Listening to your body

Seres

i have read on a some sports articles when training that you sholud listen to your body more than always focusing on HR and pace :
today did a speed session , legs felt heavy , did not feel mentally strong , what should i do in this case :

1. change session return to speed session later in week?
2. cut back on reps?
3. continue as best i can at reduced pace?

All advice appreciated

thirtyfoot

Seres wrote: »

i have read on a some sports articles when training that you sholud listen to your body more than always focusing on HR and pace :
today did a speed session , legs felt heavy , did not feel mentally strong , what should i do in this case :

1. change session return to speed session later in week?
2. cut back on reps?
3. continue as best i can at reduced pace?

All advice appreciated

Have you done this session before and is your performance worse in this session. When it happens that I am off the pace (as it did last night in spectacular fashion) I usually stop there and then. I'll have target times for sessions and if I am way off (as in 3 or 4 secs on a 300 or 400) then I will quit the session there and then as something isn't right. Doesn't happen that often but its a sign for me of 'overtraining'* as is not being mentally on the game. When I quit a session I don't try squeeze in later in the cycle as it'll not fit in with the overall plan.

If you feel wrecked (and you are not a lazy b*stard who is only looking for an excuse) then take a break of a few days. Rest and recovery is your most important session. Hard if you coach yourself to say stop.

*Overtraining will probably rarely happen for most but what can happen is that your training is such that you are no longer getting benefit from the sessions you are doing. So while it may not be technically overtraining, you could call it untraining as you are too tired to get quality from your session. No one session will ever make a runner, but one session can break a runner.

shels4ever

Tingle wrote: »

Have you done this session before and is your performance worse in this session. When it happens that I am off the pace (as it did last night in spectacular fashion) I usually stop there and then. I'll have target times for sessions and if I am way off (as in 3 or 4 secs on a 300 or 400) then I will quit the session there and then as something isn't right. Doesn't happen that often but its a sign for me of 'overtraining'* as is not being mentally on the game. When I quit a session I don't try squeeze in later in the cycle as it'll not fit in with the overall plan.

If you feel wrecked (and you are not a lazy b*stard who is only looking for an excuse) then take a break of a few days. Rest and recovery is your most important session. Hard if you coach yourself to say stop.

*Overtraining will probably rarely happen for most but what can happen is that your training is such that you are no longer getting benefit from the sessions you are doing. So while it may not be technically overtraining, you could call it untraining as you are too tired to get quality from your session. No one session will ever make a runner, but one session can break a runner.

Have to agree with Tingle there, Also if the session is new it will be hard, look at your intervals between reps these can come down over time but to start with you should set them at a level that you will complete your session. 6 X 1 k with 1 min recovery at the best of times..

Seres

Tingle wrote: »

Have you done this session before and is your performance worse in this session. When it happens that I am off the pace (as it did last night in spectacular fashion) I usually stop there and then. I'll have target times for sessions and if I am way off (as in 3 or 4 secs on a 300 or 400) then I will quit the session there and then as something isn't right. Doesn't happen that often but its a sign for me of 'overtraining'* as is not being mentally on the game. When I quit a session I don't try squeeze in later in the cycle as it'll not fit in with the overall plan..

I have done this session and sessions very similar to this one before , i do these on a threadmill because its the only place i can . I was aiming for the same target pace as my last session but for this session i was struggling at that pace and had to pull back , i felt my leg tired which i can manage but my mental strenght just wasnt there today, i would have soldiered on as in previous time but the advice of listening to your body was there

Tingle wrote: »

If you feel wrecked (and you are not a lazy b*stard who is only looking for an excuse) then take a break of a few days. Rest and recovery is your most important session. Hard if you coach yourself to say stop...

not lazy and not overtrained , other external pressure at moment though ,also not getting enough sleep , could these be the cause ?

thirtyfoot

Seres wrote: »

not lazy and not overtrained , other external pressure at moment though ,also not getting enough sleep , could these be the cause ?

Definetly so. That was my reason for not training well last night. I trained on tuesday hard and didn't eat properly afterwards, didn't sleep well that night and had a mental day at work yesterday. All combined the body and mind wasn't up to it.

Said the lazy thing as I know lazy people (myself) and previously I would have used any excuse not to train!! If you aren't lazy and looking for any excuse to stop then listen to your body, it'll be better than any gizmo or gadget and gets more accurate the more you use it!!!

tunney

An apt thread. I had an interval session last night that I had to bin because I just couldn't hit the targets. normally could - in my case the after effects of an infection and antibotics.

If you're body can't do it and its a once off (i.e. unlikely to be overtraining) bin the session and completely forget about it. Don't come back to it later in the week, leave it. My 2c.

shels4ever

Slightly of topic here but i've gone to some sessions feeling like crap after a couple of week hard training and almost expected not to be able to complete the session, some of these have been my better session as it turns out, seem to run well on the back of hard week not sure what that really says...

