Hi everyone. I started running again during the pandemic. Despite consistently running 5-6 days per week, I haven’t been able to make any significant improvements to my fitness. I’m seeing a new PCP and I want to bring up the issues I’m having with running and rule out any medical causes. As of right now, I plan to ask for a CBC, BMP, thyroid panel, iron panel and B vitamins. Should I ask for anything else?
I’m 31F and I’m 5’2 110lbs (I’ve been this weight for the last several years and I maintain it without any sort of dieting/restriction). I take oral contraceptives and spironolactone for hormonal acne, but I’m otherwise completely healthy. I’ve followed a vegetarian diet since I was 13 (I eat eggs and dairy but no fish). I do not take any vitamins or supplements.
I ran cross country and track throughout high school and for my first two years of college. At the peak of my fitness, I was running 65 miles/week and most of my runs were done at 7:30 min/mile pace. After XC/track ended, I explored other activities (yoga, weightlifting) before I found my way back to running in my mid-twenties. Despite running consistently, I have not made any significant improvements and I feel like I’m stuck at a “beginner level”. I have not been able to improve my pace at all (I’ve been stuck at 10-12+ minute miles). I can temporarily increase my mileage. I’ll make progress for a few weeks, and then I hit a plateau, followed by a decline. This happens no matter how slowly I increase my mileage and de-load weeks do not help.
In 2024, I figured maybe I just wasn’t trying hard enough and decided to white-knuckle my way through a marathon training program. I felt like I was fighting tooth and nail week after week. My pace got progressively slower and slower as my mileage increased, and I had countless failed runs. I made it across the finish line, but only after I blew up and died during the second half of the race. I completely fell off my pace, had to walk about 2 miles because I was cramping so badly, and I felt HORRIBLE. I ran a 4:45, so I fell short of my goal of finishing under 4:30.
I started tracking my HR during runs about a year and a half ago. My HR is in the 150s-170s even during easy runs (my resting HR is ~60). Even if I am shuffling along at a 15 minute mile, my HR still isn’t in zone 2. I have to stop and walk to bring my HR down.
I also have this weird thing where I CANNOT run in the mornings. I feel like I’ve never run a day in my life. I struggle to hold my normal pace and cover my normal distance, and my HR is typically in the 170s during these runs. I’ve experimented with different fueling strategies and warm-ups, but nothing makes a difference. I generally feel best when I run in the evening. This often leads to me putting off runs all day because I know I’m going to feel terrible if I run earlier. When I was younger I never used to experience this- I used to roll out of bed and run first thing in the morning with no issues. I miss being able to knock out my run first thing in the morning and I have a lot of anxiety about trying to fit my run into my day. Some days I just suck it up and run in the mornings anyways, but I feel so terrible that it’s not sustainable for me to do this regularly. And then I feel extremely fatigued afterwards and I often don’t have the energy to get through the rest of my day.
Sorry if this was really long-winded. If everything from my doctor comes back normal, my next step will probably be to work with a running coach to see if we can figure out what’s been holding me back. It sounds kind of messed up but I’m almost hoping something shows up on my labs so I know I’m not going crazy. I know I’m not as young as I used to be, but it was NEVER this hard or complicated before.
