ust got back from a 10 day holiday, and didn’t have a chance to run while I was away. Went out this evening for a gentle run and was shocked to find my pulse about 20 bpm higher than usual, and my speed a lot slower. I’m not sure if I’ve really lost that fitness or whether I’ve de-aclimatized to the heat here. I was in Japan, which is a good 20-30 degrees cooler than here in Borneo, and a whole lot less humid.
Is this normal for a short layoff, as I’ve never felt quite this bad after a break. I’m not that tired and there’s no jetlag.
What’s bugging me is that I have a 5k race on Friday and was hoping to post a good time.
J.
I doubt your fitness is gone. I’ve experienced similar things after only 4 days off or so. I feel extremely sluggish, with every motion requiring great effort. I bet you’ll suprise yourself at the 5K, depending on how hard you were hitting it before the layoff. Just go out easy again today or tomorrow, don’t force it. Maybe throw in some short efforts at a faster pace. Your body and mind just needs to get used to working again. Do whatever you would normally do the day before a race, and be sure to warm-up good before the race (I usually feel like crap when I warm-up before a race). The adrenaline will kick in at the race and you’ll do well.
I think it went to me! I refrained from running for 6 weeks to mend my hip injury. Ran like a tiger yesterday on the treadmill. No apparent loss of fitness.
Sorry I feel so good (especially compared to you) I had to gloat…
Peace. 
That’s how I felt on my first ride in two weeks yesterday. But my excuse is that I had the flu/chest cough. It was still nice to be back in the saddle.
After not exercising for more than 3 days for me, it’s pretty tough getting back into the swing of things. I have run twice in the last 6 weeks due to an injured peroneus tendon in my foot. Swimming and biking are fine for me, though.
Ease into it. In about 2 weeks if you run every other day, you should be back to your good ole self.
jack has it right on. don’t panic, you’ve just got cobwebs. you’ll dust them off soon enough, and you’ll have a good 5K. think positively, you’re just readapting.
There’s no doubt you will de-train some if you don’t train for 10 days. How well you’ll be able to bounce back for your 5k probably depends on how much of a base you’d built before your break.
I’m mostly just a roadie. I had 5,000 miles by the end of March, but my mother got sick and April and May were pretty much out the window … no consistent training and lots of days completely off. Lots of stress, too.
There was a century this past weekend that I really wanted to ride and ride well. I committed myself to a 10 day program to try to get my legs back under me, hoping that would do the job given the base I had. I finished second on the century in 4:28 which I was quite happy about. (Mostly rolling hills.) The last 20 miles weren’t much fun, but I made it. I never expected to do that well. I think the good foundation was the key thing.
Bob C.
I seem to remember being told by Exercise Phys Doc that after two weeks of doing “nothing” that your aerobic fitness is back to baseline. (I hope that this is not true.) However, it doesn’t take nearly as much to maintain fitness as it does to increase it. It supports the saying that “staying in shape is a lot easier than getting into shape” that our college coaches always shouted to us on the way out the door for the summer break…
Lehmkuhler
I seem to remember being told by Exercise Phys Doc that after two weeks of doing “nothing” that your aerobic fitness is back to baseline.
Yeah that guy is wrong. The basic rule of thumb was 2 weeks before you start to lose basic fitness. The short-term effect is a lack of storage of glycogen (among other things) which is probably what he’s feeling. I get the same thing when I take a break after an IM or 1/2IM race. I did two 1/2IMs and after 8 days of rest I was struggling it last night to run a 5k at something better than a 10:00 pace. Based on past experience I should be able to be back at a 7:00 pace by this weekend without killing myself. I find that I can take off 2 months after my peak fall IM race and pick up only a few percent behind where I was in late October. It only takes a few days to get almost everything back.
Short-term there are a few things that can kick your butt. Drinking and/or smoking kills your potassium stores among other essential minerals, and jetlag always hoses me for at least a couple of days. Good luck in your race!