Lactic acid gets a pretty bad rap and although this is understandable there are a few things we need to clarify about this stuff. Lactic acid does cause a temporary burning sensation but it isn’t the main cause of your achy muscles the day after a particularly hard workout. Delayed onset muscle soreness (or DOMA) is likely the culprit of that pain.
As you first start running, or tackle a new and more difficult distance you may deal with more lactic acid. This will likely decrease over time and with proper training. It is most important to learn that this stuff isn’t really the bad guy and actually helps you as a runner and endurance athlete. It doesn’t stunt growth and in reality helps to build muscle over time.
Lactic acid is used by the body when breaking down carbohydrates for energy. In fact, it really is used as fuel. However as your training duration and/or intensity increases the lactic acid begins to increase in production and your body cannot remove it at the same pace. This is where lactate buildup comes into play.
As the formation of lactic acid builds up with increased intensity or duration there are ways to teach your body how to increase its ability to both deal with and remove it more quickly. To increase your capacity to handle lactic acid and remove it faster you need to increase your level of intensity or duration. Doing activities with a lot of lactic acid in your system helps your body to produce an enzyme that uses the compound as fuel. The good news is, there are several different kinds of workouts that will help your body reap the benefits of lactate removal.
This is what I think I look like with some DOMA!
Over distance training helps your body make cellular adaptations that speed up the lactate removal. This is where your long slow distance (LSD) runs come into play. These runs are awesome because they don’t require you to run at a hard intensity but instead to go out the door and run at a nice easy, conversation pace. Long distance runs are typically a minimum of an hour and a half in duration and can last upwards of four or more hours if you are marathon or ultra training. These runs require you to be patient and take your time. Being on your feet for this long does make cellular changes that allow your body to utilize both oxygen and lactic acid more efficiently.
On the flip side, as your run faster lactic acid builds up and is removed faster with proper training. Working your body in this way can help teach it to remove lactic acid more quickly and in return improve your overall running. Tempo and speed workouts as well as adding strides once a week to the end of a workout teaches the body to open the flood gates of lactic acid and then work to remove it. Personally, this isn’t my favorite workout but I do these because I know they offer the best benefits.
I like to think that I am running so fast here that I am a blur. The reality is my body handles 5K’s worse than marathons. I’m built for distance, not speed!
To be fair, stop blaming lactic acid on your achy legs. Be your own best running friend and start adding in a weekly tempo or speed sessions and you will soon start to find your body not only running faster but more efficiently. You will notice that your endurance will begin to improve both on a cardiovascular and muscular level.
Happy running!
Running On Healthy 
I hate the feeling! My BF always tells me to run it off and I know I should but I just can’t move! Haha
It gets better over time. Swimming is a great one to flush it out too.
I really like these posts because I learn a lot. I’m definitely more of a speedster and probably need to start doing LSD again to increase my mileage and also just for an easier run than running my long runs quickly.
Oh I am definitely one who has learned from doing my long runs fast thinking that was going to make me an awesome marathoner. I am looking forward to training a marathon the right way and seeing how it helps. It is all about patience!
I love this post (well, all of them) but it helps me to realize I need to keep my tempo training around no matter what race I’m training for!
It’s kind of a bummer isn’t it?! Just kidding. Glad you enjoyed the post. You always inspire me to keep pushing.
Great info again!! I have always heard the word thrown around, but never fully understood its purpose. Thank you!
It can be confusing and there is obviously a lot more to it that I am certain others have much better knowledge of but I think this is a good breakdown of the basic idea.
I always love reading your posts because I learn so much!!! XOXO!!!
Thanks Kristin. I always enjoy your posts too. You are my day daily of positive attitude 🙂
Awwww!! Thank you!!! So sweet!
thanks for sharing this — very informative and important for us runners to understand! teach on, girl. 🙂
Thanks Shawna!
Great info! I had always heard LA was bad, but last I read how it can be fuel. Thanks for sharing!
It still is a pain in the you know what (er…legs). But it is always good to know the flipside too when you are training.
Yeah, a good friend of mine is always yapping about lactic acid and how I need to just “let it burn”. I’ve just now got to the point where I can force myself to push through the pain on some occasions.
It does get easier with time. But is what your body needs….time. Good luck with your running!
Thanks!
Very informative post. Thank you so much. Water fitness class last night helped loosen my legs up from the previous days run. I hope they stay loose for tonight’s run as well. 🙂
Getting in the pool is a great way to break all that down.
Very interesting! As much as I read about running and lactic acid build up, I never really knew what it was or how to train to deal with it better.
Great post. I honestly didn’t know that tempo runs helped the efficiency of lactic acid, very insightful. Epsom salt baths and swimming work really well for me!
Both are excellent ideas. I know, annoying with the tempo runs. Why can’t eating cookies work just as well?!
Another very informative post–thank you!
Great post! The whole lactic acid causes sore muscle’s misconception drives me bonkers!
Lol understandably!
Looks like I better get use to loving speed workouts!! Ugh
Don’t worry Jerry. I’ve got you covered in my next blog post!
Thanks for posting about this! I’ll add more speed runs in my routine. =)
My pleasure. I hope you find it helps.
Great post!
I hate lactic acid. Ahh and DOMS are the worse. I suffered from that after doing too many races in one weekend. I couldn’t walk for a few days.
Once again, a very helpful post. Thanks. It is great to read these after a year or so of long distance running.
Thanks 🙂
Love it!… as always! ❤ xoxo