Injury: Part I

"Staying healthy is half the battle."

I have found that, ironically, one of the best things about the sport of running is also one of the biggest detriments. So many people fall in love with this sport for one single idea: The harder you work, the better you get. It is one of the things that makes the sport so pure. Your competition runs 70 miles a week. You run 85 and you outwork him with higher mileage, more tempos, and faster workouts, inevitably becoming the faster, stronger runner. Unfortunately, this is a misconception—and it is a misconception that leads to the biggest pitfall in our sport: The much dreaded injury.

Our sport is one of high stress and high impact on almost every bone, joint, muscle and tendon below your waist. Almost all running injuries are related to over-use. So how do we outwork our opponent without pushing yourself across the line that may lead to stress or injury? The answer is simple: Don’t out train the competition. Outsmart them. You need to train with a more innate sense of your physical and mental limitations. One of the most important things I have learned in my years of running is that staying healthy is half the battle. Consistent training kills the competition. Don’t destroy yourself to make huge gains over a one or two month period. Stay healthy, motivated and injury free for 6 months and make steady progress towards your goal.

In my (not expert) opinion, staying healthy comes from being in touch with your body—and no, not in that way. If you can understand when your muscles are sore and need to be stretched, massaged, and iced, then you can prevent injury. If you can understand exactly what kind of food and hydration your body needs to perform at its highest level, you will have the most successful training possible and prevent sickness. If you know exactly how many hours of sleep your body needs in relation to your mileage, then you will be able to stay healthy and energized. If you can “feel” that exact pace and intensity that your body needs on recovery days, workout days, and longruns then you can optimize your training. In essence, if you can walk that very fine line between training perfection and absolute disaster, then you are master of your body. There is such an infinitesimal difference between sailing happily on the ocean waves and crashing along the rocky shores; if you understand that difference then you can own your training. 

Over-training can put you on this long, lonely, uphill path

It is those who walk this line that I have seen become successful over the years—and likewise—It is those who blur that line that I have seen crash and burn over the years. More often than not, someone who makes conservative, steady progress with their training will trump someone who tries to rush fitness. Run enough mileage, high intensity intervals, and speed workouts and you will get into scary fast shape in a month or two. But you run the risk of peaking too early, sustaining a severe injury, or becoming mentally exhausted from pushing yourself to the limit. Either way, you regress back to square one. Nothing destroys a season (and your morale) like a stress fracture, tendonitis, a long-term sickness or the much feared "burn out" . Lay a foundation, be patient with your fitness, and train in a correct and physiologically sound way and you will make leaps and bounds over a 4-6 month period. If this plan is followed, weeks, months and years of happy, injury-free training can follow.