I’ve had a couple of weeks off running. Then I made myself run on Fri morning. I had time and it wasn’t raining. I did an experiment with speed, warmed up for 2 km then tried a fast km, and found I can only do fast for 0.33 of a km. I had a glass of water at a friend’s house, then ran back using shorter faster strides and managed to go faster for longer. This seemed to use different muscles at the very top of my legs. I could feel it starting to pull and tighten on the right, so while I had enough puff to continue at what for me was a fast pace, I slowed, tried to shake the muscles out, and mosied home a bit more slowly.
Today’s run proved I’d done the right thing. No sore muscles, but it was a slow run. Not deliberately but because that’s all I had in me. I guess that proves the need for recovery runs.