I hammered my long run and my legs still feel stale 4 days later

Training Advice/Discussion 5k/10k

12 years ago 06/09/2011 9:09am EDT

I'm a fairly mediocre (16:40) guy that has been running for two years. I felt really good on Sunday for my 12 mile long run (currently around 55 mpw)so I did the whole thing at 6:15 pace. I know this probably isn't too far off my marathon pace, but since I've largely focused on short distances and haven't been running very long, it killed my legs (standing up for 6-7 hours straight at work later that day probably didn't help either).

Anyways, today is Thursday, and my legs still feel pretty stale. I struggled through my normal easy runs Monday-Wednesday but decided to take today off in a chance to get back to 100% for my race Sunday. Is there anything else I can do to speed recovery?

12 years ago 06/09/2011 9:21am EDT

re: Tangled up in Blue

Keep taking it easy until saturday, and then do a moderate fartlek session or some strides.

Now you know that your endurance sucks somewhat, you have learned a valuable lesson, so that effort and the time it takes to recover won't be wasted.

12 years ago 06/09/2011 10:10am EDT

re: J.O.

Icing, stretching, foam roller, etc probably couldn't hurt either

12 years ago 06/09/2011 11:00am EDT

re: Tangled up in Blue

Don't hammer long runs. Especially with a race on the near horizon.

They don't generally make you faster.

It may be too late for your next race but you can control this in the future.

12 years ago 06/09/2011 11:31am EDT

re: Tangled up in Blue

For this weekend, your race probably won't be as fast as it could have been, i hope i am wrong though.

But my advice is to keep on running hard. I did not have any success in college until I was able to make my long run one of the fastest runs of the week. Normally I would average about 5:50-6:00 pace for a regular run, then on long runs I would average 5:45-5:55 pace, and it would not feel any harder.

Basically i figured out that my long run would AVERAGE a faster pace because my first couple miles would be slower (6:00's) and after i got warmed up i had no trouble hitting 5:40's consistantly every run...so in a long run if i had the same progression the overall average would drop.

You need to keep working so that, no matter the distance, your training pace is solid and feels rhythmic. establishing a rhythm while running will keep you on your pace longer with less effort.

12 years ago 06/09/2011 12:11pm EDT

re: keep doing it

also, i would add that for somethat that wants to go sub 16:30, which i assue is a goal for you, you sould be looking for this "rhythmic" pace to be around 6:30, so you should shoot for that.

12 years ago 06/09/2011 12:23pm EDT

re: Tangled up in Blue

If you are a 16:40 guy you shouldn't be that sore off of a long run that fast.

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I hammered my long run and my legs still feel stale 4 days later

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