Nothing makes sense. Please help.

Perhaps you are over trained?

Get iron levels checked.

You said you aren’t UNDERfed... how is your weight?

Who writes your training plans? What have they said about it?

What’s your coach’s opinion? Have you discussed your disappointing performances with him?

Also, your form looks terrible. Stand taller, and keep your hips forward (think about barely pinching a quarter with your, um, cheecks). When your lower back looks like the letter C and your rear sticks out, you cheat your stride length.

Swing your elbows straight back; they are crossing your body way too much.

The good news: your head is in the right place. Keep loving running, but don’t ever let it become an idol in your life.

And finally, don’t give out so much personal info on an Internet message board :-)

My iron was fine when I checked it when this all first started around freshman year college. I weigh 123 and am just barely 5’8.

Oh I have been told my form is great by both of my pst coaches I didnt realize that could be an issue. Ill look into that. Thank you.

Your aerobic endurance might be lacking. Too much "quality" can lead to poor quality, OT, and a host of other problems. Try a 12-week period of just aerobic training. Get a heart-rate monitor and run at 70%MHR and below. You'll be slow at first (if you are slow at that heart rate then that means you're aerobic system is deficient--you might even have to walk to stay at that HR), but will get faster. And when you do get really fast at that heart rate, your body will have healed as well, and your times will be faster.

BillyBillyBilly wrote:

Your aerobic endurance might be lacking. Too much "quality" can lead to poor quality, OT, and a host of other problems. Try a 12-week period of just aerobic training. Get a heart-rate monitor and run at 70%MHR and below. You'll be slow at first (if you are slow at that heart rate then that means you're aerobic system is deficient--you might even have to walk to stay at that HR), but will get faster. And when you do get really fast at that heart rate, your body will have healed as well, and your times will be faster.

+ 1

Like other posters have said it sounds like you need to slow down a bit to get faster. I know this concept seems to be illogical but if you go too hard in your workouts your body never gets to recover for races, Also, don't take this the wrong way but running is a very mental sport and it sounds like you are stressing yourself out too much which can snowball on your race performances. Some of my best races have been the ones where I go in with an I don't really care too much attitude.

Best of luck, the good news is that you have plenty of time to turn things around, the main thing is keeping your love for running going!!

Well in regards to the workout thing, that doesnt make much sense to me. Of course i have considered that but how if i am taking my easy days super easy and also if i am on the same workout schedule as the reat of my team...why would I be the only one?

Girlstetson wrote:

Well in regards to the workout thing, that doesnt make much sense to me. Of course i have considered that but how if i am taking my easy days super easy and also if i am on the same workout schedule as the reat of my team...why would I be the only one?

Take heart, sweetie,because we, the Spice Girls, are reforming and will visit a city near you soon.

Girlstetson wrote:

I do my steady (not tempo but quicker than easy) 4 doubles at 6:40 pace and then todays race pace was 6:05 for 5k.

Why are you running doubles at 6:40 pace?

Consider, you're running hard at 6:40 pace, then you wonder why your race time is no faster than 6:05.

You should not be running doubles at 6:40 pace, because that's much too fast to run easy.

Based on your fastest 5k, your steady runs should be no faster than 8 minute pace.

Your race type training should be right at race pace, and everything else easy except pick ups and strides.

It is not my easy pace...it is for my steady doubles which as I said is meant to be up tempo (just not full blown track tempo pace which for me is like 6:20 for 4). Like I said we do our hard days hard, easy days easy. So on workout days 4 miles steady in morn then workout in afternoon on track. Easy days 5 or 6 miles easy as I want (usually around 8 min pace).

Girlstetson wrote:

Well in regards to the workout thing, that doesnt make much sense to me. Of course i have considered that but how if i am taking my easy days super easy and also if i am on the same workout schedule as the reat of my team...why would I be the only one?

Let's hypothetically say some of your teammates are in better shape than you so their hard day isn't as hard for them relative to you. I don't know enough about your situation to know for sure so I was just suggesting this as a possibility but if I could go back and change one aspect about my college training it would be to go easier in workouts. Just my 2 cents.

Even young people can take 36-48 hours to recover from a hard day. In addition we are not all the same. Just because your team (and I doubt you know what everyone on your team is experiencing) seems to be recovering does not mean that you are.

Do not race in practice. This is a common mistake. Maybe some days you can run with the leaders or people that you assume are of the same ability. However other days you should take it easy even if it is a hard day.

Women tend not to read or watch videos about their sport. I encourage you to do that. Running may seem simple but the body and life are not!

For me I can tell you two things that helped me improve the most:

1. Race strategy (for me this meant running even pace and to do that almost always meant

starting in the back of the pack and moving up as the race moves along. I learned this purely by accident and I think most people run for 40 years and do not truly learn it. If you do it right, it should feel like the other runners are coming back to you. Experiment on this in practice. The reason I cannot teach you this is because of the pace others are running and your ability towards that. But when I was in college it meant starting near last in every race. "Starting out fast," does not mean the same to everyone. That is where people really get into trouble.)

2. Do not attempt to do any practice at the paces the pros write down or discuss in a video.

Just because Jenny Simpson runs 10 x 400 in 70 seconds does not mean you should! In fact you or I might run them in 80 or 85. It's ability-based. 10 x 200 in 35 seconds by an Olympic girl does not mean you should run them in that. How about 10 x 200 in 50 seconds? (For Jenny Simpson a 70 second 400 may be easy...so you also want to do an easy 400...but for you that might be 85)

Ask your coaches some questions. Do your own internet study.

You’re really pretty!

https://instagram.com/p/BXJFQyJFi8z/

Girlstetson wrote:

It is not my easy pace...it is for my steady doubles which as I said is meant to be up tempo (just not full blown track tempo pace which for me is like 6:20 for 4). Like I said we do our hard days hard, easy days easy. So on workout days 4 miles steady in morn then workout in afternoon on track. Easy days 5 or 6 miles easy as I want (usually around 8 min pace).

That 's a fine steady doubles pace, for a 14 minute 5k runner.

I don't know what drives the compulsive need to stalk people who ask for advice on here, but it's weird. If they want u to know who they are, they'd say their names. It is pathetic that you all gain satisfaction from making people mildly uncomfortable.

Youareallcreeps wrote:

I don't know what drives the compulsive need to stalk people who ask for advice on here, but it's weird. If they want u to know who they are, they'd say their names. It is pathetic that you all gain satisfaction from making people mildly uncomfortable.

Wow, you're making me feel mildly uncomfortable.