How to Recover After a Marathon…or Any Hard Workout
“Run Joe Run” took a lot out of me. I’M TIRED. I’ve been taking time off to repair the body and was super sore after that last race against the horses. For 25 miles. Trail running will do that to you. I’m lucky to have Hyperice as one of my supporters so I get access to some of the best tech. You don’t need the newest gadgets all the time to feel better. But if you do want access to the best tech, for cheaper, just sign up for my newsletter and you can get access to discounts on all their products.
Anyway, I recently went on the Today Show to talk about ways to reduce soreness after marathons, mainly through stretching or light movements, which is research backed. I know a lot of us just ran the NYC marathon or the Philadelphia marathon and know the pains of that delayed onset muscle soreness. So I put together a more robust video + write up about ways to help reduce or bounce back from muscle soreness. But even if you’re not a runner this should prove helpful.
Candidly, I haven’t been doing much the past few weeks exercise wise. And that’s fine! I wish more people knew that athletes take time off and let their body repair. I’ve trained NFL players and after the season many will go a month or two without any intense physical training. So this list below can also act as the key activities not to just reduce muscle soreness but during a short cycle (4+ weeks or so) where workouts are less intense but you still focus on your overall health.
This isn’t meant to be a super mechanistic explanation of all the things that happen in your body when you are sore but more why these activities help you recover or improve your perception of soreness. Overly mechanistic discussions have never made much sense to me. You can study that on your own time but getting bogged down in those details because they are likely to change is sometimes a waste. That is just science and that is how it works. Always subject to change. Plus for most people it is just boring and the article will get too long. I do want to introduce you to overlooked components of activities that help reduce soreness but actually don’t know how to implement them, fun facts associated with them, and why recovery does not have to be expensive. You just gotta do the basics and put the cherry on top with the special additions.
So for those that like to read, read on. If you would rather watch the video just check that below. I promise you this will help you feel better!
What is D.O.M.S?
D.O.M.S is also known as “delayed onset muscle soreness.” It is the feeling of soreness or discomfort that usually pops up around 1–3 days after exercises with a return to normal within 3–5 days although that window is particular on the individual. D.O.M.S also causes a loss in muscle force generation aka you are slightly weaker.
Why Do We Get D.O.M.S?
There are theories but to be honest no one…really knows. It could be due to trauma in the muscles, essentially microtears. However, some research is pushing back on that fact and believe it could also be neutrophic/enzyme factors or primarily driven by changes in the nervous system. Regardless of the reason we can all agree you don’t feel that good. We usually get soreness after more eccentric focused exercises, workouts that are new/ challenge our body in different ways, when we are returning to working out after an extended time off, or long/intense bouts of exercise like a marathon.
Strategies to Reduce Soreness
Sleep
Likely the most obvious one on the list but still one of our most overlooked habits. The past few years I’ve been all about sleep, which I’ve talked about in my GQ articles regarding the importance of morning sun + circadian rhythm regulation. Sleep really is a drug. Research has shown that sleep deprivation increases our sensitivity to pain which includes muscle soreness. Certain individuals may have a hard time sleeping after marathons or intense workouts, this is often seen in weightlifting populations as well, so it is vital to get your sleep. During sleep a bunch of molecular activities happen that we know improve the repair of the body. This includes melatonin release, one of your body’s most potent antioxidants that does much more than just help you go to sleep but also stimulates bodily repair due to its anti-inflammatory benefits. I personally do not believe in the use of melatonin as a chronic supplement but the occasional low dose melatonin can prove beneficial, especially if the soreness is making it a bit more difficult to fall asleep or you are in a new timezone. Sleep also increases the circulation levels of IGF-1 and growth hormone, two key components in muscle repair. During sleep, blood flow to the brain also increases and this is of key importance post marathon as we know the central nervous system is overloaded during strenuous activities and our brain actually SHRINKS after a marathon.
Anyway, the research is pretty clear. If you want to feel better, less muscle soreness or otherwise, try your best to get good sleep after these races and invest in it overall. There is no better lifestyle habit than quality sleep. Right now I’m focused on getting a minimum 8.5 hours of sleep a night through the end of the year. It helps me structure my day, I’ve been feeling better, and it makes sure I do not engage in unnecessary activities during the day since I have a bedtime.
Try This: Avoid bright artificial light a couple hours before bed, get sunlight exposure at the beginning of the day, and try a gratitude practice before bed or similar nighttime routine. See if that helps with sleep!
Warm Baths
I’m really in my soft boy era. Andre 3k flow. Baths are often seen as the staple of “self-care” but they are also decently researched as a recovery protocol. Instead of baths though it is termed “water immersion” in academic literature. Much more professional.
To make this as simple as possible, three different types of water immersion are typically studied– cold water, warm/hot water, and contrast (switching between hot and cold at distinct intervals). They all have benefits as well as some possible drawbacks but I’ll succinctly try to explain why I usually prefer warm baths.
- Can help improve sleep when properly timed a couple hours or so before bed.
- Can increase blood flow to muscles, plausibly leading to increased nutrient delivery and recovery.
- Can help provide relief while not blunting adaptation to fitness. Essentially, will not totally limit inflammation which is not a bad thing. This is important if a marathon or hard effort is part of an overall training cycle and was not just the end of one.
