hey Crazy C-
I'll give it a try here...

Sounds like you may have some flexiblility issues. From your description of what you were doing it sounds like a bounding drill, No? I'd say maybe hip flexors need some good stretching? If that is the case you really want to work on that. Tight HF's can lead to all kinds of running related injuries. Def talk to your pilates guy/gal...Though it could also be weak ham's.. Heck what am I saying?? I'm no trainer! lol Talk to your coach!!


As for the food- yes and no. Yes you do need to replace some protein and carbs, but be careful. If you are trying to lose weight you could undo all that your workout accomplished. I have a REAL tough time w/ this cause I'm trying to lose weight while training for an IM! I have to be very careful, because as said, you do need to replace some vital nutrients in order to help w/ muscle repair. Unless you train for more than 2 hours I would say no more than 200 cals mix of protein/carbs. That's what my coach had me doing and it worked. If you have no weight issues- then hey- knock yourself out. Also one other note while we are talking recovery.... If you run long - I'd say 8+ miles then treat your legs to an ice bath right after your run. It is VITAL to recovery. It hurts- but it works! Or at the very least ice down your legs well. They will thank you later. Totally helps w/ the soreness!

As for how often I train... Well as said, I'm training for IM AZ next April so right now it's 6 days a week, usually 2x a day. Or once a day if I go over 2 hours. Here is my rough schedule...

Sun: Long run or long ride/ or combo of the two(4+ hour in duration)I alternate long ride and long run weeks. One week I ride longer then run just a bit, one week I ride less but run longer.. make sense? It's like an every other week thing. Some weeks I just do one or the other though..But since I have 4 marathons under my belt I'm focusing on cycling right now as it's my limiter.

Mon: Swim/ short run (1 hr swim/ 3-4 mi run)

Tues: Ride/ Run brick (2hour total)

Wed: long swim/ run in evening (1.5 hour swim/ 4-5 mile run)

Thurs: ride(20+ miles)

Fri: morning run afternoon swim(6 mile run/ 1 hour swim)

sat OFF!!

This is probably way more than most, and maybe way less than most IM'ers out there, but it works for me. I seem to recover well. Anything more and my body breaks down. I just hope it can handle the full banana come next april! OY!