allergies and seasonal drops in performance

I have/had the same issues. I would run 14:40 then 15:23 two weeks later. Dead legs, tingling sensation constantly, end of the race malaise. Besides getting to a sound allergist and getting the proper meds (I find a simple albueterol inhalor before and after workouts does the trick) you need to set up your hard efforts and races accordingly. There are certain periods (the last two weeks into the next three weeks) that you should back off intervals and just focus on steady mileage. This may impact you if you are on the collegiate schedule, but if you are post collegiate, there are so many racing seasons, there is no reason to bull through the early, crappy hypo allergenic portion of the spring. Once everything is in full bloom, your allergies should subside and, provided you don't back off in miles and can handle the heat, you should have your best racing ahead of you.

Thanks Wizzardly.

The other thing I didn't mention about these races is the feeling that I am going to pass out at the finish line if I don't get a few deep breaths in. I've never had this experience outside of these particular 6 races.

I have had terrible allergies all of my life. My 3K and 5K college PRs are from indoor track.

Have you had any allergy tests? It might be helpful to have the allergy tests done, then go through the weekly allergy shots.

I agree that weekly allergy shots might help.

I'm kind of strange in regard to allergies though. It seems I have them really bad when I'm not running, but during exercise, they seem to go away. I have no idea why...

I haven't had any allergy tests yet but I have an appointment with a my family doctor this week and I will be asking for allergy tests and blood work (just in case).

I have the same problems in the early spring. My workouts/runs in late February were really solid, and since the weather warmed up (and things started to bloom) I have been in a demoralizing state of sluggishness. I can't breath. My eyes itch. The back of my throat itches. Taking Claritin has helped very little. From experience, I have come to realize that these problems are simply a result of spring allergies, and it will go away in the next couple of weeks to a month. This week was particularly bad-- I was hyperventilating through long intervals that should have been easy. As a way to deal will my trouble breathing at long intervals, for my second workout this week, I did shorter repeats with short rest (relaxed pace 12x300 with 100 rest)-- I started with a longer warm up and added a longer cool down. I will still suffer through a long workout each week, but until my allergies subside, I just acknowledge that workouts are going to be hell (anything over 600 meters feels like breathing through a straw), and that I have to keep smartly working through my allergies (so that I don’t loose fitness) but also have to be patient (so as not to get too demoralized). Cutting down workouts and increasing miles is another good solution.

First part of my original post should have been "gone from running 8:01 indoors in February ..."

bump

this is a good post b/c I have the same thing. All winter I don't have any problems and then the last couple of weeks I've had real trouble breathing, and feel like my heart is racing when I'm just out for a jog. My muscles feel like they have no fluid in them too. Body feels really sluggish. I had this throughout college and every outdoor track season I would run like crap b/c of this. The worst part of this whole thing is that I've been feeling like this the last two weeks and I'm going to be running Boston on Monday. I hope the cooler weather helps with the breathing....

I'm feeling more alive in the mornings these days (the great km repeat session that I mentioned in my original post was at 10:00 AM) so I'm hoping to feel better in the 10k road race that I'm planning to run next Sunday. It makes sense that shutting myself off from whatever is making me feel like crap for 10 or 12 hours should make me feel a little better. I'm also hoping for rain. It rained last night and this morning and the 45 minute easy run that I just finished was the best continuous run I've had for 3 weeks. "Haile", I will cross my fingers for rain the night before Boston. Good luck!

claritin

JZ: reading your first post was like a transcription of my last few track seasons (much slower times in my case, though =) . I too have had little help from albuterol or antihistamines. Also no sinus symptoms most years (I did last), just crap in my lungs, clogged ears and slow times.

I actually went so far as to spreadsheet all my race results, time trials and best workouts back through High School, and found that despite most of my greatest racing efforts and opportunities being in the spring, I have NEVER set a PR in the month of April or May, and usually enter a "slump" in mid-March until late May. Adding 15-20 seconds to my 1500 is not unusual, and I finish dying a thousand deaths.

Last year I was able to somewhat circumvent the pollen by travelling to Southern CA (I live in PacNW) and by running the 800 instead of the 1500. This helped quite a bit.

This year I have decided to peak in mid-summer, and am doing lots of miles in base training through the spring. As long as I don't push the pace I seem to be fine. I did notice the last few days, as the temps and pollen dropped dramatically, I was able to drop my normal pace 20 seconds without any additional effort.

Hope your races go well.

I was just searching for past posts on claritin and some people have found that it was actually claritin itself that was causing their fatigue. Do you have personal experience with taking claritin?

Thanks for the response "mile master". I'm also from the pacific northwest. My problems weren't solved by racing in California though (my 14:09 was at Standford and my 14:32 was at Mt. SAC). A few hours ago I looked at the pollen readings from those two days at http://www.weather.com and found out that tree pollen levels were rated as high on both days (you can look at past levels for any city in the US). I also went through my training logs since 1998 and I could only find two races between mid-March and mid-May that were prs. One of these prs was in the 1500 and it came after 3 weeks of really bad allergy symptoms. I felt terrible up until the night before but it rained the morning of the race and I ended up running a 3:44 with a :57 last lap. I'm going to try out some kind of medication after visiting a doctor and hopefully figure out some of the specific types of pollen that effect me; but I have a feeling that I will end up doing the same as you and just accept that this period is better used as a training period. And if I do race I will stick with local races rather than waste time and money travelling. Good luck with your season as well.

Any new comments today?

You wrote that pollen readings were similar at both Stanford and Mt. SAC. I imagine your race at Stanford was in the evening, and it's possible the rain might have reduced the pollen in the air by race time. It didn't rain for Mt. SAC I don't think, so the pollen was probably swirling.

I have seasonal allergies as well, and tend to run better on rainy days as a result. My personal bests from the spring season were all set during or after wet weather.

Thanks JZ for the link. I have been relying on the pollen "forecasts" which seem unreliable for finding out what actually was the level on a given day. I'll try to see if I can find previous season results to see how they correlate with specific races.

I finally figured out who you are! I live about two hours south of you. I was wondering what was up when I saw your 5000 result, sorry it went that way. Both times I stayed down there I was near the beach which might have helped and the different pollen type didn't seem to affect me as much, though I did have a bad race at Pomona, which is surrounded by trees.

I think that base training in the spring is what will work for me. I always have consistent good results in the summer (and indoor). Today I finished a week over 100 miles and it felt fine, so I think my basic endurance is unaffected, just anything near race pace. It sucks, but at least I can still move forward!

be bop

Just try this

Go to the local vitamin/herb shop and ask for pycnogenol(pine bark extract). Take 1mg per lb of body weight divided into 3 doses. So if you weigh 150 lbs, you would take 3 x 50 mg (breakfast, lunch, dinner) or similar.

Just try it and if doesn't work go see the doctor.

I suffered from terrible allergies all of my life, and my running went into the crapper every season. I would even go through bouts of depression every year and felt like I had the flu every afternoon. Since taking pycnogenol all of my allergy symptoms have gone away completly and I no longer have the depression/fatigue issues. Allergy meds made me equally tired / fatigued, but this has been incredible.