Dreams to Reality wrote:
Hey LRC. I need some encouragement.
I'm getting ready for the Trials coming up, and my training block has gone extremely well to this point. I've had the highest sustained mileage in my life for 12 weeks and have hit every workout with perfect splits, including one where I ran 15 miles at marathon pace last weekend. Things were going great until Monday, when my legs suddenly felt super heavy. I figured I was just still really tired from my workout, but it hasn't gotten better and really gotten a little worse with just easy mileage since then. This morning I slept in instead of running because my legs felt so terrible.
What do I do? I have two weeks to get this better. I know I'm in great shape, but hoping I didn't leave my race in training!
You probably overreached with the 15 mile marathon pace work or with the "easy" runs following that workout. Legs feel dead because they certainly are dead now due the fact that FT fibers are cooked. It will take some time to recover from this but you need to avoid utilizing FT fibers for some time to let them recover and adapt fully. I suggest doing super easy jogging (so slow that it recruits only ST fibers till 40 min per run no longer) and supplementing magnesium.
Why would anyone want to run 15 miles at M pace out of race at all?