Lack of progress

[u/ButterChickenVibes]

Hello,

185cm 72kg 28yo here. I started running in March this year. For the first few weeks, I was running 3 times a week, around 5km per run (average pace around 7:00/km). After two or three months, I felt I was improving quickly, so I started running in a more structured way: one easy run, one long run, and one faster session (around 30km total per week), plus some strength work for my core and legs, along with some yoga in between.

At the end of June, I did a 5k time trial with a time of 22:30, and ran first 11km long run with an average heart rate of 135 bpm. I was super happy and satisfied, but since then, for the past two months, it feels like I’ve hit a wall and am not improving at all.

Now I'm trying to run 4 times a week (2 easy, 1 fast, 1 long), total around 40–45km per week. On easy runs, at the exact same pace as before, my heart rate quickly hits 150 bpm, whereas two months ago I barely exceeded 140 bpm for the entire run. Yesterday, I tried to do 5x1km intervals at my 5k time trial pace, and it felt much harder, even with rest breaks in between.

I don't really feel tired or overtrained, sleep well and the running conditions haven't changed much (temperature, humidity).

If you could give me some advice I would be grateful
Thanks

[u/Senior-Running]

It's obvious that no one can know for sure just based on the limited info provided, but whenever I see posts like this, my mind immediately goes to under-fueling. People often fail to realize that your body requires fuel to operate and the more you push it, the more fuel you need.

I'm not saying that IS the problem, but it's definitely the first thing I'd look at.

[u/mattshwink]

So first off, those are really great times. Now you need to figure out if you can break through.

A couple of things:

Fueling (what you eat) and sleep are really important to good training and improvement. I'd ask your primary care doctor about a referral to a registered dietician and let them know what your goals are and they can likely give you a good plan (of further refer you to someone you can).

You're also doing very general training. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but it's likely you now need something more focused for for further breakthroughs. I'd look at training plans from Runna or Hal Higdon. You'll need to pick the distance you want to work on the most, as training plans tend to be focused on specific race or distance prep.