The most common symptoms behind heavy legs include overtraining, and to increase your volume too quickly, inadequate nutrition, insufficient sleep, and weak leg muscles, leading to fatigue during workouts.
If you are struggling with heavy legs while running, discover the common causes and solutions to keep your stride light and strong.
Even long-distance runners can struggle with this issue, sometimes noticing fatigue during what should be an easy run.
WHY DO LEGS FEEL HEAVY WHEN RUNNING?
1. Muscle Fatigue
Beginners often complain that their legs feel heavy while running simply because they are experiencing muscle fatigue.
Long-distance running requires repetitively lifting our legs, using our quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves to support our body weight when we land.
If we increase our training volume, running speed, or workout intensity or start doing a lot of hill training or trail running, we may experience tired legs.
It is important to build up gradually and incorporate strength training exercises to build muscle and increase strength in our glutes, hip flexors, quads, calves, abductors, hamstrings, and core muscles.
Strength training exercises such as squats, lunges, step-ups, calf raises, split squats, hip thrusts, glute bridges, and side steps are great to build up strength to hopefully prevent muscle fatigue and reduce our risk of injury from running.
2. Overtraining
For runners who have suddenly taken on a more aggressive training plan, overtraining is generally the most common reason for heavy legs.
Overtraining causes muscle fatigue because our body is not getting enough and good recovery between workouts.
This can result in central fatigue, and changes in glutathione, glycogen, and hormones required for optimal athletic performance and recovery.
Overtraining can happen if we are doing too much volume or kilometres and/or too much intensity and speed work relative to the number of rest days or how much recovery we are taking.
It is also common to see runners experience signs of overtraining if they are running their easy runs or recovery runs too hard.
If we are not getting enough sleep, fueling properly, particularly in terms of getting enough carbs in our post-run meal or snack and enough calories overall, and/or experiencing external stress or added physical activity outside running, we increase our risk of overtraining.
3. Nutritional Deficiencies
A poor diet or nutritional deficiencies can cause poor recovery after workouts.
It is important to not only take in enough calories to support our training, but also get enough carbohydrates, protein, and micronutrients such as iron and B vitamins.
We should be trying to follow a balanced diet that provides enough carbs, especially before and after our running workouts to fuel our muscles and replenish glycogen stores.
Healthy carbohydrates are a key source of energy, not only for our actual running workouts but also for supporting our overall energy needs and recovering from all of the training that we do.
Good sources of carbohydrates for distance runners include whole grains, legumes, sweet potatoes, and other starchy vegetables, fruits, and vegetables.
The recommendation to refuel glycogen storage after long workouts is to consume 0.6–1.0 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of weight within 30 minutes and again every 2 hours for the next 4–6 hours.
Recommendations For The Amount Of Carbohydrate For Runners And Endurance Athletes Need
5-7 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight per day for runners training at a moderate level, which is considered less than one hour of running most days per week at a moderate or low intensity.
7 to 10 grams of carbs per kilogram of body weight per day for runners who are training at a moderate to high-level, considered to be 1 to 3 hours of moderate, to high-intensity exercise per day.
10 to 12 or more grams of carbohydrates per kilogram per day for runners who are training at a very intense level such as 4 to 5 hours of moderate to high-intensity running per day.
4. Low Iron Levels
Iron deficiency anemia or low iron levels are common causes of tired legs while running.
Iron is important for runners because it is part of the hemoglobin molecule in red blood cells. Hemoglobin is a protein that carries the oxygen in our blood.
Iron is also part of the myoglobin molecule, which is a protein found in muscles that plays the crucial role of extracting oxygen from the hemoglobin molecules once it is delivered to the muscle.
Iron deficiency limits the ability of the body to transport oxygen to our muscles when we’re running and to use the oxygen.
Finally, iron also assists in the energy in our muscles that convert carbohydrates and fats into ATP, or usable cellular energy.
Consider getting your iron levels checked and incorporate iron-rich foods into your diet such as red meat, liver and organ meats, dark meat poultry, spinach, quinoa, oats, apricots, and lentils.
5. Lack of Sleep
It should come as no surprise that not getting enough sleep per night can affect our recovery and make us feel tired, sluggish, and like we are dragging heavy legs while running. adults need at least 7-9 hours of sleep per night. The needs of athletes are usually somewhat higher according to our body and health.
6. Dehydration
Dehydration can lead to overall fatigue and heavy legs because decreased stroke volume decreases blood flow.
Our muscles need adequate blood flow to receive oxygen to support energy production and muscle contractions for running.
Hydrating before, during, and after running and working on our hydration throughout the day is the best way to prevent dehydration fatigue.
We also need electrolytes in our hydration beverages, particularly if we are sweating a lot, doing a long run, or running in the morning on an empty stomach.
7. Not Following a Proper Training Plan
If we are not following a training plan, we might not be taking an adequate number of rest days, which can put you at risk for overtraining.
Or, we might be following a training plan that is too advanced or aggressive for our current fitness level.
We also want to make sure we warm up and cool down before and after our workouts.
A warm-up with easy running and dynamic stretches can increase circulation and range of motion, and a cool-down can potentially decrease post-run muscle soreness.
8. Wearing the Wrong Running Shoes
It is possible that wearing the wrong shoes can cause fatigued legs.
If our running shoes are too big or too clunky, such as if we are wearing maximalist running shoes, or our running shoes are compromising our ability to use proper running form, it will decrease our running economy.
This will make running harder, making us feel like we are dragging your legs.
9. Poor Running Form
Poor running form decreases running economy.
This means that we will be working harder and increasing our heart rate without maximizing the efficiency of our running speed and energy production from a metabolic standpoint.
If we are shuffling or dragging our feet instead of lifting our legs through the swing phase and using a full range of motion, we will be wasting energy and impeding our running performance.
Similarly, if we are overstriding, the risk of injury increases because we are applying a braking force towards our forward momentum and increasing impact stresses on your lower body.
How Can You Prevent Heavy Legs When Running?
Top ways to prevent tired legs while running:
Strength training with exercises such as squats, lunges, and step-ups to build muscle.
Taking adequate rest days to prevent muscle fatigue and overtraining, decrease the risk of injury, and to facilitate recovery.
Improving your hydration strategy and ensuring you are getting enough electrolytes.
Improving post-run fueling with enough carbs to replenish glycogen stores.
Following a training plan that is appropriate for your fitness level and uses a gradual build up in volume and intensity.
Warming up and cooling down.
Getting enough sleep, aiming for a minimum of 7-9 hours per night.
Getting a running gait analysis to ensure you are using proper running form.
Focus On Supporting Your Good And Comfortable Legs, And Good Strength Muscles To Avoid Heavy Legs, And Run Nice Comfortable Runs Without Heavy Legs!
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