What do you do when you hit a wall? I went for what should have been a short (30 min) run today, but 5 minutes, I just couldn't do it. My legs felt like rocks, it was as if there were no reserves to draw from. I did make myself walk the full 30 min, jogging a minute here and there.
How do you diagnose the cause? I know I didn't sleep well, but nothing else off. I have my first 10k this weekend, and I'm worried this will happen again. I'm sure it's psychological as much as physical, but I'm not sure what it is.
So there are several types of walls that runners commonly refer to:
1) Wall because of glycogen depletion or poor fueling. This occurs when you've used all of your energy storage. Our bodies are capable of storing a very large reserve so it's almost impossible (is impossible) for this to occur after 5 minutes, unless you just haven't eaten for days. If someone just eats normally, they likely won't meet this wall until at least mile 15-17 of a race and in general most don't meet this wall. If you're able to pick the pace up again at all then again this is likely not the problem. Thus, not the likely cause.
2) Wall because of lactate threshold. Lactate is a good marker for fatigue. Too much lactate means too much fatigue and thus it forces you to slow down. The lactate threshold is the point at which you accumulate fatigue faster than you can get rid of it. In general, unless you were running way beyond mile pace it is very difficult to induce the lactate threshold in 5 minutes time. This is the most common wall people hit. It isn't because of a lack of fueling. It has to do with training and appropriate race day pacing. Thus, not the likely cause.
3) The mental wall. SOOO many things can contribute to the mental wall that others have pointed out.
My best two guesses as to why your wall occurred.
1) You've recently dramatically increased/reduced your training load either through mileage or pace. Commonly when you're this close to a race people's training plans taper. The taper induces a period of time where you are no longer making physical gains that will assist you in performing better. Rather this period of time is focusing on allowing the body to recover from all of the training you just completed. It assists in allowing you to reach race day fresh. I have found on countless occasions that my "easy" days seem suddenly more difficult during the taper. Did I lose all of my fitness during this brief taper period? Should I push harder to ensure I can run the distance or the pace I desire? Nope. Just continue about the taper as designed. During this period of time your body is focused on recovery and isn't allocating all the necessary resources to make running "easy" still easy. Don't worry as it will be there on race day.
2) Fear/Negativity. Your first 10K is coming up. You might fear the distance, or fear the pace, or fear something about the race. In general it makes you worried/stressed out. This can alter your perception of effort. So what you would have considered an easy training run becomes really difficult. It's really important to learn how to push back on this fear/negativity because it can make a dramatic difference come race day. In all likelihood the race isn't going to go perfectly. And having tools in the toolbox of your mind on how you can best deal with these mental gymnastics will allow you to push through and lower that perception of effort.
So what if the "dead legs" happen again in training. Well, if it's close (dependent on the distance of the race) to race day, then I'd suggest to do what you did. Just take it easier, don't worry about it, and move on. Everyone has these types of runs. If it's far away from race day, endure. Try to push the wall away and learn to overcome. Teach your self positive thought, or motivational tactics to learn how to overcome that feeling. Such that when it occurs on race day you've learned you are stronger physically then you thought. Just be cognizant that you might need some extra rest/recovery after pushing through a "dead leg" run because of the extra exertion physically you might have done.
Now if these types of "dead leg" runs start to happen consecutively on back to back training runs, then you need to reevaluate your training plan. This could be a sign that you're doing too much (either in distance, duration, or pace).
This is an excellent question. I've had some days like that, and in my case came up with fatigue as the issue... Meaning muscle fatigue that accumulated over a number of runs. I had a run just like that today. I walked for a mile until it became bearable and then picked back up for the last mile of my workout. I think the bigger question is, "how does this feeling of dead, heavy legs factor into perception of effort?" I'd like to hear some input from the more experienced runners.
Depends. Perception of effort can be manipulated by a multitude of different factors. I would believe intuitively that if you have a feeling of "dead, heavy legs" then it's going to make the run seem harder (higher perception of effort). Commonly, I run Friday night and Saturday morning. Both are "easy" runs. Yet, the Saturday run "feels" harder because I've typically had less rest/recovery between these runs then I typically do. The whole point of cumulative fatigue training is to teach your body physically and mentally that it's capable of much more than you believe.
Your "dead leg" run you had yesterday is almost assuredly because you have a half marathon this weekend. You're dramatically reducing your training load (pace/duration) and allowing the body to recover. Thus, your body is focused on that and not on the super easy run. Thus, you perceive the run to be harder than it is because physically your body isn't giving you all the tools to do it easily.
It's a trap. Some people believe they should push through this run. Or the next day they should pick up the pace just to ensure they can run the pace they want for their upcoming race. Don't do that. Just take it easy and save it for race day. You're too close to race day that any physical gains likely won't occur prior to race day and all you will do is induce a higher level of fatigue than necessary going into the race.
QOTD: So its that time of year, when we are starting our "official" training for our big race of the season. Some of yall may already be in full training mode for a fall race and could provide even better answers. For those of us with a late December / early January race we are somewhere around 18-20 weeks to go. Which training plan are you going to follow for this training cycle? How do you feel about your base miles leading up to the training program?
I'm almost to the end of my training
woohoo
! I've been at or above 60 miles (or 9 hrs of running) for the last 14 weeks. This is my peak week at 71 miles and 10 hrs 4 min spent running. My fall marathon is on October 2nd and I've been training since January for it. This is my "A" race and everything all year has been building towards it. Every day, every meal, everything with the sole focus of nailing race day to get one step closer to the ultimate goal of a sub-3 hr marathon (and BQ). Although admittedly, I'm completely comfortable no matter the race day results because one day doesn't make or break all of the training I've been doing (if it's 100 degrees nothing I can do about it except do my best on that day). I built my own training plan using a combination of philosophies from different training plans, experienced runners, and scientific papers. I was nervous when I made it because I wasn't quite sure I'd be able to handle it, but since I'm almost done with it I now feel even more strongly that it works and works well. It was 6 days a week and almost 90 minutes of running every day, with Thursdays peaking at 2 hours and Sundays peaking at 2.5 hours. At this point, my marathon PR is a 3:28 (run in May 2016). Based on a few workouts I've put in recently I
could (which doesn't mean I will or will try to) run a 3:09. Which means I've seen a ~10% improvement in fitness in only 5 months (or ~5% if you conclude like I did that I could have run a 3:18 in May). If it works out that way, then I'd say my plan works and works well. After the October marathon will be Dopey training. Again I'll custom build it, but it's too early to do so until I see how the October race goes.
