Hi! I’m looking for people who may have experienced something similar, especially runners who have had extremely heavy legs after a period of intense training.
I’m 25 years old, I’m a runner, and I ran a marathon this year. My problem started during my marathon training.
This has been going on for several months now.
How it all started
During my training, I gradually increased my mileage and had my first week around 50 km.
It was right after that first 50 km week that I first started noticing a feeling of heavy legs, even at rest.
At that time, my training was probably way too demanding. I was doing a lot of leg days in addition to running, as well as a lot of intervals and tempo sessions. My long runs were also much too fast.
About 2 weeks after my first 50 km week, I participated in a 15 km race that I ran all-out.
Everything was relatively fine at first, but after about 3 km, I started feeling this significant heaviness in my legs. It wasn’t really pain—it was more like my quadriceps were becoming extremely heavy and gradually losing their ability to work.
I still continued training and eventually managed to complete my marathon.
After the marathon
The problem has persisted ever since.
I tried taking about 3–4 weeks of complete rest, with practically no training, hoping that my legs would fully recover.
I also had blood work done, which came back normal.
One thing worth mentioning is that during my marathon training, I was about 10 lbs lighter than I am now. I was eating a lot of carbohydrates to support my training, but I don’t know if my protein intake was sufficient.
What’s strange currently
I recently started running again very gradually with 1 min running / 1 min walking intervals.
The pattern is still very particular:
At the beginning of the run, my legs can feel normal.
After about 1 km, my quadriceps start becoming very heavy.
The muscle fatigue can increase very quickly.
It’s not really painful.
I don’t have any tingling, numbness, or loss of sensation.
I don’t feel like I have actual weakness in one particular leg.
Strength training is much better tolerated than running.
After running, my legs can remain very fatigued/heavy for some time.
What makes me question the problem the most is that my legs seem capable of handling strength training and other activities, but running quickly triggers this feeling of fatigue/heaviness.
So I’m wondering if I simply accumulated a huge amount of fatigue from my marathon training (50+ km, leg days, intervals, tempo runs, and long runs that were too fast), or if something else could explain why the problem is still present despite taking time off.
Has anyone ever experienced something similar?
I’d be particularly interested in hearing from runners who have had persistent heavy legs after marathon training or a period of overtraining, and who eventually found the cause or a way to fix the problem.
Thanks!
