aching muscles

[CatGirl]

thank you all very much!!! just one thing...my hamsting muscle is still bothering me and it is now a week tomorrow..i must have pulled it..it hurts even when i sit i have a 10km walk on sunday...ouch! i also want to go for a ride this afternoon...good idea???

[The Saint]

Normal period of recovery time would be 6 weeks but this is not the place to get a diagnoses - you should see your Doc and rather take his advice

[CatGirl]

a good massage will help

[aungiers]

I just want to clarify one thing. Lactate is not responsible for pain experienced during or after activity. Lactate (or lactic acid) is a by-product of carbohydrate metabolism as well as a potential energy source; in fact it is a very good source of energy for the heart. Experiments have been performed where they have injected a subject with lactate. Not only was there no pain experienced but there was no inhibition of performance.

 

What you are most likely experiencing is called DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) at a fairly early stage. When you exercise you cause micro-tears in the skeletal muscle which release enzymes, calcium etc. A result of these tears is the pain experienced due to the leakage of the sarcoplasm and it's contents. These tears are necessary in increasing muscle strength and hypertrophy.

 

I would suggest getting a proper training plan together and possibly look at doing some strength work to improve on this area. Locate and see a reputable sport scientist to run through a battery of tests and prescribe an individualized program based on your results. As mentioned above, recovery is very important as you ideally want the microtears to repair for obvious reasons.