Dead Legs

In article said:

Just had my weekly long run this morning and for some
reason right out of the gate I knew it was going to be
aweful. My legs felt like LEAD right from the start. My
heartrate was low the entire time, but I could not for the
life of me get my legs moving. My stride was short and my
legs really felt fatigued. I had a great fairly short easy
run the day before, so I could not figure out what happen.
I was wondering if anyone else had similar experience and
maybe someone could shed some light on the problem. Is it
diet? It is rest? What are some ways to avoid this?

A number of things can cause this: heavy milage/milage
increases speed work/escalation of speed work a tough racing
schedule a tough workout a tough race inadequate rest

If you're feeling bad at the start, it's probably got
something to do with your rest/recovery state. I often feel
dead-legged just after a tough race or speed workout or a
tough training week. If you just feel heavy-legged for one
workout and there's a clear and identifiable cause, that's
fine. Otherwise you could be overtraining. You haven't said
anything about your training, so it's hard to tell.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi pegasus.rutgers.edu~elflordOpen ↗

"Rob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Just had my weekly long run this morning and for some
reason right

out

Quoted message said:

of the gate I knew it was going to be aweful. My legs
felt like

LEAD

Quoted message said:

right from the start. My heartrate was low the entire
time, but I could not for the life of me get my legs
moving. My stride was

short

Quoted message said:

and my legs really felt fatigued. I had a great fairly
short easy

run

Quoted message said:

the day before, so I could not figure out what happen. I
was wondering if anyone else had similar experience and
maybe someone could shed some light on the problem. Is it
diet? It is rest?

What

Quoted message said:

are some ways to avoid this?

It could be the proverbial bad day or the start of an
illness. Short of those review your log book and look for
spikes in miles, hills, etc. You may need to review the last
month since overtraining happens over weeks not necessarily
days. If you conclude it's overtraining, rest or easy cross
training will be the answer. Actually, you can never go
wrong with a little rest.

--
Doug Freese "Training is not scientifically tested, It's
just trial and error."
Dr. David Costill [email hidden] (remove the NOBS)

(Rob) said:

Just had my weekly long run this morning and for some
reason right out of the gate I knew it was going to be
aweful. My legs felt like LEAD right from the start. My
heartrate was low the entire time, but I could not for the
life of me get my legs moving. My stride was short and my
legs really felt fatigued. I had a great fairly short easy
run the day before, so I could not figure out what happen.
I was wondering if anyone else had similar experience and
maybe someone could shed some light on the problem. Is it
diet? It is rest? What are some ways to avoid this?

dehydrated? ..thehick

Ooh, something I'm an expert at! Dead legs!

Of course, as Donovan said, accumulated fatigue can
hit you hard.

And as Doug notes, it can also be the harbinger of an
illness.

But absent those two things, I'm with Michelle: Just eating
a bit less (especially carbohydrates) can make a big
difference.

Remember to carb up in the first 15 min to hour after your
runs; that's when your body is best at replenishing muscle
glycogen (lots of this stuff avbl on the net) Since I'm youth-
challenged (52) and run over 10 mi/day, I need all the
replenishment help I can get, and this is very a powerful
technique.

I can predict how I'll feel on a run just by walking up the
stairs at home. Lead legs = low glycogen, generally.

Sometimes I just have a bad day. I never fight my body
(except when racing). I might stop running and walk awhile,
or cut the workout short. As Colin Powell says: "It'll
always look better in the morning."

--Dan

Who is normally out running now.

---

[email hidden] (Rob) wrote in news:1098c990.0405160530.69fd8293
@posting.google.com:

Quoted message said:

Just had my weekly long run this morning and for some
reason right out of the gate I knew it was going to be
aweful. My legs felt like LEAD right from the start. My
heartrate was low the entire time, but I could not for the
life of me get my legs moving. My stride was short and my
legs really felt fatigued. I had a great fairly short easy
run the day before, so I could not figure out what happen.
I was wondering if anyone else had similar experience and
maybe someone could shed some light on the problem. Is it
diet? It is rest? What are some ways to avoid this?

Look at your training log for the past month and ask
yourself these questions:

Have you added speed and/or distance? A big jump in weekly
mileage or added speed work without proper recovery can
cause the dead leg feeling.

Have you scheduled any days off? To avoid over
training it may be necessary to add a day off. Do no
exercise on that day.

Have you scheduled an occasional recovery week? Another way
to avoid over training is to cut back on training for one
week every month. Reduce all running by 30 to 50% with no
speed work or long runs. Add an extra day off.

Is your training varied? You need to mix hard days with
recovery days or days off.

Are your recovery days truly recovery days? You need to
make sure you run easy enough on your easy days to fully
recover from the previous hard workouts. Since you have a
HRM, you should use it to govern your easy days. If you
can't run slow enough to recover, then you need to walk or
take the day off.

Have you done any other strenuous exercise that may have
worked your legs?

Other than the above, an occasional bad day is OK. You
can blame it on sun spots. ;-) If they start to happen
more frequently, start looking at cutting back and
getting some rest.

Phil M.

--
"Get outta here. You're killin' me."

Quoted message said:

A number of things can cause this: heavy milage/milage
increases speed work/escalation of speed work a tough
racing schedule a tough workout a tough race
inadequate rest

I would add inadequate calories to the list as well. A diet
that is even slightly lower in calories than you energy
output can cause dead legs if it is continued for a long
period of time. Michelle

Well I had not anything really usual than I have been doing
for the pass 3 months. In fact I had just taken 2 days
rest...Then the easy short run before my long run..and bam!
LEAD legs.

