There’s a point in every marathon training cycle where you go from “everything is fine,” to “omg my [insert lower body part here].” While injuries are certainly possible, often this lower-body tension is more annoying than harmful, and is often thought to come with the territory of peak mileage weeks.
“As you increase mileage, more cumulative load is placed on muscle, tendons, and bones,” explains Ellie Postma, P.T., D.P.T., a physical therapist at Your Complete Guide to Conquering the Marathon Distance in Seattle. “Repetitive muscle contractions lead to microtrauma in the connective tissues, resulting in increased feelings of achiness post-exercise. Longer or higher intensity runs also increase metabolic byproducts which accumulate in tissues, leading to feelings of soreness.”
How to Avoid Injuries When Marathon Training stress and repairs and remodels tissues so you can handle the increased miles. But higher mileage can lead to an uptick in physical therapy visits as your body adapts to the increased load, according to James Chung, D.P.T., a Kinstretch instructor and physical therapist at MOTIVNY.
“Physiologically, people are getting in better shape, running faster, and they’re typically getting close to their peak mileage,” he says. Unfortunately, this is also the time when injuries, like muscle strains, tendon issues, and that may affect the hip, femur, shin, or foot, and can lead to stress fractures, crop up the most. “That tends to be related to the associated fatigue and the accumulation of work,” he says.
While, again, some level of soreness is unavoidable, you don’t just have to accept excessive aches and pains in your calves, quads, hamstrings, or glutes. There are some tips and tricks physical therapists recommend to keep these muscle groups primed to perform—and recover. Here’s how to keep your lower body feeling as fresh as humanly possible during the latter phases of training for 26.2.
When to See a Physical Therapist or Doctor
First, it’s important to note that sometimes, when you’re really feeling aches and pains, it’s best to see a professional. “The thing that’s most important to be looking out for is if your pain or irritation doesn’t get better despite taking time off of running—that’s a pretty decent red flag,” Chung says, adding that this lingering pain could signal a bone stress injury, which are overuse injuries that may affect the hip, femur, shin, or foot, and can lead to stress fractures.
Similarly, if you are in pain while at rest, that could be a sign that something more serious is going on—and you should make an appointment with a PT or doctor.
On the flipside, Postma says that green flags that you’re dealing with run-of-the-mill late-training annoyances include:
- The pain is at or below a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10
- Symptoms resolve within 24 hours after running
- Symmetrical aches that are dull in nature (versus sharp, localized, stabbing pain)
- Chung is also a “big fan” of cycling or hopping on the
How to Relieve Leg Soreness When Adding Miles
When it is your typical aches and pains that come with running many miles a week, a few expert-approved strategies will help you feel better and fresher for more training.
Do Self-Myofascial Massage
“I would recommend foam rolling soon after a hard workout or run as part of a cooldown routine for maximal benefits,” says Postma, although rolling separately from a workout can still be helpful if you’re feeling sore or fatigued. Not only can this soft tissue work improve mobility and flexibility, it can also decrease delayed-onset muscle soreness, according to a 2023 analysis of studies.
Postma recommends spending two to three minutes on each major muscle group, pausing for 30 seconds on any particularly tender or sore spots, to promote muscle relaxation.
Chung adds one note of caution—more doesn’t equal better. “More pressure or more discomfort or more aggressive muscle work doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting more benefit,” he says. “[To] actually leverage recovery means being able to down-regulate some tension, and if you feel like you’re fighting for your life to tolerate the treatment, you’re probably not in the best recovery state.”
If you’re interested in going above and beyond a typical foam roller, Postma recommends vibrating rollers, compression boots, percussive therapy (a.k.a. massage guns), or orbital massage for a more gentle massage for sore legs (like the one from Rally). “All of these tools can be used after a run to help reduce feelings of soreness and fatigue,” she says.
She suggests using the vibrating rollers and orbital massage tool for two to three minutes per muscle group, using the compression boots for 20 to 30 minutes, and using a massage gun for 60 seconds per muscle group.