Seres

thanks tingle
just one more question off the current topic
last summer i started up running again , and my times improved very quickly without any real traning plan , after xmas stopped for a while and started up there properly again bout 6 weeks ago this time with a sort of a traning plan , ie speed session , farlek , long runs, however i dont feel that much improvement in my training session , what should i do ,
return to old system ? , try to particpate in more races ? , not sure whats best

thirtyfoot

Seres wrote: »

thanks tingle
just one more question off the current topic
last summer i started up running again , and my times improved very quickly without any real traning plan , after xmas stopped for a while and started up there properly again bout 6 weeks ago this time with a sort of a traning plan , ie speed session , farlek , long runs, however i dont feel that much improvement in my training session , what should i do ,
return to old system ? , try to particpate in more races ? , not sure whats best

From my experiences a beginner will see huge improvements in the first 4-6 weeks. Same may happen when someone trains regularly but starts on a new system, they will see great initial improvements.

You need a training plan so I would stick with it or adapt it and change it. Other here may be able to help with that as I wouldn't be too good on the longer stuff.

thirtyfoot

shels4ever wrote: »

Slightly of topic here but i've gone to some sessions feeling like crap after a couple of week hard training and almost expected not to be able to complete the session, some of these have been my better session as it turns out, seem to run well on the back of hard week not sure what that really says...

That could be because the positive effects of training can take days to reach a peak. So for example you train really hard today at a speed session for example. You will be wrecked tomorrow, maybe even more wrecked the day after but after that you start to improve and the compensationery benefits of the session will increase for maybe a day or two. I have graphs of the timings of the benefits of different sessions somewhere, I'll see can I find it.

Genghis

I think it's important to differentiate between how you feel before a session, and how you feel a few minutes into the session. If you have a session started and you find yourself off the pace, then, like finding an injury, stopping is the right thing to do.

We all have days where motivation is low, and I know that sometimes I have talked myself out of a tough session on the basis of 'feeling tired'. On the occassions I persevered, I often find that the feeling was illusionary and therefore the session well worthwhile doing.

So I think it is important to both start the session and have an idea of what you should be able to achieve before making a decision to abandon.

shels4ever

Tingle wrote: »

That could be because the positive effects of training can take days to reach a peak. So for example you train really hard today at a speed session for example. You will be wrecked tomorrow, maybe even more wrecked the day after but after that you start to improve and the compensationery benefits of the session will increase for maybe a day or two. I have graphs of the timings of the benefits of different sessions somewhere, I'll see can I find it.

Great thanks, thats good to know. wil be handy for the summer when the real training starts and this marathon stuff ends

pgibbo

Interesting timing for this thread. I had an easy week last week after 3 good weeks of training. I had a rest day on Tuesday and did an early morning session yesterday, which I felt good after. However, last night and the night before I woke at 5:30 and couldn't get back to sleep for ages. When it happened this morning I drifted back to sleep & my alarm went off at 7:15. I had planned to get up and go for a cycle before work. I turned off the alarm and next thing I knew it was 9:00. My first thought was "am I overdoing it" of late? It's very unusual for me to wake during the night. I have recently started double training around 2 or 3 times a week. Is it possible that I increased the number of sessions that I do a week too soon? I feel fine now. Just wondering what are the signs of overdoing it? Cheers.

Seres

http://www.time-to-run.com/training/overtraining/warnings.html

check out this for signs of overtraining

dna_leri

Seres wrote: »

thanks tingle
just one more question off the current topic
last summer i started up running again , and my times improved very quickly without any real traning plan , after xmas stopped for a while and started up there properly again bout 6 weeks ago this time with a sort of a traning plan , ie speed session , farlek , long runs, however i dont feel that much improvement in my training session , what should i do ,
return to old system ? , try to particpate in more races ? , not sure whats best

I agree with Tingle that as a beginnner you may see some quick early improvements.

If you have just started a new training plan 6 weeks ago, it is probably too early to see the benefits yet. After the initial improvement, changes tend to be incremental. In my case, over the last 18 months as a beginner/restarter, I saw improvements every 6 months, then a levelling out, then another improvement.

You won't know if you are getting better unless you have a race (or time trial) to measure yourself against. You won't always feel it in training. I would recommend setting goals for every 6-12 months, then working to achieve them with in-between goals (perhaps at shorter distances) to see if you are on track.

violator13

Well, what I can never understand is, the day after a day off I usually feel worse, i.e tired,stiff and sluggish..I now dont plan a certain day off,but just decide how I feel on the day.

Also do you feel like death getting out of the bed in the mornings but end up running great in the evenings!