Inconsistent mileage

During some of my weekly training sessions I have a problem with my mileage, one day I can run up to 10km's and a few days later I can hardly do 3km's. I only do low paced, short distances in between. My legs feel extremely tired when this happens. Any advice is welcome.

Thank you

Comments

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    Glycogen depletion.

    🙂

  • booktrunkbooktrunk ✭✭✭

    Are you running your 10k's to hard, this way you are totally exhausted and so have no energy left.

    I'd suggest running slower on your long runs, so you can do them more often and build your stamina, and if you want to run hard then only do that on short runs, or for a 2k segment of your 10k.

    just see how it goes

  • KiliKili ✭✭✭

    Juan, I have exactly the same problem. Started running again ( again) and have the same issue. I'm finding I need 2-3 days between runs to recover ( I'm 55). I've been doing  5 miles on Mondays and Wednesdays and 8 miles on fridays but come Monday again the legs feel heavy.

    Not sure were to go from here I was trying to build to 20 - 25 miles a week but due to the time needed for recovery I seem unable to build the distance I can run past 8 miles.

     

    kili

  • Are you folks refuelling properly?

    Are you running too hard?

  • You can cut some of this recovery time down by eating/refueling 3-400 calories in the 30 minutes straight after each run - 1:4 protein:carb.  I've noticed it makes a huge difference to my recovery and aches.

  • booktrunkbooktrunk ✭✭✭

    When i do a long run i treat myself to a banana milkshake, milk, banana, ice blitz it together hey presto, and if i'm going really wild a spoonful off Peanut Butter, but seriously at running upto 10k should really be any issues as your body should have enough stores to get you through that on your own.

    I personally think you are just running them to hard if they are taking that much out of you that you struggle to do 3km 3 or so days later. 

    It doesn't matter what your speed is relative to other runners if it's taking that much out of you just running 10km then you are doing it to hard.  I ran a 10km pb by 3 minutes last night.  Now i'm back to normal.  Seriously i think you are running to hard and possibly to far if you are new.  Why run a 10k and struggle to do a 3k when say 3 x 6km would get you further in a week... Don't run to hard and fast and see how it goes.

  • Also-ranAlso-ran ✭✭✭

    Surely if you train once per day, and you are eating regular balanced meals, glycogen depletion / recovery is a bit of a misnomer. I haven't yet bought into the whole recovery process, and didn't really have any need for it doing double sessions. Perhaps after a really intensive session a glass of milk. By eating normally I am ready to do a 90 min+ session within 6 hours of the previous session. 400 cals per session would be a massive calorie intake on 10 to 14 sessions

    Maybe slow things down and build things up steadily

  • @Also ran it also depends where your normal calorie intake is and where its come from as well though.

    For instance, I was on a diet from 1st of August last year and aiming at c. 1500-1800 calories a day. This gave me the deficit I needed to lose a ton of weight. The idea was to make it sustainable so I still try and aim for the top end of this range on your average day, but have quite a lot more some days on the weekend.

    So my normal calorie intake towards the end of my diet, when I started running, was already 6-700 calories below what I "needed" - throw running into the mix, increasing in distance and intensity, and  I certainly needed extra food and to think about recovery. I can't just eat what I like because I still want to control my weight but it does bear a lot of thinking about for me, and probably others who've lost weight or otherwise aren't yet used to their new regime of exercise.

    Recently I've been feeling heavy legged and I think I've identified the culprit which is eating too much fat and protein and not enough carbs during the day at work.

  • Also-ranAlso-ran ✭✭✭

    Maybe it is me. Last week was 107miles, no special recovery, just normal meals (same calorie intake I have been on for 3 years following weight loss). Ended up the week about 1.2 Kg higher (but then weight always fluctuates), but more importantly the training sessions showed no signs of glycogen depletion. That was a week with about 45 miles more than normal.

    I know there is the 'golden half hour' after exercise the take on recovery foods etc. I just haven't bought into that in the past - I did try, but seemed to be taking on lots of extra calories without effect. Last week reinforced it for me.

    Everyone is different and should try things out for themselves. For me, regular food, rest, sleep = recovery. I'm not a subscriber to compression, massage, ice baths, formulated recovery foods and drinks, epsom salt baths and whatever else people get up to in their own homes image

  • Sleep and rest are the biggest missing pieces for me. The price of having a small boy!

    image

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