My Legs. My poor, poor legs....

I wrote last week about the killer hill workout that demolished my quads and I am sad to report that today, 5 days later, I am still feeling the after effects of an ambitious week of exercise. I still can't get off the floor quickly as the instantaneous flexing of my quads causes immense pain and I find myself laying on the floor rather quickly. I can't do 100m striders to get a nice stride flowing, the speed simply kills my quads.

I can however, do a nice relaxed pace (somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00 per km) for as long as I want to. I just can't easily jump into anything fast for the moment, which is making me adjust my workout schedule. I could probably go day to day and try and eek out some sub par workouts, but in the grand scheme of things, that would be the wrong thing to do. I'll keep stretching, icing, massaging and listening to my legs.

They've already come a long way compared to how they felt last Wednesday night, it's just that I wish it would be a faster road to recovery. Just gotta keep listening to them and when they are ready, I'll be ready to punish them yet again.

In other leg-related news, I have noticed a sharp decline in heel discomfort, especially when I wake up. I was fearing the early onset of plantar fasciitis and since then have made the following changes:

1. Changed my stride to be more of a flat foot/midfoot strike instead of lazily letting my leg fall as it pleased, normally on my heel.  I've been reading up and watching videos online, and it seems that this Ryan Hall video really nailed it home for me.
2. I have been stretching my soleus and gastrocnemius muscles with my hands, drainage pipe and 'The Stick' (view image below).  I've also started massaging the platar fascia and my arch and though the rewards aren't as instantaneous as they are when I massage my muscles, I think this is another key reason why my heel has taken a 180 degree turn for the better
3. Ice after runs. I spend 15-20 minutes icing my heels and knees now after runs. This helps reduce any swelling (swelling you may not see at all) and slow the formation of scar tissue, which will quickly become a pain in the ass heel.

 I will continue to listen to my legs before listening to my heart and over-zealous mind.  My legs are literally the most important part of the entire equation and to ignore them is just begging for trouble. Gotta love your legs and they'll love you back!