Heavy legs

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Jane

I'm training for my second 1/2 marathon. The first was in
the fall and I thought I'd have a lot easier time of it this
time around but I seem to be struggling. My runs are really
tough. My legs feel like lead particularly in the last week
or so and I've cut the runs short or had to take walk
breaks. I did a google search and what I came up with is
overtraining which I'm pretty sure I'm not doing. Anyway, I
didn't go out for my long run Sunday and I avoided hills
tonight so maybe the break will help. I'm not feeling ill
but I have been excessively tired and have had a very mild
sore throat. Probably unrelated but the other night I had a
charley horse in my calf which was quite excruciating and
had me hobbling around for about a day. The half is just
over a month away and I really don't want to interrupt my
training any more than I already have. Any ideas on what's
going on and what I should do about it? Jane

Gentolm

Jane not knowing your goal here is a stab being tired is a
good sign of overtraining 31 days is still a long way away
instead of taking every other day off ( for 1 week) try just
cutting your miles back or your speed (slower) every other
day for a week when i was over training i did stop for 2
days , slept like abig dawg , and went back to training my
time / speed / endurance did improve after the lay off.
plodzilla have race - will run!!

Jane wrote:
>
> I'm training for my second 1/2 marathon. The first was in
> the fall and I thought I'd have a lot easier time of it
> this time around but I seem to be struggling. My runs are
> really tough. My legs feel like lead particularly in the
> last week or so and I've cut the runs short or had to take
> walk breaks. I did a google search and what I came up with
> is overtraining which I'm pretty sure I'm not doing.
> Anyway, I didn't go out for my long run Sunday and I
> avoided hills tonight so maybe the break will help. I'm
> not feeling ill but I have been excessively tired and have
> had a very mild sore throat. Probably unrelated but the
> other night I had a charley horse in my calf which was
> quite excruciating and had me hobbling around for about a
> day. The half is just over a month away and I really don't
> want to interrupt my training any more than I already
> have. Any ideas on what's going on and what I should do
> about it? Jane

Doug Freese

Eno

Jane wrote:

> I'm training for my second 1/2 marathon. The first was in
> the fall and I thought I'd have a lot easier time of it
> this time around but I seem to be struggling. My runs are
> really tough. My legs feel like lead particularly in the
> last week or so and I've cut the runs short or had to take
> walk breaks. I did a google search and what I came up with
> is overtraining which I'm pretty sure I'm not doing.
> Anyway, I didn't go out for my long run Sunday and I
> avoided hills tonight so maybe the break will help. I'm
> not feeling ill but I have been excessively tired and have
> had a very mild sore throat. Probably unrelated but the
> other night I had a charley horse in my calf which was
> quite excruciating and had me hobbling around for about a
> day. The half is just over a month away and I really don't
> want to interrupt my training any more than I already
> have. Any ideas on what's going on and what I should do
> about it?

Do you replenish yourself with some nutrients within 30-45
min after a run, especially a tough one? A great article in
the latest Runner's World titled "BONK!" lists the latest
research on recovery and in-run nutrition. The loose
consensus seems to be to definitely replenish carbohydrates,
and also protein in a 4-1 ratio. I have heard the body is
ready for about 50-60g of carbohydrates, so calculate the
protein from that. A powerbar or Cliffbar washed down with a
glass of milk seems to work pretty nicely for me. Better
yet, a Spanish omelette after those truly tough runs :).
Look also at how much rest, namely sleep, you are getting.
You may need more. My body does so much better when I get 30
minutes more of sleep per night, or when I'm able to sneak a
nap mid-day. Perhaps you should take 2-3 days totally off
after your next long run and really pamper your legs. Cross-
training, like cycling in place of running on a normal
running day may also help you take a load off.

--
ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,-
,ø¤º eNo "If you can't go fast, go long." ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°-
`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º

Grandepatzer

"Jane" <jhaacknospam@sympatico.ca> wrote in message news:<u6Kcc.24706$wq4.1250736@news20.bellglobal.com>...
> My legs feel like lead particularly in the last week or
> so . . .

Heavy legs? Are you sure it's not heavy somewhere else? See
my previous post about unloading. All those toxins will not
only weigh you down, but if they don't come out, they have
to go somewhere, and gravity being what it is, they will
find their way to your legs.

Donovan Rebbech

In article <5eVcc.3$9f7.1@dfw-service2.ext.ray.com>, eNo wrote:

> Do you replenish yourself with some nutrients within 30-45
> min after a run, especially a tough one? A great article
> in the latest Runner's World titled "BONK!" lists the
> latest research on recovery and in-run nutrition. The
> loose consensus seems to be to definitely replenish
> carbohydrates, and also protein in a 4-1 ratio.

Those guys are really on the cutting edge. Be sure to
check out their latest story on Newtonian mechanics and
Kepler's laws.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Eno

Donovan Rebbechi wrote:

> In article <5eVcc.3$9f7.1@dfw-service2.ext.ray.com>,
> eNo wrote:
>
>
>>Do you replenish yourself with some nutrients within 30-45
>>min after a run, especially a tough one? A great article
>>in the latest Runner's World titled "BONK!" lists the
>>latest research on recovery and in-run nutrition. The
>>loose consensus seems to be to definitely replenish
>>carbohydrates, and also protein in a 4-1 ratio.
>
>
> Those guys are really on the cutting edge. Be sure to
> check out their latest story on Newtonian mechanics and
> Kepler's laws.

Touche. I'll give them points for writing a complete, in-
depth article that put it all together, though--as opposed
to the tiny text bites they usually print.

