drizzle, coffee and the truth about DOMS – first published 26 February 2013

DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness is the bane of the long distance runner or walker. Back in February 2013, when I was putting in the long miles of Moonwalk training, people were beginning to ask me if it troubled me and how I dealt with it. The answer to that question is way more complicated than you’d expect.

26 February 2013

Today was back to work day and, after last week, I wasn’t looking forward to it. The weather was terrible, cold, damp and foggy but I did walk to the office. It was a head down as fast as possible sort of walk with no chance of seeing anything exciting or interesting because of the fog and drizzle. As it turns out work wasn’t as bad as expected. Since the bombshell last week and everyone being very negative about our prospects, but things seem to have settled down into some kind or normality, for now anyway. I’m not saying the danger has passed but at least everyone has stopped going on about it.

As usual, I had a mass of weekend emails to deal with and a few interesting packages on my desk. The most exciting one being a CD from the retired BBC broadcaster I spoke to briefly at the end of last week. The CD was filled with interviews with veterans of the D Day landings, how exciting. I did mean to bring it home tonight to listen to but got a bit distracted and forgot, still, it’s something to look forward to.

Despite the dismal drizzly weather, I decided to go out for a walk once I’d eaten my wrap, mainly to get out of the office and get some fresh air. There was no plan of action, just a bit of aimless wandering which, of course, led me to Costa. I’m sure my feet just find their own way there as soon as my brain isn’t looking. I thought about walking past, really I did, but the lure of the coffee was too great. They were quite busy today but I got there just before the rush so I didn’t have to wait long. When I picked up my coffee though it felt very light. Obviously I’m a connoisseur of take away coffee so I could tell at once that something wasn’t right. I took the lid off and found I had half a cup of coffee and half a cup of foam! Needless to say I complained and it was topped up straight away, no questions asked. Still, it has sort of put me off going back there, I mean, what if I wasn’t used to the weight of a full cup? Then again it’s a long walk to Pret or Starbucks and I like Costa coffee better.

“You must be mad walking all that way just for a coffee,” Alice said when I came back.
“It’s not so far,” I said, “less than a mile.”
“Not far for you with your marathon walks,” she laughed,”I don’t know how you do it. Don’t you ever get aches and pains walking so far?”
Alice isn’t the first person to ask me this question so, in case anyone else is wondering, the honest answer is, this time, not really. My feet were feeling a teeny bit sore towards the end of the eighteen miler at the weekend, not blister sore, just pounding the pavement for too long sore. Sometimes, after a long walk, my leg muscles feel a little stuff if I sit straight down too, but nothing a little stretch won’t sort out. Training for the first Moonwalk was a different story though.

Every walk after about fourteen miles was tough towards the end. I have a very vivid memory of one walk, I think it was eighteen miles, coming back across Riverside Park, my thigh muscles screaming and burning so much I felt like physically lifting each leg with my hands. How I kept going I don’t know but I did hear a little voice in my head (it had an American accent so I knew it was AnneP from WLR) saying, “The mind gives up before the body,” I pushed through it somehow but when I came to the slope to get out of the park I felt like crying and I wished someone would just bundle me into a car and take me the last mile home. Right about then I wondered how I was ever going to walk twenty six point two miles. The Moonwalk seemed like a very bad idea altogether.

This time is different. I know I can do it because I’ve done it before. I know it’s not easy and, on the night, I will be feeling just as terrible as I did before when I hit the twenty mile wall, but I will get through it. That night Commando phoned me, I think I was around mile twenty four, and I started to cry, I couldn’t see how I was going to walk those last two miles and I just wanted him with me. Walking a marathon is not easy, ever, no matter how much training you do. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.

Other things are different this time too. The training plan I’m using seems to have helped, one week a long walk, the next week a shorter walk, hence more recovery time between the tough ones. Last time I just added a mile every week. It was hard to motivate myself to get out there in those last weeks knowing how far I had to walk. Another thing that has changed is my daily level of exercise, on work days I’m routinely walking around five miles, before I thought I was doing well if I walked two. Then there is nutrition…

These days I’m eating much more healthily than I was back then. The processed additive laden food is gone. My food these days is about ninety percent fresh, home cooked. I think I’ve finally cracked the walk snacks too, through process of elimination and experimentation, plus a few tips from Commando’s running experiences. Something I noticed, right from the first Moonwalk, was that I start to get tired after about seven miles. Back then I used to snack a little when I felt tired and it worked to some extent but I still got the burning thighs. Now I know that they are all down to lactic acid.

For those not familiar with lactic acid it is, put simply, a substance released into muscles when all energy stores have been used up but they are still being worked hard. This creates the familiar burning sensations in the muscles and slows down their contractions. Obviously avoiding the build up of lactic acid is key to stopping the burning aching thighs, but how? Hydration is one of the key weapons because lactic acid is water soluble. The water bottle is my friend. The more frequently you work out the less glucose your body will need to burn. The walk to work is also my friend. Adding distance slowly will help your body to burn less glucose. The new training plan is my friend. Slowing down if you start to feel the burn minimises lactic acid. Varying the pace is my friend. Making sure there is enough glucose available to your muscles prevents lactic acid build up. Snacks are my friend.

As far as the snacks go, Commando told me I should not wait until mile seven, when I feel tired, to eat snacks, by then it’s too late. It takes time for the snack to get digested and get to my muscles. Now why didn’t I think of that? So this time, I’m eating my snacks at least every five miles, that way I should, in theory, have enough glycogen stores to keep my muscles going. The various walkers and runners advice sites and magazines recommend a high carb snack (dried fruit, sports gels, sweets etc) of about 25 to 30 grams every one to one and a half hours. So hourly small snacks are my friend.

The final piece of the puzzle for me, seems to be the after race milk shake. I know lots of people, Commando included, go for the fancy pants sports milk shakes. Me, I prefer a good old fashioned skimmed milk one. Maybe the others are better I don’t know but they have loads more calories and I like the others. The fats and protein in the milk shake, along with a nice carb dose, replenish the resources you’ve used up and help the muscles recover. This is the thing that stops, or limits, the achy stiffness that is DOMS, or delayed onset muscles soreness.

So there you have it, in case you were losing sleep worrying about it. If things change and I do get achy or suffer anything untoward I promise there will be no holding anything back and you will be the first to know.