Embrace Passive and Active Stretches
“It’s less about getting more flexible or increasing range of motion, but more [about] getting yourself in this position that you have to hold and you have to couple your breathing with—and typically athletes don’t really do that,” Chung explains.
Passive stretches do help physiologically, too, he says, especially if they’re catered to body parts that need it most.
Postma agrees that stretching can be a great way to cool down after a run and says to focus on the major muscle groups used during running: quads, glutes, calves, and hamstrings.
Chung gives the following moves to 99 percent of his patients because they’re that good. Give ‘em a try after a run or any time you need to downregulate—psychologically or physiologically.
Ankles/Calves
Wall Supported Dorsiflexion Stretch
- Start arm’s-length away from a wall, hands placed-shoulder width-apart on the wall at shoulder height.
- While there are plenty of.
- Bend right knee toward big toe, middle toe, or pinky toe (depending on where you feel the stretch the most/what feels best for you), keeping heel on the ground.
- mdash;through getting plenty of.
- Then switch sides.
Wall Supported Ankle Isometric Hold
- Start arm’s-length away from a wall, hands placed-shoulder width-apart on the wall at shoulder height.
- Step right foot back, heel down. Bend left knee.
- Bend right knee toward toes. Drive right toes into the ground, like you’re pushing on the pedal of a car. Heel can lift slightly off the ground.
- Lift left foot slightly off the ground.
- mdash;through getting plenty of.
- Repeat on other side.
Hamstrings
The pain is at or below a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10
- Start with feet hip-width apart.
- Bend left knee, foot lifting behind you, and grab foot with left hand, heel toward glute. Keep ribs down, back flat (not arching low back), and core engaged. Drive left knee back slightly.
- Engage hamstring for 4 seconds.
- Then let foot go with hand, but keep heel pulled in toward glute. Keep ribs down, back flat (not arching low back), and core engaged. Drive left knee back slightly.
- Health & Injuries.
- Repeat on other side.
Hips/Glutes
90/90 Hip Internal Rotation Stretch
- Sit in a 90/90 position: Left leg in front, knee bent 90 degrees, shin parallel to torso; right leg to the side, knee bent 90 degrees, shin perpendicular to torso.
- Place hands behind glutes and lean back slightly. Drive right glute toward the ground.
- Hold here for 2 minutes.
- Repeat on other side.
90/90 Hip External Rotation Stretch
- Sit in a 90/90 position: Left leg in front, knee bent 90 degrees, shin parallel to torso; right leg to the side, knee bent 90 degrees, shin perpendicular to torso.
- Hinge forward at hips, leaning toward front hip.
- Hold here for 2 minutes.
- Repeat on other side.
Honor Your Paces and Training Plan
Taking care of your legs isn’t just about what you do after a run. It’s a holistic pursuit that starts with ensuring your training plan and marathon goal pace is appropriate for you, Chung says, which is something he sees beginners struggle with doing. “People say, my goal marathon pace is going to be 9:30, and I ask, ‘okay, what’s your easy run pace?’ And then they say, 9:30,” he explains. In reality, your easy run pace should be at least 90 seconds slower than your goal pace.
“So just having clarity on what you want to race, how that’s going to change your paces for your easy, long, tempo, [and] interval runs, and just really sticking to that,” is important, he says.
Postma seconds that: “Ensure that easy days are at a relaxed [and] conversational pace to allow for adequate recovery between harder days,” she says.
Consider Cross-Training
“Load management is very important during marathon training to ensure that tissue breakdown does not outpace tissue repair and adaptation,” Postma says. “Listen to your body and don’t be afraid to take an unplanned rest day or cross-train with biking or swimming if you’re feeling excessive fatigue.” In other words, if your legs are really feeling it, you can swap an easy run for a bike ride, for example.
Chung is also a “big fan” of cycling or hopping on the elliptical for a lower-impact alternative to a recovery run. “When you cycle, you’re just pushing. You’re not really absorbing anything or trying to decelerate,” he says. “Your body tends to recover better when you’re doing that versus running.”