- Can have positive effects on parasympathetic nervous system (basically can help calm you down)
- Can lightly stress the cardiovascular system and improve heart health without the impact of running.
It is true though that from a pure pain relief perspective, cold water immersion/ice baths are likely better than warm baths. However, ice baths might blunt some of the benefits we get from fitness. The general suggestion then is to not use ice baths directly after a workout or if you do, do not use during your training cycle when you want your fitness to improve but to not just get worse. A small but important nuance. I personally tend to stick with warm baths and contrast bath therapy. This section deserves a full article in itself so I’m going to cook up a more thorough discussion for the three modalities in the future.
Try This: 2–3 hours before bed a couple times a week try to take a warm bath to decompress from the day. As an added bonus, try to include a simple breathing or meditation exercise + use this as a transition to limit your phone usage as you get ready for bed. If you don’t have a bath, a warm shower can still have benefits for sleep.
Massage / Compression
Quick definitions before we get started! There are two types of compression we are discussing here– compression garments and intermittent pneumatic compression aka a Normatec device. When we talk about massage, we are typically talking about the standard sports massage, which is usually a mix of stretching and kneading.
The basic rundown is as follows: it is mixed and it depends but it can be helpful! Essentially, for the compression modalities it seemed as if it relieved soreness in the short term and improved circulation but seemed to have limited effects in the days that followed. Circulation and blood flow also improved. Massage, while did not seem to cause any improvements in muscle force recovery it did improve perception of soreness and range of motion/flexibility, which is important for return to activity.
I look at it like this– if I can engage in activities that will make me stay off my phone, get chill, and have an increased likelihood of working vs not and will change my subjective perception of pain so I can keep training and live my life, I’m going to go for it. But they aren’t magic. They can increase the magic your body naturally does though.
I’ve provided additional resources below on each of the modalities if you want to read more.
Nourish
Food is not a reward, it is a must. Too often we think that we only need to eat if we work out which is a negative feedback loop of “earning your calories.” Few things to take into account:
- The amount of calories you need the next day following intense exercise is higher, even if you are not working out. Your metabolic rate will be increased.
- Your metabolic rate will be increased as your body is essentially asking you to feed it so it can repair. Your body builds off what you consume so what you eat does matter.
- After intense exercise, like a marathon, the permeability of your digestive system increases. Some might call this “leaky gut.” While the debate rages on whether this is a negative condition or not, increased permeability does mean that endotoxins are more likely to be able to cross into the blood and increase inflammatory markers. Proper diet can reduce the likelihood of this happening + repair of the intestine lining.
- Your body produces its own antioxidants to combat the oxidative stress and inflammation that is the result of intense workouts but also just energy production and metabolism in general. You can support this natural process through diet, strategic supplementation, and hydration.
I know we like to celebrate after hard workouts but keep those high fat and sugary meals to a low the best we can. Get fiber (as tolerated), lean proteins, dark leafy greens (steamed), whole fruits, and legumes as tolerated. It really is as much as what you stay from as what you include. I dunno to me it is pretty exciting we can design ourselves through figuring out the foods that work best for us.
After the food, we tend to add on the supplements. Supplements are always a weird one and a bit person specific. There is a lot to experiment with and much of it is unregulated, so I like to stick with basic suggestions that carry less risk and have been studied by the IOC (international olympic committee.) Here is a list below that might prove helpful but research is still emerging and the list is not intended to be a total summation.
- Tart Cherry Juice
- Quercetin
- Watermelon Juice
- Curcumin
- Creatine
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin D3
- Beet Juice
If you want more information on the specific reasons each supplement might have benefits and the limitations associated with them, I’ve provided more resources below. Please read at your convenience. You can also check out examine.com. I can give you a lot but I can’t give you everything!
Active Recovery / Low to Medium Intensity Exercise
Looking at movement as a way to decrease soreness and improve recovery seems counterintuitive, especially since all you usually want to do after a workout is rest. And rest for sure is necessary. Sometimes though, and this often happens with me, if I am too stagnant after hard efforts my brain starts to think it isn’t safe to move through those ranges of motion. Since we know there is likely a nervous system component connected to DOMS, I think it is important to continue low to moderate intensity movement even if you take a day or two off after the workout or race. This can include easy cardio such as walk, stretching, yoga, riding a bike, foam rolling, etc.
- Reduction in cortisol levels. Exercise at low intensity does not cause a cortisol spike like higher intensity exercise. This can be important after a long block of workouts that include tough workouts that are necessary as you get ready for a race.
- Increased circulation.
- Improvement in HRV. Have structured blocks of lower to medium intensity exercise can help improve HRV levels.
- Improvement in perceived soreness. Medium intensity cycling after a hard workout in some cases might help.
- Improved energy and reduced fatigue, especially in lesser trained populations.
The other way to think about this is using lower to medium intensity workouts before you engage in tough efforts. Basically, this is just making sure to have preparation phases before going and trying a super hard workout or race, especially if you are deconditioned.
The mindset I have been on is essentially keeping all hard workouts to a minimum right now, maybe once a week, and just focusing on a period of lower to medium intensity workouts for about 8 weeks as I repair from the race season. It is ok, and in my opinion actually crucial, to include periods of less intensity in your training cycles. This is the whole point of periodization.
Anyway hope this riff helped! Chat soon
JH
