I set out to run fast this morning … and ended up doing sluggish 8:34s for the six-mile Central Park loop. Average heart-rate was a pitiful 147. That is just weak.
I ran that loop on my own in training runs a few weeks at 7:30s or so, with an average heart-rate of 170ish. It seems like I’m getting slower.
I don’t want to make excuses, but there’s gotta be a reason for this. I think I might be overtraining. I did do nearly 20 miles Friday, a 5K on Sunday and a hard 2 1/2 miles on Tuesday. (Saturday, Monday and Wednesday were easy days, though). I haven’t had a day off since April 18, and I actually did a little lifting at the gym that day.
The temptation is to try and train harder and harder and harder, but I think I will give my body a rest tomorrow, in anticipation of the big race Saturday.
Obviously “taper” is not a legible word in your dictionary. If I could stay awake all day I’d do it so I could live life to its fullest but sleep is vitally important and it makes living all the richer.
well, I’m not training to run a faster half-marathon .. the half-marathon is a step in my training to (hopefully) run a faster marathon.
maybe you’re just getting older …. and slower. accept god’s plan for you body. slow breakdown. suffering. then death.
Try not to lose focus as to what you’re trying to do. Considering your goal is to run something like 7:20 pace for a marathon, you’d want to try and make that as easy as possible for yourself. Cut back a bit on the races, even if they are low-key, take days off when you need them, and take the bad days in stride.
-Adeel
[…] in 44:24 this morning (7:24 pace; 168 avg HR). This is the same loop I did last week in a sluggish 51:24. No doubt in my mind now that I was overtraining. Beast gave me some good advice, that basically i […]