Tip: Are Your Legs Ready?
August 03, 2009
Note: The training tips for the next several weeks will focus on the simple fact that as you gain fitness, you'll need to make some minor tweaks to your training.
Your heart and lungs may say yes, but are your legs ready?
Sunday morning I had the pleasure of running on a dirt road outside of Rollinsville, Colorad...just under the Continental Divide at 9,000 ft. I ran my modest eight mile "long run" mostly by myself, starting in the middle of the road and simply running out 4 miles and back 4 miles. "Rollinesville," as the run is called, gradually gains elevation for 8 miles, until the road ends at a railroad tunnel—which is somewhat surreal because you come to a rest at the base of 12,000 ft. peaks. At this point, however, THE ENTIRE run is net downhill and this is the problem; if you're fit and if you're running with others (there were a couple dozen runners on the road and I was able to run with them for a couple of miles), it's easy to push a bit and hold on, even when you're running controlled enough to talk.
So what's the problem? The problem is that if you're like me—a few pounds over your race weight, only a couple months into regular training and having recently experienced a "little thing in my leg/hip/shin/foot"—then you need to be extremely careful not to run too hard for the simple reason that your tendons, ligaments, muscles and bones may not be ready for it. Is this an easy choice? No. I wanted to continue running with the guys—some of whom I'd not seen in a year and enjoyed chatting with—but I let them go and ran the last two miles alone, watching the gap between us grow just a bit with each passing minute.
My friend/mentor Mike Smith, a collegiate distance coach, once told me, "Metabolic changes occur faster than structural changes," meaning that you can gain aerobic fitness faster than your tendons, ligaments, muscles and bones can adapt to handle the stress of training. If you're patient then your structural body will catch up with your hard-won aerobic fitness and you will soon be able to train as hard as you want. (Bonus tip: you can expedite this process with our General Strength videos. See below for link.)
*Coach Jay’s advice is provided as general training information. Use at your own risk. Always consult with your own heath care provider for questions relating to your specific training and nutrition.
Interested in Coach Jay's General Strength videos? Click here to check them out.
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