100+ a Week and SUCKING!

An artic Wolf covers 50mls a day because of its economical style

so how do u run good then, my championship race is on the 29th, and i have been running badly in races, running u to 34 mins for 5miles when i was running 2245 for 4miles at the start of the season. Since the summer i have been at 75-80miles per week, but this week i am running 60. so tell me what do i do, because my championship 8k xc race is on oct 29th.

To elaborate on what a few others have said earlier on iron intake, you have to take it with Vitamin C to help your body absorb it, but more importantly you can't have any calcium with it becasue this inhibits your body's absorbtion of iron. Hence any multi vitamin that has iron is pretty much useless because it most likely has calcium too. This cancels out the iron. I would recomend an iron supplement (liquid is usually better). Either take it with OJ or mix it with 100% vitamin C apple sauce. I think any serious collegiate athlete should be doing this, especially females. I've seen so many teamates go down in the middle or end of the season because of an iron deficiency that could have been easily avoided. Good Luck.

Similar thing happened to me many years ago although I was running a lot less miles (I was in HS).

The background...started the season on fire. Middle of the season I started to run like total ass. An outside coach advised me to run with the top JV guys during the easy days (approx 1 min per mile slower than normal). Did this for 2 weeks. Had first good race after 2 weeks and after 4 weeks I was right back where I was expecting to be by season's end.

Backing off the miles and cutting your easy day pace by 30-45 secs per mile will probably do the trick.

Good luck.

Wow, I never expected this much of a response; once again it is much appreciated, and I'm sure others are benefiting from the posts.

This week will be 94-95, cut down from 103, also very slow recovery runs.

I'm also not trying to pound workouts even if I feel alright. What are some signs of iron deficiencey, I eat red meat 2-3 times a week, daily multiple taken with OJ which has calcium, so who knows about that.

Does anyone else have an opinion on Endurox Excel, pretty much just vitamin E, lots of it. Weight lifting intensity? How much does the ice bath really help after a run?

Just so you know, vitamin E inhibits iron absorption, so you might want to steer clear of high vitamin E doses if you think you are anemic.

Having said that, I think people are generally too quick to suspect anemia when someone is slightly overtrained. (If you were truly anemic, you would be running a lot slower than 40 seconds off of your 8K best.) Your drop in performance is just as likely to be due to slight muscle damage that has accumulated from weeks of high mileage.

You asked about weight lifting intensity. Are you lifting weights several times a week? This late in the season, you should cut way back on any weight lifting, especially if you're feeling tired.

Like running, weight lifting breaks down muscle and connective tissue--the body responds (hopefully) by repairing the muscle and making you stronger. But it's basically a zero-sum game: the energy that goes into repairing the damage done by weight lifting is not available to repair the damage done by running.

I just skipped ahead so idk know if its still relevant. If its cold the day of a race, rub yourself with olive oil, especially your legs. It keep you warm and improves circulation.

10 miles isn't a cutdown. 100 then down to 70 is a cut down. Dropping 10% off your mileage isn't much of a cutdown. Dropping 30-50% is. Also...it will take more than a week for any kind of cutdown to take effect. For guys with a week or three left, now is not the time to worry about running miles. You could lock yourself in a closet and barely run a step in two weeks and still run fabulous PRs. Olympic medals have been won in this fashion, though by accident (injury/sickness). Noakes would call this the Zatopek Phenomenon. Basically you've already trained enough, now you need to rest.

Alan

Thank you runningsmart2004. you have been pretty helpful. i agree that 103 down to 95 isn't much of a cut, but i do feel slightly better, and we have the weekend off. i'm thinking that somewhere around 85 this week will really have me feeling good, already better than a week ago.

have i asked about the REAL effects of an ice bath?

as far as diet goes, how good/bad are the following;

burgers, pizza, ice cream, cookies, diet coke,

Is the overall consensus to drop miles but keep up intensity?

I need a 24:30 @ conference.

ibprofin wrote:

Is the overall consensus to drop miles but keep up intensity?

Yes. But only keep the intensity in workouts. Run your easy runs very easy. What pace were you running your easy runs? I suspect too fast.

ibprofin wrote:

Thank you runningsmart2004. you have been pretty helpful. i agree that 103 down to 95 isn't much of a cut, but i do feel slightly better, and we have the weekend off. i'm thinking that somewhere around 85 this week will really have me feeling good, already better than a week ago.

have i asked about the REAL effects of an ice bath?

as far as diet goes, how good/bad are the following;

burgers, pizza, ice cream, cookies, diet coke,

Is the overall consensus to drop miles but keep up intensity?

I need a 24:30 @ conference.

Diet Coke is the devil (do a Google search on health effects of aspartame), the rest should be OK in moderation. Ice baths are great. The next day you can feel like you never ran that workout at all.

Hope you get that 24:30.

Steve Kasmer and Dave Dunham used to use good old Petroleum jelly on the legs in cold weather.

A secret of Frank Shorters years ago? Panty hose. He won the AAU's. Don't laugh, it worked for him and is cheaper than tights.

Try a drastic drop to 65MPW and get some extra sleep. Grab a nap when you can, it may help immensely.

Tip: take 2 Tylenol before bed, I find it helps me to sleep for some reason. [assuming you have no allergies]

Dude, you really are not hearing well. Now is the time to cut mileage and run fast. Until your big race, you should not be over 75 a week and 65-70 would be better. Run goal pace workouts and get your body used to feeling how that feels. Quit being anal and trying to hold onto the mileage totals. It doesn't matter at this point and you can pick it up again once your season is done.

OK OK, I'll drop it, by a lot. The easy runs have been easy as well. Of course there is a practice champ every so often on an easy run, but I just let him go.

I ice bath a few days a week, so I'll keep up with that, and maybe a message later in the week closer to the conference meet.

Sorry to be "anal" as one poster put it, and I usually don't over analyze this much. After the summer I put in, and times I've posted if I ran over 25:00 at the conference meet I'd not be pleased.

~thanks

Hey, what happened? How did your season turn out?

Peak mileage is not supposed to come during your competitive season. It's supposed to come weeks or months before it.

Learn about periodization.

Dude, You gotta start shovin the Iron pills down your throat. Take two a day for about a week and you'll be good on just one a day after that.