So you did your marathon, backpacking adventure, trek up the mountain, whatever it was and now your muscles are talking to you and those first few steps after sitting or laying down are very dicey.
I get it, both professionally and personally. I recently completed an 18.4 mile round trip to the top of Half Dome, cables and all with two friends. It was awesome, sometimes hard and occasionally scary fun!
We trained for it and we were ready, but we all had some stiffness and soreness over the following few days.
You may be a bit sore or so stiff and pumped that it’s hard to move, but movement is exactly what you need for delayed onset muscle soreness.
Ice packs are good for the first 24 hours for any acute soreness, then warm or cool water, soaks or shower (whatever feels better to you). I have a hand held shower that has a massage type setting, it feels really good on sore muscles! Gentle stretching is also important.
Walk, or do some other low impact activity, starting the next day. If you have access to a pool, then easy water exercise is great. Stay in the shallow end and stay vertical, just move around.
Hopefully you pre-hydrated, stayed hydrated during your event and you are continuing to stay hydrated.
Your muscles could be a little swollen (pumped) if you are sore. Micro tears are created in the muscle fibers when you stress them. Fluid will collect as part of the healing process. You can help move the fluid out with massage, but it should be gentle, heavy pressure will just make the soreness worse. So ask your massage therapist to go easy.
If you have done adequate prior training, all soreness should be gone is less than a week, with light exercise. Then you can start training for your next adventure!
Remember if you want it, plan for it and believe you can do it, whatever it is, you CAN, so go for it!
Oh, and Leslie, Debbie, you ROCK!!!
