Runners, I Need Help! Can't get past 11 miles

Were you eating at a deficit during your previous training for your HMs? Are you eating enough to fuel your running now? What's your daily calorie goal, and are you eating back your exercise calories?

When I first started trying to lose weight, I set things up to lose 2 pounds a week. Started training for a half marathon, and it was soon very clear that I wasn't eating enough. I switched to 1 pound a week, ate back my exercise calories, and did much better. Now I'm training for another HM, have less to lose, and have gone to half a pound a week loss.

What is causing you to stop - what specifically is bothering you and how?

I think you are depleted...if you have been doing long runs, I am wondering if you've been "feeding" early in runs.

When I run past 11 I must supplement with Gu. I start with Gu early - miles 4 or 5 - Are you taking "food" for runs past 11? I have run 3 marathons and several half marathons - Gu works very well for me and several endurance athlete buddies of mine. In the old days (before Gu) I would take a handful of butterscotch hard candies and start sucking on one early and then pop one every few miles past 10. It's critical to get extra sugar as you get into deeper territory. At the very least, good ole Gatorade is helpful. If you go on a long run, stash bottles in the bushes before you set out. Gu is great bec you can tuck them in your shorts or running bra. My favorite is 'espresso love' and 'chocolate outrage' is pretty great too. Since I've been on a mission to lose weight, I haven't used Gu but I also purposefully haven't ventured past 10. I can't cut calories and train long. But, once I hit the goal weight, it's Gu time!

BTW-- great marathon book - "Making the Marathon Your Event" by Benyo. Old text but tried and true. Used either the 20 week or 16 week programs in the book for each of my events. Tons of tips that you wouldn't happen upon otherwise.

Good luck!
Which marathon? (I'm doing Nike DC 1/2 in April.) I haven't picked my next [full] marathon---still mentally scarred from the hills of Madrid! (Tough one!)

One more tip - Just read Zosimah's post - your mind can play tricks on you. Take advantage of using an ipod to get lost in a story (NPR This American Life is my favorite podcast) or in music...might get you over the hump...also, for me, it's critical to run first thing in the morning to get most out of my body.

First of all, I'm extremely appreciative for all of the great advice. Second of all, to answer some questions, I'm only on week 8 of a 4 month program, this past week put me at 35 miles. My mid week runs average between 6-7 miles. I'm slow, so for a long run, I'm averaging between a 9-10 min mile, but when I do sprint training, I can get my mile to 7 minutes (that's a big deal of this girl). I'm eating baked oatmeal thirty mins before I take off and drink a protein shake after. If I have a short run (4 miles) I can average an 8 min mile consistently. Schedule: Monday-rest, Tues 6-7, Wed 4-5, Thurs 5-6, Fri rest, Sat (long run 10+), Sun 3-4. The miles increase as the weeks progress.
No, I'm not taking food or energy boosters with me; I'll start doing that. My mind just says, I'm done. The feeling is exhaustion, and I just have to stop. I get emotional, frustrated, and just want to give the entire dream up. But thank you to those who said this normal and it's not a big deal to let one week fall to the wayside. It makes me feel human.
I'm also starting to see that I might need to do some homework on this subject.

The marathon is schedule for the last weekend in April. It's the Camp Casey 1/2 or Full Marathon here in South Korea. Last year, my husband and I did the half marathon, so I know the course, and I made it a goal to do the full one this year.

Thanks again, everyone!!!

Sounds like you are running about 5 days a week. Only do three hard runs a week. On the other days run easy, or better yet imo, crosstrain. You can crosstrain more intensely than an easy run, but still don't approach the intensity of your main workouts.

Are you saying you sprint a 7:00 mile? That's impressive, first of all. If so, you can actually do faster long runs when you are feeling better.

If you do 7:00 pace on a 400m sprint, your long runs should be at 9:30-9:45ish early in your training.

You might consider doing a time trial so you can be more certain that you are training at the best intensity.

I agree with the comment about cutting down to 3-4 runs a week and incorporating cross-training.

I haven't done a full (yet) but in training for my last half I cross trained with CrossFit and saw some definite benefits from doing both.

Good luck!

2 things:

1) Make sure you aren't overtraining. (Obvious, since you've done halfs in the past, I'm sure you already know about this.)

2) Are you hitting the wall? It is an amazing kick to the face if you've never hit it before, and I didn't get it until I was marathon training. Read this for more info: http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/choices/latta.htm

It's basically describing the switch your body has to make on the fly from using stored glycogen, to whatever it can find (I think fats are the first choice).

It's a pretty much guarantee you'll hit it in the marathon. You push past it. (Note: be absolutely sure you aren't pushing your body beyond something else like serious fatigue, etc.).

Make a concerted effort to run at a slower pace until you feel comfortable breaking the 11 mile barrier.

Are you cross training?! That's super important to keep your body going, running is tough on the body and its very important to do some sort of cross training atleast 2x a week. Jump rope stationary bike swimming etc. It gives your body a well needed break and also helps prevent injury. Rest days are great, but doing the same activity day in a day out will deff take a till on your performance. Try running 3x a week and cross train 2x a week. Be sure to listen to your body, it may be telling you something.

I'll bet you are running too hard every day. Easy runs need to be at around 75% max heart rate (MHR) and below. If you are running them harder than that then eventually the body is overwhelmed and cannot recover from run to run.

If you have a heart rate monitor then run at 75% MHR or below until you feel better. Also, drop the speed work until then. At that intensity you can probably keep the distance up.

I expect that if you do this you will feel better within 2 or 3 weeks and runs will once again be going well.

If you have to slow down at that heartrate then slow down. You will improve better running at the correct intensities than you will if you try to push the pace all the time.

So the Casey marathon is happening? I have been looking all over the Casey and Red Cloud pages trying to find some information on it, and how to sign up. I am at Humphreys. Let me know if you have any registration info please.