So, I’m getting back into my running after a bit of a break doing well, running, and have started to bring my distances up to something sensible again with a 6.7 mile run round the village last night.

That’s not exactly a huge distance, nor is it much further than my last run (6.2 miles) last week and the pace is not much faster. For some reason though, my legs are killing me this morning, especially my hips and hamstrings.

I stretched post run, had a recovery drink*, stretched and foam rolled this morning, all that good stuff, but they really are still sore.

Has anyone got any tips for both lessening the soreness right now and preventing it in the future?

* – yes, I know they don’t do much, but even if it’s just a bit of help repairing any damage I’ve caused to my boby, I’m willing to take it.

you didnt stretch properly.
your recovery drink should be water, lots of water, constantly.

on occassion ive run too far/fast i stretch for 15mins immediately, then for 5-10 mins every hour till bed.

drinking, i always try to stay hydrated, but really force the water down if i know my legs are in trouble, probably at the rate of a pint an hour till bed

both of these work even better if i run at lunchtime/afternoon….

EDIT: feel free to add electorlytes or protein or whatever to your recovery drink. Trying to fix it the morning after is too little too late IME

Doms.

Can be random, swim or do something gentle next day. Day 2 will be worse. Do some yoga.

Cheers chaps.

I’ve been tempted to buy a job lot of whey protein powder for a while and if I’m going to be drinking a lot of water (I drink a lot anyway, both at work and at home) I may as well add something that will help. It’s a good thing tonight is my day off though. No more running until Friday and only a gym session tomorrow.

Ok, so more stretching required. I’ve had problems with ITBS in the past, so I’ll start doing more of that and more on the foam roller. It just takes up so much time though!

There is very little evidence to support stretching post exercise leading to reduced DOMS. More likely is that you sprinted out of the door and caused it that way. Warm up a wee bit first.

drinking, i always try to stay hydrated, but really force the water down if i know my legs are in trouble, probably at the rate of a pint an hour till bed

Crikey. Please don’t do this, especially after a relatively short run. Google hyponatremia for reasons why.

Muscle soreness happens to everyone. Some days it’s worse than others because of what you’ve done before, how you’ve prepared, how you’re fuelled, if you’re ill, what surface you ran on etc etc.

My advice would be start and finish all runs with 10 mins of easy running.

When my legs are sore, the best thing for fast recovery is always a gentle 30min spin on my bike. Gets the legs moving, the heart rate up a bit and flushes out the crap without causing any more muscle damage.

the teaboy – Well spotted. I got as far as “you didnt stretch properly” and stopped reading.

As you say – Forcing water down yourself can lead to DEATH. Dont do it.

Can we have an award for what is perhaps the most dangerous advice ever given out on this forum.

I find the foam roller great for sorting out my legs.

oh yeah i see, dont wanna be drinking water then. 🙄

EDIT: further im willing to bet that the OPs recovery drink was 500ml tops and that he was dehydrated before he even went out.

regards stretching, whats your problem, even static stretching after exercise is fine, dynamic before if anything – exactly the same as the warm up/warm down/cycling/swimming advice

New shoes ?? I haven’t run seriously for a while, but sore legs for no reason with the same routine on the same route was a sure sign that my shoes were worn out.

Soobalias – try the other one – HYPOnatremia.

Also from Wikipedia – Water intoxication, also known as water poisoning, is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits (e.g., hyponatremia) by overhydration, i.e., over-consumption of water.

try the other one – HYPOnatremia

My fault – slightly too slow with the sneaky hyper>hypo edit!

seriously rolling on the floor laughing my f***in ass off.

no really.
do you even have any idea how much water you need to drink

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/nutrition/too-much-water-can-kill-you/937.html

a particularly distasteful article that pushes carb drinks several times….. and the total number of deaths is?

3. Pay particular attention to post-exercise rehydration You’re likely to become dehydrated during a long, hard run, so make sure you drink enough afterwards. The sooner, the better. Same goes for food. Get your fluids, get your carbohydrates, get a little sodium, get a little protein – and you’ll be fine.

Just run a bit more.

My tip after a hard run is to direct a cold shower at you legs for 5 – 10 mins, take the heat out of the muscles.

ps. and yes the too much water can kill you is totally overstated.

It was a bit warm last night, but not too bad. During the afternoon I’d gone through probably about three litres of water/weak squash and had another 400ml or so of plain water about 15 minutes before I set out, so I don’t think I was too dehydrated if at all.

Fuelled: Fruit during the afternoon and a gel about 15 minutes before I went out. Maybe not essential or even needed for that distance, but it’s something that I have started doing.

Recovery: One 500ml FGS Banana thing and about the same of water. I might have had a glass of red wine later that night as well, but it was followed by a cup of green tea before bed and another glass of water.

I’ve not tried warming down for that length of time before, mainly because I never seem to have the time to do that after I’ve spent the best part of an hour running. I might give it a try on Friday, but I was not really in a position to do much more running at that point.

There have been at least 8 reported deaths from EAH (5,10,11,26–29). Many of these reports relate to a series of fatalities in the military between 1989 and 1996 (27–29). During this period, military recruits were encouraged to ingest 1.8 L of fluid for every hour they were exposed to temperatures above 30°C (30). At least four other deaths have been attributed to EAH in the United States (5,10,11,26,31).

http://cjasn.asnjournals.org/content/2/1/151.full

I’d suggest that runnersworld isn’t the most reliable source of information for anything, never mind running. It’s a whiny, bitchy, marketing-oriented forum populated by unthinking sheep.

