dead weight

lutherangirlthree

New runner on treadmill. Been running since August of last year. I only run every other day. Some of those days that I run my legs feel like I added 100 lb weight to each leg. What is that? Bad eating? Not enough water. It just kills my motivation!

Rayman79

Lack of recovery. You're probably trying to do too much or exercise too frequently - likely that your cardiovascular fitness is good enough for you to keep running past what your legs can handle.

Heavy legs during a training session is often a sign of lactic acid build up, but in this case (given you run every other day) I think it is more likely microtears in the muscles (normal muscle damage and repair).

My suggestion would be to find some alternatives to running if they are getting too sore. Perhaps some weight training, circuits, cycling, cross-trainer, or even something like boxing that is less hard on the legs - and alternating your running sessions with these other activities.

AnvilHead

I've never been able to correlate it to any specific thing - just seems like you have those days once in a while. Not every workout will be a great workout. Some days I feel like I'm floating on air and never want to stop running, other days it feels like I'm slogging uphill in mud wearing concrete boots. I just embrace the suck and push through it.

TavistockToad

Lack of sleep, bad fueling, just one of those things...

lutherangirlthree

Thank you for your advice!! Very helpful!!