Running - is it normal to hurt so much or am I a wimp?

[liath]

I'm running a 5 mile leg of a marathon relay in 11 weeks. Started running just over a month ago and was very very unfit. I can run 2 miles now but I ache all over and generally feel like I've been beaten up for a day afterwards.

I'm 37, am running with orthotic insoles. Maybe i don't warm up & down well enough. Is it normal to be this stiff & sore? Does it get better??

I feel like that after running but I am crap at it I've decided

I think only a month is a very short time for your body to get used to it

YOu should have a really good stretch afterwards. I only ache if I don't stretch

I've heard arnica massage balm is good - think Weleda do it.

Over on the couch to 5km running thread, the podcasts we use start us off with a brisk 5min walk and end with a brisk 5min walk. I've not had any pain since I started, I'm up to about 3.5km running at the moment, and still no stiffness or soreness, and running 3 x per week (cough, hrmp, on a good week), with a day between as a rest day.

Maybe it's your warm up/down or you are overdoing it a bit?

Join us on the thread if you want to, it's in sport and exercise.

Have you got decent shoes?

Walk to warm up and start slooooowwww. Lots of stretches after.

You really really need to make sure you do your warm up and cool down stretches. Run for 5 mins and then do some stretches - 20 secs each one. Cool down ones need to be at least 30 secs each stretch or longer. If you do that you won't be aching as much the next day.

Thanks everyone. The shoes are really old, I probably should get new ones. Good idea about walking as there is a park to run around 5 mins away so I could easily walk there & back. I think I need to warm down better. I just can't believe how unfit i am since having kids .

liath that's a lot to do in four months, have you tried runners world for a 10k programme?

i don't find stretching before a run helps at all. i do stretch a bit afterwards and lots before bed every night.

Is runners world a website? I probably ought to do some kind of programme. It's the Edinburgh marathon relay & I got talked into it by some friends. I think I might have bitten off more that I can chew!

well I'm not running but I manage to get sore enough doing other forms of exercise and despite stretching. Have you tried Radox muscle soak in a warm bath?