Hyponatremia is very rare but can be fatal. It is caused by decreasing sodium conentration in the blood. This can be caused by significant exertion (sweating out sodium) or excessive water intake (increasing dilution of the blood). It also caused deaths a few years ago among ecstasy users too.

Also, death is only a rare endgame from this. It’s the Daily Mail headline.

There’s a sliding scale of symptoms – nausea, dizziness, vomiting, organ failure etc before death.

I’d say don’t worry about it, but don’t drink pints and pints of water.

Very interesting (and detailed) review of a new book which is about hydration: http://www.irunfar.com/2012/07/waterlogged-a-dogma-shattering-book.html Great reading IMO.

as to the OP: you probably just aren’t used to the extra distance. IME the DOMS will get less or disappear completely once your body becomes more conditioned. I find foam rolling really helpful though, especially if you have knots in the muscles.

So, I’m getting back into my running after a bit of a break doing well, running,

This is probably the only real reason the legs are sore. Give em a few months to catch up.

On the water front, I’m about a third of the way through reading Waterlogged by Tim Noakes, it’s pretty rips to tatters the last 30 years worth of advice on water and electrolytes. It’s not without flaws, but I doubt there’s going to be another book that comes close to it’s comprehensive critique of hydration, and the apparent myths surrounding it.

/bollocks too slow typing. Was busy hydrating with a cup of coffee whilst typing 🙂

I can only assume that Soobalias is trolling.

dunno about the legs but as to the hydration, there was a geezer (from some uni or other) extolling the virtues of skimmed milk over sports drinks. way less sugar, no caffeine (not mixed with coffee anyhow), low fat and a trace of salt and other good stuff.
it’s an interesting argument. i guess what works for you. DO drink water but don’t over do it. as has been mentioned above. but then i’m not a doctor……..

Hels and Ian +1 ie, shoes and you’re coming back to it. Really check the former imo

Avoid “entering” hydration debates unless you want a headache as well as sore legs! 😉

I haven’t read a lot of the replies however try compression tights, I was so sceptical about them I thought what a load of rubbish, then start fitenss did a deal £29 so thought worth a go, OMG after running i just dont’ get that achey/throbbing leg feeling that I used to get. Definately worth investing in some.

I’d heard that skimmed contains more protein than the others, but never really given it much thought other than preferring it in tea to semi. I might get a couple of pints in at the weekend and give it a go.

Another four hours in and my right hamstring/inner thigh is still sore and I’m still getting some twinge from my hips. Got to love this keeping fit stuff. Nothing like it for making you feel better.

Munqe-chick, I do own some compression socks for my calves, but strangely they are not hurting much these days. I do still wear them for a couple of hours if I suspect my calf muscles will complain though

WRT shoes, no changes there. Same pair that I’ve put quite a few miles on with. I will need a new pair at some point soon, but they are good for a while yet.

Probably just DOMS, but I definitely feel better if I walk for 5-10 min before and after running, as well as a post-run stretch. Helpfully there’s a nice trail to run on that’s just about that distance from home 🙂

edit: thinking about trail, did you change your route? Maybe take in more hills or more asphalt?

If you’re trying to run as hard as you used to, but don’t have the recent history then it’ll likely be as much your muscles needing to get used to the impact all over again.
Give it time and don’t over-exert yourself until you’ve built the strength and fitness back in
IMO

Munge-chick +1

Like you “Im getting back into my running” aswell. I wear compression tights to sleep in, and calf guards to run in. Works for me.

The only thing that has really changed is that I am bumping up my distance to over 6 miles in a hit and carrying a little bit of weight (full 3l Camelbak). I might be going a bit faster, or at least trying to go faster, too.

Off to stretch again. Might even go home early and lie on the foam roller during a conference call too.

did you really add 3L (3kg) to a pack and run with that?

shoulda drunk it 😉

Willard – hope these next comments don’t come across incorrectly. But 6 miles in not that long a run, so I am surprised that you need compression gear (although no harm) or to carry 3l of drink. As I said before, shoes and getting used to things are probably the answer, but some of your other comments suggest that you may have alignment issues and certainly seems odd to have hip problems from runs of this length. It may be worth seeing a physio or chiropractor just to check you out. Injuries are often caused by muscle/bone links eg, tightness in one area may cause to others (eg achilles, PF etc).

No intention of being rude about 6 mile runs BTW, its just that they really shouldn’t be causing you to suffer on a continued basis without a more serious problem underneath. Anyway good luck and have fun running.

Its part and parcel of getting fitter IME.

FWIW you’d be better off doing more regular, shorter runs rather than the one.

Try a few 2 mile runs each week – therefore the same / more mileage over more instances and build up from there, or introduce a long steady run on the weekends.

Heh! I don’t carry three litres of water to drink, I carry it because it’s extra weight and don’t worry about saying 6 miles is not that far either. I know it’s a short distance and I’m trying my hardest to work up to longer distances (Half marathon by the end of the year or so).

Maybe I need to get back to my physio for another appointment to see what else has gone wrong with my legs. I really thought I was finally free of him after I mobilised, but I guess it never works out like that.

I wouldn’t carry extra weight while running, it’s going to change your body position, and I can’t see it helping much come race day. It’ll also contribute to a greater force going through your legs, with increased risk of them hurting the next day 🙂

Ugh flashbacks. I sprained my ankle on a steep descent with a 3L camelbak. I thought it was a smart idea building up to carrying weight on mountain runs. First of four bad sprains and a lot of anguish and rehab. Still, I’m not bitter or anything. I’m buggered if I’d carry that much on a day run from choice 🙂

Im getting back into running too and now when i get back I have a protein shake, freezing cold bath for about five mins then a hot shower after.