Lactic acid build up

[littleinfantry]

So on my team I'm in charge of keeping my guys in shape. One of the guys tweaked his ankle and had to take about 4 weeks off of running to let it heal. I have him doing the same operator/black I'm doing, so he kept up the squats despite the injury because it didn't really bother his ankle too much. The problem is, now that he's back to running, he's complaining that his thighs burn like crazy almost as soon as we start jogging. He didn't lose much over those weeks, but it's primarily his thighs that are holding him back. And I've worked with him for a long time, so I'm certain he's not lying about it.

I don't have really any experience in that realm. What workouts, warm-ups, stretches etc. can we do to get his legs back to running shape?

My initial reaction is to run through it and modify SE sessions to hit the legs a little differently but I'm curious if there's actually a way to increase lactic acid displacement.

[Green2Blue]

Honestly, he probably just needs to run more.

[littleinfantry]

Lol

Done deal. We'll put more emphasis on running then.

[J-Madd]

I agree with G2B. Your guy's problems will subside once he puts on enough miles.

[DocOctagon]

Lactate is your friend, and actually contributes to increased performance. The trick is training your body to process lactate at a quicker pace while you're working. Lactate-threshold training and tempo runs will take care of it. The idea is to flood your body with it and in doing so your body will get more efficient at dealing with it. Interval and tempo (Fast 5) runs will sort your guy out when the time comes.

I'd stick to the program by having him complete Base, because it will help set the stage for speed/tempo work during continuation. Once your man reaches Continuation, focus on fartleks, fun-runs and tempo runs.

Are you making sure he's working within the Base Building HR guidelines (130-150bpm)? Because that can be an almost painfully slow pace for some (and easily sustainable). It might not be much faster than a walk. If he's been using the talk test, change that and use an HR monitor to pace him instead, at least until he gets an idea of what a Base pace should feel like.

LISS during Base usually isn't intense enough to approach lactate threshold, nor should it be. Of course there will always be some discomfort for the out-of-shape and those that haven't done a lot of running.

[littleinfantry]

Lactate is your friend, and actually contributes to increased performance. The trick is training your body to process lactate at a quicker pace while you're working. Lactate-threshold training and tempo runs will take care of it. The idea is to flood your body with it and in doing so your body will get more efficient at dealing with it. Interval and tempo (Fast 5) runs will sort your guy out when the time comes.

I'd stick to the program by having him complete Base, because it will help set the stage for speed/tempo work during continuation. Once your man reaches Continuation, focus on fartleks, fun-runs and tempo runs.

Are you making sure he's working within the Base Building HR guidelines (130-150bpm)? Because that can be an almost painfully slow pace for some (and easily sustainable). It might not be much faster than a walk. If he's been using the talk test, change that and use an HR monitor to pace him instead, at least until he gets an idea of what a Base pace should feel like.

LISS during Base usually isn't intense enough to approach lactate threshold, nor should it be. Of course there will always be some discomfort for the out-of-shape and those that haven't done a lot of running.

This is perfect, thank you.