Why did I stop getting better? (Read 463 times)

II Run II


    I came into my season with a 300 mile base.  I have improved from an easier to a harder course, so I don't want to blame the course.  Also, the first 3 meets were after school meets while the rest were saturday morning races.  

     

    My weekly time progression for the 5k was 20:58->20:00->19:53 (should have been faster but I only had about 4 hours of sleep the night before because I had homework)->no race (school reasons)->21:1x (injury)->no race (school reasons)->1 mile race->20:46->19:56.

     

    What could be some possibilities?  I wasn't the only one on my team that experienced this, but I'm upset that I couldn't improve and break 19, especially since I'm still in a relatively easy to improve at this time range..


    Feeling the growl again

      It is unrealistic to think that you are going to improve each and every race.  Very little detail provided but likely as the season is wearing on you are probably racing too much and not recovering...along with fast workouts...typical high school recipe.

       

      Frankly, a 300 mile pace is not much at all.  XC courses vary.  It is hard to tell a specific reason.  Between now and next season, KEEP RUNNING.  The biggest difference between those who are good in HS and keep improving and those who do not, is what they are doing out of season.

      "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

       

      I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

       

      II Run II


        What's a good off-season mileage amount?  I plan on training during this off-season for track, and I want to make it worthwhile.


        Feeling the growl again

          It is hard to say with such little information; it would be good to talk to your coach who knows you better.  But if you ran 30-some miles a week in the off season you will be surprised what it does for you by track season.

          "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

           

          I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

           

          II Run II


            hmm..

            The 300 miles started late june (the 19th?) to august 19th.  Had a few 40+ milers in there, but also a few sub 20s due to personal schedule.  so maybe the problem was consistency?  I'll talk to my coach also.

              hmm..

              The 300 miles started late june (the 19th?) to august 19th.  Had a few 40+ milers in there, but also a few sub 20s due to personal schedule.  so maybe the problem was consistency?  I'll talk to my coach also.

               

              what did you do once the season started? What I see with some kids is that once school and the season starts, the mileage is cut back. That leads to a peak in about 3 to 4 weeks, and then the improvement stops.  If that's what you did, next year try to keep that mileage up until you want to start gearing up for the important races.

              jEfFgObLuE


              I've got a fever...

                Summer is long gone, but you can have a Winter of Malmo.

                On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

                II Run II


                   

                  what did you do once the season started? What I see with some kids is that once school and the season starts, the mileage is cut back. That leads to a peak in about 3 to 4 weeks, and then the improvement stops.  If that's what you did, next year try to keep that mileage up until you want to start gearing up for the important races.

                   

                  the mileage cutback from about 45 to 35ish, so a 10 mile drop.  also, the 45 consisted of runs without stops, while once the season started, a lot of the mileage came from warm-ups and cool-downs.

                   

                  I wasn't actually the only one that experienced this.  our #1 and #2 runner (both ran over the summer in our training group) both stopped pring after the same meet I did.

                  TerraRunner19D


                    May be due to excessive speed work and not enough recovery. If you start feeling burnt, an extra day off or a recovery run ( a real one) can really help regenerate the damage. Even though XC is so short, longer and slower runs in the off season really do improve times. Shoot, they help in the on season. Most coaches just aren't huge fans. They fail to see the macro view of total wellness, not just the high-effort high-payoff approach. Which, by the way, is the unsustainable high injury approach. This may be blasphemous.... You just don't need that much speed work. Maffetone has some great evidence supporting heart rate training. May look into it.

                       

                      the mileage cutback from about 45 to 35ish, so a 10 mile drop.  also, the 45 consisted of runs without stops, while once the season started, a lot of the mileage came from warm-ups and cool-downs.

                       

                      I wasn't actually the only one that experienced this.  our #1 and #2 runner (both ran over the summer in our training group) both stopped pring after the same meet I did.

