Recovery
What are DOMS?
The muscle soreness that shows up a day or two after a hard run: what causes it, how to manage it, and how to keep training.
DOMS stands for delayed onset muscle soreness, the muscle pain and stiffness that appears 24 to 72 hours after hard or unfamiliar exercise. It comes from microscopic damage to the muscle fibres you worked, and it is a normal part of adapting to training, not an injury and not a problem to fear.
The "delayed" part is the giveaway. Unlike the burn you feel during a hard effort, DOMS builds slowly and peaks a day or two later, which is why your legs can feel worse the morning after a long run than they did that evening.
What causes DOMS
Hard or new efforts create tiny tears in your muscle fibres, especially during eccentric movements where the muscle lengthens under load, and running downhill is a classic trigger. Your body responds with an inflammatory repair process, and that repair is what you feel as soreness. It is most intense after something your body is not used to: a first long run, a new hill session, or a return to training after time off.
As you repeat a given type of session, the same load produces less and less soreness. This is the "repeated bout effect": your muscles adapt, and what once wrecked you becomes routine. Rising fitness shows up as less soreness from the same work.
How to manage DOMS
There is no instant cure, but a few basics genuinely help. Gentle movement, an easy walk or very light jog, increases blood flow to the sore muscles and tends to ease stiffness more than lying still. Sleep is where most repair happens, so protect it. Eat enough protein across the day to give your muscles the raw material to rebuild, and stay hydrated.
What matters most is patience. Foam rolling, massage, and cold or heat can make you feel better in the moment, but time and consistent recovery habits do the real work. Trying to "push through" heavy soreness with another hard session usually backfires.
How to train around DOMS
You do not have to stop training. Keep moving with easy, low-intensity efforts and save the hard sessions for when the soreness has cleared. The smartest fix is to avoid the worst of it in the first place, by building your training load gradually so nothing is a huge shock to your body. That is exactly what a well-structured running plan does. It ramps volume and intensity in manageable steps so soreness stays a mild signal, not a wall.
Note the difference between DOMS and injury: DOMS is dull, symmetrical muscle soreness that eases with movement. Sharp, one-sided, or joint pain that worsens as you run is a signal to stop and rest, not to push on.
Frequently asked
What are DOMS in simple terms?
DOMS stands for delayed onset muscle soreness: the muscle stiffness and pain that shows up a day or two after hard or unfamiliar exercise. It is caused by microscopic damage to the muscle fibres you worked, and it is a normal part of getting fitter, not a sign of injury.
How long do DOMS last?
Soreness usually starts 12 to 24 hours after exercise, peaks around 24 to 72 hours, and fades within three to five days. The harder or more unfamiliar the session, the longer and stronger the soreness tends to be.
How do I get rid of DOMS faster?
There is no magic cure, but gentle movement helps most. An easy walk or light jog boosts blood flow to the sore muscles. Prioritise sleep, eat enough protein to rebuild the tissue, stay hydrated, and give the area time. Rest and consistency do more than any single remedy.
Should I run with DOMS?
Light, easy running is usually fine and can even ease mild soreness. But skip hard sessions until the soreness has faded. Training hard on badly sore legs raises your injury risk and blunts the quality of the workout. If the pain is sharp, one-sided, or in a joint, treat it as a possible injury, not DOMS.
Do DOMS mean I had a good workout?
Not necessarily. Soreness reflects how unfamiliar or damaging a session was, not how effective it was for fitness. As you adapt to a training load the same session produces less soreness. That is progress, not a weaker workout. You do not need to feel wrecked to be improving.
Recover as smart as you train
Soreness fades faster when your load is built right.
Gritup ramps your volume and intensity gradually and adapts when life gets in the way, so hard days land when you can absorb them and recovery is part of the plan.