Dead Legs

Every day that I wake up, I lie in bed for a few moments and do a 'how am I feeling" diagnostic on my body. Does anything hurt head to toe?  Should that be hurting, or ache?  Like everyone I feel the affects of my training and a little soreness doesn't mean I can't have an outstanding day. In fact it affirms I am alive and able, capable of doing tremendous things. 

The last two weeks I have done this test in bed, I feel just fine, normal if you will. My head is clear, my back, arms, neck all check out A-OK. I got really sick a weekend ago but that came and went really fast. When I stand, I can walk without limp or pain or any discernible difference between how I have walked for years. When I am walking around, standing for a period of time or bending over they look and act just fine.  

But the fact of the matter is that this is a false positive because my legs are dead. I have nothing in them. I have all the proper mental mindset, time and motivation for a workout using my legs but when I try to use them I've got no power in them. A week ago I had a little cramping in my quads in them doing the day, I attributed it to latent lactic acid and certainly not painful but lately they feel normal. Probably because my training has tapered off so badly. 

It is very frustrating. My legs feel well rested yet I can not get anything moving on a run or ride. They are heavy and almost clumsy. Tests on leg presses and extensions show the same inability to produce consistent output but upper body testing shows the same results I am accustomed to. 

Of course I know the body can go into a rut from time to time. I have heated. I have massaged, elevated, and stretched. I have been worked over by a chiropractor for any physical deviations and I am good to go. I have adjusted my calories and I am changing my supplements. And yet so far, when I go for test runs or use stairs or ride a bike, my legs feel like I am 72 hours post marathon. I would love to take this as some sign to rest but I have been essentially resting for almost two weeks dealing with this feeling and it is not solving itself. 

It is obviously frustrating. All I can is try each day to go through the motion and hope that it self corrects somehow. I'm going to swim this week and see what happens there. Not much leg action needed for what best describes my swimming, horizontal drowning. We will see what happens.