Muscle Soreness Makes You Slow!
March 17, 2009 by David OMeara
Let’s take a look at a few sobering facts about your training and (lack of) proper recovery … and how Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) affects your running performance (you’re slower than you should be!). And then we’ll discuss what you can do about it.
1. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) makes you … well, sore.
2. Sore heavy legs are reluctant to work.
3. Sore heavy legs are slow … painfully slow.
I think you’re probably all too familiar with the catch 22 outlined above – it’s not exactly breaking news. What is news though is how you can simply and easily avoid all of this.
And you can do it without employing an entourage of physical therapists or swallowing enough ibuprofen to kill a moose, and shredding your intestines in the process!
Read on, because the results from the latest studies prove it.
In January 2009 The Journal of Strength Conditioning Research published the results of a groundbreaking study conducted at the Institute of Medical Physics, University of Erlangen-Nurnberg in Germany.
The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of graduated compression socks (GCS) on running performance in men runners.
Both the time under work load and total work output were significantly higher with compression socks, when compared to wearing regular socks, as were the running performance at the anaerobic and aerobic thresholds.
The study concluded that “socks delivering constant compression in the area of the calf muscle significantly improved running performance.”
Read those few paragraphs again.
There’s a good reason why a third of competitors at the 2008 Ironman World Championships were wearing them!
Understandably, this study has added real weight to what was already known about the effects on muscle recovery gained from wearing compression socks.
You can almost certainly run faster. Though, you’ll probably need the professional edge found in our FREE Running Insider report. You’ll find the cure for running muscle soreness and more. Click on a link to get your copy.
