Heavy Legs When Running? It Might Not Be Your Running

Your pace is slower than usual. Your legs feel like they weigh twice as much. Even an easy run feels harder than it should.

If you've been running for years, you probably know the difference between normal fatigue and a run where something isn't quite right.

Heavy legs are common – but they're also useful information.

It's not always a fitness problem

The obvious assumption is that your legs are simply tired from running.

Sometimes they are (my definately are as I write this blog!)

But heavy legs can be the result of too much training, too little recovery, insufficient fuelling, poor sleep or a sudden increase in mileage or intensity.

For Masters athletes, there's another factor worth considering:

Your running isn't the only training stress your body is dealing with

• Work. Family. Travel. Poor sleep. Strength training. Life stress.

• A hard session yesterday. A long run at the weekend.

Stress compunds - your body doesn't have a separate recovery account for each of them.

Are you actually recovering from your training?

One of the easiest mistakes to make is treating every run as an opportunity to train harder.

Your easy run becomes moderately hard.Your strength session becomes another conditioning workout.Your long run gets longer because you feel you should.Then you wonder why your legs don't feel fresh.

For experienced runners, more training isn't automatically better training.

Sometimes the most productive change is to reduce the intensity of an easy session, move a hard session, or take an additional recovery day.

Don't overlook fuelling

• Heavy legs can also be a fuelling problem.

• Carbohydrate is an important fuel source for running, particularly as duration and intensity increase.

• If you're consistently under-fuelling your training, you may notice declining performance, poor recovery and that familiar feeling of running on empty.

That doesn't mean you need to eat more indiscriminately.

It means matching your fuel intake to the work you're asking your body to do.

Strength matters

• Running is repetitive. Every stride requires your muscles to absorb force, stabilise your body and produce force again.

• Strength training can help build the capacity to handle that repeated load, particularly through the hips, thighs and lower legs.

• For Masters runners, I don't see strength training as something you add to your running programme if you've got time.

Strength is a key part of the performance programme.

The aim isn't to become a better weightlifter.

It's to have enough strength and power to keep producing the running performance you want – particularly as training gets harder and race distances get longer.

So what should you do when your legs feel heavy?

Before automatically adding another recovery run, ask:

• Have I increased my mileage or intensity recently?

• Have I actually kept my easy runs easy?

• Am I eating enough to support the training I'm doing?

• How has my sleep been?

• What other physical and mental stress am I carrying?

• Is my strength programme supporting my running – or simply adding more fatigue?

The answer might be more training.

It might be better fuelling.

Or it might be that you need to train less today so you can train better later in the week.

That's the difference between following a training plan and actually coaching an athlete.

Train for the athlete you are now

Masters athletes don't need to stop chasing PBs, tackling ultras or taking on big challenges (I certainly haven't)

But training needs to account for the whole picture – training load, recovery, strength, fuelling, sleep, life and the demands of your event.

That's what I focus on with my Masters Athlete Performance coaching.

I specialise in working with 40+ runners and endurance athletes of any ability who still have serious goals – from 1st time to faster marathons and ultras to challenging events they've never attempted before – but want a training approach that is built around their individual needs rather than simply adding more miles.

If you're training hard but not recovering well, or you're wondering what is holding your performance back, let's look at the whole picture.

Want to find out more how my Masters Athlete Performance coaching can help you smash your goals or have specific questions then contact me to arrange a chat