Cool down running: do you need one after a run?

Do you need a cool down after running? After intervals, a tempo run, hill repeats or a race: yes, a short one. Five to ten minutes of easy jogging or walking. After an easy run: no, the run already was one. That's the entire cool down running rulebook, and it's shorter than most of the arguments about it.

What a cool down won't do is stop tomorrow's soreness, flush out lactic acid in any way that matters, or protect you from injury. The research on that is less romantic than the folklore. Below: what a cool down actually does, how long it should be, how a running warm up and cool down fit together, and whether you need to stretch afterward. If you'd rather have warm-ups and cool-downs written into every session, that's part of a running plan that knows you lift.

What a cool down after running actually does

The best summary of the evidence is a narrative review that compared active cool-downs (easy movement) with passive ones (stopping, sitting, standing) (Van Hooren and Peake, 2018). Its findings, in plain English:

• ›Performance: an active cool-down is largely ineffective for same-day and next-day performance, though some studies reported benefits for next-day performance.
• ›Injuries: active cool-downs don't appear to reduce injuries.
• ›Soreness: most evidence shows they don't significantly reduce muscle soreness or speed recovery of muscle damage markers, range of motion or stiffness.
• ›Lactate: they clear lactate from the blood faster, but not necessarily from the muscle.
• ›Heart and lungs: they may help your cardiovascular and respiratory systems recover faster.
• ›Fuel: an active cool-down can interfere with muscle glycogen resynthesis.

The authors' overall conclusion: active cool-downs are largely ineffective for most recovery markers, but may still offer some benefits compared with doing nothing.

So the honest pitch for a cool down is modest. It brings your breathing and heart rate down gradually instead of abruptly, it's a decent habit at the end of a hard session, and it's a convenient place to add easy volume. It is not a recovery treatment.

If you're starting from scratch with a starter week you can copy, the cool-down is the simplest thing in it: walk for five minutes after each run. That's enough.

How long should a cool down be?

Coaching practice, scaled to the session:

The rule: the harder and shorter the session, the more a short easy jog makes sense. The longer the session, the more the cool down should just be walking.

Keep it easy. If your cool-down jog turns into a "few more quick ones", you've done a second workout with no warm-up and no point.

Running warm up and cool down: how they fit together

The warm-up and cool-down are usually prescribed together, but they aren't mirror images. The warm-up has a clear job: getting you ready to run fast. The cool down's job is smaller: coming down gradually.

A typical hard session looks like this:

1. ›Warm up: 10–15 minutes easy, a few drills, three or four strides.
2. ›Main set: intervals, tempo, hills, whatever the plan says.
3. ›Cool down: 5–10 minutes easy jog or walk.

The drills belong at the start, not the end. They're there to wake up coordination before speed, and there's more on running drills and what they do and don't do. The full warm-up routine, scaled by session type, is in a guide to running warmup. The cool down after running needs no equivalent guide, which tells you something about how much it matters.

Warm up and cool down for running: which matters more?

The warm-up, clearly. Skip the warm-up before intervals and the first rep becomes a bad warm-up. Skip the cool-down after intervals and, based on the review above, you mostly lose some easy minutes and a gentler transition.

If you're short on time, cut the cool-down before you cut the warm-up. If you're very short on time, cut the session shorter and keep both.

Should you stretch after running?

If you like it, yes. After the run is a better time for longer static stretches than before it.

A systematic review found static stretches of 60 seconds or more per muscle group caused bigger short-term performance drops than shorter ones, and that the range-of-motion gains from all forms of stretching typically lasted less than 30 minutes (Behm et al., 2016). That's a reason not to do long holds right before a fast session. It's not a reason to avoid them afterward, when there's no performance left to lose.

What stretching after a run won't do is reliably stop soreness. The review above found most evidence shows cool-downs don't reduce muscle soreness, and the same goes for a few hamstring stretches. Stretch because it feels good and keeps you moving well, not as insurance.

Cool down situations worth adjusting for

Breathing hard after the session. Your breathing takes a few minutes to settle after hard work, which is exactly what the cool down is for. Walk until you can talk in full sentences, then jog easily if you're doing one. If you're interested in how should you breathe when running explained properly, the short answer is that most breathing problems are pacing problems.

After hill repeats. Jog back down to the flat and cool down there. Repeated downhill jogging on tired legs is eccentric work you don't need; a guide to hill running covers the session itself.

On hot days. Get out of the sun, walk rather than jog, and get fluids in quickly. Easy walking in shade is a better cool down than a hot jog. More in our guide to running in the heat.

If you feel dizzy or unwell. Some people feel lightheaded when they stop dead after a very hard effort. Walking slowly is a gentler way to come down. If dizziness doesn't settle quickly, or comes with chest pain, confusion or anything that doesn't feel like normal tiredness, stop and get medical help.

If you lift after running. Your cool down can double as the transition. Walk a few minutes, then go straight to warm-up sets. There's no need for a separate cool-down and warm-up between them.

Common cool down mistakes

• ›Treating it as recovery. It doesn't do much for soreness. Food, sleep and easy days do.
• ›Making it hard. The cool-down jog is slower than your easy pace.
• ›Cooling down after easy runs. The run was the cool down.
• ›Skipping the warm-up and keeping the cool-down. Backward priorities.
• ›Standing still and gasping. Just walk for a few minutes.

How exrsz handles cool downs

exrsz builds a periodized plan from your goal, schedule, level and equipment, with running and lifting balanced in one plan. Hard sessions come with the warm-up and cool-down they need, easy runs don't waste your time with either, and each week adapts to how you actually trained, with missed sessions reshuffled rather than crammed in.

FAQ

Do you need to cool down after running?

After hard sessions and races, a short cool down of five to ten easy minutes is a good habit. After an easy run, you don't need a separate one. A review found active cool-downs are largely ineffective for most recovery markers but may offer some benefits over stopping completely (Van Hooren and Peake, 2018).

How long should a cool down be after running?

Five to ten minutes of easy jogging or walking after intervals, tempo runs or short races. After long runs or marathons, walking is enough.

Does a cool down prevent soreness?

Not reliably. Most evidence shows active cool-downs don't significantly reduce muscle soreness (Van Hooren and Peake, 2018).

What is a good running warm up and cool down?

Warm up with 10 to 15 minutes of easy running, a few drills and three or four strides before hard sessions. Cool down with five to ten minutes of easy jogging or walking afterward.

Should I stretch after running?

If you like it, after the run is the best time for longer static stretches. Range-of-motion gains from stretching typically last less than 30 minutes, so it's about feeling good, not a permanent change (Behm et al., 2016).