“I’m not improving in running. The more I train, the slower I get”

Today, we are going to talk about a few variables that, when adjusted, can help you move away from stagnation and stop losing motivation to train and chase your medal at the pace you want.

When we first start running, it often feels as if we are constantly improving. And when the training plan is properly adapted to us, we continue to create adaptations and improve our running times.

But it is not always like that. And when I start to feel stuck, I need to pay attention and see whether I might be making one of the following mistakes:

1. Always running at the same intensity: there are five different training stimuli that should not be missing from your running. I have already written about this in the article series. Your body needs variation in order to improve.

2. Low training volume: if I run 30 km per week, I will have one level of fitness; if I run 70 km, I will have another. However, this volume needs to increase progressively and be adapted to each person’s lifestyle.

3. Not respecting rest: recovery is just as important as nutrition. Without it, there will not be enough regeneration or adaptation to improve your running.

4. Racing too often at the same intensity: not every race should be done at maximum effort. We need to choose which races we are doing simply as training, which ones we are using as a test, and which one is the target race. (That would also be a good topic for another article.)

5. Not being consistent with training: this is one of the main reasons why progress in running does not happen. And I am not talking only about days or weeks of consistency. I am talking about months and years.

There will always be more difficult periods, so it is important to stay aware of the five points I mentioned above and to keep good communication with your coach, so that the plan can be reviewed and adapted again to your needs.

I will see you in the next post.

Happy training, and see you soon!