Coach Jay,

Thanks for all the awesome training tips and advice. It's always good to compare what I'm doing with your professional advice! My question is about marathon recovery. I am currently in a running rut. My legs are dead at mile four and my speed isn't improving at all. I haven't been hitting my marks on the track consistently. I feel that I am getting enough sleep (7-8 hours a night) and I train in the early morning when it isn't too hot. I have a pretty balanced diet and think I am eating enough and staying hydrated.

The only thing I can think of is that I didn't take off enough time after my last marathon. My racing schedule last year went like this: in May 2008 I began training for San Antonio Marathon in November. I took off 8 days after that then started training for the Texas Independence Relay in March (ran 4 six mile legs). I took off another 8 days after that and began conditioning for the Boston Marathon in April. After Boston, I took off 7 days, logged 20 total miles the following week, 30 miles the week after and 40 miles the week after that. I began strict training again in June. It has been two weeks now of bad running. What do you think?

Thanks so much and have a great day of running.
Jonathan


Jonathan,
First, let me commend you for sharing the hours of sleep you get each night and the temperature of your normal run times. Those two variables are the first variables people tend to overlook when analyzing their own training. I'm going to assume you live in Texas, so the third issue would be hydration. In that climate, hydration is really important but I think you already know that.

Let me throw out one idea. Get a physical exam with a primary care doctor and ask for two things: a thorough blood test that checks your serum iron, hemoglobin, hematocrit and total red blood cell count and a thyroid test. The blood chemistry in your climate is very important, as endurance athletes lose more iron than non-athletes via sweat. Athletes training at high elevations have the highest incidence of anemia and hot, humid climates are next. So, get a blood test and make sure your doctor doesn't just measure total red blood cells or serum iron. Tell him you want to pay the $80 or so to get the full blood chemistry. When you get the numbers, you need to meet with an MD who has worked with good runners to look at the results because you need to have values that are higher than the "average American" to feel well in marathon training.

My other suggestion is to hire a coach, but I want the readership to know that this is not something I suggest to everyone even though I coach athletes online. Why? Because if your blood chemistry comes back normal for an endurance athlete then something is likely wrong with your training. I would have brought up the issue of stress and how it impacts training but you were so thorough in your question that I doubt that's an issue either. My guess is that you've got some things in your training that are off. Maybe your easy days are too easy, maybe your running threshold runs too fast, or maybe your running positive split long runs, going out too hard each week and then slowing down. A good coach will, in a few short weeks, hone in on the problem(s) and be able to help.

Does everyone need a coach? No. If you're just getting into running the "canned" training plans are great. Some runners can even qualify for Boston or New York on their own with those plans. But for you Jonathan, if your blood chemistry comes back normal, you need to find a coach that can help you.

Take care and thanks for the question.

Coach Jay coaches athletes at RunnersCoach.com and blogs at CoachJayJohnson.com. And don't forget, if you have training question for Coach Jay, email him here: coachjay@nike.com.

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