whats wrong with me? wrote:
I am a sophomore in high school, and after returning to running following my break after cross country, I have noticed a huge loss in fitness. This is my first post on LetsRun, so sorry if I ramble.
Until about the second week of October, I was feeling great on my runs and I didn't have any problems with my running. Then, around mid-October, I started to feel a little less fit on most of my runs and workouts, including "easy" runs. I assumed that this was because of being a bit burnt out and overtraining a little bit during the season. My heart rate would be about 10 beats higher than normal on easy runs- it was usually around 160-165 at 7:30 pace when it should've been around 150. I didn't really ever feel as good on runs and workouts, and my body rarely felt fresh. My season ended at the end of October.
I took a two-week break after my cross country season, season and I thought that it would help my body recover from the season and I would feel a lot better when I came back to running. However, I found that I was incredibly out of shape. I began training again last week, and my team started our strength training program as well. I noticed that my heart rate would average around 140 for the strength training when it usually would be about 30 beats lower. My runs have felt even worse. On my first run back, I was dying at 8:00 pace. I ran 4 miles at 8:00 pace, and my average heart rate was 183, and it felt A LOT harder than expected. I have been running every other day since then, and each run has felt almost just as hard with almost just as high of heart rate.
I know that I should be a bit out of shape after a two-week break, but this seems ridiculous. I feel like my heart rate should be at least 20-30 beats lower than it is with my running and strength training. Does anyone have any ideas for what is wrong with me, and what should I do going forward?
Am I still burnout? Am I just out of shape? Do I have COVID/another illness? is it nutrition-related?
Other things to note:
- I get over 8+ hours of sleep at night
-My resting heart rate has been in the high 50s when it used to be in the low 50s
-I don't have the healthiest diet but isn't super unhealthy either
-My max HR is around 210
Same things happening with me. I believe it was COVID for me (sore throat). Was running 60-70 miles a week and in about 4:20 miles shape. After the sore throat I could barely run a few miles without having to put my hands on my knees. Heart rates of 180 during 12+ minutes runs became the new normal. For two months I took a break from running but did weightlifting and golf almost everyday. After the two month break I decided to test my fitness with a mile time trial. I ran 6:05 with a max heart rate of 206. Two years earlier when I didn’t run at all I could run 5:30. After that exertion is triggered a series of autonomic related symptoms (high heart rate after standing, low hr after laying down [20-30s], breathlessness, dizziness, palpitations, high blood pressure upon standing, low blood pressure upon standing, high heart rate for hours after exercise, heavy legs in the morning, etc.). All tests including blood, urine, exercise test, Holter etc came back normal. For context I’m the same age as you.