Why can't I run fast anymore?

Forgot to add, in the summer I raced a 15k (9.3 miles) and ran it at about 6 minute flat pace. This was done off of 50 MPW and about 1 day off a week. I didn't really even taper for the race, basically ran like 8 miles the day before.

Did you get tall and gain weight? Blood work?

Sounds like you're a little bit burnt out. You might do well after some time off. Of course, late September is not really when you want to be taking that time off. If you do decide to keep on truckin' I would recommend doing plenty of stretching immediately after every run and doing ice baths/putting your legs up fairly often as well. That's all I can say. Chances are it's not the training, but some other external factor.

Weill I grew an inch and probably gained about 5 pounds. I did notice how bad my legs burned at the end of the last race though :/

I know this sounds a bit far out, but I prefer varying my speeds. My slowest speed is above 9 min. per mile. You may need more than one easy week to recover.

Probably iron. Something is physically wrong with you if you go from 16:30 to 18:30 with similar training.

Could be iron, could be a weak case of mono. Is your area suffering from a heat wave?

I doubt it is over training or did you train a lot differently last year when you ran the 9:58 and the 16:30?

I've trained pretty similarly. I think I might try doing my easy runs slower like from 8-9 minute or just depending on feel. I still haven't got my results from my blood test but I did have symptoms of low iron. I still don't know what the cause really is, could be emotionally related since I'm going through a lot right now. Can I still make a strong impact in track towards college coaches or will it be too late? Thanks for the replies everyone

What we're all your xc times from last year? Did you run this same course last year and what was your time.

9:58 is pretty slow for a 16:30 guy.

Alan

Sounds like to me you need to run easy for a bit...I would encourage a week or two of just easy running; no mileage, no paces; just run easy. Twice per week finish up with drills and a few build ups.

Make sure you are getting good sleep...7.5 to 9 hours per night for two weeks.

Make sure you are getting in good nutrition and hydration.

It doesn't sound like your summer was too hard. 60 miles per week in singles isn't that bad ESPECIALLY since you said you weren't running fast. And one tempo run per week shouldn't hurt anything.

If anything it sounds like you had a great summer.

Unfortunately running your best takes everything falling in line...EVERYTHING. Remember that. So before I would look at the training I would ask:

How is your sleep?

How is your diet?

How is your hydration?

How stressful is the 20-22 hours per day that you are not running?

How hot is it when you are running each day? (90-100 degrees in Texas or Oklahoma at 3pm can be detrimental and could lead to a never-ending fatiguing feeling.)

All of that will add up to running well or running like poop.

Good luck.

It has to be iron. My freshman year I ran 17:39 and was fine, then my sophomore year my races suffered and I always felt terrible and couldn't come close to where I was (19 minutes, not even finishing). I got tested and my ferritin level was one point away from needing a blood transfusion. I started taking iron with vitamin C 3 times a day for the next half a year, then down to two times a day, and now I still take it once a day (I am a senior now) because I don't ever want to experience that again. My junior year was decent (17:15) but it wasn't what it could have been, point being it takes a long time to recover from this. So hearing this I blame iron, because I was in a similar situation. I could train fine but couldn't push myself in races. When you have blood work make sure you get a ferritin test because that will tell you if you are anemic/ iron deficient. Lastly, the "average person" isn't the same as the "average distance runner" so even if the doctor claims the levels are normal, remember you're a distance runner and need more iron than the average person. So take it anyway it can't hurt you. Good luck.

Runningart2004 wrote:

What we're all your xc times from last year? Did you run this same course last year and what was your time.

9:58 is pretty slow for a 16:30 guy.

Alan

It is? Seems about right to me. The mile seems best. But 18:30 is slow for a 16:30 guy. I think we can all agree on that.

Try Iron + Vitamin C tabs at bedtime for two weeks and compare results. Avoid calcium before bed, too. Calcium and iron don't work too well together, from what I've heard.

He never said how often he ran in the 16:30s last year nor if he ran same course last year.

Maybe he ran 17:00s last year then blew a 16:30 on a short course. Maybe this 18:30 was run on an actual xc course up and over trails.

9:58 3200m on the track would be about 17:00 on a fast 5k xc course. Just based on what I've seen from kids.

He also hasn't said what other races he's run this year.

Missing lots of details

Alan

Also, are these 5:30-45 mile repeats on grass or track? Same for those 2:45 800s.

What's been this kid's progression? List of all xc times last year?

4:33/9:58 is a huge slow down.

Alan

I ran 15:47 for three miles and then 16:30 for a full 5k on a golf course. My mile was consistently below 4:38 and above 4:30 and the two mile I raced like three times, 9:58 being my best. The racing pace I've encountered lately used to feel like a faster tempo but now it's all I'm capable of. The repeats were done on a track btw. The mile one's felt tough but manageable, I thought they'd indicate my true 5k pace but obviously not. The 800s feel pretty easy however. The last race I tried a different strategy in which I would take the first mile slower, and then speed up since that's how I run most of my training runs but I still just ran slower and slower as the race went on. After about a mile and a half, my lungs and legs seem to fall apart. The main thing I noticed though is how bad my quads burn and how hard I breath compared to my cross country races last year.