What do do about "heavy legs running trouble" on the easy runs ?
"Hi Marius!
Iīm enjoying your 100 day marathon plan, but I have problems with the easy runs. After passing 30 minutes of easy running my legs always starts to hurt and feel heavy.
Itīs hard to run after I get that feeling and I dont feel like recovering doing it this way. This is not a problem then running some kind of interval, even if the session is over an hour long. Of course I get tired, but in a different way.
This has always been a problem for me then doing easy runs. Iīm not in bad shape, running Lidingøloppet in just over 2 hours this year and 10k in 35:24.
I have tried running "smart strides" during my easy runs just to break it up a bit. It brings back some kind of spring in my legs and stride. Itīs like an easy fartlek. Is this ok to do? And thatīs creating my problem on my easy runs?
Geir"
Answer Hi Geir, and thank you for your question. Some athletes have the problem you are taking about, with very heavy legs during the easy runs. I've done some experiements with these runners and it seems that two things works the best :
1. Alternate running and walking during these runs, about 70 % running 30 % walking.
2. Not worry about it. What I have seen is that this happens to runners that have a natual high muscular tension in their legs. They do not feel that the easy runs lead to recovery because of this. However, this is not the real case. It is more of a subjective feeling. When you palpate their quads on these easy days, you can feel it quite clearly. But the day thereafter easy runs it usually feels quite different when you do the same palpation. So the easy runs still does its job, even though it may not feel that way !
You can certainly use the Smart Strides, but experiment with this so that you maybe do this after 1-2 easy runs weekly only - and then "walk/run" the 1-2 others. Doing Smart Strides after each easy run is something you want to be careful with - it adds too much stress on the easy days.
I'm often asked what shoes I personally recommend to help stay injury free while running (on the 100 day plan) so I'll add a little bit about it at the end of these Q and A's.
Good shoes are crucial if you want to stay injury free during your marathon journey. In general, the best is to find a shoe that fits your feet according to your foot type.
However, these three shoes will do an excellent job with their mild correction - and will work for most runners :
1. Asics Gel Kayano (click for zappos reviews for other runners views)
The legandary shoe from Asics. You cannot go wrong with this one.
The most sold running shoes ever - and by every model seems to get better and better. About the same weight as the Kayano but the fit is a little bit different.
The 2150 is a great alternative for the faster work you'll be doing in the 100 day plan. It is one of the few shoes that "feels" like a lightweight one but at the same time has more than enough stabilty to prevent injuries with the marathon type length of some of the interval sessions.
A tips for international (non-US) runners : check out roadrunnerssports.com :
Example : Asics Kayano (RoadRunnerssports) they ship worldwide and it can really save you some money on your shoes.
I'm often asked what shoes I personally recommend to help stay injury free while running (on the 100 day plan) so I'll add a little bit about it at the end of these Q and A's. 
