Need advice from runners!

MassiveDelta

that is soooooo not funny

QFT

ksy1969

I am not kidding here, but my best runs have been when I eat pizza and have a couple beers the night before.

BeachIron

I am not kidding here, but my best runs have been when I eat pizza and have a couple beers the night before.

^ This. I seriously miss beer runs with the guys.

_SABOTEUR_

Apart from potential food issues (ie getting enough to fuel yourself) I would say that the cross-training is unnecessary. Do you feel you gain benefits from it or are you just doing it because it is part of the program?

stadter

I'll echo the folks that have said every once in a while you have off days. I will also say that as your runs get longer, you should test out different ways to get some fuel into your body. I am not someone who usually eats before a workout or anything and I had to figure out the timing of when I could eat prior that wouldn't make me nauceous while running (which meant getting up earlier...uggg), in addition to figuring out what I could stomach during the longer runs to keep up my pace. Some people are ok with Gu during runs, some can't do it. I liked the 'blocks'. The texture is ok and you can gradually eat them as needed.

When I was training, I also developed some different food intolerences that sort of flew in the face of the general rules too. Like veggie carbs made me feel the best. I still cannot eat pasta anymore. That really had an affect on how I felt overall and my ability to push through feeling tired.

jofjltncb6

I'm definitely eating! I usually eat anywhere between 1,000-1,500 calories per day, I log everything as a guide but don't really stress if I go over or under etc.

I'm working out 6 days a week with 1 rest day, (one day the training program has us double up with running and strength training, if you noticed the numbers add up to 7)

Could it be not eating enough? That's usually not a problem for me haha but definitely something that's worth a shot! Thanks for all your help!

Whoa. It sounds like you aren't eating nearly enough for your activity level.

And also, as was said earlier, we all have bad running days sometimes. While there's probably a good explanation (or explanations), sometimes, we just don't know. It just happens.

tjmist

Thanks for the advice everyone! I seriously increased my food intake, and despite feeling really gross and gaining some weight i have to say my first race wasn't so bad! I did get sick, and still am, which may have also played a role in my tough runs during the past week.

I got my official time and I met my goal of being under 10:00 per mile (i was 9:46 per mile), but my race time was 1:00:29 (my second goal was to finish under an hour) damn my phone for misleading me, I initially thought I was under! Just goes to show you, the nike running app may be off a bit.

Anyways, for my first official race, running sick, it was still a good prep for the half marathon! I'm running the same route in June after the half marathon with some friends so I figure by then I'll definitely be faster and can work on improving my time! For now, I would just like to get rid of this cold and get back to training!

scottb81

Based upon that race time what happened before is that you started running all your easy runs at close to tempo pace. That is a guaranteed way to build up a bunch of fatigue that eventually catches up to you.

Your easy run pace should be between 10:36 to 11:25. Running harder than that for easy runs will not build the aerobic fitness you need in the long term.

Your tempo run pace should be 9:33 to 9:52. Only run that pace once a week for 20 to 40 minutes.

Run the correct paces for your current fitness level and your fitness will improve. Run too fast all the time and you will crash and burn.

Paces calculated from: http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/

omma_to_3

Run too fast all the time and you will crash and burn.

I'm just learning this lesson. In the last 2 weeks before my half, I'm running as slow as I can (which is still too fast) and I can already notice a difference. After my half (this weekend), I plan on working on this much more. My pace has slowed as I've become more and more fatigued.

For me, what I've learned is that I need to plan my runs by time, rather than distance. I've been training by distance (ie, today, I'll run 6 miles) and that encourages me to go faster than I should to get done quicker. After this week, I'll switch to saying 'today I'll run for an hour' and however far I go, is how far I go. And I bet I'll find myself going farther and farther as time goes on :-)

scottb81

After this week, I'll switch to saying 'today I'll run for an hour' and however far I go, is how far I go. And I bet I'll find myself going farther and farther as time goes on :-)

That's the way I do it. If you know you're going to be out there for XX minutes no matter how fast you run it encourages you to keep the pace at the right intensity.

Also, there is a reason easy runs are called "Easy". You should finish feeling like you could go out and do it again right away at the same pace if you had to.

Running them at the right intensity specifically targets aerobic physiological adaptations. Running them too hard does not make these adaptations happen faster. It can actually undermine them.