Did 5 days off really wipe out a whole block of training?

Unfortunately yes, you're literally back to square one. Running is "use it or lose it." Sorry no one told you about this.

Sounds like you ran your tempo too hard and you still haven’t recovered from it. You won’t lose fitness after 5 days but your performance can still be compromised if something is wrong with your body too.

There's no way you lose fitness in 5 days.

Ask yourself:

- have i been sleeping right

- have I eaten enough

I ran the tempo ten days ago, I think I pull be recovered by now. Yes, definitely eating enough, I haven’t gained more than half a pound or so but have been treating my portion sizes generously because of Christmas. ;) I usually sleep 8 hours but the last couple of days I have around 7, I didn’t think it would make too much difference. I am just worried about menopause, or something like mono which I hope not!

Do you typically take five days off and try to repeat where you left off?

When you were younger too?

Not terribly relevant to this specific situation, but Roger Bannister took five days completely off from running before he ran his first sub-four.

After 7 days off you will be at 99.3% of your Vo2 max iirc. After that, your fitness will begin to decay more rapidly.

So no, 5 days doesn’t do anything really even noticeable to your fitness.

If I take three or more days off, the first day back has to be an easy day. If I take only one or two days off, the first day back can be a hard day.

Agree, takes at least a week to start to lose fitness. Burnout can strike quickly, though.

No one else does it, but I took 3 full days off, walking only, before races. Sluggish at first, but more left at the end.

Malinka wrote:

Last week I ran a 10 mile tempo at 7:25 pace. I had to take a few days off due to pain/niggles (aiming to prevent injury). Today, I couldn’t even manage half an hour at that pace. In fact, my splits got slower.

I turned 41 last month.. Is this really what getting older is like? I mean, 5 days .... really? Is something wrong?

10 miles at tempo pace? What were you thinking when you hammered down 70 min workout?

You should aim for 20-25 min, may be 30 min at true tempo pace on single day weekly basis.

qw wrote:

Malinka wrote:

Last week I ran a 10 mile tempo at 7:25 pace. I had to take a few days off due to pain/niggles (aiming to prevent injury). Today, I couldn’t even manage half an hour at that pace. In fact, my splits got slower.

I turned 41 last month.. Is this really what getting older is like? I mean, 5 days .... really? Is something wrong?

10 miles at tempo pace? What were you thinking when you hammered down 70 min workout?

You should aim for 20-25 min, may be 30 min at true tempo pace on single day weekly basis.

Depends on what the OP meant by tempo. If you go by Jack Daniels definition it's the fastest pace you can hold in race effort for 1 hour. For training you shouldn't go over 20 minutes without adjusting pace. OP probably meant something like marathon pace run being 70 minutes which would be a good workout.

Roger Bannister took 5 days off before be broke 4 for the first time. You're probably fine, but you're just feeling a little rusty is all. Be patient.

Studies show you lose very little of your fitness by taking 5 days off. Experts say you may lose 5% at most.

Either you were having an off day, still injured, or, more than likely, you were just putting too much pressure on yourself.

By the way, 41 years of age? Get rid of that thought that you are getting old.

Now if you were 60 I might agree.

On a very much related note, in one of my articles on my Blog --Living The Stotan Life I write about a runner putting too much pressure on himself. Here is the link to it below:

https://livingthestotanlife.blogspot.com/search?q=Quieting+the+beast+within

only a stupid hobbyjogger would start back running with a tempo after 5 days off

Malinka wrote:

Last week I ran a 10 mile tempo at 7:25 pace. I had to take a few days off due to pain/niggles (aiming to prevent injury). Today, I couldn’t even manage half an hour at that pace. In fact, my splits got slower.

I turned 41 last month.. Is this really what getting older is like? I mean, 5 days .... really? Is something wrong?

It could have been something simple like not warming up properly ( or not warming up at all!).

Maybe you just started too fast...through in a surge early that whipped out your reserves...

No!

You just lost some coordination.. do some strides the day before faster running and you'll be ok

You are probably still tired from the effort.

But everyone is different.

Wait till you are 65...a 10 mile tempo at anything near that pace will wipe you out (if you can still run near that quickly for a mile).

It will take you over 2 miles to just warm up.

And if you take a 2-3 days off, it will take longer to feel anywhere near smooth again.

It's all in your head. You thought you lost fitness, so you went out to do a tempo test, which "confirmed" your fears but only because the days off got in your head. Nobody would lose that much fitness in a few days.