Forums >General Running>Recovery Question
I lost my rama
It's good to mix periods of fairly easy movement with periods of rest with legs elevated.
I find beer helps with the last part.
3/17 - NYC Half
4/28 - Big Sur Marathon DNS
6/29 - Forbidden Forest 30 Hour
8/29 - A Race for the Ages - will be given 47 hours
Mmmm Bop
I agree the question is how come you are so sore after a long run?
Umm, well, probably because a lot of people who enter marathons these days don’t do a lot of running and the long run is over 50% of their weekly mileage. So, you know...maybe a nice hot bath (with some bubbles) might be best.
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Member Since 2008
I am sore after all runs, beit long or short. My experience is, running is pain. But I love pain.
For me, a hot bath is my go to recovery when I've got sore muscles, followed by some time in the recliner. A good book and beer are optional, but frequently included.
When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
okay, now we;re getting somewhere,
You don't know pain. Not really. If all your runs leave you sore, you are running mediocre runs all the time while you could instead run some runs hard, and some easy.
I am fairly confident if you varied up your workouts, you would find that you do have periods of recovery. And the way to start this is by running your key (target) workouts harder. Customarily, that is the tempo and intervals, and long run for some (but not all). By harder for the long run, that doesn't mean intensity, it means duration (mileage).
Then you will find you are very sore the next day, but after a day or two of recovery, you will actually feel okay.
So, it's got to get worse before it can get better.
In other words, don't avoid what is painful, embrace it, as described above.
Worth a try?
Please check out my training and tell me what Im doing wrong.
I checked out your training log. Nice job. It looks like you are committed to getting in a fair amount of cardio each week in terms of running and hiking. Decent mileage. I am not very familiar with this log format but from what i can tell, it looks like aoubt 5 days per week running. Tempo and long run most weeks and no speed work.
If your goal is to lose weight, stay fit, and enjoy what you are doing, you can just keep doing what you are doing. Nothing wrong with that.
If you also want to get faster, there are things you could change up. If you want to feel better recovered, also, there are things you could change.
Your paces across workouts do not show a lot of variability. You know the old adage, run the hard workouts hard and really lighten up on the easy ones. Most of your paces are fairly close, even the tempo just tucks maybe a minute per mile at the most off your easy runs and long runs. Two minutes per mile is not uncommon for most of us as a rule of thumb.
Intervals workouts can help you gain that kind of speed. Hill workouts, too. and both are very good for weight loss - they really burn calories!
Have you read or schedule your workouts based on a running book? There are some very good ones out there and many runners gain a lot from them. Also, hooking up with a running group pays huge dividends if you haven't tried that already.
Of course, sometimes doing what i recommended above will seem like work, and if you are not into that, no harm by just keeping doing what you are doing.
Hope this helps.
Assuming you're logging all your runs, that's quite a jump in mileage from May to June to July. And practically starting from zero at the start of the year, no wonder you're sore. I'd be more concerned about getting hurt, but if you can maintain consistent mileage month over month, then the soreness should subside. For recovery, I have no (good) advice as I was serious in that all I do is kick back and have a beer or three.
I have tried increasing my weekly mileage by roughly 10 percent each week other than about three weeks I had to stop due to calf issues. I have several factors in my life that aren't conducive to running such as I am a truck driver working the night shift meaning I am sitting on the job for 10 to eleven hours a day and am constantly tired. I also have rhuematoid arthritis, that's a whole other topic. I've taken the last couple of days off which is helping. I need to incorporate more days off into my week.
Old , Ugly and slow
I think your job could be a big factor.
If I drive for just a few hours my knees are hurting
first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007
2019 goals 1000 miles , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes
SMART Approach
Heal up and back off a couple weeks. Use this technique. 10-20% increase in miles per week but hold those miles for 3-4 weeks. Then increase 10-20% repeat. I like this for lower mileage runners, new runners and older runners. It is conservative however staying healthy is a priority.
Run Coach. Recovery Coach. Founder of SMART Approach Training, Coaching & Recovery
Structured Marathon Adaptive Recovery Training
Safe Muscle Activation Recovery Technique
www.smartapproachtraining.com
For recovery, what works best for you? After a long run, an ice bath or a warm bath with Epsom salts? What do the experts say?
Run enough and eventually you stop getting sore. At least not the 'painful' kind of sore.
As for the hot/cold thing, the general rule is that cold is good to help minimize post-run 'soreness'... but it also slows down the training response because it restricts blood flow which shunts the nutrients and such that the muscles need to begin recovery. Heat is the opposite, it increases blood flow and helps get nutrients in, and waste by-products out. For training purposes I'd go with heat. For actual post-race efforts, I'd go with cold.
All that said... active recovery is a key component. If at all possible, just WALK for about 15 minutes after your training runs. And a couple more times each day if you can. That will do wonders.
be curious; not judgmental
Thanks, all good info!
A bit late, but I do nothing specific for recovery. I just sit there and drink water, and do some Internet. Rest of the day, it depends how really tired I am. Walking is ideal, I think, but sometimes just doing nothing is what I do.
I like to do an ice bath (55 deg or so water for 3-5 mins) after a long run, 18-20 miles or so. Subjectively, I seem to feel better when I do it vs. when I don't. If I remember, a hot bath with epsom salts that night.
Yes, the run is at an easy pace, but the cumulative miles take their toll. If ice is for joint inflammation, that makes sense why it seems to work for me. My muscles don't feel sore anyway, so that isn't the problem.