It doesn't seem to matter how much I train. Every time I race a 1/2 marathon really hard, I get so sore that I'm limping for several days. My quads just get trashed. Is this normal, and just a sign of racing hard?
My weekly mileage was 40-60 with some quality thresholds and long runs, and my race time was 1:10.
Limping wrote:
It doesn't seem to matter how much I train. Every time I race a 1/2 marathon really hard, I get so sore that I'm limping for several days. My quads just get trashed. Is this normal, and just a sign of racing hard?
My weekly mileage was 40-60 with some quality thresholds and long runs, and my race time was 1:10.
Nice time for the amount of training. I think your issue is after the race. Do you cooldown? How much stretching do you do? Post race massage? What nutrition do you get in?
After I race a hard half marathon, to ensure I almost do not hurt at all...
1) 2-3mi cooldown
2) 20 minute stretching
3) Post race stretch/massage if available
4) Protein foods/drink to help recover.
5) Nap with legs up/elevated (compression socks too).
This works great for me. I raced a half marathon this past Sunday and was fine by Monday night. Sometimes, I am lazy and skip these and then I am in pain for about 2-3 days.
I was completely wiped out after the first one I ran. Since then, I've recovered amazingly quickly from a half, although a full still puts me on the shelf for a week.
Maybe you are running close to your potential and that's why it's leaving you trashed?
I've only run one, and was REALLY sore right afterwards, but an hour or two later was completely fine. It might have had to do with the fact that I didn't run it very fast due to calf cramping halfway through, but still a respectable 1:18:51. Also it had a lot of hills and I did only 2 sessions of hill training.
I also didn't do any cool down, just sat at the food tent and ate a bunch of food, though I did have MAJOR chafing that lasted for a few days afterward.
A half marathon makes me sore and I require several weeks of recovery. A 10 miler I am good to go within a week, so somewhere between 10 and 13 miles is my tipping point.
What shoes did you wear? Lightweight flats would leave me trashed after a 1/2 - trainers wouldn't.
I didn't cool down because my muscles cramped up on me immediately upon finishing. I mean, I was limping and crippled immediately. No chance for a cool down. I went and ate a huge breakfast (lots of protein) and that's about it. No icing or elevation or massage. Massage would have been too painful. And yeah, I raced in middleweight flats, not trainers. Gotta go b to the w in races!
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