Chung says you could even argue that there’s no such thing as a “recovery” run and that you’re better off “picking something that you can still get some good Tips to Boost Recovery After a Half Marathon in without the accumulated physical stress of running.”
Manage Stress and Sleep
“Your body has a hard time understanding the difference between life stress and training stress, and so stress management is going to be super key for managing recovery as a whole,” Chung says.
So this tip is two-fold: One, it’s about managing your life stress—through getting plenty of sleep, eating a well-rounded diet, as well as integrating techniques like meditation, boundary-setting, therapy, etc.—as best you can. Two, it’s about learning to adjust your training plan based on how you feel.
Simply being mindful of all the stressors in your life and how that might be affecting your recovery is enough to make a difference, but Chung says that using a tracker like a Whoop or Oura Ring can give you some data to go by, too.
Keep Up With Strength Training
It may sound counterproductive to recovery, but strength training early (ideally before you even start training for your marathon) and consistently throughout your marathon training cycle is key to preparing the tissues for the demands of running and reducing injury risk. “As you run faster, you’re going to be producing more force on every step, and so your tissues and your muscles need to also have enough of a buffer to tolerate that stress,” says Chung. “And strength training is the most effective way of doing that.”
You can Is a Vibrating Foam Roller Better Than Others as you get into your peak mileage, but ideally still do it twice a week. “Making sure you maintain those [muscle and tissue] qualities as you hit your peak mileage is super key for managing late-stage training program aches,” Chung says. “I tell my athletes all the time, you can strength train and not get sore, and you’d be surprised how little it takes to maintain the qualities of power or strength.”
Postma specifically recommends incorporating squats and deadlift variations, as well as heavy-loaded calf raises into your strength workouts.
Switch Up Your Shoes
Your guide to nailing peak mileage weeks, while keeping your lower body feeling fresh recovery shoes Your Complete Guide to Conquering the Marathon Distance running shoes as a tool to facilitate recovery, too. Specifically, Postma says that rotating between a few pairs of running shoes throughout the week and swapping out old pairs as you reach high mileage is important for keeping your legs fresh.
“Different shoes distribute impact forces differently, and rotating between pairs challenges the body to recruit different muscles which helps reduce the risk of overuse injury,” Postma says. “It also helps the shoe itself recover between runs. In older shoes with high mileage, the midsole cushion starts to break down, which leads to less shock absorption through the shoe and more through the joints, which can cause soreness and fatigue in the legs.”
Make Sure You’re Fueling
“One of the issues I see the most is people are getting fit, seeing the benefits of their training, but they’re not really fueling accordingly,” Chung says. “And if you do that long enough, the accumulated fatigue and accumulated lack of recovery tends to really compound, especially if you’re running faster, you’re running longer, but you don’t really change your diet to account for the extra energy you’re burning.”
Weight loss later in your training cycle could be a sign that you’re not getting enough nutrition, Chung says.
In addition to getting enough calories and carbohydrates, he puts an emphasis on protein to help with muscle recovery. In fact, research shows that combining carbs and protein together postrun supports bone health and muscle growth.
Use Heat and Cold the Right Way
“Sauna and heat can help with blood flow and relaxation,” Postma says. She recommends hopping in the sauna after a hard workout, starting with 10-minute bouts and building up to 20 minutes a few times a week. While more research is needed, one small but recent study found that when people soaked in hot water for up to 50 minutes after cycling five times a week, they had a lower resting heart rate and core temperature, two signs of good recovery.
While cold therapy like ice baths may also offer recovery perks, it can actually “slow the natural inflammatory and repair process that occurs after exercise, so wait until later in the day or hold off on the cold plunge until a deloading or tapering week,” says Postma. And keep ice baths short—five to 10 minutes at most.
Actively Recover
Postma cautions against just crushing your morning miles, then sitting at your desk all day. Active recovery can help improve circulation and reduce soreness, she says. “Walk for three to five minutes every hour if possible, or go for a 10- to 15-minute walk later in the day after a run to help aid with circulation and prevent stiffness,” she suggests.
