Optimizing Your Insides with InsideTracker

We spend a lot of time investing in our running gear, recovery products, physical therapy, gym sessions, the latest and greatest apparel and massages….but what about investing in your internal health?

A few years ago I was diagnosed with Lean PCOS. I had felt fatigued, had severe periods, low blood sugar (and a hard time balancing it), which led me to my first blood test. From 2018 to 2021, I hadn’t gotten another full blood panel done but so much had changed; I had started trail running avidly, then ultra-running and had begun eating for more plant based. I started seeing InsideTracker pop up as runners I admired began to dive into their internal blueprints in 2019 and found their reviews and insights fascinating, but I didn’t take it upon myself to do my own research until recently.

I went on the site, selected my plan, the Ultimate, and answered questions about my lifestyle and habits so that InsideTracker could better understand my body and routines. InsideTracker tests 43 key biomarkers as well as genetics to show you a snapshot of your internal wellness.

I reached out to InsideTracker sharing that I was a trail and ultra-runner in my late 20’s who wanted to get scientific results on how my body was performing, recovery and being fueled. I had a hunch that there was an issue with my iron (after years of struggles with PCOS) but didn’t have many guesses on what may come back outside of that.

I went in to a local clinic to get my blood drawn, despite my extreme fear of needles, determined to know more about my internal health. InsideTracker sends you the panel and makes it effortless, just walking in and getting the draw with no complications. I waited roughly a week for my results to be ready and got an email alerting me to their upload on the InsideTracker dashboard.

Logging in to find my results was simple and the interface walked me through it with ease asking me what my goal was, which suggestions I’d want to make a commitment to doing and then, deep diving into each biomarker.

I selected that my goal was “Endurance” and was told that my health is 75% optimized for this goal. Yikes. My InnerAge came back as 38.4 …. WAY older than my actual age of 29…double yikes!

I was startled to see several “groups” of biomarkers that were not in good ranges: my Inflammation group, Iron group and Stress group.

Alongside each analysis it deep dives into why the result is being ranked the way it is, suggestions for your lifestyle and also healthy foods to incorporate. I immediately began writing down each suggestion (I was doing this to get healthier, after all).

The next group confirmed something I had feared: my Iron stores and production was a mess. My Ferritin levels are alarming low and immediately waved a large red flag in my face as to my I have felt fatigued, wasn’t able to perform at the level I wanted to, felt brain fog and even shortness of breath (almost like an exercise induced asthma).

I had only recently started taking an iron supplement and was reaffirmed to keep doing that, but also take it with citrus for better absorption and not around coffee or delayed after working out. I was told the earlier I could take it the better, but I’d never known these things!

Luckily I had a doctors appointment scheduled with my primary physician, who I shared my results with. We immediately scheduled more blood tests to get deeper into the “whys” and create a plan of action to take care of these levels (common is to take iron supplements and iron IV’s if it is serious).

The result I feel is correlated to not only my Lean PCOS but also my birth control is the fact that my Testosterone group came back skewed. I took each of these results to my doctor and discussed what needed to happen for me to unearth if these rates were “normal” or abnormal.

What I can say is that the InsideTracker test overwhelmed me, in a good way. I got so much information and clear groups that I need to work on to feel better than I do right now. The clear cut results and next steps were ideal for, since I’m the kind of person that wants a solution to the problem, STAT!

I can’t wait for my next blood test to see what all my hard work does, and my further testing with my doctor to get my levels in order to be the best runner and version of me that I can be.