--
ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,-
,ø¤º eNo "If you can't go fast, go long." ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°-
`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º

Dot

Jane wrote:
> I'm training for my second 1/2 marathon. The first was in
> the fall and I thought I'd have a lot easier time of it
> this time around but I seem to be struggling. My runs are
> really tough. My legs feel like lead particularly in the
> last week or so and I've cut the runs short or had to take
> walk breaks. I did a google search and what I came up with
> is overtraining which I'm pretty sure I'm not doing.
> Anyway, I didn't go out for my long run Sunday and I
> avoided hills tonight so maybe the break will help. I'm
> not feeling ill but I have been excessively tired and have
> had a very mild sore throat. Probably unrelated but the
> other night I had a charley horse in my calf which was
> quite excruciating and had me hobbling around for about a
> day. The half is just over a month away and I really don't
> want to interrupt my training any more than I already
> have. Any ideas on what's going on and what I should do
> about it? Jane
>
>
Along with what others have said or perhaps emphasizing in
some cases - What about other stress in your life and/or
lack of sleep? In my training, I've noticed a correlation
between long days trying to meet work deadlines (and
resultant lower sleep amounts) and when old injuries
resurface or new things happen or things just don't feel
right. A couple days of more adequate sleep usually fixes
things up.

You seem to have taken one day off (Sun), maybe a couple in
a row or maybe insert some *easy* cross-training to keep the
blood circulating - hiking flats or hills (depending on what
works for you), biking, etc.

Pay attention to fueling and hydration before, during, and
after the run.

Undiagnosed (to date) illness?

FWIW, if your half is just over a month away, depending on
your training schedule (you didn't give any indications at
what level you're training or how long) chances are you've
already gotten many (not all) of the benefits of training,
and you may need to focus more on getting to starting line
healthy than adhering to a schedule - whatever that takes.

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd
Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

Doug Freese

Lyndon wrote:

> But they haven't discovered Galileo yet... The Penquin
> Inquisition has placed the writings of Kopericus and
> everything associated with running faster than
> 7:00 pace into the "Index of Forbidden Books." Kopericus
> was forced to recant under torture, for fear that if
> runners actually knew that 6:00 pace or faster was
> possible, they might run right over the edge of the flat
> earth...
>
> With tongue just slightly in cheek.

Kopericus? Don't you mean Copernicus although Kopernik and
Koppernigk is also accepted spelling? Isn't the answer in
the book "Little Commentary" where the sun and all runners
are at the center. ;)

--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" dfreeseS@NOBShvc.rr.com

Jane

Thanks to all for some excellent suggestions. It may be
overtraining after all since I went out tonight for a short,
easy run to see how things were and the run was a lot
better. No heavy legs! I know there are many things I should
improve though and maybe this setback is a bit of a wakeup
call. Eating and drinking are big issues so will look into
the article from Runner's World. I suspect I'm often under
hydrated as I just forget to drink. I take a bottle of water
to work and often end up using it to water the plants at the
end of the day . Also, as a long time vegetarian I should
probably be a little more conscientious about getting enough
protein. I don't get enough sleep and I have had a bit of a
tendency to anemia in the past so perhaps this is worth
looking at. I think I can probably afford to lay off some of
the running - maybe do a bit of bicycling. My longest run to
date is just over 16 km. (I was to have done 18 on Sunday).
I think I need to do at least 18 before the race. Thanks
again. Jane

Tim Downie

Jane wrote:
> Thanks to all for some excellent suggestions. It may be
> overtraining after all since I went out tonight for a
> short, easy run to see how things were and the run was a
> lot better. No heavy legs! I know there are many things I
> should improve though and maybe this setback is a bit of a
> wakeup call. Eating and drinking are big issues so will
> look into the article from Runner's World. I suspect I'm
> often under hydrated as I just forget to drink. I take a
> bottle of water to work and often end up using it to water
> the plants at the end of the day . Also, as a long time
> vegetarian I should probably be a little more
> conscientious about getting enough protein. I don't get
> enough sleep and I have had a bit of a tendency to anemia
> in the past so perhaps this is worth looking at.

Absolutely. Being female and vegetarian puts you at a much
higher risk of being iron deficient.

Get your blood checked.

Tim
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Phil M.

"Jane" <jhaacknospam@sympatico.ca> wrote in
news:%83dc.32679$wq4.1666144@news20.bellglobal.com:

> Thanks to all for some excellent suggestions. It may be
> overtraining after all since I went out tonight for a
> short, easy run to see how things were and the run was a
> lot better. No heavy legs! I know there are many things I
> should improve though and maybe this setback is a bit of a
> wakeup call. Eating and drinking are big issues so will
> look into the article from Runner's World. I suspect I'm
> often under hydrated as I just forget to drink. I take a
> bottle of water to work and often end up using it to water
> the plants at the end of the day .

Drinking enough water is a real chore. I try to drink a 64
oz jug of water at work. Then, at least another 32 oz while
at home, depending on how much I run that day.

A good formula for me is:

(.035 ounces per calorie of exercise) + (.035 ounces per
calorie of metabolism)

> Also, as a long time vegetarian I should probably be a
> little more conscientious about getting enough protein.

The protein requirements are all over the board,
depending on your reference source. I've settled on 1.2 -
1.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. Donovan, our
resident vegetarian/whey powder consultant, can better
respond to this. ;-)

Phil M.

--
"Pain is temporary: the success it brings can be
everlasting." -fortune cookie