Losing progress
Okohme
Posts: 152 Member
I have been tracking food and exercising regularly for months. I decided I wanted to run a 5k and I did so. Recently I decided I wanted to run a 10 and have been training to do that. My speed for my runs was not improving, I can't seem to get under about 31 minutes for my ~5k that I run about 3 times a week. For a while my typical time was around 33 minutes. After Christmas I stepped up my routine. (I decided I needed to add in some strength training I have had pain in my legs from weakness and had to do PT to even be able to run regularly.. 
) I am on week 4 of adding in weight training; Monday: shoulders, back and core, Wednesday: Legs, Friday:Arms. I run Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday, Thursday too when I can. I get in a minimum of 10k steps a day on days when I don't run. The Sunday run is the long one, I have gotten it out to 5 miles, now.
Lately I have been having more leg pain, this time on the left leg, and my ~5k time has become more like 35 minutes over the past two or three weeks. I have stayed on track with the routine except that I missed arm day 2 weeks in a row (once because of a sick kid, once because of oral surgery) I have missed no runs (oral surgery postponed 2 runs by 2 days but I made up both runs the next week.)
I am frustrated because I am working harder, and seem to be getting slower. My leg(s) feels sort of hitched up, like it isn't a fluid motion, the pain is not bad, but I don't run... smooth, I guess. For a while I was having no real discomfort in my knees/hips from running but now its back.
Any input?
) I am on week 4 of adding in weight training; Monday: shoulders, back and core, Wednesday: Legs, Friday:Arms. I run Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday, Thursday too when I can. I get in a minimum of 10k steps a day on days when I don't run. The Sunday run is the long one, I have gotten it out to 5 miles, now.Lately I have been having more leg pain, this time on the left leg, and my ~5k time has become more like 35 minutes over the past two or three weeks. I have stayed on track with the routine except that I missed arm day 2 weeks in a row (once because of a sick kid, once because of oral surgery) I have missed no runs (oral surgery postponed 2 runs by 2 days but I made up both runs the next week.)
I am frustrated because I am working harder, and seem to be getting slower. My leg(s) feels sort of hitched up, like it isn't a fluid motion, the pain is not bad, but I don't run... smooth, I guess. For a while I was having no real discomfort in my knees/hips from running but now its back.
Any input?
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Replies
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Are you taking any rest days? Your post reads like you are overdoing things and are heading for an injury.3
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Most Thursdays I just aim for my 10k steps.0
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Which just means light walking. At most I powerwalk on the treadmill.0
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Sounds a lot like over training to me. I would suggest looking up an actual running training plan. There's plenty online. I will start another one in about 5 weeks for a 13km event. When I did it last year it has one short fast run, one avg pace avg run and a slow long run once a week. Strength and stretching were incorporated into the week as well as a rest day. Currently I am running once a week and working out mix cardio/strength twice a week (recovering from injury).
Had a friend in the same boat as you, he tried to run each run at race pace and wondered why he was getting worse rather than better. He saw a professional trainer when transitioning to triathlons and the trainer was not happy with him when he did more than what was set, warning him this would lead to injury. He found it frustrating at teh time but now he has improved times so can see the benefit of this approach.
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In your OP you said you run on Thursdays when you can. Which is it?
Are you following a running training plan?0 -
In your OP you said you run on Thursdays when you can. Which is it?
Are you following a running training plan?
I probably do a Thursday run every three weeks, is all.
I am following this plan: http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/5k10kschedules/
Except that I run on Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday. I run two days in a row basically because I have to as I am a stay at home mom and primary care giver to my son, so weekends are my best chance to get a run in, during the week its really only reasonable for me to get that one run in. That's part of why I added in weights as cross-training.0 -
30kgin2017 wrote: »Sounds a lot like over training to me. I would suggest looking up an actual running training plan. There's plenty online. I will start another one in about 5 weeks for a 13km event. When I did it last year it has one short fast run, one avg pace avg run and a slow long run once a week. Strength and stretching were incorporated into the week as well as a rest day. Currently I am running once a week and working out mix cardio/strength twice a week (recovering from injury).
Had a friend in the same boat as you, he tried to run each run at race pace and wondered why he was getting worse rather than better. He saw a professional trainer when transitioning to triathlons and the trainer was not happy with him when he did more than what was set, warning him this would lead to injury. He found it frustrating at teh time but now he has improved times so can see the benefit of this approach.
What would a "short fast run" be? Like how much relative to the long run. I do two runs at ~5k and one that I'm building to a 10k.0 -
Stop trying to beat your time every run you do. To get quicker you just want lots of slow easy miles.
Run 5k in 35-40 minutes if your PB is 30. As you increase your distance on your long run, keep the pace slow.2 -
TavistockToad wrote: »Stop trying to beat your time every run you do. To get quicker you just want lots of slow easy miles.
Run 5k in 35-40 minutes if your PB is 30. As you increase your distance on your long run, keep the pace slow.
Im not trying to beat my PB every time, but my times are getting longer for the same runs. I am keeping the pace pretty slow on the long run day, but I dunno how much slower I can go and still be running..0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »Stop trying to beat your time every run you do. To get quicker you just want lots of slow easy miles.
Run 5k in 35-40 minutes if your PB is 30. As you increase your distance on your long run, keep the pace slow.
Im not trying to beat my PB every time, but my times are getting longer for the same runs. I am keeping the pace pretty slow on the long run day, but I dunno how much slower I can go and still be running..
When was the last time you had a rest week?
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TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Stop trying to beat your time every run you do. To get quicker you just want lots of slow easy miles.
Run 5k in 35-40 minutes if your PB is 30. As you increase your distance on your long run, keep the pace slow.
Im not trying to beat my PB every time, but my times are getting longer for the same runs. I am keeping the pace pretty slow on the long run day, but I dunno how much slower I can go and still be running..
When was the last time you had a rest week?
...week?!0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Stop trying to beat your time every run you do. To get quicker you just want lots of slow easy miles.
Run 5k in 35-40 minutes if your PB is 30. As you increase your distance on your long run, keep the pace slow.
Im not trying to beat my PB every time, but my times are getting longer for the same runs. I am keeping the pace pretty slow on the long run day, but I dunno how much slower I can go and still be running..
When was the last time you had a rest week?
...week?!
3 days in a row?0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Stop trying to beat your time every run you do. To get quicker you just want lots of slow easy miles.
Run 5k in 35-40 minutes if your PB is 30. As you increase your distance on your long run, keep the pace slow.
Im not trying to beat my PB every time, but my times are getting longer for the same runs. I am keeping the pace pretty slow on the long run day, but I dunno how much slower I can go and still be running..
When was the last time you had a rest week?
...week?!
Maybe not a full week of rest but a deloading week to borrow weightlifting jargon. Many training plans will go on a 4 week cycle where you build for 3 and then take an easy week (shorter distances, slower speeds) to allow you to fully recover. Also I agree with the comments suggesting slowing down. My training paces are way slower than race pace, for example my PB for a 10K is just under 55 min but a mid week 10K will be closer to 70 min (unless I'm doing a tempo run which will be closer to race pace)
I don't want to discourage you but even running "for months" you're just getting started. It's not unusual for runners to improve steadily over a period of years ( I ran faster at 59 than I did at 50).2 -
TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Stop trying to beat your time every run you do. To get quicker you just want lots of slow easy miles.
Run 5k in 35-40 minutes if your PB is 30. As you increase your distance on your long run, keep the pace slow.
Im not trying to beat my PB every time, but my times are getting longer for the same runs. I am keeping the pace pretty slow on the long run day, but I dunno how much slower I can go and still be running..
When was the last time you had a rest week?
...week?!
3 days in a row?
Probably a month or so ago, when I had oral surgery and wasn't even allowed to lift my son for two days.0 -
BrianSharpe wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Stop trying to beat your time every run you do. To get quicker you just want lots of slow easy miles.
Run 5k in 35-40 minutes if your PB is 30. As you increase your distance on your long run, keep the pace slow.
Im not trying to beat my PB every time, but my times are getting longer for the same runs. I am keeping the pace pretty slow on the long run day, but I dunno how much slower I can go and still be running..
When was the last time you had a rest week?
...week?!
Maybe not a full week of rest but a deloading week to borrow weightlifting jargon. Many training plans will go on a 4 week cycle where you build for 3 and then take an easy week (shorter distances, slower speeds) to allow you to fully recover. Also I agree with the comments suggesting slowing down. My training paces are way slower than race pace, for example my PB for a 10K is just under 55 min but a mid week 10K will be closer to 70 min (unless I'm doing a tempo run which will be closer to race pace)
I don't want to discourage you but even running "for months" you're just getting started. It's not unusual for runners to improve steadily over a period of years ( I ran faster at 59 than I did at 50).
Oh, I know I'm very much an amateur runner at this point, I probably always will be. To be honest I don't recall what point I was making when I said that I'd been working out for months, maybe just supplying background. I think maybe I just figured I would have made a little bit more progress by now but in the last few weeks, I seem to have lost some. Which is especially frustrating since in the month I had oral surgery and stomach bug made its rounds at my house and I managed to still not miss a single work-out.
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BrianSharpe wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Stop trying to beat your time every run you do. To get quicker you just want lots of slow easy miles.
Run 5k in 35-40 minutes if your PB is 30. As you increase your distance on your long run, keep the pace slow.
Im not trying to beat my PB every time, but my times are getting longer for the same runs. I am keeping the pace pretty slow on the long run day, but I dunno how much slower I can go and still be running..
When was the last time you had a rest week?
...week?!
Maybe not a full week of rest but a deloading week to borrow weightlifting jargon. Many training plans will go on a 4 week cycle where you build for 3 and then take an easy week (shorter distances, slower speeds) to allow you to fully recover. Also I agree with the comments suggesting slowing down. My training paces are way slower than race pace, for example my PB for a 10K is just under 55 min but a mid week 10K will be closer to 70 min (unless I'm doing a tempo run which will be closer to race pace)
I don't want to discourage you but even running "for months" you're just getting started. It's not unusual for runners to improve steadily over a period of years ( I ran faster at 59 than I did at 50).
Oh, I know I'm very much an amateur runner at this point, I probably always will be. To be honest I don't recall what point I was making when I said that I'd been working out for months, maybe just supplying background. I think maybe I just figured I would have made a little bit more progress by now but in the last few weeks, I seem to have lost some. Which is especially frustrating since in the month I had oral surgery and stomach bug made its rounds at my house and I managed to still not miss a single work-out.
Maybe you should have missed a few workouts.0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Stop trying to beat your time every run you do. To get quicker you just want lots of slow easy miles.
Run 5k in 35-40 minutes if your PB is 30. As you increase your distance on your long run, keep the pace slow.
Im not trying to beat my PB every time, but my times are getting longer for the same runs. I am keeping the pace pretty slow on the long run day, but I dunno how much slower I can go and still be running..
When was the last time you had a rest week?
...week?!
3 days in a row?
Probably a month or so ago, when I had oral surgery and wasn't even allowed to lift my son for two days.
How big a calorie deficit are you running?
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TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Stop trying to beat your time every run you do. To get quicker you just want lots of slow easy miles.
Run 5k in 35-40 minutes if your PB is 30. As you increase your distance on your long run, keep the pace slow.
Im not trying to beat my PB every time, but my times are getting longer for the same runs. I am keeping the pace pretty slow on the long run day, but I dunno how much slower I can go and still be running..
When was the last time you had a rest week?
...week?!
3 days in a row?
Probably a month or so ago, when I had oral surgery and wasn't even allowed to lift my son for two days.
How big a calorie deficit are you running?
Most days (recently, I upped my intake when I added in weigh training and started increasing my miles) I eat around 1600-1800 calories. Which puts me at a 400-1000 calorie deficit. The 1000 calorie deficit is somewhat rare, like if I have along run day on a day when i'm not feeling very hungry.0
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