Hello LRC, I’m entering my 4th year of collegiate running, just had a great summer of training, felt really fit and was hitting consistent 70-75 mpw.
About 3 weeks ago I was doing a tempo run on a gravel trail (6 miles at about a 5:35 avg) and started having hip pain that gradually worsened until I had to stop. I decided to listen to my body, took 3 days off and started doing hip strengthening exercises every day. The issue resolved itself pretty quickly, but my runs haven’t felt the same. Last week I ran 35 miles with 2 off days and felt like garbage on every run, this week was 50 with 1 off day and I still feel awful. A few miles in the 6:30s has me absolutely gassed and every run just feels terrible. HR is incredibly high on every run as well.
Has anyone else experienced this or know why it happens? I would understand if it’d been 2 weeks, but this was only 3 days. Just frustrated and nervous because the season starts soon and it feels like I’ve lost all of my fitness from earlier in the summer.