Really Slow All of a Sudden? Like Within a Week?

snailed wrote:

Last week, I got in a nice 7:15 5 mile tempo, 4 x 1 mile repeat at 6:40/mile, and a 15 mile long run at about 8:10. This past week, I got in a 5 mile tempo with 4 miles at 7:15 and the last mile at 6:50.

This is why.

How??? I would understand if my legs were sore, but it's just the shortness of breath that's holding me back. I even feel mentally ready to do some more hard workouts. How would you explain this physiologically?

Is there a lot of pollen where you are and/or have the temperatures become considerably warmer in the last week?

snailed wrote:

How??? I would understand if my legs were sore, but it's just the shortness of breath that's holding me back. I even feel mentally ready to do some more hard workouts. How would you explain this physiologically?

You are tired.

you really have to ask this? you over reached and are too tired.i'm actually impressed you were able to do two weeks back-back like that, pretty good engine, and train like that and you'll break it down permanently.anyways, here is the long answer:a 7:25/mi for the half is just a hair over 1:37 for the distance; so an equivalent 10k time is 43:50 (7:03/mi), a 5k time is ~ 21min (6:48/mi), and 2 mile is 13:15 (6:37/mi).now, you said your fitness was a little worse right now, so maybe we put you at a 1:40 half, 45 10k (7:16/mi), 22 min 5k (7:05/mi), and 13:40 2 mile (6:50/mi).now look at the 1st week example training, you did a 5 mile "tempo" at 7:15/mi which was basically 5 miles at 10k race effort, then you did 4x1mile at 6:40/mi which is faster than current 2 mile race pace, then you did a 15mile long run at 8:10 pace, which is about marathon equivalent pace.so in 1 week you did 5 miles at 10k effort, 4 miles at 1mile/2mile effort, and 15 miles at marathon effort*. you then try and follow up with the next week doing a continuous 5 mile "tempo" wtih 4 miles at 10k effort and 1 mile at 2mile race effort *not to mention you say you do 8 min miles for everything else, which again is around marathon pace (actually a good bit faster)...that is SUICIDAL!you don't do any true easy running to recover, of course you're going to blow up and your body is going to revolt. btw, easy pace for you is going to be in the 9:30 - 10 min/mile range. better yet, find a friend who is slower than you, ditch the watch, and run at their easy pace for a couple days each week. then go out and run by feel yourself.

snailed wrote:

How??? I would understand if my legs were sore, but it's just the shortness of breath that's holding me back. I even feel mentally ready to do some more hard workouts. How would you explain this physiologically?

Bingo! Take it easy girl.

This is the best response to a post I've seen since on letsrun. OP, you got lucky.

Impressed wrote:

This is the best response to a post I've seen since on letsrun. OP, you got lucky.

haha, agreed. thanks you guys.

alsldkf---when you lay it all out there it does sound extreme. But when you tell me what my 5k, 10k, etc pace SHOULD be that doesn't tell me how hard to push myself to get better. Getting better is what I'm trying to do.

snailed wrote:

Impressed wrote:

This is the best response to a post I've seen since on letsrun. OP, you got lucky.

haha, agreed. thanks you guys.

alsldkf---when you lay it all out there it does sound extreme. But when you tell me what my 5k, 10k, etc pace SHOULD be that doesn't tell me how hard to push myself to get better. Getting better is what I'm trying to do.

Ok, Lightning McQueen. If you want to get better, run at the right paces. Especially, your easy runs. Optimal stress AND optimal recovery.

You're supposed to train according to your CURRENT fitness level. The poster above did an excellent job breaking down the paces for you. You get better by running at the prescribed paces, racing, AND THEN re-adjusting your training paces according to the race result.

Shortness of breath is a symptom of CNS exhaustion

there are many ways to get better.

best advice i can give is the sport takes patience. it takes years of solid consistent work to get better and come close to reaching your potential. nothing has to be really earth shattering, but just solid effort year in and year out without taking huge chucks of time away for injuries or illness (although we all get injured and you can still perform well with a major set back or two so long as you come back smart).

- get a coach you can trust

- recovery is just as important as hard work (if not more important for the overzealous), this is how you adapt.

- cover all efforts from a jog to a sprint all the time, but emphasize some components more than others at different times (ie race specific work close to racing) and take a good break off after each racing season

- i like effort based more than pace b/c all sorts of variables can affect pace (temp, wind, your mental state, work/school/life stress, fatigue for previous training, etc). so best to get a feel for efforts and go that route. nothing wrong with a few workouts geared towards a specific pace every now and then though.

- keep it simple

- there are tons of training plans out there, i'd honestly suggest you go and look at several (rubio, daniels, canova, and many more), see if you see patterns, think about the physiology. then go get a coach (if you can) and stick with that person for a while.

- you should be able to ask the coach (or yourself) questions and understand why they are telling you what workouts to do each day/week/month/year to build to short term goals (season) and long term goals (some PR goal in the 5k, trials, WC, whatever big apple prize you want to dream).