Post-run stiffness and soreness

donymo

Post-run stiffness and soreness. I am 48 and have been running (and cycling and swimming) consistently for about a year and a half. Before that, nothing other than golf and tennis (doubles). It is a little disappointing that after a one hour run (2.5 miles of it at Z4 pace) I am sore and stiff the next morning. I would have thought that by now my body would be used to running and would have "toughened up" so that I can do a run workout and not feel like I've been beat up in the ankles, knees and hips. It's not injury, it's just stiff and sore. After 24 hours or so, it fades away just in time for my next run! Is this just a factor of age? should it go away after I've been training for a longer span of time? is there something I should be doing to fix it? I'd like to hear from you about your experiences with post run workout soreness. How long does it take you to recover from a one hour run workout?

steve Beyer

Hey Don...first off, as someone who is also 48 (next month), we really shouldn't be posting in this forum yet . Kidding aside, I'll give a few random thoughts that come to mind:

1. I remember what WSM Al T. said once....that he doesn't much pay attention to what he feels like in the morning, but goes into the wko of the day with a nice WU, paying attention to what he feels like during it. If your body responds during the WU, then go-for-it so-to-speak, if something still feels off after the WU, then adjust the wko accordingly.....hope I got that right Al

2. If this is the first year doing EN, then I'll just tell you your most likely working harder than you were before, and will be going through some "adapting"

3. Are you keeping-up on stretching/flexibility?? This is SUPER critical at our age, especially with EN type wko's

4. How is your diet? A diet full of nutrient dense/"clean" foods will make a difference. Eating the more typical SAD ("standard American diet"), will promote inflammation.

5. Lastly, don't know how you feel about nutritional supplements, but some can make a difference IMHO. We put ourselves through a lot of "oxidative stress" as triathletes, and this can contribute to what your describing. Good quality anti-oxidants can help combat this....FWIW I regularly take glutathione, Omega 3 oils (fish oils), Tumeric, and cordyceps during times of heavy training.

Hope this helps, and good luck going forward.

donymo

@Steve Thanks for the great feedback. I have NOT been doing a good job of stretching (or foam rolling after) and I will begin doing that. It is my first year with EN. I had a private coach for my first year and I would say the EN workouts are not too much harder, but they are harder. My coach was more volume oriented and lower intensities. I eat pretty clean, following the Paleo eating style - no processed food or dairy or grains. I do not supplement, but I think I will give it a try. I've read a good bit about it and it's worth a try to see if it helps.

Jeff Sullivan

@ Don

Steve has a few good points

I'm 58 and 4th yr w/EN....I spent the previous 30 yrs chasing kids & career....not a couch potatoe but no regular training....I think body adaptations take awhile at my age....my 1st couple yrs w/EN I often felt as you describe....the 3rd yr I started to feel beat up less often and more confident in my ability to accept EN wko's.....in particular this past winter I decided to pick up the run durability program with the OS....I definitely feel like this has helped my running....this program is all about increasing run frequency w/o adding alot of intensity....think about alot of 30-60 min runs @ Z1 - 30 sec.....I accept my run speed probably won't increase much but I feel much "run" stronger....i just started my race prep for IMMT in August and I've been able to hit 5 runs each week....last nite I knocked off 100' with 40' @ Z2/Z3 and feeling pretty good this a.m....I'm 6'-1 & 180# so I switched to Hoka's over the winter and believe they're an important part of the process....

Don't be afraid to back off the intensity if it allows you to complete some/all of the wko....consistency is important...good luck

Craig Marchione

As a "mature" athlete and swimmer in a previous life, triathlon is fairly new to me also. This is my second year with EN and my first doing the entire year's workout. I can relate to the stiffness and soreness that you are experiencing from the run workouts. I have found that nutrition is important and should be emphasizing reducing inflamation, doing the run workouts consistantly also helps (this should include listening to your body and making sure you do not over extend so that you are able to do the next workout and next week's workout), but one thing that really made a difference for me was flexibility. It is no surprise that as we age our flexibility decreases (sometimes to the point where it is difficult to walk), so maintaining our flexibility is extremely important. Improving our flexibility is one of the key elements to improving the run. Changing my flexibility helped in decreasing my 5k time from an appauling 30 minutes to sub-23 minutes (still solw by many of the EN standards, but a huge improvement for a non-runner in 7 months) and as an added benefit, I recovered from this effort to run again the next day (obviously not at the same inensity). Incorporating a stretching routine in to your post run is critical in my humble opinion (never did quite get the whole IMHO/LOL/FWIW thing). It does not have to be an hour of pilates, just 5 to 10 minutes of stretching the hamstrings, quads, glutes, calves and hip flexers will do it. Try it, I promise you will like it - but like anything you must be consistant. Good luck and keep up the work. As they say here - work works.