fitness only lasts so long
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2010-11-15 9:22 AM |
Regular 73 | Subject: fitness only lasts so long I'm a fool. There you have it, I said it. Why? Two and a half months ago I completed my first HIM. I trained hard and well and completed it to some level of satisfaction. Since then (at my wife's request) I have reeled in my training and have primarily just been running. My long runs each week are only 8.35 miles. The rest are 4 or 5 miles. Two weeks ago my buddy asked me to run a half marathon with him on 11/13. He ran the Chicago Marathon 5-weeks ago. He wanted to go sub 1:50 for the half. I'm (historically) faster than him and he wanted me to pace him to his goal. 8:24 pace. No problem. Two and a half months ago I completed a HIM. I (was) well trained. By now you can probably see where I am going with this. The half marathon was this weekend. Oh we made the goal - 1:49:36. But not before I thought I was going to frickin die. I don't just mean it was hard or hurt a little. I thought I was going to black out. I wanted to lie down in the road and take a nap. The last 3-miles were complete hell. The reality is my buddy pulled me along. The slap in the face moral: Training works and fitness doesn't last forever... oh yeah, and I am a fool... |
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2010-11-15 9:28 AM in reply to: #3211117 |
Master 2802 Minnetonka, Minnesota | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long Sounds like a good lesson learned for you... I live in fear of getting out of shape :-) Reality is though, fitness gains fade fairly quickly and as you get older, geting BACK into shape only gets harder! |
2010-11-15 9:35 AM in reply to: #3211117 |
Extreme Veteran 612 Chicago-ish | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long I suppose this might be a reason to be glad that my scale lets me know immediately if I get "lazy". |
2010-11-15 9:45 AM in reply to: #3211149 |
Expert 1384 Charlottesville, Virginia | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long I did the same thing (actually cut back more than you did) after my 1st HIM and it was a long way back. I won't be doing that again. Congrats on your finish never-the-less... and on a good learning reflection. |
2010-11-15 10:26 AM in reply to: #3211117 |
Master 3546 Millersville, MD | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long Exhibit 2: 10:20 IMLP and finished on cloud 9. --- crappy training in the two months following --- 6:23 Savageman HIM and spent an hour in the med tent. I raced this race as if I had my ironman fitness from two months prior, and I did not... and eventually I ran into a brick wall and had to stumble through the marathon in a potentially dangerous manner (I can't remember most of it, and there were 10 diffferent pictures taken of me on course and my eyes are closed or rolled back in my head in every one). |
2010-11-15 3:16 PM in reply to: #3211117 |
Coach 9167 Stairway to Seven | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long valpodad - 2010-11-15 8:22 AM The slap in the face moral: Training works and fitness doesn't last forever... oh yeah, and I am a fool... A fool for making more time to spend with your wife/family and keeping harmony in your marriage? There is a time for everything. For many people off-season is the time to give up some of what you've taken from your family/spouse during those intense training months of the summer (your time away from them). |
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2010-11-15 3:57 PM in reply to: #3211117 |
Regular 73 | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long indeed and well said. i guess i meant i was a fool for doing the race at all. my wife and i both have enjoyed the down time. |
2010-11-15 8:28 PM in reply to: #3211117 |
Extreme Veteran 844 | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long been focusing on my run fitness specifically since the end of tri season. doing some cross training tonight to give my leg a rest.. jumped in the pool and good grief.. i was wiped after what would normally be an easy 700 yds.. time to get back into it.. cause that sucked.. |
2010-11-15 8:44 PM in reply to: #3211117 |
Extreme Veteran 417 Davidson | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long valpodad - 2010-11-15 10:22 AM I'm a fool. There you have it, I said it. Why? Two and a half months ago I completed my first HIM. I trained hard and well and completed it to some level of satisfaction. Since then (at my wife's request) I have reeled in my training and have primarily just been running. My long runs each week are only 8.35 miles. The rest are 4 or 5 miles. Two weeks ago my buddy asked me to run a half marathon with him on 11/13. He ran the Chicago Marathon 5-weeks ago. He wanted to go sub 1:50 for the half. I'm (historically) faster than him and he wanted me to pace him to his goal. 8:24 pace. No problem. Two and a half months ago I completed a HIM. I (was) well trained. By now you can probably see where I am going with this. The half marathon was this weekend. Oh we made the goal - 1:49:36. But not before I thought I was going to frickin die. I don't just mean it was hard or hurt a little. I thought I was going to black out. I wanted to lie down in the road and take a nap. The last 3-miles were complete hell. The reality is my buddy pulled me along. The slap in the face moral: Training works and fitness doesn't last forever... oh yeah, and I am a fool... Funny to read your post because over the past 3-4 weeks I have noticed a dramatic drop in my fitness due to taking it easy for 4 or 5 weeks. The big change? My resting heart rate has gone from 48-50 to 60. I couldn't believe it would change so quickly, and it isn't like I completely stopped training. I gained about 6 lbs. during the same period, too. Greg |
