Fluid and Smooth to Stiff

Picture of a bullet train signifying fluid and smooth movement and of a stainless steel ruler indicating stiffness.

It’s been a month since I reduced my weekly mileage and started working on glute activation exercises to combat a quad strain. On Friday, it felt like I had finally made some progress. On Sunday, I thought I had gone backward. I am not sure what to make of it.

My Friday run was my scheduled long run for the week. My goal was to run 10K. To my amazement, the run felt mechanically smooth. My heart rate hovered right below the Z2 threshold into Z3. As such, the run felt smooth since I did not need to slow down to get my heart rate back to Z2. The overall pace was slower than my last training block (which is okay and expected), and everything felt good. I was a bullet train floating over the rails.

I originally scheduled a four-mile recovery run for Sunday; however, when Sunday rolled around, I forgot and thought I was scheduled for a 5K recovery run. After completing my glute activation workout without incident, I started my recovery run, and my right quad was extremely stiff. It felt fine after Friday’s run and all day Saturday and in the morning leading up to my Sunday run. The stiffness did not go away until I was 2.44 miles into the run. The stiffness kept me slow and in my Z1 heart rate zone. I was stiffer than a metal ruler.

I can’t figure out what to do for my quad. I have cut back the weekly mileage. I’m running every other day. I have added strength exercises via the glute activation routine. On some runs, I feel stiffness when I start running that goes away somewhere after the first half mile and before the two-and-a-half mile mark.

What suggestions do you have for me? Please let me know in the comments below.

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