Pain is part of the process...
I've been needing to run because I'd drop my weight a lot faster. The only problem is I hate running. It's not like I'm inexperienced at running or anything (ask the cops in my childhood), but my legs always hurt afterwards.
Whereas warm ups, cool downs, good stretching, proper shoes, etc, all help tremendously, show me one person who is starting running, especially an overweight person, who doesn't hurt like hell afterwards at the beginning and I can guarantee they are lying to you.
It hurts. Damn straight. When I first started down this road, walking the 4 blocks from the subway station caused shin splints and agonizing lower back pain. However, if I followed my first instinct and took a few days off for the soreness to pass, the very next time I would be sore as hell again. it never ended. However, once I accepted that the pain and soreness (not injury mind you) was part of the process of training my muscles in new and exciting ways, I learned tro push through it. It would have been soooooo easy to keep taking days off when I was sore or stiff, but then I would still be walking 4 blocks from the subway now, 40 pounds heavier and just as miserable as ever.
However, I did push through those initial aches and pains, and slowly but surely, they went away. Soon I was walking 6 blocks, then 10 blocks then 5km home from work with no subway. And every increase in distance brought new pains and grief. But I pushed on.
Then I started running. And like so many of you, I could only go a short distance before I was walking and the next day hurt like hell. But once again I pushed on through and soon it was further and further between walking breaks and the knees, quads and lower back werent as sore....
Now I run home from work 5X a week at 5km per day. In the beginning I would need muscle oil and rubs on my back every day, tensor bandages and more mucle rub on the knees and legs every night. And the next day when I got up I thought I was going to die. But I didn't
Now, only 3 short months later, I dont have any shin splints, my quads not only feel great, but are without a doubt the most awesome looking part of my body (along with the calves). I get up in the mornings and my legs and back feel great, no muscle rubs, oils or pain killers required. I literally feel like a new man.
But to think all that could have happened without some sort of adjustment period, which yes, does involve discomfort and pain, is not realistic. If it was easy to run and exercise everyone would do it and there would be no overwight people.
IMO that is the true measure of success. For some (myself included) we need to break down the mental barriers which cause us to eat poorly, and while not physical pain, it DEFINITELY is pain. I came to the realization (thankfully!) that the saying "no pain, no gain" is 100% true. It takes a period of discomfort and yes, pain, in order to get your body to a point where it has made the adjustments and doesn't hurt anymore. Of course injuries are an all together other thing, but with proper warm ups and cool downs that should be the least of your worries.
SO in a nutshell...... Your legs hurt after running? Welcome to the club! But really, it does go away. But don't use that pain as an excuse to stop every time it gets a little stiff or sore. Push through it and reach your goals! Once you get past the adjustment period and your body gets used to the new demands placed upon it, you will ask yourself why you havent been doing it all along...
sirant
so I hopped on the treadmill and did intervals! 5 minute warmup at 5.5mph, then five sets of alternating 2 minutes at 7.5mph and 3 minutes at 6 mph. I'm really happy to say that my mind felt SO good even on the fifth set. It was really kind of funny to feel this huge discrepancy between the pain my body felt and how focused my mind was. At 20 minutes I was like, maybe I should stop, but my mind said, "What are you talking about? You can do another!" so I did two more 