Tomorrow (Sunday) I will do 30k — 15k at 5:30/k pace and 15k at marathon pace (4:15/k). I think that will be a nice workout as my last long run before the marathon (in 3 weeks). So because in last week's MP run my hamstrings got tired and a bit sore, today I went to a kinesio taping place and got my hamstrings taped. He also does massage, so I had a 30-minute massage. Now I did MP runs on Wednesday and Thursday, but not long ones, and rested on Friday. So today, walking around, my legs felt fine. Felt like I could go out and do a hard run. But when he was massaging me, he hit various sore spots — hips, upper hamstrings, and others. Which means, I believe, that those spots, well, my legs in general, are in fact tired and stressed and generally not recovered from previous runs.
Which in turn means, I think, that your legs are probably more stressed than you think they are, and probably need more recovery between hard workouts than you think they do.
When we're training fairly hard, we're walking a thin line between peak fitness and injury/breakdown. So, often we're closer to going over that line than we think. So...be careful. Give yourself recovery days and recovery weeks, even if you don't think you need them (get a massage to help you realize you do need them).
Fri: X-trng (wts, abs, arc trainer 10 mins, bike 20 mins)
Sat: 10k easy in 56:36 (30:07, 26:29)
That's good advice. If only Garmin could come up with something that told you when you were recovered!
ReplyDeleteHope the run goes well. I'll be interested to see what effect the kinseo and massage has on the run.