case of the "trots". If it goes on much longer I risk my self-image slipping from "fit old git" to a semi-incontinent senior with encyclopedic knowledge of every Portaloo in the state, doomed to wear beige and go on coach trips for the rest of my life.

So...back to Doc Fran at the urging of coach Bobby for a course of iron shots. "Ask her about getting intravenous iron" said Bobby, "we'll have to consider it if things don't pick up soon." He's as frustrated and surprised as I am that I'm cranking out 80-second 400-metre repeats with all the sound and fury of someone doing 74s. My heart rate stays low; my lungs just can't get enough oxygen. I gasp, pant, heave -- anfd feel like I'm jogging.

I arrive at the clinic to find Fran preparing an IV drip. "I thought I was going to get a shot; have you been speaking to Bobby?" No, she told me. She'd been reading up the latest research on iron absorption -- in particular a new study showing excellent results using IV iron on women -- and had decided this was the way to go. So I spent a happy hour hooked up while the equivalent of four iron shots in the butt dripped painlessly into my arm. The only hardship was a shortage of magazines, so I was forced to read a swimsuit edition of Women's Health. What can I say? Doctor's orders.

No more supplements. Fantastic! I've got very tired of "explosive gut syndrome". Not to mention twitchy leg syndrome, which has periodically interfered with my sleep. If all goes well this will boost my serum ferritin to at least "normal" - and then I can start training and racing without having the parking-brake permanently on. Another blood test in two weeks should reveal all -- if a sudden one-minute per mile improvement in my pace doesn't do so first! I'm excited!