Cross Training Questions
Hitting a wall during Cross Country Summer training..?
I've been running for about two months for cross country training this summer. When we started running, i continued to break my own personal records,and my times started coming down every time we'd practice. Our dead period was a week ago and it lasted for two weeks, I continued to train duirng this period and now that we are back my times keep getting worse, even though i feel i am in better shape than ever. I cross train on every off day, doing things such a biking or weightlfting. How can i shake this wall? I really need my times to start going back down, tryouts for varsity are soon! I really can't understand why my times are so awful! Any suggestions?
Public Comments
- Did you run track or do another sport in the spring, then go right into your summer training? You said there was a "dead period" last week that you trained through. So if you did do a spring sport, and didn't take a break at all, then that'd definitely affect your performance. Even if you weren't doing a spring sport, and 2 months ago was the first training you've done this year, then maybe you started too fast or too hard. Is the end of your cross country season around November? Two months ago would be May, so it isn't wise to start training full throttle 6 months ahead of the end of the season.
- Okay. This is just a possibility, I'm not saying this is it for sure, but you could have an iron deficiency or even anemia. Some doctors estimate that 50-100% of female runners have this condition. You're especially at risk if: 1) You are a vegetarian 2) You eat a diet low in iron 3) You've ever lost your period due to running. Here are some things you can do to help: 1) Eat foods rich in iron, such as fortified cereal, beef, broccoli, spinach, etc. 2) Take a multivitamin. 3) Ask a doctor to test your iron. Hope your running times come down again. Keep at it.
- you need to take a break... for now, take a day off every week and make sure you preplan days where you run easy. If you try to race every workout, you'll get burned out and be done before the season even starts. Just keep it easy, and don't worry about the time that much, just run!
- I am certain that you train too much. I've been there. You need a day or two off each week unless you have a coach and a special diet and really know your stuff. As in heading to the Olympics kind of knowing your stuff. When you train, you strain your muscles, making lots of micro tears and accumulating lactic acid. When you rest, your body repairs these muscles with the stuff you eat. It can take a day or two to fully heal. Also, your body uses mitochondria to move energy around your body and they get depleted with over training. The good news is that it's easy to rest! If your spent, take a couple of days off right away! You will not lose any fitness, I guarantee it. Also take some vitamins, they do help. After two days off, go out for a moderate workout and you should feel better. Take another day off. Then go have some fun and I think you will go a lot faster and feel lighter since you will have your strength back. You have to let your body rest and heal or it will stop performing well.
- A similar thing happened to me. My team had three returning varsity runners. Two of us trained hard all summer. The other one, not so much. It showed in the first week of practice. However, at our first meet, the "slacker" beat both of us. We talked to our coach afterwards, and he said he wasn't surpraised. It was clear that us two had done the training and were going to be the top two runners. However, because the other guy had not trained, his body reacted with a quick increase, while our bodies didn't really react to the start of official practice at all. 5 days later, we ran the same course at a more important meet. The two who trained dropped about 30 secs each. The other guy ran slower by almost a minute. He was our third runner the rest of the year. So I would continue to train. It doesn't matter if you run well now as much as how you will be running at the end of the season. Talk to your coach to make sure you aren't overtraining. However, it almost seems like some people are suggusting you start tapering now. That would be bad, you don't want to peak now. Even if it costs you starting the year on varsity, it is more important to end it there. Good luck.
