How to get your legs feeling snappy again

Congrats on a strong season thus far. Youth is a beautiful thing huh? haha..I experienced something similar last month prepping for a HM. I ran a 30k, took a down day then was right back at training, jumped into a hilly 10k 2 weeks later, all with a HM 3 weeks out. My legs felt like trash during the 10k, but it served as a great workout for my A race. Relatively speaking, I found that some shorter efforts really helped bring my legs back to life in time to run a PR this past weekend. The bulk of my mileage was hit between Jan-March, so the last few weeks leading up to my HM was best served with shorter tempo runs, strides and form efficiency drills. I was a sprinter in HS and while making the transition to longer distance running, I've ignored my roots with leg turnover and short sprints. I've felt a big difference since incorporating strides a few times a week the last couple months. Best of luck and finish strong.

Important to note too, our tapers are all relative and depends greatly on experience, and where your mileage training block has been the last 3-6 months. I've not ran the week leading into a race, and I just came out too flat on race day, and too long of a taper had me feeling weird by the end. You're on a HS team so the conditions are different, but dialing back intensity the last 5 days while still staying loose is a unique balance we all struggle to find leading up to our races. I've been running for a long time, going back to Middle School, and it's something that's forever adapting.

Coach and fan from a small program on the East side, but spent my college years out on your side. Good luck at WPIALs, hope to see you at Ship (if my athlete and you both qualify).

1979 wrote:

For me, no hard workouts the week before a big meet.

The day before a meet is a rest day, or just warming up and strides.

Also, no long runs during track season, easy repeats instead:

6x1k with 800m recovery jogs +5x100m

10x 400m with 400m recovery

15x 200m with 200m recovery

Paces for a 30min 10k runner: 3:23-3:08 for 1k, 1:15-1:09 for 400m, 34-31 for 200m.

Paces for a 35min 10k runner: 3:53-3:38 for 1k, 1:26-1:20 for 400m, 38-34 for 200m.

Instead of recovery runs I do extra easy 400m or 200m repeats.

This looks very much like Verheul type training?

I would talk with your coach about the way your body/legs are feeling. If (s)he thinks it is fine and is gearing you toward state, then you are probably fine. Maybe your coach will back off some of the workload based on what you are saying.

Verheul? wrote:

1979 wrote:

For me, no hard workouts the week before a big meet.

The day before a meet is a rest day, or just warming up and strides.

Also, no long runs during track season, easy repeats instead:

6x1k with 800m recovery jogs +5x100m

10x 400m with 400m recovery

15x 200m with 200m recovery

Paces for a 30min 10k runner: 3:23-3:08 for 1k, 1:15-1:09 for 400m, 34-31 for 200m.

Paces for a 35min 10k runner: 3:53-3:38 for 1k, 1:26-1:20 for 400m, 38-34 for 200m.

Instead of recovery runs I do extra easy 400m or 200m repeats.

This looks very much like Verheul type training?

Exactly, his whole philosophy revolves around running economy and having fresh legs during race season.

1979 wrote:

Verheul? wrote:

This looks very much like Verheul type training?

Exactly, his whole philosophy revolves around running economy and having fresh legs during race season.

I thought as much! It's great stuff, I'm a big fan. The amount of accumulated volume at quicker paces with less overall volume is really interesting stuff and the benefits are great. I also very much agree with doing a few easy 200's to recover as opposed to plodding a 'recovery' run.

There's some good advice here, but I think there is a little danger in overthinking it. I've limped to the start half broken and had the race of my life; other times I was fresh & popping, confident & ready to roll and had my doors blown off. There's obviously a big mental factor with running and everyone is different but when I obsess too much before a race to get things perfect I'm doomed. When I just lace up the spikes, do whatever coach says and am prepared to hurt, things usually work out OK.

As always, I thank everyone for there comments and advice. I have been experiment with some of the suggestions and my legs have been getting better. I will be doinv a couple of easy days in a row and will take them a bit slower than what I normally do so hopefully this will be water under the bridge in a few days.

PAFan wrote:

Coach and fan from a small program on the East side, but spent my college years out on your side. Good luck at WPIALs, hope to see you at Ship (if my athlete and you both qualify).

Cool! Such a "small" world! Thank you and hopefully I will see you at Ship. Good luck to you and your athlete(s)! If we both end up at Ship, be sure to say hi!

Hill sprints once a week is great for putting a spring in the legs

Build up slowly ,walk back down

when I'm feeling unsnappy I'll immediate up my intake - much more food, water, etc. Esp protein but that's just because I'm a carnivore. I'll have more sugar and fat than usual. That means an ice cream fest.

I'll get to sleep at 10, put earplugs in, and turn off my alarm. Point is to up both the quality and quantity of sleep.

I'll then do some long runs in new places. No real goal other than making running feel new and different and adventurous again. The brain is your key running organ.

I'll probably not do any hard and fast running for 5 days...a 20 minute tempo is fine.

get some sun, some extra sleep, maybe some magnesium.

barefoot strides will help but don't go too hard.

believe in your coach, the work you've done this season,and stay hungry for the prize - district>state

some days your legs will feel terrible on race day so you have to just race hard not feeling perfect. this is really common and often the type of race where you PB because you have a different mindset. your legs will come around. good luck.

Trust your coach, sounds like they believe that you have the potential to peak late and have a great race at State. Your Monday workout is exactly what I like running before big races. You're pretty recovered for the 400 after the 2s, and then you get that feeling from the workout out of your legs Wednesday. I'd also suggest an ice bath, try it after your Friday workout, if you feel good the next day, do it again on Monday, if not, scrap it. Good luck!

If you're confident the work is done, then run slower (maybe much slower) on your easy days. You could also run a session at 80-90% instead of all out.

Have you ever heard of voodoo floss? It's essentially a rubber band that you wrap around your legs really tight and keep it on for up to 5 minutes or so while you use whatever muscle you have wrapped. To give a more professional description of what it does: "Basically, we are making positive subjective changes to our joints and soft tissues through compression + tension + movement. These changes will often increase joint mobility, decrease pain, and speed up recovery."

You can get 2 7' bands for $25 from rogue fitness. I use them on my calves especially after I run.

www.roguefitness.com/voodoo-floss-bands

Also, are you eating enough after you run? I remember after an xc meet in the fall we were only able to get burger king after racing(obviously not the best food for recovery) and the next morning we did a 15 mile long run. I felt like I was going to pass out for 10 miles of it. Eat some protein via protein bar or drink some chocolate milk within 30 minutes of running and I'd be willing to bet your legs feel better.

Yes, I am eating enough. I unfortunately made that mistake freshman year during XC and it cost me 13 lbs and my freshman year of running (no where close to my potential for that year). Since then, I have kept a very close watch on my nutrition, making sure I get more than enough for my workload.

Updated: Have taken the last 4 days easy (also have been icing my legs) and have been having the trainer get all of the knots out my legs/hips. I also got a pair of new shoes after I wore a hole through the sole of my other ones. My legs felt great today. Feel back to normal if not better. Looks like all the stuff I've been doing is working. Thanks again for all your help guys! I really appreciate it!