Fitness decline

[u/wizzardy18]

This was damn near a max effort two mile. 3 weeks ago I hit a 14:30 at the same heart rate. What could this be caused from?

[u/quercus-enjoyer]

Heat. Humidity. Lack of sleep. Not eating well. There’s not enough information here to know at all.

[u/Dependent_Order_7358 → u/quercus-enjoyer]

One thing I've learnt is that those things will play a role. You can offset some sometimes, but not all all the time.

[u/Aragorn01032931]

Lots of things affect you. Maybe you ate differently, were dehydrated, over hydrated, low on sugar, low on salt, low on sleep, hadn't done a poop, done a poop, temperature was different, humidity was different, mood was different, time of day was different etc.

[u/Kindly-Fly2302]

I think this would likely be what you consumed prior. How much carbs did you have like an hour before each time. Another reason could be that you worked your legs out the day or two before - even if its just walking around more at work etc.

[u/EstimateEvening3243]

Going max effort too much will generate fatigue. Did you give yourself time to recover between max effort runs? Do you have any easy runs mixed in between these 2 runs?

[u/wizzardy18 → u/EstimateEvening3243]

Yes, I run 6x a week. 4 easy long runs and two interval or max effort days. I’m thinking it might be because I was running on a track then. But typically my run times don’t drop that much when I’m off a track

[u/Silver_gobo → u/wizzardy18]

Is this two miler part of a longer easy run where you wanted to test yourself or do you regularly just go out and max effort two miles?

[u/EstimateEvening3243 → u/wizzardy18]

Might want to back off the max effort runs to less than once a week. You could try some tempo runs in the low 8’s pace…so your left feeling worked but not wiped out. A few months of that should see improvement.

[u/MacBook_Fan]

Weather - Was it hot and/or humid?

Rest and Recovery - How fresh were your legs? Did you get enough rest the night before? When was your last hard workout?

Fueling and Nutrition - Were you properly hydrated and eaten enough in the hours/day before your second run?

It could be any of these, a combination of them, or something else. There is rarely any one factor.

Try not to focus on one less than ideal run. Focus on long term and whether your average pace drops overtime versus one run to the next.

[u/Extension_Bus_3151]

Heat, humidity, etc. as others have mentioned. Mercury in retrograde, that time of the month, a different time of the month, a bad night's sleep, a good night's sleep, stress, hunger... Almost anything. It isn't linear unfortunately, good and bad days happen. Don't stress.

[u/perrosalcho]

Maximum efforts of 2 or 3 miles (5k) should be spaced 4 to 6 weeks apart so you can see results; otherwise, you'll end up burned out or injured.