Hi all,
I am now in training for the 2012 VLM (I ran it last year in 4:42) but have found myself absolutely shattered after my long runs. I don't remember this happening when I cranked up the mileage last year.
I run 4 times per week and have a comprehensive programme drawn up by the coach at our club (great low-key, friendly club). My runs incorporate a training session which is usually hills, an LSR, a tempo run and what call a recovery run.
Anyway, today I upped the mileage to 14 miles (ave 9.45mph) from12 miles last Sun, I last ran on Thurs (hill session) and will do a recovery run on Mon. This afternoon I feel absolutely SHATTERED!! I drink lucozade light when running and had a gel at about 6 miles (for the first time this season). When I got in I had a cup of tea and then a Heinz Big Soup and slice of seeded bread within 45 mins. I do have a young family so sitting down for the afternoon is not an option. I walked to the shops (not far) and had a punnet of blueberries on the way home. Dear hubby took the youngest to football whilst I made cakes with my 8 year old, that was the easy option.
Since this afternoon I have felt shattered and have no energy whatsoever. I gave in and cracked open a vino about and hour ago and obviously since then have had even less energy.
If anyone has any great advice I am more than willing to listen and give it a go. I don't rememnber feeling THIS tired when training last year and have a long way to go yet so I don't fancy feeling like this for the next 3 months!!
Thank you in advance. Liz
Comments
Upped the mileage the last couple of weeks and feeling so tired all the time. After long runs i just wanna fall asleep in the afternoon. Know ive got a long way to go yet but this tiredness is starting to get me down!!!
Did you really mean 9.45 mph ie 6m34s per mile? If yes no wonder you're shattered...
if you meant 9m45s per mile then I think you're still running your long runs too quickly. You should be picking a reasonable goal and then running your long runs 20% slower than that, increasing to 10% slower by the end of the run.
I agree with Tigerlilly re dehydration...which itself could be a symptom of glycogen depletion, which is the result of running anaerobicilly...slow down and improve your aerobic base!
Just to chuck in my bit - if you're only doing 4 runs a week and they are :
. . .it might be down to overtraining. Hills and tempo will take it out of you, LSR should be slow, but if you're doing it too fast, then you're running hard 3 out of 4 days. From what you said about last year's race, it seems as if you've upped the pace and intensity at the same time, possibly before you're physically able to cope. Either way, though, if you're running pretty much at a similar effort for each session (even if they're different - hills / tempo), the physical result to your body is the same - resulting as Teknik says in glycogen depletion.
Check out what you're eating and drinking (as TL says) but also drop your LSR pace as Teknik says - at the end of it, you should feel as if you could do another mile or two.
If the programme has been put together by a coach, talk to him / her as well and see what s/he says.
Hi guys,
Thank you so much for your replies. I would prob agree that I do not drink enough water during the week. I work in a school and can only fit 'loo breaks' around breaks at school so I am conscious as to how much I drink so I'm not popping to the loo all the time. Perhaps I should just drink what I want regardless of the consequences!!
Teknik - I am inclined to agree with you that perhaps I am running my LSRs a little too fast. I have a different training partner this year from last year and she is a faster runner than me - although I do keep suggesting she should slow down on our LSRs as you need to conserve your energy for those really long runs. This is her first marathon and she is finding it hard to slow down whereas I am happy to plod along for hours on end and feel I can keep on going.
I really do appreciate all of your advice and when I look at it on here it makes a lot of sense - I don't drink enough and think I AM running too fast on the LSRs. Tomorrow morning I am looking forward to a recovery run of 5 miles on my own at my OWN pace,!!!
Lizzee, go to the training thread and look up HADD training.It might open your eyes to a few of your problems. If not you will be wiser.
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I don't agree - if you are fully fuelled before a run of 14 miles particularly if you've had breakfast I think she has consumed plenty. You're right in that I didn't think to ask if she'd eaten well the night before or had breakfast - I tend to assume everyone operates on common sense! For me personally 14 - 17 miles at an easy pace (though Liz does admit she probably runs her long runs too fast) I do not need to consume anymore than I normally would on a non-running day which is pretty similar to what Liz has.
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Hi Guys,
Thank you for all of your advice - I actually had a sneaky Chinese takeaway on Saturday night so that would add to me feeling shattered. Durr!!! How foolish am I. We then had a dodgy meals on Sunday which is completely out of the ordinary. As I have a young family I am usually really on top of our meals and ensure we all get a balanced diet with a few treats here and there.
Looking at what I had overall on Saturday then that would add to the lethargy. I have another LSR this Saturday so I'm going to go by the book and eat really, really well on Fri, Sat and Sunday and see if it makes a difference.
I really do appreciate all of your advice and take it all on board. Thanks guys. Liz xx