Why is it the more I train the slower I get ?
Amclean93
Posts: 40 Member
Hi everyone, just a quick background on myself- I'm 23, I enjoy playing rugby, football(soccer) running and going to the gym. I came back home to Scotland at the end of September after spending 6 months in America (most of my time spent eating lots and drinking lots, and some weight-training but never running) After coming home it was time to get in to my normal routine again, I run 3.2 miles to my rugby club, use the gym, run home. At my peak a couple of years ago I could run there in 24 mins. It's not all flat, there is one large hill, but I was always proud of the 24 mins (it took me a while to get there) The first time I done that run it would take me 33-35mins. Anyway, when I came back from America the strangest thing happened, I was running it a lot quicker than I thought I'd be able to, and I started getting faster pretty quickly, and now the more I train the further away I get from my goal of 24 mins. I have also started adding in long runs, because I want to do another marathon next year, I thought this might help my time, by increasing my cardiovascular capacity but I don't know if it is helping. I will put an '*' beside my long runs, everything else is my 3.2 mile (5km) run to the gym.
Here's a look at the dates and how long it took me.
Oct 11th- 28:00
Oct 13th- 28:19
Oct 14th- 27:15 !
Oct 19th- 26:54 !!
Oct 20th- 26:25 !!!
Oct 31st- 27:30
Nov 4th- 32:04
*Nov 6th- 9.89 miles 01:49:56*
Nov 7th- 29:16
Nov 10th- 28:27
*Nov 11th- 5miles 59:15*
*Nov 13th- 11.74 miles 02:25:44*
Nov 14h- 28:55
*Nov 15h- 5.15 miles 50:31*
Nov 18th- 37:29 ???
*Nov 21st- 6.56 miles 1:06:40*
*Nov 24th- 5.63 miles 57:56*
* Nov 27th 16 miles 03:22:47*
* Nov 29th 5.61 miles 01:00:08*
And today I tried running there and it took me around 35 mins. I have no idea what's going on, because when I came back from America I had gained quite a bit of weight and I was pretty unfit, but yet in that first week I got it down to 26:25 !! And now no matter how hard I try I cant get close to that, at my fastest it might take me like 29 mins. I don't know if it has something to do with my long slow runs, is that kind of throwing my body off? I would have thought it might have aided me get a quicker time but is it doing the reverse ? Thanks for reading and for any feedback guys,
Adam.
Here's a look at the dates and how long it took me.
Oct 11th- 28:00
Oct 13th- 28:19
Oct 14th- 27:15 !
Oct 19th- 26:54 !!
Oct 20th- 26:25 !!!
Oct 31st- 27:30
Nov 4th- 32:04
*Nov 6th- 9.89 miles 01:49:56*
Nov 7th- 29:16
Nov 10th- 28:27
*Nov 11th- 5miles 59:15*
*Nov 13th- 11.74 miles 02:25:44*
Nov 14h- 28:55
*Nov 15h- 5.15 miles 50:31*
Nov 18th- 37:29 ???
*Nov 21st- 6.56 miles 1:06:40*
*Nov 24th- 5.63 miles 57:56*
* Nov 27th 16 miles 03:22:47*
* Nov 29th 5.61 miles 01:00:08*
And today I tried running there and it took me around 35 mins. I have no idea what's going on, because when I came back from America I had gained quite a bit of weight and I was pretty unfit, but yet in that first week I got it down to 26:25 !! And now no matter how hard I try I cant get close to that, at my fastest it might take me like 29 mins. I don't know if it has something to do with my long slow runs, is that kind of throwing my body off? I would have thought it might have aided me get a quicker time but is it doing the reverse ? Thanks for reading and for any feedback guys,
Adam.
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Replies
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Hello, There is an inherent risk in too much measurement (AKA the Strava Effect), where it's easy to get hung up on every day being better than the last. Just looking at your times (and knowing that you're doing weights and football on top of this, I'd put money on cumulative fatigue. Your volume increase was pretty sharp, and those 2+ hour long runs take a lot out of you and you're probably not recovering well enough.
I'd suggest you roll it back for week and see what you see, and how you feel.
When you have a goal race in mind, with a build up of dozens of workouts, over several weeks, a lot of them are going to be crap.
There are other things to bear in mind, too. Each run should have a purpose. Those runs to the gym should be aimless, volume-builders, with no time goal. Also, weight training can undermine your recovery. Try lifting on a day you're doing speedwork. That way, your recovery day can be solidly easy. (It's completely okay to run/walk/bicycle easily on a recovery day. Just emphasize the "easy.")
You need to mix in some more anaerobic and threshold workouts in there if you want to build speed. If you could roll your pudgy, American food eating self off the sofa and bang out a 28:00 5K, you can probably get way, way, way faster with a bit of effort.
You won't get much faster just by running long distance and lifting weights. It just doesn't work.
2 -
Same answer as your other thread... but also, underfueling may be a factor.1
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Our bodies become stronger through a pattern of stress and repair, stress and repair. That is why recovery days are essential. They do not necessarily need to be full on rest days, but you definitely need to take it easy with a slow recovery run or some form of easy cross training.2
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Vladimirnapkin wrote: »Hello, There is an inherent risk in too much measurement (AKA the Strava Effect), where it's easy to get hung up on every day being better than the last. Just looking at your times (and knowing that you're doing weights and football on top of this, I'd put money on cumulative fatigue. Your volume increase was pretty sharp, and those 2+ hour long runs take a lot out of you and you're probably not recovering well enough.
I'd suggest you roll it back for week and see what you see, and how you feel.
When you have a goal race in mind, with a build up of dozens of workouts, over several weeks, a lot of them are going to be crap.
There are other things to bear in mind, too. Each run should have a purpose. Those runs to the gym should be aimless, volume-builders, with no time goal. Also, weight training can undermine your recovery. Try lifting on a day you're doing speedwork. That way, your recovery day can be solidly easy. (It's completely okay to run/walk/bicycle easily on a recovery day. Just emphasize the "easy.")
You need to mix in some more anaerobic and threshold workouts in there if you want to build speed. If you could roll your pudgy, American food eating self off the sofa and bang out a 28:00 5K, you can probably get way, way, way faster with a bit of effort.
You won't get much faster just by running long distance and lifting weights. It just doesn't work.
Thanks a lot Vladimir, you're a good friend on here. And that part about rolling my pudgy, american eating self off the sofa and doing the 5k has definitely got me motivated because I know I can get a lot faster and run further. Definitely just gonna need to let myself recover properly and stop trying to force things to happen. The past couple of days I've done very little, mainly because I had a bit of a headache the other day so it's definitely another sign I'm overtraining, so I'm gonna give myself some proper R&R in future. And hopefully reap the rewards. I'll keep you posted with my progress0
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