Runners Forum banner

Why does pausing your run half way through make it a lot harder?

1.9K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  JBBury  
#1 ·
My girlfriend bought me a lovely new reflective running rucksack so I thought I would put it to some use. About 6 miles into a 14 mile run I stopped to pick up some groceries which were not particularly heavy. It seemed like those few minutes being stood around made the rest of my run feel a lot harder. My legs felt much heavier than usual and the 2nd half felt like more of a challenge.

Do you find pausing in a run makes it harder? Why would it make it harder?
 
#2 ·
Sometimes if I'm doing an especially long run, for example, the last few runs of marathon training, it is only when I stop I become aware of how sore my legs are. So if I've stopped for some reason and then restart, I am then aware of how tired and stiff my legs seem.
 
#3 ·
I have been training with stops in my runs to get ready for the Ultra I have coming up, apparently there are check points and you have to stop. So have been practicing on some runs stopping and then restarting again.
When I say stop, I dont mean standing totally still, with no movement, I have been giving my legs some shake outs while stationery, then set off slowly for 50meters before upping the pace to normal running pace, well for me :lol:

I think the key is and somebody will correct me if I am wrong on this, is to keep the lactic from building up in the muscles, so shaking them out keeps the blood flowing through them.