fitness levels

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gailsivi2
gailsivi2 Posts: 12
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi
I'm hoping that someone can help and advice me on what I'm doing wrong. I started running about 6 months ago from scratch, following an app on my phone I have gone from running 3 minutes to running up to an hour with a maximum mileage of 6 miles but over the last couple of weeks my fitness levels seem to be getting worse,I can't even manage 30 minutes of running without it killing me. I train about 4 times a week. I had my lung function done a few months ago and even though I used to smoke the nurse said it was above average.I've applied to run the Birmingham half marathon on the 19th October but to be honest I think I'm going to drop out because I really don't think I'll be able to do it and I'm absolutely gutted. I think I may also have shin splints (bruised achy feeling on the inside of my shin) but had that for a while. I am joining a running club and going to my first one on Thursday but after today's run I feel pretty useless, did 30 minutes and ended up out of breath and my face always goes bright red and hot. What am I doing wrong? Am I just someone who will never get any fitter due to smoking,oh I am 45 yes old,female and not overweight. What's wrong with me. Please help.
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Replies

  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    Have you considered what the difference in your lifestyle is between then and now? Why were you able to do an hour before and now you can't? Changes in weather, your diet/nutrition, medications, hydration, etc. Did you take a break at some point?

    My face always gets bright red and hot when running (or anythig else quite strenuous) - I don't think there's anything wrong with that, it's just something some people experience Like how some sweat way more than others.
  • JenniDaisy
    JenniDaisy Posts: 526 Member
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    I know it sounds silly, but have you thought about your pace? as you've got more comfortable running for an hour you might have sped up and be pushing yourself harder.
    Personally, if I really think about it and only go for 4mph I can run for 6+ miles, but if I speed up to 6mph I am done after running 2 miles.
  • gailsivi2
    gailsivi2 Posts: 12
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    Hi
    Thanks for reply. My lifestyle hasn't changed but I have started eating more carbs,wholemeal bread,pasta because I thought it would help,I've also put on about 7lbs so could it be the extra weight? I don't know if its just me subconsciously looking for a way out but I don't think it is,I love running. I even started taking iron tablets this week just in case its that,even though I had my bloods done with my lung function and all was fine. I feel like Im a failure with my running I really do and I don't know what to do. :(
  • gailsivi2
    gailsivi2 Posts: 12
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    I have a garmin watch and my pace has gone from 10.48mile to 11.33 mile so I'm running slower. I don't know much bout running times but I feel like I'm already going at a crawl now :((
  • RavenLibra
    RavenLibra Posts: 1,737 Member
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    Sounds medical...see your doctor.. talk to him about your thyroid.. lots of women entering your age group begin to develop issues around energy levels and metabolism... AND lay off the bread... Pasta OKay... bread.. not so much :)
  • chickwithpencil
    chickwithpencil Posts: 26 Member
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    I've had similar happen, but for me, it's often due to delayed soreness (I also don't always seem to register how sore I am, which gives me a tendency to overdo it.) A few days of rest in a row might help.
  • gailsivi2
    gailsivi2 Posts: 12
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    Hi thank you all for your replies.
    I think I will have a word with my Dr but I'm pretty sure my thyroid was tested a couple of months ago but maybe they have changed. I was wondering if it could be heart related but I'm not having any pains or anything,lots of reasons are running through my head but I will do anything to overcome this so I'll drop the bread lol. I changed my shift pattern at work and have been doing 4 12 hour shifts for the last year and don't suppose I get enough sleep but if that was the problem it would have been there from the start wouldn't it?
  • gailsivi2
    gailsivi2 Posts: 12
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    My shins are sore but have been for months so would that contribute to this?
  • rebeccaiross
    rebeccaiross Posts: 1 Member
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    The same thing happened to me, and I finally went to the doctor and it turned out that my vitamin D level was very low (even though it was summertime and I'd been going to the beach a lot). Once I got my level up I could run again.
  • wkwebby
    wkwebby Posts: 807 Member
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    Hydration and fuel (food) affects my ability to run all the time. Also, are you running on a completely flat surface all the time? Outside running is HARD (way harder than a treadmill) due to inclines that you may or may not even notice. If you want to prove my point, just try and run with a 1% incline and see how dramatically different your performance is.

    Don't be disheartened by a bad week of running. Some rest, nutrition, and hydration should be able to fix you right up. Be really diligent about stretching and hydrating for the half marathon too. If you think about what your pace is, there really isn't any reason to get disheartened about it.

    It's taking me a year for an ankle injury, and I'm still not able to reach my fitness levels (for running) that I was a year ago. Other things are better, but my running has suffered as well.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    There's not much information to go on but my suspicion is overtraining. Share your weekly running schedule with us


    ETA: and food. Share your calories and macros with us too
  • gailsivi2
    gailsivi2 Posts: 12
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    I've been taking vit D for just over a week now and iron just bout 4 days. I must admit I'm not much of a stretcher but I walk back from my runs and do bout 5 mins stretching. I run Mon,Tues,Weds and Thursday ,I was following a half marathon plan and doing OK up until 2\3 weeks ago running 5\6 mile Max but not every day. I don't run weekends because I work 5:30am -5:30pm and probably only have 5 hrs Max sleep per day then work 3pm-3am 2 days in week and again Max 5 hours sleep but been doing in for 12 months now. I run on the road,downhills and across canal paths which are quite bumpy.. As for calories I haven't really got a clue,I used to track my food we style but stopped that because I thought I needed more carbs. Prior to running I had done spin classes 5 days a week for years and power walked and thought I was relatively fit lol but running outside proved me wrong.
    I have booked an appointment with Dr for Thursday for Blood tests.
    In relation to overtraining I don't think I do enough training and thought I should be doing more,especially more miles. 6 miles isn't a good basis to run a half marathon is it and I feel that if I rest now with only a couple of weeks to go I'll stand no chance. Do you think I should put the half marathon on hold till next year and do some 10ks with more training,I really want to run the half marathon and not walk any of it.
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
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    There's not much information to go on but my suspicion is overtraining. Share your weekly running schedule with us


