Episode 13: Jake Riley and Maddie Alm - Opening the conversaion on relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S) in males

Ready to Run

In today's episode, we have a discussion on relative energy deficient in sport, otherwise known as RED-S with Jake Riley and Maddie Alm.

Maddie is a Registered Dietitian and the founder of Fueling Forward Sports Nutrition. Maddie has Masters in Nutritional Science from San Diego State. She completed her training and a registered dietitian at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. She also competed at the University of Colorado in Boulder and currently runs professionally for Team Boss.

Jake is an American professional long distance runner and 2020 Olympic marathoner. He currently lives and trains in Boulder, Colorado and is coached by 3-time Olympic marathoner, Lee Troop. Jake grew up in Washington and was an 8-time All-American at Stanford. He previously ran with the Hanson's Distance Project. Jake had one of the most memorable performances and comeback stories at the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta where he grabbed an American flag with about 400m to go and ran to a sprint finish where he finished 2nd. In June 2022, Jake shared his story about being diagnosed with RED-S in Runner's World. His story helped to open the door to discussing RED-S in the context of male athletes.

The term RED-S evolved from what was previously described as the female athlete triad. In 2014, the IOC published a description of RED-S to include a broader definition of the health and performance consequences as well as both inclusion of both male and female athletes.

Identifying an athlete with RED-S is not always straight forward. By sharing an athlete and expert perspective, we hope that this episode can provide a unique lens into the challenges, both physical and mental, that go into diagnosing and managing RED-S.

We also get an update on where Jake is at several months after sharing his diagnosis as well as Maddie's advice on how athletes can make positive changes that can be long lasting.

What we talked about:

3:55- Introduction to Maddie

4:25- Introduction to Jake

7:25- RED-S and low energy availability

9:55- Early signs and symptoms of RED-S

12:35- Jake’s diagnosis with RED-S and working with Maddie

20:50- What prompted him to seek help

26:30- Warning signs and symptoms to pay attention to as an athlete

32:35- Questions to ask male athletes to diagnose RED-S

34:10- Treatment approach

41:50- Timeline of recovery

45:20- Differentiating between being tired in training and symptoms of RED-S

51:30- Jake’s recovery from achilles surgery and where he is at in training

1:01:15- Fueling during the marathon

1:05:35- Take home messages about RED-S for athletes and clinicians

Show notes:

Jake on Instagram

Maddie on Instagram

Fueling Forward