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Help...drop in pace

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Help...drop in pace Empty Help...drop in pace

Post  nkrichards Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:36 pm

First I apologize for not checking in more since I found you...the joys of living in rural America have been especially troublesome this month with sporadic internet service at best.



My 3rd marathon is 16 weeks away and I'm struggling and not sure what to do. My training last year couldn't have been better. Yes, I had a bad day now and then but nailed most of my training runs and ran a PR everytime I pinned a number to my shirt. I missed my goal by 15 seconds but was pleased by my 9 minute improvement. This year I've tried to replicate my training plan from last year...same paces and essentially same distances. My marathon is a month later so I have time to squeeze in an extra couple long runs which I was hoping would be enough to get those 15 seconds back. I started out a bit in a hole after returning from an extended vacation in January and then was slowed by a couple infections and issues with menopause. I thought I had things figured out and was feeling pretty good. I kept running...slowed my pace a bit...was careful not to increase mileage to quickly to make sure I didn't overtrain. I'm about 10% below my total mileage on this date last year. My spring and summer 10K race paces were 20 seconds slower than last year but I wasn't expecting to much more. I thought with time if I kept plugging away the pace would come back. It hasn't. I'm a 3 day a week runner. Last week was a typical week (depending in where I'm at in my training cycle anyway).



Mon 3x1 @ 10 K pace (6 miles including warm up/cool down)

Tue swim 30 min

Wed 8mi @ MP

Thur swim 30 min & bike 45 min

Fri 16 mi long run

Sat bike 45 min

Sun Rest



My paces are all around 15 seconds shy of where they should be (and were very doable last year). I'm finding runs that were easy/moderate last year very tough and tough runs impossible. I'm most concerned about my lack of ability to run at MP for any length of time over just a couple miles. Long runs are tough but seem to be closer to where they should be. Is my problem physical? mental?



Do I

1. Keep plugging away with the plan I have at the pace I can manage and hope my pace improves with time?

2. Change the plan and if so how?

3. Accept the inevitable and revise my goal for this marathon?



Any suggestions?



Nancy...the old grey mare...
nkrichards
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Post  John Kilpatrick Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:45 pm

Has anything else changed from last year, such as weather? I know it has been hotter than normal in many parts of the US (not sure where you are), but that can play a huge role, at least for me with training.

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Post  nkrichards Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:35 pm

John Kilpatrick wrote:Has anything else changed from last year, such as weather? I know it has been hotter than normal in many parts of the US (not sure where you are), but that can play a huge role, at least for me with training.



The weather here in Central Oregon has actually been cooler and quite nice for training this year.



I will admit that the farming has kept me a bit busier than last year. One of the reasons that I like just running 3 days a week is that it gives me the flexibility to change things around and skip some cross training and still get my 3 quality runs in each week if farming gets in the way. I also try and build slowly when I put together my training plans so that if I do miss an occasional run it doesn't put me way behind. It doesn't happen often but when I really feel like running hard would do more harm than good because of a lack of sleep or poor nutrition due to my commitment on the farm I'm not afraid to scale back and do a very easy run instead of what's written in the plan.



If it were just an occasional tough run I would probably blame it on my farming schedule but I don't think that has changed enough this year to cause such an overall decrease in my pace.



The only big change has been menopause as I mentioned. It may be that I just need to accept it and/or give my body more time to adjust. I just hate to give up without trying and I'm not sure what to try.
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Post  Michele "1L" Keane Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:18 pm

Well, Nancy - I was going to ask about the menopause thing, and well you alluded to it. I think some of those changes are responsible for others. Keep plugging through it as I'm told it gets better. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as well.
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