Legs fall apart on easy runs

overtraining homie. thats my best guess

Why don't you just quit at 9 miles?

When I was running my best, I always seemed to be a little ambitious in my planning and had to bail without doing the whole workout at times. Pushing when you are tired won't do any good.

If you are feeling good right after the run, I think the pace of the run is too fast rather than you being overtrained.

If this is who I think it is, I think you need to go back to your alma mater, party for the weekend and try again on Sunday in the balmy 15 degree predicted high!

Keep you legs together - like your momma shudda done

Billy Goat wrote:

. . . I think the pace of the run is too fast rather than you being overtrained.

I concur.

OP, you've trained to run a certain pace comfortably and are trying to cram your mileage into that pace. That's not the right way to go about it. Slow down.

I started a thread about this the other day. I noticed it in the last 5k of a half marathon in September. I took 2 weeks off thinking it was over training. I ran about 90 miles last week and then on Saturday it hit me again! I could barely finish my easy run on Monday.

It is not the paces because I hit different paces during the week. It is like my muscles refuse to respond. I thought it may have something to do with alcohol or diet so I am not drinking to see if it goes away. Any body out there know what this is?

It means youre training hard. It's a good thing. Roll with the punches.

Actually, I can't train hard. I try to get my heart rate up but I can't because my legs can't push. I want to train hard right now!

Anyone else know what this is?

Drop your recovery pace on easy days for a couple of weeks by 1.5-2 minutes. Most people overlook recovery significantly.

Drop your recovery pace on easy days for a couple of weeks by 1.5-2 minutes. Most people overlook recovery significantly.

Don't listen to these fools about the easy running. Take a little down time to get over overtraining. Then start doing very low mileage 20 or 30 minute runs feeling really fresh but run on the quicker side of easy pace. Finish every run like you can keep going. Feel good. You'll get some pop in your legs and you'll be able to build from there. I'd also recommend doing short hill sprints up to 10 seconds with walk down recovery like Brad Hudson recommends in his book. That'll help your neuromuscular strength.

leggs wrote:

Actually, I can't train hard. I try to get my heart rate up but I can't because my legs can't push. I want to train hard right now!

Anyone else know what this is?

Sounds like overtraining. Even though you took two weeks off, it may not have been enough, and then throwing in a 90M week straight back would put you right back where you were. At least, that's my opinion.

I would think that to combat overtraining you would be better off not taking off completely, but just doing, say, 30 minute easy runs for a few weeks. But, that's just my intuition and it may be completely wrong.

Is there snow now where you are running? Running in the snow destroys the hips of many runners, you might just have to get used to slipping around in it.

http://runningcoach.weebly.com

Nope, no snow here yet. We might get a couple inches this weekend, so that won't help any...

I wouldn't think it's overtraining because i've been accustomed to 7 minute pace on most of/all runs for the last several years. I even took this year almost completely off from racing and just done mileage with a couple days off here and there.

Some days at the end of a run it feels like my hips are out of balance and lose all coordination to the point of tripping over my own feet. It just seems weird that i feel fine during a run and then suddenly fall apart with no real explanation (no significant change in pace, heartrate,etc.).

Check out the Myrtyl hip routine that Jay Johnson came up with. It strengthens all the hip muscles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GLrKr54yA0

http://runningcoach.weebly.com

This sounds like what I have experienced for the past 4 years. I even took the better part of 2 1/2 years off and still deal with it from time to time. Is it a tight feeling of fatigue in your hip flexors? And somewhat similar to the feeling you get when you're sprinting and you just can't lift anymore, even though you're running at a comfortable pace? This has been my experience, and unfortunately, I don't know what the cause is still. I figure it has to be something neurological going on, but I'm not sure. The weird thing is, it usually happens at a moderate pace and not at race pace or jogging. Also, loose dirt/gravel tends to trigger it the quickest, with concrete and asphalt triggering it next.

The solution, if you want to call it one, that I have come up with is to run my recovery runs on routes where there is plenty of grass and the possibility of getting stuck at a light. I have no problems at all on grass and even a short 10 second break at a light alleviates the problem immediately. I have also found that trying to force your way through it seems to do more harm than good, and my legs will feel fatigued for a couple days after the fact. It can also cause you to create even more imbalances in your muscles. And finally, I also tend to run my recovery runs real easy now. That's probably a good thing anyways, but it seems to help limit the onset of random tightness/fatigue.

What you are describing with your hips at the end of the runs may be your psoas muscles shutting down and going into spasms. This will make you feel like you can hardly lift your leg to take the next stride.

Besides a little rest, do the sink stretch a few times a day so the psoas gets stretched out.

Go to the bottom of the page

http://www.julstro.com/what_happens_exactly.html

my girlfriend's legs fall apart after 3 large glasses of wine