LR#2 - Week 3 of 5K Plan, a whole week of leg soreness

I started the week sore from the 8.2 mile race a week ago Sunday. Between hill sprints (Wednesday), a leg strength workout (Thursday), and a speed workout (Saturday), my legs felt sore the whole week. I don't remember ever feeling sore the whole week since I've started running. I wonder if it is safe to run hill sprints and speed workouts on sore legs. Am I going to make real strength gains or wind up with an overuse injury? I feel strong, other than the soreness. And I've had no aches and no pains since coming back from my bruised foot bone in late April . . .

Another new item this week. I had a sports massage. My goal is to make gains in flexibility that I have not been able to achieve myself. I have been doing daily yoga for at least 30 minutes for the last 6 months approximately. And there are some areas that I am just not able to loosen up enough--piriformis and calves, especially. A few hours after the massage, I definitely felt the urge to stretch, and when I did, I was able to stretch deeper than normal. And I was still feeling the effects the next day during yoga class. Jury is still out, but I think there is some merit to massage. After a hard week of training, my calves have not turned back to the rocks they normally are.

This week's proprioceptive cue from Matt Fitzergald's Brain Training For Runners was Axle Between the Knees:  Imagine an axle between your knees that pushes them out just a little bid wider than your normal stride. This will help you to engage your hip flexors and to stop any inward rotation of the thighs. I did my warmup and recovery miles thinking about this cue and then did my working miles without the wider stance. But feeling the hip flexors engaged during warmups helped me to remember to engage them during my working sets.

Monday (6/25): 4 mile recovery run in Balboa Park at 8:47 average pace; massage.

Tuesday (6/26): Yoga.

Wednesday (6/27): 4 miles in Balboa Park at base pace, plus 5 x 16-second hill sprints at maximum effort; core strength training.

Thursday (6/28): 2 miles on the treadmill at 10:00 average pace; legs strength workout.

Friday (6/29): 4 miles at 8:17 in Balboa Park; upper body strength workout.

Saturday (6/30): Fartlek run along Solana Beach Rail Trail, 5.83 miles with 10 x 30-second intervals at about 5:45 pace.

Sunday (7/1): Tempo run from Solana Beach to Cardiff Kook, 5.6 miles with 1 mile warmup and 4.6 miles at 7:15 pace.

Underside of the Cabrillo Bridge in Balboa Park . . . about to begin a hill sprint!

LR#2
Kristen