Dying on all runs

Without more information, I can only make guesses. Here are some possibilities:

1. Diet - Are you eating healthy?

2. Training too hard - You say you're not overtraining, but it sounds like you aren't running easy enough. Run slower when you feel good to balance things out. You might be wearing yourself out every time you get recovered, so your body is constantly breaking down. Try backing off your miles for a few weeks and slowing your pace so it always feels easy. I can almost guarantee you'll hate it at first then start feeling stronger and more consistent.

3. Something that changed recently - New job, change in schedule, or something similar? Not likely but it's possible.

4. Training plan - it might help if you gave us your typical week, you might need to adjust your training workouts.

It would also help to know if this is a recent occurrence, or if it's always been this way for you.

the only thing i have is a bad diet, i eat a decent amount of junk; but i was under the impression that nutrition can't make that huge a difference during running.

I do take all my runs very easy, starting at 9-10 min pace and just naturally speed up with no increase in effort,so it's always easy. Aside from maybe once or twice a week most of my runs just stay that pace or get slower recently, ending with me having to walk. I took 3 days off in case i needed some extra rest, but it didn't really help much; my runs stayed the same.

a typical week for me is 6-8 miles in the evening with 3-4 in the morning if i have the energy. Recently though i've not been able to make it past 3 miles without walking; and this is after my 3 days of pure rest.

any other suggestions?

Ferritin test

it's not iron, i got checked

Some people seem to be able to eat whatever they want without it making much of a difference, but I know several people who changed their diet and saw drastic improvements. Might be worth a try to cut out the junk.

Maybe try doing your 10 miler a little slower...rather than 7:00/mi pace try doing a couple of these runs at 8:00/mi or 8:30/mi pace and see how that affects the rest of the training.

If you find that you can do the rest of the runs then maybe you were just cooking the 10 milers a little too hard for where your body is currently at.. If this does work then slowly (and I mean S-L-O-W-L-Y) build the pace on the 10 milers over a 6 to 8 week period.

Maybe look at your diet too...if it's not balanced you may be missing carbs/protiens etc that your body wants/needs for energy and recovery. Also, what's your sleep like...? Are you getting enough sleep on a consistant basis?

Bad cold or flu recently? That can sometimes take it out of you in the weeks afterwards

Regardless of that, I suggest taking a week off with no running. Then start back 1st week with reduced training load

I would look at what you are eating before your runs as well and how soon before.

Are you eating/drinking sugar within an hour or two of your runs? I've noticed that if I do that I frequently experience crashes during my runs.

I agree - good advice.

I experienced this same thing 2 winters ago after having the flu. One run a week would go fine, but the rest would be horrible. Tried to train through it, ended up with pneumonia a month later.

Take some time off, get lots of rest, and get your nutrition on track. Better to take 1 or 2 weeks now then to spend months recovering from illness.

I think it might be my nutrition, i eat around 5-6k calories a day, all in 3-4 meals of 1500+ calories; like a whole pizza or 6 bowls of sugary cereal with microwave food...etc. I feel like this is the problem, only that sometimes i get away with it and have energy. It is a minority but i just never thought nutrition could be the sole cause of shitty running....could it?

What were the results of your iron test?

How many hours of sleep are you getting each night? What have you averaged mile wise per week over the last month? Have you upped intensity or mpw by a lot recently? Do you feel stressed during the day? Do you have trouble falling asleep?

normal....according to the doctor

My lack of sleep never really affect my training.

sleep is normal 8-9 hours. and i'm doin about 50 mpw....no increases

I said ferritin, not iron. And get a number. Doctors are notoriously under/mis-informed about ferritin's impact on running.

If you are dying on ALL your runs (fast and slow) then overtraining or iron depletion could be the cause.

I once had a Japanese doctor tell me that my Ferritin was "Normal" when it was 12 ng/dl. I had trouble getting out of bed and I could only run 3x/week!

Perhaps your recovery days are too fast. I suggest that you do your recovery days at a pace that feels just north of walking. I've had recovery days of 10 min. per mile, and I am a 2:18 marathoner.

lenny wrote:

i eat around 5-6k calories a day, all in 3-4 meals of 1500+ calories; like a whole pizza or 6 bowls of sugary cereal with microwave food...etc

I would bet dollars to doughnuts (sorry) this is a big part of your problem. That sort of meal places a tremendous load on your digestive system and liver, and affects how well you can mobilize energy stores on your next run. You're also going to get a lot of weight fluctuation, both from the food you eat and the water you retain to absorb it. I had a similar issue 4 years ago and it ended up costing me an entire year of competition. You clearly need the energy but when and how you get it is very important.