Question for Runners

What am I doing wrong? Some days I can just go out and run 8 or 10 miles and it's no big deal. Other days I feel awful after 2 or 3 miles. What causes this and what should I do to become more consistent? There are no huge differences in weather, food, etc. I am not a competition runner. I do it for weight loss/control. I started running because walking was taking too much time. I don't enjoy it and my goal is always just to get it over with. I keep trying to find that 'runners high' they talk about but so far, no luck! On a good week, I will do 50mi or so. As winter gets closer, the mileage will go down as the weather gets colder. I am a wimp! Thanks!

You may want to look at your schedule. If you run long or fast today, tomorrow you should run less or slower (or both). You should try to avoid intense (long or fast) runs on consecutive days, intersperse easy (slow and/or short) runs or complete rest days in between. Rest/Recovery days are important for your body to rebuild/repair muscle. Sometimes, 2 or more recovery days are necessary. Try looking at training programs, even though you are not training for anyting in particular. Additionally, some days are good and some bad 'just because'. Some days feel bad/hard until I finish and see that I was actually running faster than I thought. Some days feel bad because they are. Runners High is in my experience over hyped. I also don't get any kind of 'high' from running, but I do get a tremendous sense of accomplishment from it, and feel good about doing it. Check out running message boards to get more insight, such as www.coolrunning.com. Tek

Thanks Tek! I read your profile and your replies to other people and I was hoping you would respond. I'm supposed to have fast days and slow days? I've never tried to be faster or slower. It took me a couple months to find the right pace, cadence, or whatever it's called. It felt awkward to me for a long time! All I knew to do was buy good shoes. I try to stick to 12 min miles. I give myself 2 hours to do 10mi. How much faster or slower should I try to go? Whenever I don't run, I do upper body. I kept thinking if I went 1 more mile I would get that instant high that would last for the rest of the day. I guess I won't be holding my breath for that anymore. Just my luck that it isn't true. Anything to rook those rubes into running! I read the couch to 5k series. That's pretty much how I started! Too bad I found the articles a year too late. I am not an athletic person. I am clumsy and graceless. I know some cute, tiny, people who run marathons and they would most likely die laughing if I asked them about this. Thanks for being here!

Good on you for taking up running especially when it's not something you love! 50 miles just amazes me. WOW! I am no where near that but would love to boast of it! You inspire me. Tek always gives such good advice and speaks from experience - I have little to offer beyond what he has said. But I do have this... I train with a heart rate monitor. This helps me understand and see more of what is going on in my body than what I can detect otherwise. Before a run (especially a long run) I take my Delta (or Orthostatic) heart rate. I have been surprised at what an accurate indication of how I should train this number is. More often than not when my Delta is high I find that my heart rate zooms higher faster, it is more difficult to run at my normal pace, my endurance is reduced, or aches and pains rear faster. There have been days when my Delta was high (indicating that I should take it easy) but I *felt* fine. That's not usually the case, tho, more often than not my Delta is confirmation of how I feel. Once, when my Delta was ridiculously high (and I felt fine), I ran my long run anyway and planned to adjust my pace to stay in my normal HR zone. It wasn't just my run that turned out to be most difficult, it was the remainder of my day and recovery that was really hard. I ended up starting my period during my run, 5 days early. I had no way of expecting that but my Delta (27) told me something big was up. I think my training goals and the rest of my day would have been better served had I chose a distance, pace, HR zone, etc based on my Delta instead of how I felt. My HRM helps me 'see' what is going on. Many experts say that training according to your delta will help prevent injury and keep one from overtraining. My coach reminds me that if I am going to do this when I am old, I must prevent injury today. Being reminded of the looooong term helps me to be more mindful and make better choices today. I need to be reigned in like that. Those HRM numbers tell me a lot. They help know when it's just in my head or really my body. I am just beginning to understand. There's a lot of information out there. Here's a link explaining the Delta. http://www.azzitraining.com/calculators/DeltaHeartRate.aspx Blessings! Nancy

Thanks! I will check that out too. I have never done any real monitoring at all. I won't be making 50 this week. They are predicting rain and snow. Yuck!