Every runner faces the same terrifying moment at some point: something hurts, and you have no idea if you should push through or stop immediately.
You’re three weeks into your running journey, feeling proud of your progress, when suddenly your shins ache after every run.
Your calves feel like concrete blocks the morning after your first hill workout. That nagging sensation in your knee makes you wonder if you’re destined to be one of those runners who “just can’t handle it.”
Sound familiar? You’re not alone, and more importantly, you’re not broken.
The truth is, not all pain is created equal, and learning to distinguish between “good hurt” and “bad hurt” is one of the most critical skills any runner can develop.
So, in this article, we’re going to help you…
- Understand the difference between normal soreness and injury
- How to use evidence from sports science research to tell the difference when you have pain
- And develop a simple system to make the decision on whether or not you can keep running
Understanding Why We Get Sore
You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that hard running is going to make you sore sometimes.
And this can actually be a “good” thing (although not always – a productive workout does not always need to make you sore) since this is how your body adapts to your training.
Basically, when you run hard your body creates small, microscopic tears in muscle fibers. During recovery, your body “heals” these fibers, which causes them to bounce back stronger to handle the increasing demands you place on them.
This isn’t damage in the harmful sense. Rather, it’s your body’s normal process of getting stronger.
Studies consistently demonstrate that eccentric exercise causes more significant soreness than concentric movements, which explains why you’ll often feel more soreness after hilly routes or strength training sessions.
Eccentric contractions occur when muscles lengthen under tension, like when your quads absorb impact during downhill running or when you lower yourself during a squat.
But, these microscopic tears do create inflammation and this is what causes the pain and soreness you feel after the workout.
How to Recognize Normal Soreness vs. Injury
Now that we understand why we get sore, we need to start breaking down the difference between what is normal soreness and what is injury.
Luckily, science has uncovered some “hacks” that can help you initially tell the difference.
The Location Test: Bilateral vs Unilateral Pain
The first “hack” is looking at where you’re having pain.
Pain location provides critical information about whether you’re dealing with normal adaptation or potential injury.
If you have pain on both sides of your body—both legs, both feet, both calves—this typically indicates general muscle soreness rather than injury.
Your body is simply adapting to new demands.
Unilateral pain affecting only one side warrants closer attention, particularly if it’s localized to a specific joint or muscle area.
The Progression Test: Getting Better vs Getting Worse
Sports medicine research reveals that about 80% of running injuries are due to overuse rather than acute trauma, and they develop gradually with specific warning signs.
Perhaps the most important distinction: normal muscle soreness remains stable or improves during activity, while injury pain typically worsens.
Studies show that if pain progressively increases during your run, forcing you to stop or significantly alter your gait, this signals potential injury rather than normal adaptation.
Normal exercise soreness should allow you to complete daily activities, even if you feel stiff or achy.
Pain that prevents normal walking, climbing stairs, or other routine movements suggests something more serious than standard DOMS.
The Recovery Test: How Pain Behaves at Rest
Research indicates that injury-related pain often persists at rest and may disrupt sleep, unlike DOMS which primarily manifests during movement.
Normal muscle soreness improves with gentle movement and responds well to basic recovery strategies like light stretching, walking, or warm baths.
If pain worsens with rest, prevents sleep, or doesn’t respond to gentle movement after 24-48 hours, consider it a red flag.
When to Push vs When to Rest
My advice to all runners is to err on the side of caution, rather than being aggressive.
Many potential injuries can be stopped almost before they start if you treat them before they get severe. So, it’s almost always better to take an extra rest day or push a workout day back then it is to “tough through it” if you’re not 100% of the difference.
That said, here is the checklist I recommend athletes run through to make the decision on whether to run or not…
1. Does it impact my gait/running mechanics
My first test is always to see if the pain is altering my gait or mechanics.
If you start your run and you notice a limp or any alteration to your stride, then it’s an immediate sign you need to rest.
If I am dealing with an injury, I’ll also run through a quick rest before each run, which involves…
- Can you I a single-leg squat on each leg without significant discomfort?
- Can I hop lightly on each foot without sharp pain?
- Can I climb stairs normally?
If any of these movements cause concerning pain, consider it a red flag for that day’s training.
2. Does it get progressively worse as you run
If you have an soreness or you something that feels really tight when you first start, but then gradually goes away as you continue to run, then you can typically continue to train.
Soreness and tightness will often dissipate as blood flow increases in the area, which is why it starts to feel better once you get moving.
But if it’s the opposite, where you start out and there’s really not a lot of pain, but then as you go and finish it’s extremely painful, then that’s something that you’re probably going to need to take some rest from.
3. Does it hurt more or less the next day
Research shows that if pain persists at the same intensity or worsens 24 hours after exercise, this suggests injury rather than normal muscle soreness.
