dcloafer wrote:
With so many stories of people coming back to run PRs after long breaks and lower post-break mileage, it sure seems like a lot of people were overtraining prior to those breaks...
Definitely been there.
I overtrained in high school and my times were very inconsistent, but I managed a 16:20 and couple other 5ks under 17:00.
Then in college, my overtraining shut me down. I was trying to break 16:00 and I went the opposite way, never breaking 18:00 for a couple of years, running obsessively, slogging, never recovering.
Swore off running in November of my junior year. Started doing lots of calisthenics mid-winter, which kept my heart working hard and put on muscle, but didn't run a mile until maybe April.
That summer, working at a summer camp, I ran settled into running every day on grass trails, just because it was invigorating. I ran less than half the mileage I used to, and didn't worry about pace, but I was running a lot of it tempo-style. At some point late summer, I realized I was running some of those short runs faster than my 5k races when I was broken down.
Once summer was over, I started training on the track and did a three mile time trial in 16:00, as good as my best high school times. I never broke 16:00 for 5k, but continued to improve at other distances, and have enjoyed running much more ever since.