28/04/2026
🏃🏻♀️➡️🏃🏻♀️➡️Why Do You Feel DOMS on Day 2 After a Marathon? 🤕
After running a marathon, many people experience Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) , and it usually hits hardest on the second day! Here’s why:
1. Micro-Tears in Muscles 🧵
Long-distance running, especially at higher intensity, causes tiny tears in your muscle fibers. This is normal but can lead to soreness as your body repairs itself!
2. Inflammation Response 🔥
Your body triggers an inflammatory response to heal those micro-tears. This process can cause swelling and pain in the affected muscles, peaking about 48 hours after the race.
3. Lactic Acid Buildup 🧪
During intense exercise, lactic acid accumulates in the muscles. Although it’s often cleared quickly, some residual effects can contribute to soreness.
4. Some say cool downs help
Skipping proper cool down stretches or recovery practices can magnify the effects of DOMS. Easing into post-race recovery with gentle stretches and hydration helps! 💧
5. The Eccentric Movements 📉
Running during the later stages of a marathon involves eccentric muscle contractions (where muscles lengthen while under tension), which are known to cause more soreness.
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As we’ve been Jeffing (Running and walking) - the DOMS has not been nearly as bad as it could have been. Run-Walk-Run means that you increase your recovery.
Also drinking sour cherry juice and taking creatine has helped Josie’s recovery 🍒 And Abby is having RnR in the Sun! ☀️
Josie headed over to the amazing Sharon at Head2Heal for a fantastic ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️sports massage to help optimise muscle recovery and it sure helped a lot! ❤️🩹
