Dear Innovative Results,
I need your advice…I am increasing in my mileage like a crazy woman, but I feel good about it and I am doing great…except one thing…my long run today was 20 miles =) in 3 hrs, it was a great run except my legs were giving up on me…I had enough energy to keep going, but once I slowed down it was like, “HOLY CRAP! This freakin hurts!” Though the pain was in my quads and hip flexors..Is there anything I can do in my training to strengthen my legs…I feel like I am doing great runs throughout the week…maybe more sprints? Or try to incorporate more strength training?…if that is the case, then what can I do? I appreciate your help! Oh and the count down begins…4 WEEKS til the big day…26.2!
P.S. I hope you are doing great!
5 TIPS
1. Mental Ability.
Your mental ability to continue when it is painful, will come from deep inside-“hello, meet your heart (some have it some don’t). The success of finishing what you’ve started may be increased through visualization. Visualize the race and most importantly, you crossing the finish line. Keep watching yourself cross the finish line in a happy, winning state of mind.
2. Energy.
There are three issues here: energy death, energy uptake, and energy usage. Energy death is your physical limit, this can be pushed and prodded many ways, my suggestion, slow and steadily increase by steadily increasing physical limits. What I do to train the thresholds of the physical is by pushing past the physical using the mental and spiritual. Doing a performance related exercise until exhaustion and then eeking out still more under the most excellent supervision and motivation! The energy uptake is trained through progressive overload, which is much the same as the above two techniques. (Meditation, visualization, and prayer has been proven to work as well) The energy usage is key: insure your body has the fuel it needs as it needs it. Eat right, eat often and don’t slip on the refuel, even during training.
You should now have a plethora of Type 1 muscle fibers. These red, oxygen fueled, muscle fibers are smaller and are not as easily fatigued while working out for longer periods of time, because they are aerobic-fueled with oxygen and recover much quicker. My suggestion would be to spend less time in the gym and more time on the road to create less use of your anaerobic muscle fibers and more use or your aerobic muscle fibers. You may only spend a couple of sessions in the gym to work speed, technique, and development, performing huge on race day. The closer to race day the more you want to train for a race not a strongman/woman contest (make sense?).
4. Daily Muscle Massage. Recovery.
Use a foam roller, the stick and/or massage to break up adhesions, increase blood flow, and improve range of motion in muscle tissue. These techniques will help you perform better, reduce muscular imbalances, increase nerve response time, and help prepare your body for a hard workout or race. You can use this before any event to “wake-up” your muscles and increase range of motion over time. The foam roller offers an effective, inexpensive, and convenient way to both reduce adhesion and scar tissue accumulation.
5. How to Handle Everyday Stress.
Our daily lives at the office and in front of the computer wreak havoc on our bodies. Add hours of running, biking, swimming–most people develop tightness, weaknesses, and poor posture in certain areas. Stretching your calves, hip flexors, glutes, hamstrings, lower back, chest, and shoulders after exercise and throughout the day can help increase power, decrease pain, and reduce the incidents of injury over time. I’d recommend using the foam roller and a dynamic warm-up pre-exercise and static stretching post exercise.
So, there you have it. 5 simple and effective ways to turn your next endurance race into an enjoyable and successful experience!
Become a fan on Facebook, and schedule a free session today to discuss your fitness goals with a member of our training team.
Gaining muscles on any part of your body requires a lot of hard work. You have to endure lots of pain in every single day if you want to achieve a body builder’s body. It may be hard at first, but if you keep your determination high enough you’ll be able to attain your goals in life.