Forums >General Running>Dead Legs!
Hello Everyone!!I am in the middle of marathon training. I am getting to the 14,15 mile long runs on the weekend. I have notice over the past 2 weeks that my legs are dead! I haven’t changed anything i have been doing. Eating well. Getting plenty of rest and sleep. The temperature has increased as each day goes. Yesterday I was supposed to run 14 miles. I could hardly run 3. I felt like I ran 12 plus miles. Not sure what is going on. Do i need new running shoes. They have 275 miles on them. I have lost over 110 pounds since The shows. (Brooks). Any feedback you all have would be appreciated! Thanks!!
an amazing likeness
Hop onto your preferred search engine and lookup 'Symptoms of Overtraining'...see if what you're dealing with aligns. If you don't think that's relevant or likely, then try a few days off...completely off...and then log some slow (as in uncomfortably slow) workouts and see how you feel.
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SMART Approach
Yeah you are clearly over trained. Question?? Were you fit with a strong base of at least 25 miles per week and could easily run 10 miles before you started marathon training? Many newbie marathoners use "the training plan" to get fit and in shape and what happens is what you are going through. If not fit, a 24 week plan is the minimum for training. You need some time off from running.
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I probably wasn’t that fit. I ran about 12-15 mile a week for 4 weeks. And then started my program. How long do you suggest i stop running for. Today is 2 days without running.
I would probably not run 5 days. Walk often. Then take another week of very easy running without a long run. When not fit, those long runs take multiple days to recover from and stack on each other. So hard on body. 14 mile long runs means you should be running at least 25 miles during the week to support it. Are you? Do long run every other weekend? You may want to mix in walk breaks by choice on long runs. This is a better strategy when not having a strong base. When is your event?
My event is September 25th. I am running 20 miles during the week. Until recently that was a price of cake. As long with my long runs. Runs 10, 11, 12 were great. Felt good. Tired at the end. But not exhausted
Gotcha, then it is a combo of miles and running too hard. You have to get your legs back or you won't make it to the event.
Interval Junkie --Nobby
I believe the sages above have you on the right track: over-training is likely. However, if you don't think that's the case, I recommend a foam-roller. Rolling out your quads and calves does wonders. When not over-trained, but having had a few hard workouts that I hadn't quite recovered from, dead-legs were solved by 15mins with the foam-roller . . . as "fun" as that is. Making it part of your weekly routine is quite a benefit as well.
This is really unrelated to your issues, but 275miles over 110pounds suggests that your shoes are more than two years old. You might consider replacing them. The foam might be shot. If they're newer than 9mo old, then they certainly have more life in them.
2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do
Dehydration can cause this feeling as well which can happen more easily as it gets warmer. I recommend weighing yourself often as a means of monitoring your hydration status. Tracking your waking resting heart rate is another good way to monitor your recovery status.
Finally there is a difference between pushing it too hard and needing to cut back for a few days and overtraining syndrome. The latter can take months to recover from, some never recover (Geoff Roes for example).
At the risk of sounding like I am just being a contrarian...
In my experience, when ramping up the training load 'a significant amount', which is what I believe you are doing, I would frequently experience 'dead legs' on some runs. What I found was that I needed to go out much slower at first, and then just keep going until I hit somewhere around mile 6 or 7, then everything would loosen up and I'd feel okay.
It's also fine to cutback. It's perfectly okay to rest and let the muscles recover. However, I saw my best performances when I continued running... I would simply have to reduce the effort and 'run through it'.
YMMV
So, I did a thing.