The Three Week Check In On Your Build Up

It's been about three weeks since the mileage jump email. This falls right in the window I was talking about then.

Most runners find out whether a buildup is working when something starts hurting. That works eventually, but it's slow information. By the time pain shows up, you've usually been running on the gap between what you're asking of your body and what it can currently handle for a while already. There's earlier information available if you know where to look, and none of it takes more than paying attention to things you're already doing.

Here's what's worth checking this week.

Compare this week's easy pace to three weeks ago, at the same effort. If a run that used to feel like a 4 out of 10 now takes a 6 to hold the same pace, that's worth paying attention to, even though your training log won't show it.

Notice how day two after your hardest session feels. Some soreness the day after a hard workout is normal. Soreness that's still there and still changing your stride two days out usually isn't.

Pay attention to what you feel walking into your next hard session. It's normal to occasionally not want to leave the house. A capacity problem tends to feel more like dread, or a session you keep finding reasons to move.

Ask whether a niggle is new or old. An ache you recognize from months ago showing back up is a different situation than the same shin twinge that's been sitting there since week one, unchanged.

One of those on its own is usually nothing. Two or three showing up together this week means the gap between your load and capacity is growing. Hold your mileage steady instead of taking the next jump. Keep the lifting in at the reduced volume we already talked about. Make your next easy day an actual easy day, not a moderate one you're calling easy.

Taking an extra easy day, or keeping your mileage steady now, saves you from having to take unplanned time off later.

-Eliana

P.S. If you're seeing two or three of these stack up and you're not sure whether to hold steady or pull back further, schedule a free discovery call here