Q: Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you first got into sport?

A: I'm Elise Coates, and I'm originally from Alberta. I lived there for the first nine years of my life. My parents were very active, and we spent a lot of time in Jasper, so my introduction to sport was through the outdoors and the mountains. As I got older, I became really involved in soccer. My dad had played varsity soccer and was always involved in the sport, so soccer became my main focus for a long time. When my family moved to Vancouver Island during my early high school years, I was determined to play varsity and pursue soccer at a high level. In Grade 11, a couple of coaches and my high school gym teacher encouraged me to try cross-country and track because they knew I ran during the summers to stay fit for soccer. Track really stole my heart. By the end of that summer, going into Grade 12, I had quit soccer and running had completely taken over. That transition was also when I began to understand how important menstrual health was, because I realized I wasn't getting my period.

Q: What was happening with your menstrual cycle when you first started running?

A: I got my first period in the second half of Grade 9 and had a few periods after that. My last period before university was in the fall of Grade 10, so I went several years without one. When I started running, I went all in. I was running high mileage for a high school athlete because I had heard a coach I looked up to say that running more miles would make you faster. As a former soccer player, I thought I could just do that. I ran constantly and never took rest days. I was also under-fuelling because I didn't understand how much more energy I needed for running compared with soccer. Eventually, I developed a pretty serious stress fracture partway through Grade 12. That became a wake-up call for me and my family doctor. We realized that not getting my period wasn't something to dismiss as simply being naturally smaller than other kids. Going into university, my priority was to restore my menstrual cycle and make sure my bone health was okay.

Q: What helped you get your period back?

A: A big part of it was managing my training load and eating more. I was experiencing relative energy deficiency in sport, or RED-S, which meant I wasn't taking in enough energy to support everything my body was doing. My coach took over my training after the stress fracture and immediately reduced my mileage. Over the summer, I barely ran because she wanted me to rest and recover before gradually building up again in the fall. I think giving myself more time to recover than I probably would have allowed myself otherwise was really important. I also had to eat more and stop pushing so hard. By January of my first year at university, I was getting my period again, and by the end of the year, it had become consistent. I also started gaining weight and muscle mass, which I hadn't been able to do before. I joke that I went through puberty in university because my body changed so much over those years. Having my period back gave me an important indication that my body was functioning more normally, especially after spending so long in an energy-deficient state.

Q: What was your university running career like?

A: I started track relatively late, but I progressed quickly in high school. By Grade 12, I was winning races across Vancouver Island and attracting attention from universities around British Columbia. I was deciding between the University of Victoria and UBC, and I chose UVic partly because I wanted to stay on the Island and because I would have a female coach, Hillary Stellingwerf, who was a two-time Olympian. Having a female coach felt important to me. I had always had male coaches in soccer, and while many of them were great, I thought a woman who understood high-performance sport and her own body might bring a different perspective. Unfortunately, my undergraduate years were difficult. I didn't race for five years because of injuries. After my stress fracture, one of my legs grew differently from the other, leaving me with a leg-length discrepancy. We didn't fully understand how much it affected my running until around my fourth year. For a long time, I would complete roughly 12-week training cycles and then get injured again. During COVID, I ran some time trials and got onto the Canadian Sport Institute list. That was my first indication that I might be able to take running somewhere. However, it wasn't until my fifth year of university that I really got the chance to race consistently and see how I compared with other runners across Canada.

Q: What were some of your biggest highlights during that time?

A: My fifth year was a turning point. During cross-country, I placed in the top 20 at the national championships despite being very sick with an ear infection. That indoor track season went particularly well. I was ranked number one in the 3,000 metres for much of the season and won medals in the 1,500 and 3,000 metres at the Canada West championships. At nationals, however, I struggled with severe period symptoms. During my 3,000-metre race, I immediately felt dizzy and terrible. It was a difficult experience, but it taught me a lot about how my menstrual cycle could affect my performance. The following cross-country season, I placed fifth at nationals, earning my university's first All-Canadian placement in more than 10 years. That remains one of the proudest moments of my varsity career, especially because my university running journey had been so unpredictable.

Q: How did years of injuries affect you mentally?

A: It was mentally exhausting. I came into university wanting to compete at a high level and learn what I could achieve as a runner. Suddenly, the opportunity to race was taken away, and I had to reshape what I thought my university experience would look like. I also struggled with patience. I had muscle imbalances and recurring injuries, and whenever something started feeling better, I would sometimes push too hard too soon. That created a cycle of rebuilding, getting injured, and starting over. Looking back, I think one of the biggest challenges was learning not to rush the process. Running can make it easy to become caught up in wanting to race or return to a certain level, even when your body isn't ready. Thankfully, I had friends who supported me through some of the more difficult periods.

Q: How did those challenges shape your relationship with sport?

A: Because running had been such a big part of my identity, not being able to compete forced me to find other ways to challenge myself and stay connected to the outdoors. I ended up getting much more involved in the mountain and trail-running community. I took courses through the Alpine Club of Canada, did a lot of rock climbing, and started working with Arc'teryx. Those experiences helped keep me grounded and gave me something else to focus on when running wasn't going the way I wanted. I had always been interested in trail running, but I originally imagined spending my first five years in university focusing entirely on track before exploring other opportunities. Instead, my injuries led me to discover the mountain community much earlier. Now, my running includes both track and trail, and I appreciate how different those two worlds are.

Q: From your experience, what do you think makes it difficult for girls to stay in sport as they go through puberty?

A: I feel like I'm a bit of an anomaly because I was often treated and trained like a boy. I was naturally quite small and athletic, and because I wasn't getting my period, I didn't experience some of the changes my peers were going through until university. I remember watching friends deal with growing pains and other physical changes, but I didn't fully understand those experiences myself until later. I think one of the biggest barriers is that there isn't enough awareness about what happens when girls' bodies change. Girls need to understand that these changes are normal and that staying active can benefit them throughout their lives. They also need to feel comfortable talking to coaches about period symptoms, growing pains, or anything else that might affect how they feel during sport. Another factor is the importance of having friends involved. Girls often want to participate because their friends are participating. If they don't see people they relate to or look up to, it can be harder to feel that they belong. We need to create environments where girls feel supported by their peers and where more confident athletes can help encourage others to stay involved.

Q: What role should parents and coaches play in creating that environment?

A: I think we're making progress, but we still need to remove the taboo around menstrual health and make these conversations more normal. Parents and coaches don't need to have all the answers. What's important is being open, willing to learn, and making sure girls know they can ask questions without feeling embarrassed. I also think it's powerful when parents share their own experiences. I'm only now learning that my mom and I experience very similar period symptoms, even though I've been getting my period consistently for about six years. We simply hadn't talked about it much before. That conversation could have happened much earlier and helped me understand my body better. We also need better education about the menstrual cycle. Understanding the different phases and how hormones can affect mood, energy, and physical symptoms can help girls make sense of what they're experiencing instead of assuming something is wrong with them.

Q: What would you want girls who are struggling with their bodies, emotions, or pressure in sport to know?

A: Try to go with the flow a little more, even if you're naturally very driven. Pay attention to what's happening with your body and your hormones, and try not to take every emotion or difficult moment too personally. Sometimes, understanding what you're experiencing can help you put things into perspective. You don't have to assume that something is wrong with you just because you're having a difficult day. It's something I'm still learning to put into practice myself, but I think having even a little more awareness of your body can make a big difference throughout your sporting journey.