But I've improved despite not feeling good on many days, and it becoming more like a chore to run rather than a fun activity. The body adapts and adjusts quite well. Not everyone responds to training like that.
Sure, it's out of the ordinary if I'm actually celebrating a run where I feel good and complain on 70-80% of the runs that I'm not feeling well and just getting the work done, with fatigue and/or pain. But I'm not at my potential yet, so my body is remodeling bone, muscles, tendons, the heart is getting a lot more powerful, etc.
This has NOTHING to do with running. It was the same in cycling. Since I couldn't run in the beginning, I started as cyclist. I would do 2-3 hour easy rides each day, but occasionally I would completely bonk during a ride and crawl home, unsure if I can even make it. Then, I also had days where I couldn't get my HR above 125 - I just had absolutely no power, I could sprint for a few sec but couldn't maintain a steady pace. That was incredibly frustrating and mentally draining. Even without being injured, my brain seems to put a lock on me sometimes that I have no way to push through. But every time a sports scientist tested me, I improved and I had excellent power values considering my training volume and history. The same was true in running, among 10,000 people my lactate threshold was improving the fastest. I did train a lot more/harder than what was prescribed to me, I think I was very lucky to get away with it (most of the time), and might also have to do with my big size - 6'2" and 160-165 lbs.
This is prescribed to me for the 3k TT (copyright Tinman):
- 80-minute run including a ...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
- Run slowly for 10-15 minutes, and then run...
- 10-minutes @ tempo pace
(5k pace + 45-seconds per mile or + 28-seconds per km) +
- Jog 3-minutes, and then run...
- 3-km at 97% effort to test your current maximum aerobic power.
- Be sure to run the first 1000m of the test conservatively so that you have success.
3k warm-up in 3:40/k, then 3k TT. What's 97% effort? No idea, I'll start 3:10/k and then try to pick it up. Does that sound reasonable?