A Half Marathon, a Plateau, and a Cold That Will Not Clear
Jordan, 34, is training for a half marathon in five weeks while lifting four days a week, so he is active six days a week and sleeps about five hours a night. Over the last three weeks his easy 5 km time has gone from 22:10 to 23:40 at the same reported effort, his morning resting heart rate has climbed from 52 to 64 bpm, and he has lost 2.5 kg without trying. His legs feel heavy for three days after long runs, he has had a lingering sore throat and cold for two weeks, and he is drinking far more water than usual. He is not on any medication and has no diagnosed illness. He wants to add a second run on four of his lifting days because he feels "behind schedule." He is sleeping poorly and his appetite is down.
1. Interpret the picture. What is going on, and what does not fit a simple training-fatigue explanation?
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What fits overreaching. A performance decline at the same perceived effort, resting heart rate up 12 bpm, soreness lasting three days after long runs, poor sleep, and low appetite are a coherent cluster of accumulated fatigue. Three weeks of deteriorating performance despite continued training is the definition of the problem, not a bad week.
What does not fit. Unintentional weight loss of 2.5 kg, persistent thirst, and a cold lasting two weeks are not explained by training load alone, and they are not things I should coach around. Persistent thirst with unintended weight loss warrants medical evaluation, as does an infection that will not resolve. I am not diagnosing diabetes or anything else; I am saying these findings sit outside my scope and outside the training-fatigue story.
What I say. I name what I see without alarming him, explain that the fatigue markers alone would already change his program, and that the other findings need a physician's look. I put the specific numbers in writing so he can hand them over.
2. He wants to add a second run four days a week. What do the next two weeks look like?
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Answer: no additional running, and a reduction. Adding volume is the opposite of what the data support.
The two-week plan:
- Cut training days from six to three or four, and cut total volume by roughly 40-50%.
- Remove all quality work: no intervals, no tempo, no heavy lifting. Easy aerobic work and light full-body resistance only.
- Keep sessions short enough that they do not add to the soreness that already lasts three days.
- Sleep becomes the primary intervention: a target of 7-9 hours, with a fixed wake time.
- Address fueling and hydration, since low appetite with high training volume tends to compound the fatigue.
The conversation. I tell him the half marathon is not lost, but that a five-week build on top of three weeks of declining performance is how people arrive at the start line injured or ill. I offer the alternative: two weeks of reduced load, reassess, then a short, honest peak if he is recovering.
Referral. I recommend he see his physician now about the weight loss and the unresolved cold, in parallel with the training changes, not after two weeks of waiting.
3. What markers do you track during the reassessment, and what would make you extend the deload or stop entirely?
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Tracked weekly, in writing:
- Morning resting heart rate, measured the same way each day, with his baseline of 52 as the reference.
- Sleep duration and quality.
- Session RPE versus pace, so we can see whether a given pace feels harder than it used to.
- Body weight, given the unintentional loss.
- Soreness duration after sessions, and any symptom of illness.
- Mood and motivation, which usually move before performance does.
Extend the deload and keep the volume low if: resting heart rate has not trended back toward baseline, the soreness still exceeds 48 hours, or easy pace is still slower than the 22:10 baseline at the same effort.
Stop and refer if: weight loss continues, thirst persists, the sore throat or cold worsens or lasts beyond another week, appetite does not return, or he reports chest pain, palpitations, or breathlessness disproportionate to effort. Any of those ends the training conversation until a physician has weighed in. I do not add load to a person who is not recovering, and I document the advice either way.