    ETA: and food. Share your calories and macros with us too

    +1. Sounds like overtraining. A nice breakdown of your schedule over the past few weeks would be nice, avg paces too.
  • doctorsookie
    doctorsookie Posts: 1,084 Member
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    Are you getting enough rest? I noticed my training sessions were feeling below par and then i took a couple of days off. When I trained again, I burned almost 1/3 more than what I had been. My body needed to recover.
  • Shalaurise
    Shalaurise Posts: 707 Member
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    Not that I do much now days cause the hell if I am walking outside with no sun in Oakland... but when I walked every day I just got more and more tired... I would complain to the hubbs how "isn't this supposed to get easier, not harder." On the occasion I didn't walk, it was always easier the next day. So I concur with others. Perhaps you are pushing too hard too fast. Perhaps you need to let your body rest to be able to get back on track.
  • ThickMcRunFast
    ThickMcRunFast Posts: 22,511 Member
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    There's not much information to go on but my suspicion is overtraining. Share your weekly running schedule with us


    ETA: and food. Share your calories and macros with us too

    +1. Sounds like overtraining. A nice breakdown of your schedule over the past few weeks would be nice, avg paces too.

    +2 OP, how much/what macros are you eating, and how much are you training?
  • gailsivi2
    gailsivi2 Posts: 12
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    Here is a break down of my runs over the last few days which is all my garmin had stored because I hadn't uploaded onto laptop.
    4.01 miles 11.10 mi
    5.08 miles 12.02 mi
    4 miles 11.48 mi
    3.28 11.33 mi
    3.18 10.51
    Probably not enough to go on but that's about as much has I'm doing mileage at the moment,the last time I did 5 miles was 3 weeks ago when we went away for the weekend and I ran it very easy,it was probably the best run I'd had and it was the first time I actually thought that yep I can do this half marathon, downhill from then and I haven't got a clue why.

    Food wise I eat egg on toast, cereal or toast an chocolate spread for breakfast, ham sandwich for lunch then chicken,veg/jacket potato or pasta dish for dinner with a couple of snacks like banana,grapes or fudge chocolate bar,water and juice and a protein shake after running.
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
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    Here is a break down of my runs over the last few days which is all my garmin had stored because I hadn't uploaded onto laptop.
    4.01 miles 11.10 mi
    5.08 miles 12.02 mi
    4 miles 11.48 mi
    3.28 11.33 mi
    3.18 10.51
    Probably not enough to go on but that's about as much has I'm doing mileage at the moment,the last time I did 5 miles was 3 weeks ago when we went away for the weekend and I ran it very easy,it was probably the best run I'd had and it was the first time I actually thought that yep I can do this half marathon, downhill from then and I haven't got a clue why.

    Food wise I eat egg on toast, cereal or toast an chocolate spread for breakfast, ham sandwich for lunch then chicken,veg/jacket potato or pasta dish for dinner with a couple of snacks like banana,grapes or fudge chocolate bar,water and juice and a protein shake after running.

    Your times look pretty good to me... your 5 mile run is slower than your 3 mile run, and that makes sense from a training standpoint (and I'm making an assumption that the runs are all consecutive days).

    You ideally want to alternate easy and hard days, whether it's by following up a harder day with an easy run or a complete rest/xtrain day. Not all 3 mile days are going to be the same, and it sounds like you're beating yourself up over minor pace differences and psyching yourself out about the half. Try doing this, and don't get hung up on your pace:

    M - Rest
    T - 3mi "moderate/hard" (warmup, cooldown)
    W - 4mi easy
    T - 3mi "moderate/hard" (warmup, cooldown)
    F - rest
    S - long run, easy - start at 5mi, build up every 2 wks, back off 1wk, repeat
    S - 4mi easy/moderate

    A few weeks in, start to add +1 mile to a couple of the weekday runs, back off every 3rd week. And if you're not running this much right now, add rest in there when you need to, but gradually work on running 5 days a week.
  • davert123
    davert123 Posts: 1,568 Member
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    If I was you I would see a doc. It most probably isn't anything but its worth getting checked out for silly things like anaemia or something wrong with your lung function. It could be that you are just suffering from a virus which is scuppering you a bit. Have you considered training with a HRM. These are brilliant because they allow you to look inside yourself. for example you get to know your resting heart rate and if you see it go up or down to quickly it gives you a clue that something is going wrong. Also do you train constantly 4x a week and increase your load constantly week by week - you could be over training (not what anyone wants to here) and just need to wind the training back in - have a look at periodize training - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_periodization or anything by Joe Friel. This is great because it allows people to maximise fitness gains while reducing the risk of overdoing it (worth looking at if you are training for races no matter what).

    If you get a HRM get a book called Total Heart rate training by Joe, it is fantastic and shows how to optimise your training and make big gains without killing yourself

    Good luck
  • gailsivi2
    gailsivi2 Posts: 12
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    Thanks for reply. I have got a HRM but don't use it, I'm gonna did it out and give it a go. Funny you should mention virus but the last week I managed an easy 5 mile run I had a stinking cold but only sneezing, runny nose and then when that went my body ached all over like never before and I did think I was coming down with flu but a hot bath with mineral salts and the next day it had gone but since then running has been hard but I don't feel I'll. I've had my lung function done and it was fine.
    I think I'm just going to go for a power walk this morning and then see if I can run any easier tomorrow.

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