What’s up letsrun.
I had an awful workout today. I wanna know why.
Here’s the info:
My workout today was supposed to be 400-800-1600-800-400 looking to hold 4:40-4:50 pace for the entire workout. I got full rest after each rep and have recently ran a 4:23 1600m along with a 9:31 3200m, so it should have been a hard but very doable workout.
My first 400m felt absolutely fine. Nailed it in 1:10 which was goal pace. 800 is where the problems started. I hit a 2:26 which was over goal pace but still satisfactory, but the odd thing is that I felt like I was tying up the last 100m, and felt very tired, in an almost sleepy way for the rest of the workout. I ran 5:06 for the mile, 2:34 for the 800, and 1:12 for the 400.
I felt very sleepy and almost sick to my stomach, which I’ve never felt during a workout before. All things considered, I very much should have been able to hit this workout without a problem. I’ve done harder workouts with less rest at faster paces than this.
Weather was 76 degrees and wind was 15 mph today. Would that be enough to throw me off? Does that “sleepy” feeling signify that something might be wrong?
I’m very confused
I need a letsrun diagnosis as to why today’s workout SUCKED
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Some days don’t go as planned. During a 5xMile workout a few weeks ago I had to pause after the second or third mile and jog to find a bridge to poop under.
76 F is pretty hot for a workout. 15 mph is very strong for sustained wind. In fact, it’s so strong that I don’t believe you when you say the wind was that strong. -
The sleepy or woozy things sounds like a blood sugar thing. Either you didn’t get enough sugar/carbs in the 24 hours beforehand or you got too much sugar in the 1-2 hours beforehand. Unless you’re way off, this also usually corrects itself once you get into the workout.
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Whiskers wrote:
Some days don’t go as planned. During a 5xMile workout a few weeks ago I had to pause after the second or third mile and jog to find a bridge to poop under.
76 F is pretty hot for a workout. 15 mph is very strong for sustained wind. In fact, it’s so strong that I don’t believe you when you say the wind was that strong.
I’m not willing to give too much information regarding my location, but if you check the northern half of Utah you’ll see winds of 10-20 mph across the board today. It sucks. -
Whiskers wrote:
The sleepy or woozy things sounds like a blood sugar thing. Either you didn’t get enough sugar/carbs in the 24 hours beforehand or you got too much sugar in the 1-2 hours beforehand. Unless you’re way off, this also usually corrects itself once you get into the workout.
That could be it. Yesterday I didn’t eat too many carbs and I didn’t eat anything today until after the workout (workout was at 11:30 am) so it sounds like this just may have been one of those days where everything is working against you -
For sure sounds like a combination of not enough food and water.
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Day after Easter lull, I did 6:55 pace and i felt like I was dragging the whole time
Honestly you probably didn’t eat enough, it was windy, and sometimes you just fall flat. Get a good ass night of sleep and keep moving along, you’ve got the results so far with your 4:23, so you know you’re good.
Just take the work you did today and keep grinding -
Sometimes it just happens.
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What are you talking about? 15mph is breezy but it is very common for winds to be that strong in many parts of the country. Winds where I am were 15-25mph consistently for our workout this afternoon. Our meet last week had consistent 20-40 mph winds during the 2nd half. I don't understand why you would not believe him. That makes no sense.
Whiskers wrote:
15 mph is very strong for sustained wind. In fact, it’s so strong that I don’t believe you when you say the wind was that strong. -
My workout also went wrong today!
I didn't run for TWO HOLL DAYS and then ate a BIG DINNER with lots of MEAT prior to day of workout! I slept from 1-6, rolled STRAIGHT OUTTA BED to work out (#grind). Jogging to the track felt good, but I was SUCKING A** during the workout. I felt like puking: a bunch of MEAT was still in my STOMACH! Plus, I had to P**P very badly! I stopped the workout short and P**Ped in the bushes, making sure the middle schoolers couldn't see me. Then, I jogged back home and started SCROLLING on the LetsRun.com message boards. Y'all might assume that I was pretty DEVASTATED, going HOME like that and all... But I was actually quite satisfied .😛 Just hope that I don't return to team practice lookin' like a huge noob.
This story is 100% true, by the way. -
Get CBC as well as Ferritin checked. Turns out I had been pushing 15-18km long runs on a ferritin of 3.5.
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When I go into a workout somewhat haphazardly and think it will be easy ("very doable workout"), I will sometimes have some trouble much like you described. Throw in 15 mph winds and/or the +70' temps ( -> coming out of the winter..) and this workout gets sneaky difficult and perhaps the necessary mental fortitude wasn't there given then mentality going in...
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Your promblem is very likely related to hydration or nutrition. Like other posters have previously mentioned, the sleepy feeling you felt could be a result of low blood sugar.
Also, the fatigue and nausea you were experiencing could be the result of dehydration and/or electrolyte imbalance. During the workout, were you drinking any fluids between intervals? Did you have electrolytes or just plain water?
Variation in the body's ability to handle heat is another factor in why you may have not performed how you expected. Some individuals experience an extreme performance decline in hot conditions. For example, I generate a ton of heat when I exercise, running in shorts and a sports bra in 40°F weather. However, I pay for it big time as the temperature increases. In warm/hot conditions, I sweat a ton and quickly become uncomfortably dehydrated. My running paces slow down way more than what running calculators would predict.
In addition to the temperature as you, mentioned, how was the humidity? A high humidity drastically reduces performance due to impairing heat loss through evaporation. Believe it or not, a very low humidity can also impair performance because of exacerbating dehydration. Just think about running around an indoor track. Because the air is so dry, you tend to feel very thirsty.
