I started running again in my mid thirties, after having kids and it brought so much joy back into my life. I loved the freedom of putting on a pair of sneakers and just heading out the door. Training for a race helped me build confidence and having a weekly goal kept me on track. Every running season started with high hopes, but several times before the race, my happiness was shaken by soreness, fatigue, cramps, and the occasional injury. One year it was plantar fasciitis, another year it was my IT bang, and once a Charlie Horse cramp hit at mile 3 of an 8 mile training run that I didn’t stop to take care of and it took me out for 10 days.
Recovery and injury prevention are essential to an enjoyable training season. Here are 4 things I wish I would’ve known when I started running that would’ve helped.
1- Lift More Weights
I hated to go hit the weights in the gym. I wanted to just be outside enjoying the scenery and not thinking of running as a workout. However, weights are a critical part of avoiding injuries. Exercises like kettle bell swings strengthen the core and the muscle that surround your lower spinal chord. Squats strengthen your quads and Romanian Dead Lifts are great for hamstrings. Only 2-3 times a week for 30 minutes can really help.
2. Recover Daily, Not Just When It Hurts
Recovery isn't something you do after you're already hurt, it's something you do every single day, whether your legs feel fine or not. This is the mistake I made over and over. I'd feel good after a run, skip anything resembling recovery, and then wonder why some part of my body would hurt two runs later.
Now that I’m in my mid-40s I don’t skip recovery. After every workout, I take time to stretch and I spray my muscles with a magnesium chloride spray. I made this spray with additional botanicals to go beyond magnesium. DEWY Magnesium Body Spray with Arnica and Willow Bark sells out every time because it leaves the body feeling relaxed and ready for a restful night sleep.
Here's why it works, and why we built it this way:
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Magnesium is one of the minerals runners burn through the fastest, especially on long runs or in the heat, and it plays a key role in how your muscles function and relax. If you've ever dealt with a middle-of-the-night calf cramp during a heavy training week, low magnesium is often part of the story.
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Arnica has been used for generations to help ease the look and feel of bruising, swelling, and overworked muscles — exactly the kind of soreness that creeps in after back-to-back long runs.
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Willow Bark is sometimes called nature's original pain reliever. It's been used traditionally for its soothing properties long before modern pain relief ever came in a bottle.
It's how we like to formulate everything — combining what modern science tells us about recovery with the botanicals athletes have trusted for generations. And because I'm spraying it on my muscles every single day, it mattered to us that it's clean and odorless, with no parabens and no dyes.
3. Don’t Delay Pain Relief
There are times where no matter how well you prepared, an injury occurs and the last thing you want to do is ignore it. One of the fastest ways to get relief is by using a numbing cream like the Workvie Lidocaine Roll On that has maximum strength lidocaine and menthol plus 15 other nutrients and botanicals. This is one of my favorite formulas because it has odorless cooling crystals that don’t leave you smelling like a medicine cabinet. Because it’s in a roll-on bottle, it’s easy to apply on-the-go.
Please keep in mind that the Lidocaine Roll On can help, but seek a medical professional to appropriately diagnose your condition. Some minor injuries can turn into major problems if left untreated. No amount of creams can heal a torn ligament or fractured bone.
4. Fuel and Hydrate Like It's Part of Training, Not an Afterthought
There were so many things I didn’t know about hydration and nutrition. Most importantly, you should plan fueling and hydrating before you hit the pavement. For example, the amount of water I drank the day before a long run affected my hydration on the actual run.
A few things I now treat as non-negotiable:
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Electrolytes, not just water. Sodium, potassium, and magnesium are what your muscles actually use to contract and relax properly, and you sweat them out faster than you'd think, especially in the heat. Plain water alone doesn't replace them.
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Real food before long runs. A source of complex carbs a couple hours before a long run — oatmeal, a banana with toast, something my body can actually use — makes a bigger difference than I ever gave it credit for.
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Protein after, not just for lifting days. Your muscles are repairing after every long run, not just after strength sessions. A bit of protein within an hour or two helps that recovery along.
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Anti-inflammatory foods, daily. Things like berries, leafy greens, and fatty fish aren't going to undo a bad training block, but eating them consistently gives your body a better baseline to recover from week to week.
None of this is complicated or restrictive. It's just paying attention to the fact that what we eat and drink throughout our training matters just as much as the run itself.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Please consult a medical professional before starting any new pain relief or recovery routine, especially if you have existing injuries or conditions.
