SubT paces regressing but easy/recovery paces improving?
43m, former college runner who spent 20 years post school not really doing much serious running (but still active usually). Got back into consistent running about one year ago. Did a self-crafted traditional training program in January (two workouts and a long run every week). Training block went pretty well! Did an 8k in mid-March, 28:40, at which time I discovered and switched to NSM on March 26th. Suspected LTHR of 180 based on that 8k.
Initially, was pretty shocked at how slow I had to run for a HR below 130 bpm. Whereas most of these easy/recovery days had previously been at about 8:30-9 min/mi pace (averaging 140-150 bpm), my first NSM easy day was at 11:17 pace for 60 minutes of running and even then my average HR for the run was 131 bpm despite slowing tremendously throughout the run (9:54 first mile at 120 bpm, to 12:21 fifth mile at 135 bpm). This has improved quite a bit, I think, in just 7 weeks: yesterday’s 60 minute easy run was at 10:52 pace with an average HR of 125 bpm. Still very slow pace but progress for sure.
Workouts, however, aren’t progressing. Before NSM, for example, I did a 5 mi tempo run in early February at 6:13 pace averaging 171 bpm and topping out at 179. But then an early NSM workout I did (in early April) was 3x10’ (w/90” rest) averaging 6:22 pace with HR topping out at 173, 176, and 174 bpm. And, today, I did 3x10’ (w/2’ rest, even) averaging 6:30 pace and topping out at 173, 177, and 178 bpm. These all have been on similar routes in similar conditions (or at least not extreme heat or cold or wind).
Any thoughts on what’s going on? Seven weeks into NSM and my SubT running is slower despite chopping the work into intervals and adding rest.
In intervals.icu, my Fitness is 30, Fatigue is 38, Form is -8 (grey, trending away from green toward blue), and Ramp is 1.3, which all seem fine. Going back to the end of my “traditional” training period, my training was way riskier, with Form peaking at -28 and Ramp at 8.4 near the last week of March, right before switching to NSM. Could this be fallout from training that occurred 2-3 months ago? The only other thing that comes to mind is a HM I did in April. I used the book taper into and out of that race and while the race seemed relatively successful (1:23 even with 3000 ft higher altitude and 800 ft elevation gain) maybe it took more out of me than I’ve realized?
Would like a week or two of just easy running be smart? Or might this period resolve itself if I just give it time (while continuing to run slower interval paces)? I do not feel overtrained or burned out, and my diet, sleep, and life stress have also been relatively consistent throughout.