Running legs letting me down...

jcwaller900

Hey there EN,

I am new to the team and hoping to gain some insights from your experience. 

My quads consistently quit on my somewhere between 8-13 miles into an IM marathon.  I have not had the problem in training regardless of distance run.  I recently ran a 50 miler and the same thing happened about 30 miles into the run. 

It is not a cramping problem, but rather my quads hurt tremendously and just stop firing. 

Any suggestions or insights would be appreciated!



Justin

GMAN 19030

Are you running too fast?

Coach Rich

What was your IM run training like leading up to your last race? What was your last race? 

How did you pace / what was your pacing plan for the bike?

How did you pace the first 6-8 miles of the run?

See our IM execution How-To doc here.

Al Truscott

Of course, EN is all about a training and racing strategy to enable us to complete an IM or HIM run without significatly slowing down.

But, the plan does NOT enable us to do those long training or racing runs without our quads starting to hurt. Case in point: me. Over the past 16 years, I have been doing long distance runs and races with some success -eg just finished Boston marathon for the third time. I have NEVER done a run in training or a race longer than 11 miles when my quads didnt start to hurt so bad I felt like I wanted to quit. And I' m pretty good at controlling my pace, especially in races. I don't know if that pain is normal, but I suspect it is. It's what we do AFTER that pain starts that defines our result. I've learned two things. Even though I dont like it, I can keep running well after that feeling starts. And, with proper training, I can learn the best pace to hold from the start so I dont slow down after 11 miles. Gaining that knowledge and ability is what EN is all about.

Start with Coach R's homework assignment, and keep asking questions.

jcwaller900

Thanks for your help gang.

Bob - Running too fast is certainly a possibility. I am learning about the EN methods of pacing, so perhaps that might help.

Coach Rich - I have some research to do for you and I will get back to you.

Al - Thank you for your insights. IM wasn't meant to be easy. I want to do everything I can to perform at my best. If the pain is natural, I will take it. If there is something I can do to perform better, I want to work on it. Thanks again!

Justin

Peter Noyes

Another variable could be terrain. Are you mostly training on flat courses, and then find yourself in a hilly race?

Swanie

Since this only happens in IM run and not in a stand alone marathon and you made it 30 miles before it happened on an ultra. I would be looking at pacing and nutrition on the bike. There is no such thing as a "great bike followed up by a death march on the run" you inevitably pace the bike too hard. 

Mark Maurer

I had the same thing happen to me at IMCDA a couple of years ago and it was due to the pacing on the bike. Since then over gotten a power meter and that has really helped with bike pacing. Having said that, my quads usually hurt at some part of the run no matter how well I paced the bike, it's just the nature of the beast.

jcwaller900

Thanks for your insights, gang. Sounds like the general consensus is bike pacing is the likely culprit. I have trained with power for years and will go back and revisit some of my IM files to see if I can draw some correlations.

Thanks again!
Justin