2010-11-16 3:40 AM in reply to: #3212080 |
Coach 9167 Stairway to Seven | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long valpodad - 2010-11-15 2:57 PM indeed and well said. i guess i meant i was a fool for doing the race at all. my wife and i both have enjoyed the down time. Got it. I misinterpreted your original post! Anyway, enjoy the downtime and the lesson learned. |
2010-11-16 5:27 AM in reply to: #3211117 |
166 | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long Greetings, Ive been reading all of these posts, and they have me a bit concerned. How is is possible to lose fitness so quickly? If you are able to do an ironman, and then go through hell doing a half ironman 8 weeks later, what amount of training contributed to that hellish performance? Im interested in knowing this primarily because I would not want to think that I was able to "taper" my way into something that gets me in trouble (i.e.....doing a half ironman, then trying an olympic distance six weeks later off of "recovery" mileage). I guess I didnt' realize maybe how quickly conditioning is lost. Please let me know, if you can. Thanks! |
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2010-11-16 7:44 AM in reply to: #3211117 |
Regular 73 | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long For the record, it was Half Ironman (2 1/2 months ago) to Half Marathon (this weekend)...
Edited by valpodad 2010-11-16 7:46 AM |
2010-11-16 8:47 AM in reply to: #3211117 |
Master 2460 | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long Don't worry- while it's true that fitness does and can "go quickly" without training, it also will stick around longer the more you're at it and the better you get. I've been running fairly seriously for over 15 years, and definitely wasn't a natural speedster. (In fact, I was usually the one of the slower people in my junior high class.) But after keeping at it for this long, I'm always surprised now with how fast I can run even after long stretches off - I missed 4.5 months due to an injury a few years ago (literally zero runs), only did some light biking (no hard stuff) and was running 90% of my original speed within 2-3 weeks. In contrast, I trained really hard in swimming last year for a good 6-month period, and improved a lot. However, without those years in the bank, the effects wore off pretty quickly. |
2010-11-16 9:18 AM in reply to: #3212774 |
Elite 3315 Miami | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long valpodad - 2010-11-16 7:44 AM For the record, it was Half Ironman (2 1/2 months ago) to Half Marathon (this weekend)...
unfortunately there is nothing in your logs, nothing in your race logs. hard to say what kind of fitness you had prior to the HIM. 2.5 months is a good chunk of time if you did nothing, you mentinoed you did run but your longs runs were only 8 miles depending on the paceing you would definitely have a hard time running a 13.1 well. 13.1 is not a 10k.
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2010-11-16 9:33 AM in reply to: #3212901 |
Veteran 351 | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long agarose2000 - 2010-11-16 9:47 AM Don't worry- while it's true that fitness does and can "go quickly" without training, it also will stick around longer the more you're at it and the better you get. I've been running fairly seriously for over 15 years, and definitely wasn't a natural speedster. (In fact, I was usually the one of the slower people in my junior high class.) But after keeping at it for this long, I'm always surprised now with how fast I can run even after long stretches off - I missed 4.5 months due to an injury a few years ago (literally zero runs), only did some light biking (no hard stuff) and was running 90% of my original speed within 2-3 weeks. In contrast, I trained really hard in swimming last year for a good 6-month period, and improved a lot. However, without those years in the bank, the effects wore off pretty quickly. I read somewhere that in a study of a group of people who trained regulary for a year, who then took 3 months off, they lost 50% of their training. They took a group of people who were untrained, and trained them for 2 months regularly, then after 2 months off they had lost 100% of their training benefits (weight, HR, etc...) So yes, you do lose it faster than you gain it, but it does also depend on how long you have been training overall. |
2010-11-16 11:55 AM in reply to: #3211117 |
Coach 9167 Stairway to Seven | Subject: RE: fitness only lasts so long There is a VERY recent study (few weeks ago?) that concluded that muscles "remember" their previous level of fitness. Havn't read the original article, but seen it referred to a few times, even in Men's health magazine. (so it's probably a few months old at least) |
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