Stover's comments were surprising, and inciteful yes, truthful...perhaps (?) However lets be big boys here and NOT pooh all over the dude who has been a major contributor here for years. Christ, it's almost Christmas.

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

>It often takes years to reverse.

It can often be reversed in one weekend with the right combination of nachos, bacon, and beer. (Talking about bodyfat %, boobers, and leg definition, here)

 
We all have bad days - I've never known him have one as yet and love reading his posts.

Personally I don't think the damage was physical. I just think she's a head case like the rest of the top 5% of pros. And she's probably come to some realisation that what she's been doing isn't actually satisying her anymore.

You've proven your lack of endurance training knowledge on here often in the past 6 months.

Maybe there is someone smarter then you when to comes to deleterious effects of extreme endurance training.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

The point is his comments aren't valid.

Breast size doesn't signify anything other than breast size. I would think a coach would know that.

Except that breasts are approx 80% fat.....

Not valid eh? Pull up a chair so I can pour you a pint of validity.

You do realize that women lose breast size when they lose body fat? You might also know that endurance training helps reduce body fat. Therefore endurance training can lead to a decrease in breast size.

It's a proven fact that non augmented women will usually shrink their breast size when undergoing lots of endurance training.

So as a coach I do know that a shrinking breast size could indicate a loss of body fat.

Very low body fat in women can contribute to amenorrhoea. Also very low body fat and extreme endurance training can have negative effects on the endocrine system. This can cause your HGH, TSH, ACTH and other levels to be off. Which can cause bad things to happen that may take a long time to reverse. Not to mention that women also tend to see an increase in stress fractures once they become amenorrhoeic.

So yes, I am well aware of breasts in female athletes. To the lay person they are something nice to look at and touch, but to an educated coach they can be a indicator that something is amiss should they rapidly start to shrink.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I saw people tweet this as Chrissie retiring; however, I do not see where Chrissie definitively says that is her decision. It only says she plans to announce her plans this week.

I could be reading this wrong and am confident that is the direction she will go but I have not seen anything confirmed.

Well, that is a beautiful lady - inside and out. I would liked to have seen her race again as well, but sounds like she has some worthwhile plans in the works. Best to you Chrissie in all your adventures.

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Damn, that's a cold ass honkey.

Anything as dumb as your fumbling and rambling of that percentage comment in this thread?!

Yes with a slight asterisk for pulling out of kona in 2010.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

x2

His delivery was a little blunt, but once you get past the bluntness, think about whether it is mostly correct.

Nope, not a valid argument. The fact that a low body fat percentage causes small breasts doesn't tell us how common (or uncommon) it is for small breasts to be the result of a low body fat percentage.
Regardless, your "theory" about her retirement relies on all sorts of weird assumptions that have nothing to do with how "smart" you are about endurance sports...

*overreaction*

25% ... 40% ... 40% .. 35% ... 70% ... 30%

are you just trying to prove that 63% of all statistics are made up on the spot?

Does anyone remember the infamous finish line photo of the 2006 Ironman World Champion?

"x2 .....His delivery was a little blunt, but once you get past the bluntness, think about whether it is mostly correct."

x3. Not to mention there are other things in life besides just IM. No doubt she wants to move on into something else. Let's wish her all the best. She was smart to quit while on top.

Forest trees, your missing the point. I'm sure you've done your own sampling at triathlons. See a lot of D's? Neither do I. But that's a tree. You missed the forest. But I'm not worried if you think it's valid or not.

The forest is that rapidly decreasing breast size can be an indicator that something else is amiss. And those something else's can end careers.

The sad fact is I've seen females who have had their careers ended by getting screwed up. Stress fx's, endocrine systems that took many years to get back, inability to get pregnant for 2-3 years post racing career, flat out being told by their docs they are done. health is crap even though they were/are fit.

Heck this year's female IM champ has had 10+ stress fx's over her career. healthy? I think not.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Just trying to make a point about how fit she was but probably how unhealthy she was.

She did some unbelievable things in triathlon.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

"Just trying to make a point about how fit she was but probably how unhealthy she was."

Possible female triad syndrome? Not saying its so, but it could very well be a possibility.

Could be. I wouldn't be surprised well maybe a little. But I've not heard anything from anyone about her having an eating disorder.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Well we wouldn't know without a bone density test. The biggest concern of this would be exercise induced osteoporosis in later life which is quite possible even without an eating disorder..

Perhaps most people have a problem with Brian's post because it was originally pointed towards Chrissie. She's very well thought of and admired in the triathlon community.
I wasn't offended by his post because from my experience and observation what he said is true. Look at the majority of female triathletes, ballet dancers and gymnasts none of them have breasts. I've always been on the thinner and smaller breasted side compared to the majority of women. How do I know that I'm close to race weight? When my breasts are almost non-existent . My husband hates it when this happens but he knows they'll come back once the racing season is over. If I chose to maintain race weight throughout the year it would cause long term problems.

That's another reason why I hate it when my wife trains for long course - she loses her boobs! Not as much a problem when she's doing a season of sprints.:-)

I always looked at her body and cringed. So so so skinny. I wouldn't be surprised of DD is on to something. Maybe she knows enough to stop before she does do long term damage.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce