Temporary decrease of endurance??

paulkj

I recently began running and trying to build up my endurance. Well, this past Wednesday I moved up a notch from my 2.25 mile run to 3.5 miles pretty effortlessly. To my surprise when I go up this morning to repeat my glorious 3.5 miles I was a little disappointed when I could only do 2.5.

It seemed as though I was exerting much more effort into the run regardless of the fact that I ran the same course at the same speed. The only difference is that on Wednesday I ran after being at work all day and had cottage cheese and berries before my run. It was also cooler since it was in the evening and today I ran in the morning after having cereal and soy milk. The temperature was probably 10 degrees higher. I seem to struggle with this run moreso than the run I did on Wednesday.

I am training for my first 5K and I want to make sure that I am ready.

Anyone knows why this may have happened?

Thanks in advance

running_wiz

Don't feel discouraged at all. It happens to everyone. I did a great 7 miles last week and then two days after that I was dragging my feet and stopped at 4 miles. The important thing is to just keep going. That was a big increase in distance and I would recommend maybe doing .25mi longer because that doesn't seem as daunting as running an extra mile like you did. It could also be a mental thing. Running is very mental and I find myself playing mind games all the time trying to get myself to run further and faster. Sometimes it works, other times not.

Azdak

Often a bad run (or workout) is just your body's way of saying it wasn't ready for what you were asking it to do that day.

The heat could very well be the difference, as could your pre-race meal. It could be something as simple as you haven't completely recovered from your previous longer run (you did, after all, increase your distance 55%).

Best not to overreact to one workout--track your performance and how you felt and, the more you train, the more you will learn how your body reacts to different speeds and distances.

paulkj

Thanks much for your responses. They make me feel sooooo much better