                       

                      What I've observed and gleaned from some of the best teams around where I live is the following. They don't start much if any speed work (true speed work on a track) until there's about 4 weeks left into the season. Up until that point, their weekly training consists of lots of miles, tempo runs, and just hard distance runs.  I was talking with a freshman phenom (already low 15s for 3 miles on difficult courses) from an area HS about how he's being trained. He said a typical week is the following: Tuesday a distance run with about 4 of 5 of those really hard. Thursday, a distance run with 1 mile really hard and the rest moderately hard. Saturday, a long run with some hard segments. It's all continuous runs. The other days are less mileage and easy runs (for him).  The older runners follow the same schedule but run more miles.  This team is peaking now.

                       

                      Contrast that with my son's team who started "speed" work right away and ran less miles and also it wasn't even continuous miles. Most of the team peaked about 1/2 way through the season and eithe rstopped improving or went backwards.


                      Running Chick

                        i know this may seem 'bogus', and i apologize for that.  but i've been running for as long as i could walk -and am in my mid-40s.  Wink  sometimes, your body - whether it be mental, emotional, physical or spiritual - is just stuck for a bit.  stay with it, change it up a bit, and be patient......  just a slow down on your progression - but not a complete stop.

                        sport jester


                        Biomimeticist

                          The way you walk and run is determined long before you walk or run.

                           

                          Your limits of speed are simply a byproduct of your biomechanic efficiencies.

                           

                          Speed isn't a question of how much energy you expend to move forward, its how much energy do you waste to move forward.

                          Experts said the world is flat

                          Experts said that man would never fly

                          Experts said we'd never go to the moon

                           

                          Name me one of those "experts"...

                           

                          History never remembers the name of experts; just the innovators who had the guts to challenge and prove the "experts" wrong


                          Gang Name "Pound Cake"

                            The way you walk and run is determined long before you walk or run.

                             

                            Your limits of speed are simply a byproduct of your biomechanic efficiencies.

                             

                            Speed isn't a question of how much energy you expend to move forward, its how much energy do you waste to move forward.

                             

                            Is it just me, or do others think the above is useless to this discussion?

                             

                            If how I walk and run was determined before I was 2 years old, then it ain't changing in my 50s. Pointless.

                            My limits are many years away since I and the OP are relatively new runners. Efficiency will get better with training. Again, pointless.

                            So if speed has nothing to do with energy expenditure, I can expend almost nothing and be an olympian as long as I'm very efficient? this is bull pucky as well as pointless.

                            - Scott

                            2014 Goals: First Marathon - BQ2016 <3:40 (3:25:18) - 1/2M <1:45 - 5K <22:00

                            2014 Marathons: 05/04 Flying Pig (3:49:02) - 09/20 Air Force (BQ 3:25:18) - 11/01 Indianapolis Monumental

                               

                              Is it just me, or do others think the above is useless to this discussion?

                               

                              If how I walk and run was determined before I was 2 years old, then it ain't changing in my 50s. Pointless.

                              My limits are many years away since I and the OP are relatively new runners. Efficiency will get better with training. Again, pointless.

                              So if speed has nothing to do with energy expenditure, I can expend almost nothing and be an olympian as long as I'm very efficient? this is bull pucky as well as pointless.

                               

                              It's not just you.

                              sport jester


                              Biomimeticist

                                 

                                Is it just me, or do others think the above is useless to this discussion?

                                 

                                If how I walk and run was determined before I was 2 years old, then it ain't changing in my 50s. Pointless.

                                My limits are many years away since I and the OP are relatively new runners. Efficiency will get better with training. Again, pointless.

                                So if speed has nothing to do with energy expenditure, I can expend almost nothing and be an olympian as long as I'm very efficient? this is bull pucky as well as pointless.

                                 

                                Your walking mechanics were determined before you could walk. You learned by observing the other humans around you.

                                 

                                As to efficiency, that's a learned skill. If you were born into a shoe wearing culture, then you can learn to run at least 20% faster simply by retraining your body how to move.

                                 

                                Other humans have done it, why can't you?

                                Experts said the world is flat

                                Experts said that man would never fly

                                Experts said we'd never go to the moon

                                 

                                Name me one of those "experts"...

                                 

                                History never remembers the name of experts; just the innovators who had the guts to challenge and prove the "experts" wrong