Embrace the Dead Legs

 Something I intuitively realized about running or accidentally got right for a long time was that there are lots of benefits to be found in running when your legs and body are very tired. I did this for years and saw a lot of improvement and running was so new and there were so many boundaries to break and milestones to reach that I never questioned very much how I felt. Yeah I had bad runs and days when I felt bad but generally I would try pretty hard and I would never think of running less than my regular amount of mileage or skipping a workout if I was scheduled to do a workout.

Then around 30 or 29 or so I started rock climbing and I felt like my running had stalled out a little and I shifted to the idea that I could maximize my time by doing more auxiliary activities and training, especially if my legs didn't feel good. I would only run hard and a lot if my legs were feeling good. Otherwise I would take my easy days very easy and focus on climbing or stretching or mobility or weight lifting. My take away from those months is that I actually had it right the first time. Getting on Strava made me appreciate running mileage and using my training to achieve something and so I started trying hard again even when my legs felt bad. I cut out most of that auxiliary training and now I can say with some confidence that I'm in much better shape and that was a good move. 

I had talked myself into believing that my body had gotten so used to running mileage that I didn't need to do anymore and that I couldn't recover as fast as I used to so I had to give my body less miles and maximize my hard days instead. I think that can be sound advice but I've noticed much better results from slogging out 10 milers and doing workouts every other day even if I don't feel fully recovered. In fact, I think grinding out runs when I don't feel good is one of my biggest strengths as a runner. The more I do it the better I feel and the more confidence I gain in my fitness. I might have been depriving myself of something I'm actually very good at. So, here's to trying hard and running on dead legs.