When I read (Steve Magness’ article) about Muscle Tension years ago, I completely dismissed it…
1- I didn’t care that much about performance
2- not running on soft surfaces?? AH, NO!
3- and not willing to do any of this, like speedwor. Anyway…
A few years later… things have changed a bit and I am completely obsessed with it because I’ve seen how the right muscle tension makes a night and day difference.
It explains that pop you have on race day sometimes. It also explains how your legs are so heavy and slow on race days sometimes
It’s all muscle tension. I’ve been calling it many things over the years (I had a post two months ago before Berlin, called “the wiriness“…) but, really, the info is all out there and you just have to figure out how to adjust it for your training and race day. I’ve been obsessing over this for months. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don’t (like last Sunday!)…
It’s basically a balance between being really rested and really tired! Or, better: it’s about finding that thin line where your legs feels easy and fast and efficient and they’re super rested and still fired up and like they’re brand new… you know it happens!
In Berlin, I walked all over town for 3 days before the race, by Friday night I was so tired and cranky I was almost crying on the sidewalk cause I couldn’t walk back to the hotel. Sunday morning, I did fantastic. Sometimes rest is not your best friend… I like the “less is more” but rest might not always work for me, and I am still getting used to that. I’ve started doing a lot of active jumping, every day, to keep my muscles a bit more tense, and not really stretching after every run, just half of them. Some people stretch for hours, others never stretch…
In the article you’ll see what to do to increase or decrease muscle tension, if you’re not sure how to adjust it, or how to measure it even. But keep this in mind if you haven’t played with it before because I think it makes a huge difference. And it will you a reason for a lot of those unexplained runs.
Do you worry about Muscle Tension?
runningandthecity 