Kerry warned me about this.
And apparently I forget sometimes that I am 39 (40 this July).
I severely overtrained my legs in March in my quest for our team yardage record. He told me that I might not recover for our Pac Champs (I didn't), and I might not even recover for Nats (obviously I didn't). I was ok, not great, for 50s and 100s. But anything over a 100 and I was toast as my legs were just non-functional.
I am not complaining/making excuses, for 2 reasons: I achieved my goal and broke our team record, and two, the meet is over and I need to move on.
But my question is this: how do you recover o/t legs? I've looked at a lot of sites and haven't seen any good ones, a lot of body building stuff too.
I wanted to start running today, but I don't want to dig an even bigger hole than the one I'm in.
I've never overtrained anything, so this is new for me. All suggestions are welcome.
Stretching- how often?
Massage- how often, type?
Other?
I am often perilously close to overtraining my legs b/c of the combo of exercising I do. When I feel it coming on, I have to back off on leg based exercises for awhile.
I like the 60 minute P90X stretching video.
Massages definitely help, but how often can one get them after all?
The foam roller helps some.
I've just ordered a pair of compression/recovery tights to assist on this issue.
Ice baths to zap lactic acid as soon as possible after workout. They're torture though.
I've given up running if it's during the course of a serious training period with a taper meet at the end.
How did you know your legs were overtrained?
I think when my legs cramp up when I swim it is some indication I could be overtraining. Either that, or I'm not properly stretching, warming up, and/or warming down.
That said, I know some people who train for marathons or even (god forbid) ultra-marathons. They'll do 30+ mile training runs, a couple times a week.
I think more depends on getting your legs gradually acclimated to higher training levels.
I know I'm overtrained b/c I swam A LOT- about 2/3 of it was with fins.
My legs are continuously tight. I wear heels to work and my quads are even sore with those. My legs never die in a 200, and at Pac Champs I was dead at the 50, at Nats at the 100.
I only got 2 massages in March and a couple in April, probably should have done more. To be honest they weren't sore in March. But in April I really felt it. Still do.
Maybe I should consult a trainer with a swimming background?
Oh come on. Throw that out there (ART) and don't elaborate?
You know I'm picturing myself on the floor coloring!
LOL! ART - Active Release Technique http://www.activerelease.com/ It's stretching with a massage. I highly recommend it. I get it done about once every 2 weeks. We have a chiro here who is certified in ART and has an agreement through our team to do it. It's been great for my swimming. I get it done the day before every meet and it's helped a lot.
fmracing- good ideas. We don't do a lot of kick sets, in fact not much at all. I never wear fins. In March I only had so much time to do so many yards. I had to do all of my 100s at 1:10-1:12 pace. The only way that was happening was with fins, and fins with paddles.
So I basically went from no fins to fin-crazed, and upped my yardage by about 10K/day. In retrospect, not too bright. In the future, not doing this again!
Thanks 'shark. I'll look into this :agree:
