Sore after running

[Daniel Rodriguez]

So I am very sore after I have started running and its not too enjoyable. Though I would say I can tough it out more so than my lady friend. Also I have never been sore for any longer than maybe 3-4 days after running but usually stays at about 2 days of soreness. I have been trying to give tips to my friend to take away her soreness. She has been sore now for 8 days which she has rested for. I just wanted to know if anyone has any little tricks/home remedies to relieve soreness in your legs after heaving running or running after a long period of not running. Personally I told her to go to the doctor but shes hard headed. The things I have tried and worked for me are:

Cold shower immediately after running (not freezing, just uncomfortable)
Epsom Salt Bath
Ibuprofen
Stretching before and after running (duh)

So, If anyone has any tricks or secrets they would like to share I am always trying to find new tricks. Thanks!

[Jon Allen]

Daniel- that definitely seems a long time to be sore, unless you were running straight down the side of a mountain.

I definitely recommend cold soaks for the legs- the colder, the better.  Find a river, lake, ice bath, whatever.  I knew one guy who was sore a lot and said eating a lot more potassium helped him, but I've never tried that myself.

If this is a daily occurrence or lasts a long time, though, it may mean something is wrong.  Maybe some physical condition, or maybe you are trying to run too many miles or too fast.  It doesn't seem normal to me, so be cautious.

[Scott]

Are you (or her?) on any statin medication?  I take Lipitor to help my cholesterol; however, prior to Lipitor I was on another medication (I forget the name of it).  My legs were always very sore and it never seemed to go away.  I almost stopped running as the soreness was bad.  After I switched medications, it cleared up immediately.

I hope that's not it, but something to consider.   

[Colby]

Just came across this post, but something that I will routinely do is lay on the ground with my legs up again the wall so I am at a 90 degree angle. I will keep them up in the air for about 10 minutes. It seems to help my legs and "drain" the soreness out of them. I have no idea if there is any kind of scientific reasoning behind this, but it seems to make the lactic acid not as bad the next day.

[Joe Furse]

Is it just general soreness all over, or is it a specific area?  Usually if it's just general soreness it's nothing too big to worry about, but that does seem like a really long time to be sore.  I'd definitely recommend some ice baths.  It may also help relieve some pain to do some very light stretching after the workout, or whenever it feels particularly sore, but nothing too heavy.  Additionally, if it's just soreness, doing some easy warmup exercises before your run it may help.  This can be a slow jog, some jumping jacks, A/B-skips, or whatever tickles your fancy to get your muscles warm and ready to work.  I would not recommend any static stretching before running.  I've found this tends to increase soreness for me, and it really doesn't do much for you anyway.  That's about all I can say with this information.  Hope it clears up.  If the problem persists it may be worth getting looked at, because even for a beginner it's not really normal to be sore for several days of rest after a run.

[kevin marinkovich]

Sounds like your friend went at it a little bit to hard.  First off, and most obvious, less is more right now.   Ice bath seems to help me the most.  The only way I can do it is to: get in empty tub, then start filling it with all cold water. Then after you get used to the cold water then have a ice bucket and start dumping it in. Also, a lot of hydration to flush out the system seems to help too, and just some slow walking.  Good luck.