3 weeks ago, my track season ended, and I am about a week back running today. I took 2 or so weeks off after my last meet. I have been primarily doing easy runs at this point, mainly just because everything feels extremely difficult for no apparent reason. On most of my easy runs recently I’ve aimed to stay in zone 2 for HR, however this requires me to go super slow (to the point where some are 10:30 pace, which I’ve never before had to run at). For context, I’ll explain how my track season went. At the start of indoor, I ran a 10:11 3200, and never touched that time again. I continued to regress, running consistent 10:45s. My workouts also felt awful, so I went to get a serum ferritin test, as asked by my coach. It returned that the levels were 20.4, which my doctor said was low and so prescribed iron supplements which i take nightly. About halfway through outdoor, my coach put me in the 800, which went a lot better and I got down to 2:02. However, with this change I began running a lot fewer miles as well and focusing on speed. All I’m wondering is whether it’s normal to feel as out of shape as I do a week back into running after 2 weeks off, or if I should be concerned. I’ve never been great about holding zone 2 on easy runs, so my theory is that I managed to create a very slow zone 2 due to my zone 2 neglect over the past couple years. Please let me know what you guys think.
Why do I feel so out of shape?
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Yes, it is normal to feel out of shape for the first few weeks after a two-week break, especially coming off lower mileage during track season. I never wore a heart rate monitor in high school, so it's tough to tell how much fitness was lost (which was probably a good thing). But if you had asked me or my teammates to run a time trial at the beginning of June, I doubt any of us could have been within a minute of our 3200 PRs from the previous track season.
If possible, I would continue to get your ferritin levels checked to make sure the iron supplements are working. But even if they are working, your low ferritin is most likely adding to that feeling. I had to get on iron supplements one track season (granted, my ferritin levels were lower than yours), and remember feeling drained on all of my summer runs despite my levels coming back up to the 20s and salvaging an okay track season. The heat/humidity can expose you for not being 100% healthy.
Zone 2 is what, roughly 120-140 HR? That might be reasonable when you are fit, but I wonder if it is unrealistic for you coming off low mileage and health issues. As you get back into things, your heart rate should naturally drop over time. I would also not dismiss the possibility that your heart rate monitor is inaccurate.
But with all that said, having to run 10:30 pace is concerning. Feeling out of shape might be normal for the next few weeks, but I would start worrying if July comes and you are not feeling better.
Hope this gives some insight. Good luck!
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Thank you very much for your help, I plan on getting my blood retested soon but will probably focus on just trying to run normally and hope everything gets back feeling right again. For my zones I use % of heart rate reserve, so my zone 2 is a little higher, i believe about 145-160 or so. Last year was my first track season so also my first low-milage season, so I wasn’t sure if it’s normal to feel like this (I played baseball freshman year so I was still running semi-high milage rather than speed training, around 49 mpw). Thanks again for your help.
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@IllinoisRunner11 Don't worry, you'll get back into good shape after a bit. I ran an 11:39 2 mile a month before I had my 2 week break, and then just started with a couple of 4 mile easy runs to get back into that shape. After a week of running easy, with the only "speed" work being a couple of short fast strides at the beginning and end of my easy running, I did an all out Han Solo 2 mile time trial, and ran 12:37, almost a minute slower than my pr. I was scared at first, but after realizing that I haven't been running in those 2 weeks, I'm sure that I can easily get back that 11:39 and possiblity break 11 minutes in the 2 mile with some decent training before XC starts. I'm in the same boat as you so if you want to talk about anything like this, just let me know. I hope your training goes well and, take care!
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