Virus or what?

My running has got slower and slower since Edale but my heart rate is sky high (99% was my max today at Midgley Moor)
I usually run at around 80 to 85% HR with an average pace around 9 min/miles. I did a flat 5 mile yesterday at 10 min/miles and recorded 91% average HR.
I could not run a hill today that 3 weeks ago I did easily. I just appear to lack energy and strength.
A club college said he had a virus at Christmas and suffered in the same way.
My weekly mileage has dropped as has have my energy levels.
Can anyone shed any light on this blip in form or do I just attempt to run through it?

Theres loads of stuff about Stagger I blame the mild winter. Best adivce is give it a few days. Although I never do that when Im told too

My bible is Bob Glover's "The complete runner's handbook".

Edale is easily the equivalent to a marathon for which he recommends a recovery of 4 weeks easy running before upping training again.

Then again, I'm terrible at taking my own advice.

I'm inclined to agree.........Edale was a bit of a trial for us all and the idea of "a day easy per mile raced" is not a bad rule of thumb.
I have to admit that I am, also, very guilty of not taking my own advice!

The recovery needed does seem to vary with intensity/length/terrain of races, but I'm still in comeback mode having done 3.45ish at Edale.

But Stagger and I only did the half tour! And I have never run better than I have since. So perhaps you have caught something Trev. Possibly from returning to the hall by car instead of running down the clough with me and MartinW.;) Hope you feel better soon mate.

Listen to your body Stagger. Your body says "no", take a few days off and see how you feel, never rush back after a long race, put it in the bank and let your body recover.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Stagger

My running has got slower and slower since Edale but my heart rate is sky high (99% was my max today at Midgley Moor)
I usually run at around 80 to 85% HR with an average pace around 9 min/miles. I did a flat 5 mile yesterday at 10 min/miles and recorded 91% average HR.
I could not run a hill today that 3 weeks ago I did easily. I just appear to lack energy and strength.
A club college said he had a virus at Christmas and suffered in the same way.
My weekly mileage has dropped as has have my energy levels.
Can anyone shed any light on this blip in form or do I just attempt to run through it?

---

Hi Stagger,

Sounds like you've had some good advice already. Also, its worth thinking about basics, are you adequately hydrated? The weather has warmed up a bit. Do you ever take true resting heart rates i.e. before you get out of bed in the morning? These can be useful for detecting trends over time and may indicate when you have a grumbling infection (viral or whatever). I am also aware that at certain points in your training when you are making cardiovascular gains your HR may actually go up before settling at a lower rate- a period of adaptation. At these times training will feel harder work and you would be best to try to maintain your training rather than progress any further.

I presume when you say that you were working at a percentage of HR max that you are using the age adjusted formula rather than a true HR max? Its worth thinking about the heart rate reserve (Karvonen formula) method when your resting HR is already elevated as this takes into consideration the fact that you are starting from a higher rate and therefore have less room to increase (MHR-RHR x 0.7 + RHR = training HR). You can use the age adjusted max HR or a true figure if you have one. A training intensity of 70% is equal to 80-85% of your usual calculation.

The other thing to say is that I am not actually a big advocate of training to HR's. I am much more a believer in listening to your body and going with how you feel. Rather than comparing the sessions in terms of distance, pace and incline I recommend spending the next two weeks aiming for your sessions to be at the same intensity in terms of how much exertion you put in. By the end of the two weeks I bet you'll be doing more within the same level of exertion and you'll be back on track.

Hope all that makes sense, if not I'm happy to try to explain further.

JLS

If you feel shit then rest and eat. Catch up on a few sedentary activities, stretch more, do some yoga, go for some saunas, watch too much telly. REST :)

How are you now, Stagger??
I still seem to have a touch of the lead leg syndrome (?post Edale?).

I'm managing to work hard on the bike, but my running legs are still in recovery mode methinks!!

Still alive. That was almost 13 years ago.
Gosh.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Stagger

Still alive.

---

but are you kicking Trev? :D

Oh yes.
Enjoying life to the max