The most days I usually run in a row during the week is 3,
so really running after an easy short run..."normally" is no
big deal. However, this morning it was like something out of
a movie. My legs would just not work.

I am leaning toward diet. I did not eat a lot of food the
day before (trying to lose a few pounds). After my run in
the morning, I had a light breakfast. Chicken sandwich for
lunch, and then pasta for dinner.

I guess the next thing to do is start monitoring everything
I eat, to track my calorie intake along with daily weight to
make sure I am getting enough. I never won't to go through
that again. It was miserable!

-Rob

"Doug Freese" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"Rob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Just had my weekly long run this morning and for some
reason right

out

Quoted message said:

of the gate I knew it was going to be aweful. My legs
felt like

LEAD

Quoted message said:

right from the start. My heartrate was low the entire
time, but I could not for the life of me get my legs
moving. My stride was

short

Quoted message said:

and my legs really felt fatigued. I had a great fairly
short easy

run

Quoted message said:

the day before, so I could not figure out what happen. I
was wondering if anyone else had similar experience and
maybe someone could shed some light on the problem. Is
it diet? It is rest?

What

Quoted message said:

are some ways to avoid this?

It could be the proverbial bad day or the start of an
illness. Short of those review your log book and look for
spikes in miles, hills, etc. You may need to review the
last month since overtraining happens over weeks not
necessarily days. If you conclude it's overtraining, rest
or easy cross training will be the answer. Actually, you
can never go wrong with a little rest.

Overtrainning (inadequate rest) is the most likely culprit.
Dont be too adment about a schedule in this situation.

Another possibility is a light cold or virus- not enough to
put you bed, but only noticeable at peak performance. These
generally automatically heal themselves after a couple days.

Rob, I agree with what others have said in here about it
being not enough carbs or a bit of overtraining among other
possibilities. You can keep your food intake restricted for
much of the week, but surrounding your main event of the
week it pays to be well fueled. For me this means the night
before I will eat a few extra carbs (100 gms+). Then during
events lasting over 3 hours I will eat solid food during the
run, bike, or hike. Within 2 hours immediately after I eat a
generous amount of simple carbs with a little protein to
recharge glycogen reserves. Then as the body processes its
main recovery of the event during the next 24 hours I eat
more complex carbs and protien than usual. After that I eat
my regular weekday diet.

- Tony

Rob wrote in message
<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Just had my weekly long run this morning and for some
reason right out of the gate I knew it was going to be
aweful. My legs felt like LEAD right from the start. My
heartrate was low the entire time, but I could not for the
life of me get my legs moving. My stride was short and my
legs really felt fatigued. I had a great fairly short easy
run the day before, so I could not figure out what happen.
I was wondering if anyone else had similar experience and
maybe someone could shed some light on the problem. Is it
diet? It is rest? What are some ways to avoid this?
Thanks, -Rob

"Rob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Just had my weekly long run this morning and for some
reason right out of the gate I knew it was going to be
aweful. My legs felt like LEAD right from the start. My
heartrate was low the entire time, but I could not for the
life of me get my legs moving. My stride was short and my
legs really felt fatigued. I had a great fairly short easy
run the day before, so I could not figure out what happen.
I was wondering if anyone else had similar experience and
maybe someone could shed some light on the problem. Is it
diet? It is rest? What are some ways to avoid this?
Thanks, -Rob

When I feel that way I either bag it or shorten the run
considerably. There's always tomorrow if I don't try to push
thru it and end up hurting myself.

Donovan Rebbechi said:

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Rob said:

Just had my weekly long run this morning and for some
reason right out of the gate I knew it was going to be
aweful. My legs felt like LEAD right from the start. My
heartrate was low the entire time, but I could not for the
life of me get my legs moving. My stride was short and my
legs really felt fatigued. I had a great fairly short easy
run the day before, so I could not figure out what happen.
I was wondering if anyone else had similar experience and
maybe someone could shed some light on the problem. Is it
diet? It is rest? What are some ways to avoid this?

A number of things can cause this: heavy milage/milage
increases speed work/escalation of speed work a tough
racing schedule a tough workout a tough race
inadequate rest

add "inadequate recovery food intake after previous
hard workout"

--
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

Rob said:

Just had my weekly long run this morning and for some
reason right out of the gate I knew it was going to be
aweful. My legs felt like LEAD right from the start. My
heartrate was low the entire time, but I could not for the
life of me get my legs moving. My stride was short and my
legs really felt fatigued. I had a great fairly short easy
run the day before, so I could not figure out what happen.
I was wondering if anyone else had similar experience and
maybe someone could shed some light on the problem. Is it
diet? It is rest? What are some ways to avoid this?
Thanks, -Rob

Sorry I can't be of help, but I have wondered this too.

I probably do a bad thing by NOT varying my runs much during
the week or resting much (I do 6 miles every weekday at an
easy pace, and more on weekends) but I occasionally have
great days and occasionally have horrible "lead legs" days,
sometimes in sequence. They don't seem to correspond to any
changes in rest, training schedule, or diet. I've had great
runs on little sleep, junk food the day before, with no days
off for several weeks, and hideous runs when I'm well-rested
and have eaten well. It just seems so random. I certainly
consume enough carbs that every day should be energy-filled!
I too would love to harness the great days and eliminate the
"lead" ones but as a pretty inexperienced runner (I just get
out and move--little speedwork, few variations, little
attention to performance--I guess that makes me a "jogger",
eh?), I just can't see any connections, subtle or obvious.

-Alison