Cheese with my whine?

Although I don't post much these days, I do visit here often and try keep up with everyone. I've enjoyed seeing the taper madness begin to set in!

But I'm jealous as well. I wish I was tapering along with you. The truth is that I don't even feel like a real runner these days. I don't even have a race on the calendar. I need to whine.

My running has really stunk since the last half marathon I ran in April. It's like a switch flipped and suddenly paces that felt easy for me all winter and early spring are now nearly impossible for me to hit even for a mile.

I've had a couple of niggles, (left Achilles, right knee), so that forced a few weeks of non-running over the summer. But I ellipticalled regularly so I could maintain some level of fitness.

I've done a little bit of reading and research about women at my 'special' age, and found its not uncommon to suddenly lose speed. (Not that I was ever 'fast', but now I'm even slower than I was) I guess it's hormonal. I don't know. I just know it's discouraging. I keep plugging away. Slowly. I have no idea if I'll ever be able to run like I did just 6 months ago. I may have to accept that my PR days are done, and that makes registering for a race tough. Phooey.

Getting old is not for the faint of heart.

End of the whine.

Although I don't post much these days, I do visit here often and try
keep up with everyone. I've enjoyed seeing the taper madness begin to
set in!

But I'm jealous as well. I wish I was tapering along with
you. The truth is that I don't even feel like a real runner these
days. I don't even have a race on the calendar. I need to whine.

My
running has really stunk since the last half marathon I ran in April.
It's like a switch flipped and suddenly paces that felt easy for me all
winter and early spring are now nearly impossible for me to hit even for
a mile.


I've
done a little bit of reading and research about men at my 'special'
age, and found its not uncommon to suddenly lose speed. (Not that I was
ever 'fast', but now I'm even slower than I was) I guess it's hormonal.
I don't know. I just know it's discouraging. I keep plugging away.
Slowly. I have no idea if I'll ever be able to run like I did just 6
months ago. I may have to accept that my PR days are done, and that
makes registering for a race tough. Phooey.

Getting old is not for the faint of heart.

End of the whine.

Some of it may be from a motivational perspective since you have no races on your radar.

Jim Lentz wrote:Some of it may be from a motivational perspective since you have no races on your radar.

Yes...sign up for a race and see if things change.

yeah if it's a niggle and not an injury perhaps you can find a local race? tis the season to run right now, really. This is the best time of year for almost the whole country.

Niggles. A slowdown. Lack of motivation.

I don't know that aging is to blame. It sounds like you might have burned yourself out earlier this year. If that's the case, hope is not lost for continued improvement... though it might take a while to dig yourself out of a hole. Just a thought.

Either way, maybe you'd enjoy mixing things up a bit. Try something different! Hit the trails. Try a tri. Do a stunt event like a Warrior Dash! Be a little crazy, and I bet you can get that mojo rising again.

Thanks all, for your replies. Yeah, I'm thinking that a local race would be a good thing. My runs are averaging 30-40 seconds per mile slower than my paces prior to April...registering when I have little hope of approaching my former times will take some humility.

Julie, you're right, the best racing season is coming up, and that's especially true here in the south.

Mark, yes, I may have burned myself out, I wondered the same thing. I did a Mud Run recently (see my report in the race report section...and pics on facebook) and I had an absolute BLAST. It made me really want to be a runner again. But I'm still really, really, slow.

But I still believe that physically, something is making me so darned slow.I had an ok run on Tuesday evening. Just 4 miles at an easy pace (which is still way slower than an easy pace 4 months ago). Wednesday morning, I did my normal 30 minutes on the elliptical. Wednesday evening my quads were sooo sore. I don't understand. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary on my run or on the elliptical. This morning I rolled them and did my normal Thursday morning strength and toning routine. But my whole body felt worn out. No good reason for that. Tonight is another 4 miler...we'll see how that goes.

Still whining. My apologies. Thanks for listening!

Kathy,



I was feeling just like you recently...and I thought for the same reason. In fact my kids started humming "The Old Gray Mare" when they were around!



Don't give up. I realized I was short on sleep due to work obligations on the farm and also wasn't eating very well. Corrected that...adjusted my hormone replacement dosage...and was still struggling. Even easy runs seemed like punishment. I was already signed up for a local triathlon and a December marathon but wasn't looking forward to either. I completed the triathlon a couple weeks ago and even though my time did drop some I had fun and defended my age group title. That was encouraging. Then I realized that I wasn't as tired as I should have been after finishing the triathlon. I realized that I was struggling mentally more than physically. It was my mind that was convincing me I couldn't keep up the pace rather than my body. Since then I've had a couple good runs...not quite back to where I was last year but definately on the way and starting to look forward to the marathon.



See if there might be something else that's affecting your performance but keep at it. You post sounded just like I felt a couple weeks ago...now I'm looking forward to proving that "the old gray mare" still has what it takes!



Nancy

Thanks so much Nancy...now I remember you posting something a some time ago about this very same thing. You and I are the same age, facing similar 'things' going on with our bodies. It's helpful to know that you went through it too, and are bouncing back (as much as we can bounce at our age...) Maybe it IS all in my mind...or at least mostly so.

The comment about your kids singing 'the old gray mare' is hysterical!

So, I did a quick search of races that are in North Carolina in the spring...it's not until May, but it's in the mountains of NC and the course looks oh-so-pretty. So it give me plenty of time to build my base back up and train.
And I got that 'I'm ready to train' feeling again.

Maybe all I needed was a carrot like y'all suggested. Thank you!

Now, I'll go home and see how my run goes this evening....I'll see if my body will support what my heart/brain wants to do.