Hannah Ballowe: Elite Runner, PhD Student, and REDs Researcher

What would change if we gave athletes a real framework for understanding REDs, before something went wrong? That's the question driving Hannah Ballowe's entire career right now. Hannah is an elite middle-distance runner, PhD student at NC State, and women's health researcher whose dissertation is focused on creating and validating a REDs-specific screening tool. She's also a former Virginia Tech runner who, despite training with a coach who presented on nutrition, didn't learn what REDs actually was until she was out of college, and noticed she wasn't alone in that. Heather and Hannah talk through what the culture around fueling, periods, and body image actually looked like on her college team, the comparison trap that nearly consumed her freshman year, the summer she tried eating less and almost passed out at the finish line, and what she's building now to make sure the next generation of athletes has better tools. They also talk about her path to training professionally with coach Laurie Henes in Raleigh, what it's like to balance a PhD and elite training, and her goal to one day run 100 miles! Chapters \[00:07:00] The comparison trap: why "I'm doing everything right" can be the most dangerous thought in college sport \[00:10:00] COVID, anxiety, and the year things got harder than she expected \[00:11:00] What a good fueling culture actually looked like at Virginia Tech — and what was still missing \[00:12:00] Periods on the team: comfortable in a flippant way, but never substantive \[00:16:00] The professional path she almost didn't see coming — and the fifth year that didn't go as planned \[00:20:00] Why she's building a REDs screening tool — and what's wrong with the ones we already have \[00:23:00] The summer she tried eating less, almost passed out at the finish line, and turned her season around \[00:25:00] Inside her dissertation: how the REDs screening tool actually works and who it's designed for \[00:28:00] Balancing a PhD and professional training — and why it's more doable now than it was in college \[00:34:00] Training with Laurie Henes and the NC State group: adjusting to a whole new level of volume Resources mentioned: - Voice in Sport — athlete advocacy platform Hannah joined in 2025 - WISP — Women's Health and Sport Performance Institute — Founded by Dr. Kathryn Ackerman, Hannah contributes science communication and social media copy - IOC RED-S SCAT-2 — the current IOC screening and clinical assessment tool for REDs - LEAFs-Q — one of the current LOW energy availability screening tools for female athletes - NC State's dissertation is targeting completion spring 2028; the screening tool is expected to be available by end of 2027 Are you an athlete? Find a sports dietitian, DPT, therapist, or coach who understands athletes at lane9project.org/directory. Are you a clinician or coach? If this conversation resonated with you professionally, Lane 9 Membership was built for you. Join a community of dietitians, DPTs, psychologists, sports medicine providers, and coaches who are doing this work, and get listed in the Lane 9 Directory so athletes can find you. Future clinicians and coaches are welcome too. Follow us on Instagram and get in touch anytime!