Cool Down Stretches

I have been running for about a year now and have never really subscribed to the idea of warm ups or cool down stretches.

Most of the time I will start a run with a brisk walk.
Some of the time (but rarely) I will finish a run with a brisk walk

For the better part of this, I haven't suffered any problems.

At the weekend I ran my first Half Marathon and was extremely pleased with the results. The only problem was that at around 10 miles I could feel the top of my thighs starting to ache. Despite this, I pushed on to the finish.

Following this, I have been suffering. My thighs have spent the best part of 3 days burning and causing me difficulty moving. Even today, I can still slightly feel the pain - although it isn't causing me any issues now.

Based on this, I gathered that this may have been reduced or possibly eliminated if I had done some post run stretching.

So, while I am aware that I may need to do some stretching, I have no idea how to. Are there any guides on what and how I should be doing these post run stretches? It is all well and good sites saying stretch this muscle, stretch that one, but some video tutorials would be nice

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

In contrast, when the type of sports activity contains low-intensity, or limited SSCs (e.g. jogging, cycling and swimming) there is no need for a very compliant muscle-tendon unit since most of its power generation is a consequence of active (contractile) muscle work that needs to be directly transferred (by the tendon) to the articular system to generate motion. Therefore, stretching (and thus making the tendon more compliant) may not be advantageous. This conjecture is supported by the literature, where strong evidence exists that stretching has no beneficial effect on injury prevention in these sports. If this point of view is used when examining research findings concerning stretching and injuries, the reasons for the contrasting findings in the literature are in many instances resolved.

<a href="javascript:AL_get(this, 'jour', 'Sports Med.');" title="Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.).">Sports Med.</a> 2004;34(7):443-9.

Stretching and injury prevention: an obscure relationship.

Witvrouw E, Mahieu N, Danneels L, McNair P.

People who stretch religiously will tell you that it helps.

But then people who pray religiously would tell you it helps too.