I advise athletes to wait at least two days before attempting to run again if this happens. More is likely needed, but two is the minimum.
You don’t want to be testing it every day. The more time you can take to heal the injury, the faster you’ll be back overall.
Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of injuries where I’ve almost torn my hair out because I wanted to get out and run so bad. But taking the rest time now is definitely to your advantage.
So try to get it healthy and then when you’re healthy, you’ll be able to run consistently long term.
Building Your Pain Tolerance and Training Intelligence
Training Your Pain Threshold
Research in exercise psychology reveals that pain tolerance can be trained just like lactate threshold.
The same kinds of intervals that improve your lactate threshold also enhance your pain tolerance by teaching your brain what it feels like to approach your limit and keep going.
This involves both physical adaptation—your body becomes more efficient at buffering lactate and managing metabolic stress—and psychological development as your mind learns to cope with discomfort.
Learning to Use Pain as Information
A 2015 study of elite runners found that successful athletes use pain as information rather than just enduring it.
Instead of thinking “I hate this” during challenging moments, elite runners ask themselves: “Given how I’m feeling right now, what is the best thought I can think or action I can take to maximize my performance?”
This metacognitive approach—thinking about your thoughts and feelings—allows you to separate physical sensations from emotional reactions, giving you more control over your running experience.
Practical Pain Navigation Strategies
The First 6-8 Week Adaptation Period
Research consistently shows that beginning runners should expect to feel significantly better after 6-8 weeks of consistent training.
During this adaptation period, expect:
- Mild to moderate muscle soreness in your calves, quads, and glutes
- Some bone aching, particularly in the shins
- General fatigue that improves with rest
- Stiffness that decreases with gentle movement
What should concern you during this period:
- Sharp, stabbing pains
- Pain that prevents normal daily activities
- Swelling that doesn’t respond to rest and ice
- Pain that worsens rather than improves over time
Recovery Strategies That Actually Work
Meta-analysis research on DOMS recovery shows that massage appears most effective for both pain reduction and perceived fatigue recovery.
Water immersion and compression garments also provide significant benefits for managing normal exercise soreness.
Interestingly, complete rest isn’t always necessary or beneficial for normal muscle soreness. Light movement, such as easy walking or gentle stretching, often provides more relief than total inactivity.
Heat therapy applied immediately after exercise has been shown to reduce muscle soreness more effectively than applying heat 24 hours later.
Warning Signs That Require Professional Attention
Studies suggest seeking medical evaluation if you experience:
- Pain that persists beyond 10-14 days despite rest and basic care measures
- Swelling that doesn’t respond to ice, elevation, and rest
- Pain that prevents weight-bearing or normal walking
- Sharp, shooting pains that occur during rest
- Any pain accompanied by numbness, tingling, or weakness
- Pain that significantly worsens rather than improves over 2-3 days
Building Long-Term Running Success
The Minimum Effective Dose Principle
For time-constrained adult runners, research supports finding the minimum effective dose of training stress to promote adaptation without exceeding recovery capacity.
Studies on beginner training progression show this typically means starting with every-other-day running and gradually increasing either frequency, duration, or intensity—but never more than one variable at a time.
The classic 10% weekly mileage increase rule exists for good reason: it allows your musculoskeletal system to adapt gradually without overwhelming your recovery capacity.
Creating Your Personal Pain Baseline
Understanding your individual response to training stress requires systematic observation over time.
Keep a simple training log that tracks not just miles and pace, but also:
- Subjective feelings of soreness (rate 1-10)
- Energy levels before and after runs
- Sleep quality
- Any areas of concern or persistent discomfort
This data will help you recognize patterns and identify when something truly unusual is occurring versus normal adaptation responses.
The Long Game Perspective
Research on running injury prevention consistently shows that runners who take a patient, progressive approach during their first year have significantly lower injury rates and higher long-term adherence.
The runners who are still running strong after 10 years aren’t necessarily the most talented or the most dedicated. They’re the ones who learned early to distinguish between productive training stress and destructive overload.
Remember: every experienced runner went through this same learning curve. The ability to navigate pain intelligently is what separates runners who thrive for decades from those who burn out in their first year.
Your goal isn’t to eliminate all discomfort from your running experience—that’s neither possible nor desirable. Instead, aim to become fluent in your body’s language, understanding when it’s asking you to back off versus when it’s simply communicating the normal process of getting stronger.
Most importantly, be patient with yourself as you develop this skill. Like building aerobic fitness or improving running form, learning to interpret your body’s signals takes time, practice, and occasionally making mistakes. The key is to err on the side of caution while still maintaining the consistency that leads to long-term success.
Trust the process, listen to your body, and remember that every run is contributing to your education as both an athlete and a student of your own physiology.
