Injuries are predictable and preventable
How often have you found yourself injured and felt confused as to how it happened? This used to be a common issue that I dealt with throughout my running career. I was rarely injured when I was mountain biking (unless I crashed) and when I began running it was clear that something about the sport caused more injuries. After I retired from competitive racing and began taking courses on coaching and injuries it became clear that running is one of the sports with the highest risk of injury.
A big lesson that I learned was that almost all running related injuries can be predicted which means many of them are preventable. As a coach I believe that my athletes should be a part of making decisions about their training and I provide guidance but do not force anyone to follow my guidance exactly. Often times an athlete will downplay an injury or be in denial about how much pain they are in. I get it, I used to do the same thing. Nobody wants to take a back seat on their running because there is the fear of losing fitness and progress. I promise you that progress comes in listening to your body and addressing issues before they become debilitating injuries.
The first step in preventing a full blown injury is learning about your stress levels, habits, nutrition, sleep and being honest about what your body is asking for. I try to teach my athletes to listen to subtle cues and to prioritize stress management, sleep and nutrition over nailing every workout perfectly. This concept is hard to teach and even harder for someone to understand. Your body can only tolerate a given amount of stress. This is your physical and emotional stress combined. When you have less emotional stress you can increase the duration or intensity of your workouts. When you are under a high amount of emotional stress you need to decrease your intensity or duration (sometimes both) to allow for proper recovery. Sleep is when most of your recovery occurs and if you are not sleeping well you will not recover quick enough to be ready to handle your next workout. During stressful periods you may need an extra 1-2 rest days.
Your body needs to be able to repair itself as quickly as you break it down. When training you purposefully break down muscle tissue and stress your body so that it can repair damaged cells and become stronger. This is adaptation to stress. Without rest, food, hydration and stress management your body will break down faster than it can repair itself. When you provide your body with rest, food and hydration while managing your stress, your body will repair itself either faster or at the same rate you break it down. Runners are at a higher risk for injuries because running is a high impact sport. There is a lot of stress on your bones, muscles and tendons and your body needs more time to rebuild and repair itself after a run. Early signs of an injury can be unusual fatigue, extremely sore muscles or twinges that come and go. HRV, heart rate, mood and sleep stats are also a way to predict your risk for injury.
Using zone 2 workouts will give your body the ability to use active recovery so that you can perform your best when doing your harder efforts. Under periods of stress a zone 2 workout may be nothing more than a walk and that is okay. There are times where stress is inevitable and you have to push through. During these times try to avoid doing more than one hard workout a week and keep your workouts easy. If you do a hard workout keep it under 30 minutes. You may find that shortening your long runs can help too. As an athlete you will find it hard to decrease your intensity and duration but you will get stronger if you allow your body time to recover. When I am under a lot of stress I will take 1-3 rest days a week. Emotionally this is tough but I use the time to be more creative and paint or express myself in other artistic ways. Finding non running activities can help you find peace and enjoyment during your down time.
Running higher mileage and/or increased intensity requires years of building a base. You need to start slow and allow your body to adapt to the stressors of running. If you are able to cross train on a bike, elliptical or other low impact form of cardio you can build your cardiac base without the risk of impact related injuries. Over time you can slowly increase your running and decrease your cross training. I encourage my athletes to use cross training, especially if they are new to the sport, prone to injuries or under a lot of stress. I find that it takes 2-3 years of building a base before a runner can handle a higher training load with two harder efforts a week. This is not an easy message to convey to my athletes because most people want to progress faster. Another piece to the puzzle is incorporating strength into your routine. Strength training increases bone mass and keeps your body in alignment. It can correct your posture and gait while preventing injuries. It can take months to years for your body to increase your bone mass significantly and to strengthen weak muscles enough to fix an imbalance. You have to also be sure you are eating enough protein, hydrating and sleeping well to allow your body to continue to increase strength and build bone and muscle.
Being an athlete is a game of consistency, patience and learning about what your body needs. Being honest with yourself will allow you to see when you are overly tired or feeling too many areas of pain or tightness. Slight twinges need to be addressed immediately, days where you feel fatigued need to become a rest day or very easy effort and days where you feel stressed need to be easy and playful. Running isn’t a bucket list sport, it is a long term commitment to honoring your body and setting manageable goals. If you want to run with fewer injuries make a long term plan to achieve your goals. Start with a 5k and slowly work your way up to a marathon or more. Yes, you can go from zero to a marathon in a year but your chances of burn out and injury will be much higher than if you decided to take 2-3 years to achieve that goal safely.
As a coach this is one of the hardest parts of my job. I understand that it is possible to train for a large goal in a short amount of time and help people get there, but also have seen that it comes with a big risk. At the end of the day it is always up to my athlete to choose what is right for them and if a twinge pops up, we address it and keep putting out fires as quickly as we can. Most of the people I work with come to the realization that big goals sometimes need to be pushed out so that they can work on more achievable goals which allows for a solid base with fewer injuries, better balance in their lives with work/family/friends and a much more enjoyable path to their big goals.
If you are looking for help in achieving your goals, big or small reach out! I offer one on one coaching and custom training plans to help you learn more about how to train safely so that you can get to the starting line!