Sub 36 in 10K

Albert83BCN · 19-09-2012, 08:05 AM

Quick update:

Monday 17th - day 8 of build-up: 1h relaxed.
5:30 to 6:30 PM. 12.08 Km at 4:58 avg pace, avg HR 149. Temp. 25 to 24ÃÂºC, humidity 78%, cloudy, some wind. FC 2' after exercise 102 bpm

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/224025209

Tuesday 18th - day 9 of build-up: 45' relaxed + 15' at 65% effort.
8 to 9 PM. 12.32 Km at 4:52 avg pace (5:00 pace for the first 45' then 4:30 for the last 15' aprox.), avg HR 150 (147 for the first 45' then near 160-164 for the last 15' aprox). Temp 23.5 to 23 ÃÂºC, humidity 80%, night, no apreciable wind.
FC 2' after exercise 114 bpm.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/224328989

***TheEd*** · 19-09-2012, 08:08 AM

are you feeling more relaxed with your running?

simply enjoying the expression

:yes:

cheers

TheEd

Albert83BCN · 19-09-2012, 09:40 PM

Hi there! I have some news that think may be important.

Today I went to see the doctor to bring a blood and urine test I did a month ago. The thing is that during June/July I had some issues with the urine tract, I had an urgency to go a lot to the bathroom and also It hurted a little bit. Well, this is now gone and urine test showed fine, but the blood test revealed another thing, the doctor told me I may have a little bit of anemia because my haematids count is a little bit low at 3.97 10e6/uL (reference values of the lab seem to be between 4.2 and 6.10) and the hematocrite is 37.2% (ref values 38 to 52). The rest of hormonal values are in the normal ranges.

The doctor told me that if I am into endurance sports I should feel the impact of low hematocrite and he explained to me all the things that involve elite athletes and their pursue to maximize their red cells count as training in high altitude, etc.. just to inform me a little bit, very nice of him hehe.

He thinks that it may be due to an iron deficiency so he recommended me pharmaceutical oral shots of iron every 48h or so, to give a little iron boost.

What do you think about this TheEd? Could it be connected with the performance drop I've been experiencing lately? For me, it seems that could be some connection.

IamWill · 20-09-2012, 08:09 AM

Hi Albert, Seen this in friends. The good thing is that this seems easier to fix than a "running burn-out". Just eat loads of broccoli and other iron packed food and and drink fresh orange juice with. And no caffeine or dairy close to the times you eat iron-rich foods. Good luck!
Will

Albert83BCN · 20-09-2012, 08:23 AM

Thank you very much IamWill!

I eat lot of broccoli as well as other greens, fruits and legumes, but as I am a vegetarian and I do not eat red meat and due to the demands of running It may very possible be a deficiency. I also checked the multi-vitamin I was taking and oh, surprise, It has almost everything but iron.

Went to the pharmacy a few minuts ago and took my supplement, hope it helps. Thank you for the caffeine and dairy advise for timing with iron since I wasn't aware of this and I eat lot of unfattened dairies as delactosated milk, low fat iogurts and low fat cottage cheese (to compensate for the lack of animal meat protein).

***TheEd*** · 20-09-2012, 09:15 AM

Hi Albert, this could most definitely have an impact on your performance

here is an article for more definition

http://www.time-to-run.com/doctor/anemia.htm

spinach is probably your best food source for iron and another aspect to watch out for, is not to drink tea or coffee too close to your meals

in your case your 'iron' status coincides with the drop in training during your Paris trip, so there was a double impact there by the looks of things, you also expected to come back with a bang and then had the sub par running performances which had an overall negative effect on you

look forward and let's see what solution can be found

TheEd

Albert83BCN · 20-09-2012, 11:03 AM

Thank you very much TheEd! Spinachs are currently in my habitual lunch food but will try to bump the intake a little bit more Smile

Albert83BCN · 21-09-2012, 06:01 AM

Quick update:

Wednesday 19th - day 10 of build-up: 1h relaxed.
5:50 to 6:40 PM. Schedule was tight so I 'only' managed to get 50'. Did 10 Km on the mill at 5:02 avg pace, avg HR 146. FC 2' after exercise 114 bpm.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/224679019

Thursday 20th - day 11 of build-up: Fartlek 5x8 at 75% with 2' easy in between.
5:49 to 6:42 PM. Also run in the mill for convenience. Did 11.9 Km in 53' at avg pace 4:28 according to the pedometer (11.5 Km avg 4:36 according to the mill, the real thing I guess it would be somewhere in between the two). Fast intervals somewhere in between 4:25/4:15 pace and slow ones between 5:10/5:20. Avg HR 158, Max HR 168. FC 2' after exercise 122 bpm.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/224932225

Today is rest day of running, although I'd like to do some leg strenght training (it has been ages since I don't because I don't want to interfere with the running). Is it doable or should I better skip it? This week there's no race so I think It would be a good moment to fit one in, although this Sunday I was planning on doing the 4K Time trial as you advised.

***TheEd*** · 22-09-2012, 04:48 AM

hold the 4k time-trial up for another week, preferably after the fartlek next week

as for the strength work, as long as you don't overdue it with the leg strengthening and cause negative effects it should be fine

TheEd

Albert83BCN · 01-10-2012, 07:02 AM

Good morning TheEd

I ended last 3rd week of the build-up. Most sessions involving the running relaxed concept went according to the plan and felt ok. Then on Thursday I did the 5x8' fartlek but I don't know if it's because of the previous day I did some leg strength training but I felt very weak on this session.

After some light chest and triceps training I tried the session and I was only able to do 3x8' instead of 5 reps. I felt really struggling at no-so-fast 4:15 per interval and my HR wasn't lowering from 160 bpm even in the 2' recoveries running at near 5:30-6' avg pace so I call it a day. In fact I had been just feeling weak the first moment I put my feet on the gym :/

Then on Friday I took full rest, no gym, no running and on Saturday tried the 4K time trial. It went really bad, started at 3:45 pace and only managed to run 3K, I had the feeling I was running fast like 3:30 but the Garmin just was showing between 3:45-3:50. I couldn't believe it and by the 3rd km I was so praying to stop that I did so and call it a day again, didn't want to push it really far. Ran a 2Km cool-down feeling fine at 4:40 to home...

So don't really know what to do. Since I started taking the iron shots I can tell I'm feeling a little bit better in a global way but there are some things still troubling me. It has been some time that I have strange feelings both in legs and arms. They feel really numb when I woke up and it doesn't clear completely during the day. It's really weird and it happens more on the left side of the body. Some other days I feel bad as light-headed or spaced out. Also legs feel heavy almost always and it doesn't seem to get better even if I took full rest, in fact maybe I feel worse (like when I was at Paris and had rest from running and came back worse).

I'm going to start seen some doctors because I'm really concerned. I feel bad in a global way and I'm not enjoying neither going to the gym nor my running sessions and it's sad, I need to get better in order to start having fun again.

Until I can manage to get better I think I will stop doing the cycles and just train a little bit by feeling to maintain as much as I can. Then when I feel better I may re-join the cycles again, now I don't have the necessary energy to do so Sad

Thank you very much again for all the help and advice, will keep an eye on everyone here as they seem to be doing very well and hope I can rejoin the cycles any time soon.