I’m not sure how I did it, but my legs are definitely pretty thrashed. I had just about zero oomph left at the end of my long run Saturday. Now I’ve done enough of these (# 201!) to know they’re supposed to be tired by the time I get to the end. They were a little worse than normal though. It was almost like someone had dropped a pound of sand in each of my shoes when I wasn’t paying attention.
[checking. . .]
This did not happen so after some consideration, I’ve reached a pair of likely contributors:
- Temperature (specifically the humidity).
- I’ve been overdoing my training.
While the temperature wasn’t that warm (mid-60s), the humidity was through the roof. The first couple hot days of the year always hit me harder than I think they should. Sixty degrees isn’t very hot unless, but it’s about 20 degrees warmer than I’ve been running. Add in the humidity and it just forced by body to work harder to cool itself than I’m currently used to. Which naturally leads to a “harder” workout.
The second point above is probably the bigger contributor though. While I haven’t been going that hard in training, my long run brought me to 57 miles for the week. Forty to fifty miles is my normal training volume. Getting 5-10 miles above this isn’t really that big of a deal. Unless.
Unless I never fully recovered from Greenbrier. Now we’re probably getting closer to the truth. I didn’t really let my legs get back to fresh after that race if I’m being perfectly honest with myself. They never truly felt 100%. Good enough to go knock out 5-7 milers without any problems. Decent, but not great.
Going into what could be my longest run ever, I think I want them feeling great. So I’m embarking on one of my more aggressive tapers of the past couple years. Starting two weeks out, I’m taking a rest day at least every other day. I’m also easing up a bit on my effort during my runs (not that that’s been high mind you). Fresh over fitness is my new motto. Not that I honestly expect to lose much fitness over a 2 week period where I’ll still be logging 20 mpw.
I can use the extra time to plan my race strategies. Well, that and imagine all the ways my race can go horribly awry. Hopefully more of the former and less of the latter.